The Infernal Snore (Flash Fiction) (Deleted Stories)

Uggh. It was too much. Night after night; listening to the blocked drain gurgle; the creaking and groaning; spluttering and wheezing of her husband’s horrendous snore. What she wouldn’t give for a silent night.

“God”, she said, raising her eyes to some imagined heaven, “You cure much greater afflictions than this. Can’t you cure my husband’s snoring and free me from this misery or else I may be driven to break one of your commandments, the one about killing”.

And she grabbed a pillow tightly in both hands and imagined placing it over her husband’s snoring mouth and pushing down until all the grunting and groaning and plughole gurgling had stopped.

Something woke her.  Perhaps it was the wind outside, rattling the window and then she remembered; her heart suddenly gripped and squeezed like a sponge with sadness; that her husband had died 4 years ago and, looking at the empty space next to her in bed where her husband used to sleep, she thought it altogether too quiet.