Flash Fiction: The Worth of Death

This flash piece was written for the 11 July 2014 Flash! Friday competition. The artwork and “friendship” was the prompt.

The Worth of Death

Witnesses of the duel sauntered through the early morning streets. All would swear they saw nothing. John watched them pass and waited for the corpse. The coffin was ready. In summer it did not do to wait.

A cheap watch flicked open in his palm. The doctor would be here soon.

Two men carried the corpse to the back room. Some foolish rich boy whose frail honour cost him everything; his murderer secretly known to all. The murderer could be the one carrying the corpse.

John took their payment. He, too, would be blind to the game, to their faces. He checked the time. The doctor will be here soon.

“Hamilton-Burr Duel, After the Painting by J. Mund.” Illustration from Beacon Lights of History, by John Lord, 1902. Public domain image.

A knock on the door. The doctor strides inside.

“She’s upstairs.”

He leaves the corpse in the back room.

The doctor looks at the faded woman under the sheets.

“Been married forty years. Can you save her?”

“For payment, yes.”

Maybe the boy’s death had some worth.

“Here.”