Stories to Keep You Awake at Night

Deep Freeze

William Kemp hated his wife. They had been married for 20 years and he was tired of hearing her nagging voice. He was sick of listening to her criticize and belittle him every day. He was fed up with the way she ordered him around as if he was a slave. William intended to get rid of his wife once and for all.

He had planned everything perfectly. When his wife came home that evening, she put the groceries in the refrigerator and told her husband to start cooking dinner. Instead, William told her he had a surprise for her. He knew she loved surprises.

“It’s in the basement,” he said with a smile.

As his wife made her way down the stairs, into the darkened basement, William took a meat cleaver from the kitchen drawer and followed her.

Minutes later, he was wiping the sweat from his brow. He never thought chopping up a woman’s body would be such hard work. There were six pieces in all – head, arms, legs and torso. He carefully wrapped up each piece in newspaper and tied it neatly with a piece of rope.

When he had finished, there were six tidy bundles sitting at his feet. William picked them up and tossed them into the deep freeze. Then, he shut the door and secured it with a padlock. After mopping the basement floor, he went back upstairs to wash the meat cleaver in the kitchen sink.

Leaning back in his armchair, William let out a sigh of relief. He was free. If anyone asked, he would tell them that his wife had run off with another man. Nobody would suspect that she was really in the basement freezer.

He started drifting off to sleep. The house was peaceful and quiet… very quiet… except for the bumping sound.

William sat up straight and listened. Something was flopping and thudding up the basement stairs. The noise was getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, William woke up. He knew it was just a dream, but it had seemed all too real. His heart was pounding and sweat was dripping down his face. He opened the kitchen drawer and took out the meat cleaver. Then, he went back down to the basement to check the deep freeze.

It was still securely locked. He was about to go back upstairs when he noticed something on the floor. A chill ran down his spine. It was a sheet of bloody newspaper.

William unlocked the deep freeze and looked inside. To his horror, he realized that it was empty. All six packages were missing.

As he stood there in stunned silence, he thought he saw moving something out of the corner of his eye. A shadow scuttled across the floor behind him. He whirled around, but there was nothing there.

Just then, he heard a click and the lights in the basement went out. He was plunged into darkness. Then, he heard a rustling sound. It came closer and closer until it seemed to be coming from all sides. He was surrounded.

William backed up against the wall and began swinging the meat cleaver wildly. In the darkness, he couldn’t see a thing. All he could hear was the horrible rustling of newspaper.

Then, all of a sudden, something slithered between his legs. He felt icy fingers wrap around his neck. He tried to scream but nothing would come out. Something grabbed the meat cleaver from his hand and he felt the fingers around his neck tighten, choking him until he was unconscious.

It wasn’t until weeks later that the police searched the basement. They opened the deep freeze and inside, they found the lifeless frozen body of William Kemp. He was surrounded by the dismembered body parts of his wife.