13elieve (Short story collection)

Can You Keep a Secret

Custode Segreto finished work a little early, so he decided to go home and wait for his girlfriend, Fiducia Falsamente, to get home. He figured she would probably be home any minute, so he relaxed and waited for her. After waiting for ten minutes, he decided that Fiducia was running late, so he ended up watching a basketball game on TV. He was watching the game, until a breaking news bulletin came on. Before he could complain about this interrupting the game, he read the headline.

"Double murder on 2nd street." the screen said.

A double murder is scary enough, but the murder happened right near Fiducia's work. Custode called Fiducia's cell twice, but she didn't answer either of the calls. Custode did not know what to do, so he anxiously waited to see if Fiducia would come home. After 45 restless minutes, Fiducia came home, but she looked like a mess. Custode asked if she was all right, and Fiducia said she was, but Custode could tell she was lying.

"What's wrong?" Custode asked her.

"Can you keep a secret?" Fiducia asked him hesitantly.

"I mean secrets can be very dangerous things to keep, but I guess I can do it." Custode told her.

"You can't tell anyone, and I mean anyone." Fiducia told him.

"I promise I won't tell anyone." Custode told her.

"Good," Fiducia said, taking a deep breath, " today, after work, I...I killed two people." There was a moment of silence, until Custode broke out laughing.

"Good one," he said cracking up, "you obviously heard the news story, and you wanted to play a trick on me." He kept laughing until he saw the seriousness of Fiducia's face.

"I actually killed them." Fiducia said, slightly angry.

"Wait, seriously? Why?" Custode asked.

"I don't know, I guess it soothes me." Fiducia said, slightly disappointed.

"You've killed people before?" Custode asked shocked.

"Yeah," Fiducia said, "this is probably my fourth or fifth murder." This news was too shocking for Custode and he had to sit down and breathe deeply.

"Why? Why did you tell me this?" Custode asked, trying to calm down.

"I needed to get this off my chest, and I figured that I could trust you." Fiducia said sweetly.

"Well you do realize that I do have to tell someone about this." Custode said, starting to get up and leave.

"Fine, tell them," Fiducia said, "but hope I don't get free. If I get free from prison, I will hunt you down and make you my next victim." This stopped Custode dead in his tracks. "Good." Fiducia said, "Now act like nothing happened."

Custode has been with Fiducia for two years, yet he has never seen this side of her. The next couple of weeks were uncomfortable for Custode, to say the least. Fiducia murdered three more people, and there was a manhunt after the murderer. Custode knew he should tell someone, but he feared Fiducia's threat. Since he did not tell anyone, he felt responsible for the next three deaths, and any other future victims. The guilt was eating away at him, and he knew he had to tell someone. As much as Fiducia scared him, he knew he had to turn her in. He went to the police station, and told them he knew who was killing all the people throughout town. The police, desperate for tips from people, listened to him, despite them finding it hard to believe, that someone everyone loved, and thought was so nice, could be a serial killer. Custode set up a plan with the police to arrest her. They knew she needed to be stopped, so they planned to arrest her that night. That night Custode and Fiducia ate dinner like usual, but Custode was trying hard to act like nothing was happening. Eventually he decided to get up and take the trash out. He came in, even more worked up, and ten seconds after, the police officers ran into the house and tackled Fiducia to the ground. They handcuffed her, and as they took her out, Custode said, "I'm so sorry honey."

Fiducia realized that he got her arrested, and said, "It's okay baby. I hope to see you again."