To Hell You Go

My husband sends me a photo of our obedient daughter holding a plate of food. He writes, "Thanks to my patient guidance, our sweetheart has finally made her first dish! We're waiting for you to come home and taste it!"

The exhaustion I feel from work is swept away when I see that.

No one expects that I'll reach home half an hour later and kill him.

My reason for killing my husband, Harvey Gray, was simple.

He deserved it.

He was gentle and polite and had volunteered to quit his job to become a stay-at-home husband and care for our daughter when my career was on the rise. Everyone thought he was perfect. But still…

It all started when he'd asked Elaine Gray, our seven-year-old daughter, to cook a plate of pasta on our tenth wedding anniversary.

It looked a little dry, and the meat was slightly burned. Still, she'd done a good job since it was her first time cooking.

Harvey had Elaine hold the dish so he could take a photo. Then, he sent it to me while singing her praises. "Look at how amazing Elaine is, honey! I bet she'll be the best mother and wife when she grows up!"

At that moment, I didn't realize what was wrong with his words. I even went along with him. "She's great, but you must've put a lot of effort into guiding her. I'll be home soon!"

Harvey didn't reply after that. However, shortly after, I received an emergency notification on my phone. It had come from the smartwatch Elaine wore and indicated that her heartbeat was dangerously slow.

I hurriedly called Harvey when I saw the numbers dropping. He rejected my first two calls. When I called him a third time, he'd already turned off his phone.

I couldn't stop my imagination from going wild. I was worried that something had gone wrong with them both when I suddenly remembered the surveillance camera I'd secretly installed in the living room. I'd done it so I could see what Elaine was like at home.

This had to do with Elaine's privacy, so I hadn't told Harvey about it. I was worried he would get mad. Later, I'd forgotten about it because I'd been too busy with work.

Now that I remembered its existence, I was infinitely relieved that I'd installed it. I immediately checked my phone to look at the footage, starting from ten minutes ago.

The first thing I heard when I started playing the footage was Elaine's agonized cries. "It hurts, Dad! Please stop hitting me!"

My heart twisted painfully when I heard that. From the video, I saw Harvey's attitude do a 180-degree turn once he set his phone down. He'd sung Elaine's praises when sending me the photo, but he immediately turned and kicked her in the chest after throwing his phone aside.

"How do you expect anyone to eat your food when it's tasteless? You're as useless as your mother!" Then, he ignored her pained groans and lay on the couch to scroll through his phone.

I saw him scowl in irritation and reject my calls. Then, he pulled out a spare phone I hadn't even known about and put on his earphones as he called someone.

"Tina's already asleep? Man, I thought I'd have the chance to speak to her… She loves it when I read her bedtime stories…"

Meanwhile, Elaine's breathing slowed and stopped behind him.

I shut my eyes, not daring to watch any further. I felt like a fist had clamped around my heart and squeezed it hard. I was in so much pain that I couldn't breathe.

When I hurried home, Elaine's body had already turned cold. I saw the bruises all over her.

Harvey had no idea I was home—he was engrossed in a song. I had an emotional breakdown and grabbed a fruit knife from the table. Then, I stabbed him repeatedly in the heart until he collapsed in a pool of blood, no longer able to move.

My tears blurred my vision, and I passed out.