By Jameson Grey
I
They’d been doing the same trick for almost three decades – his wife, his beloved Maria, acting as his trusting assistant all those years. When he discovered her secret liaisons (with a rival performer, no less), The Fantastic Cosmo sought jealous vengeance, and switched the blades.
It was fitting, he felt, and in keeping with the deception wrought upon him, that the sword should pierce her heart.
II
After the show, much to the magician’s amazement, the rival visited his dressing room, offering his deepest condolences.
By the time the stage manager knocked to inform him the police were here, the magician’s rage had passed into shock, for he’d learned from his rival that he and Maria had been planning a surprise tribute, in honour of the great magician’s many years in the business.
As his rival lay dying, there came a forceful knock at the door.
Jameson Grey is originally from England but now lives with his family in western Canada. His fiction and poetry have been published in anthologies by Ghost Orchid Press and Hellbound Books as well as online at Trembling with Fear and Dark Moments. He can be found at jameson-grey.com and occasionally on Twitter @thejamesongrey.
The Birdseed 