TILL DEATH DO US RESET

“Your child is no more.”

The doctor’s words shattered Elsa.

“Mrs. Elsa... I'm sorry, but I can't detect a heartbeat.”

No matter how hard Elsa tried, those words kept echoing in her head.

She sat in front of her apartment door. Rainwater streamed from her hair and sleeves, dripping steadily onto the marble.

"Your blood test shows a dangerously high level of black cohosh in your system. Elsa, I think you should go home and rest," Dr. Thorne had said gently.

Elsa’s broken chuckle echoed in the empty hallway.

Home? As if anyone could simply go home and sleep after their entire world had been ripped away. Another baby... gone before it even had the chance to see the sun.

"How will I tell Josh... how?" she sobbed.

He had been so different during this pregnancy—laughing, smiling, and making freshly blended drinks for her every single day.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Click.

The apartment was completely dark, save for the blue glow of a laptop screen resting on the coffee table.

"Josh?" Elsa’s voice trembled.

The only reply was the distant sound of rushing water running in the master bathroom.

Elsa sat down on the couch, wiping her damp hands against her knees. The laptop screen glowed with a new message from Dora.

Dora: I will be coming soon with the blend.

Dora?

Elsa’s trembling hand moved the cursor and clicked on the chat history.

Dora: I have a solution to this.

Josh: What's that? Hope she won't notice.

Dora: She can't if you don't tell her... it's a blend.

Josh: I have done it... she didn't notice... bring more.

The shivering vanished immediately. Elsa smiled a cold, hollow smile.

Dora. The beautiful colleague he always smiled at.

"We're just colleagues," Josh had promised her. "I would never lie to you."

Elsa’s eyes caught something in a bag beside the laptop just as Josh walked out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel through his damp hair.

"You're back?" he asked, surprised, as he turned on the light.

Elsa didn't say a word. Josh immediately moved toward the coffee table and picked up his laptop.

"Our baby... is dead," Elsa whispered.

"What? How? Babe, are you okay?"

Elsa blinked away her tears, staring at the monster wearing her husband's skin.

"Josh..." Her voice dropped. "Did you poison our child?"

"What?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Elsa, you're soaked. Go—"

"You didn't, right? Just tell me you didn't, and I'll forget about everything," Elsa said, her voice terrifyingly calm.

He leaned against the doorway, silent.

"Why...?" Elsa whispered. Then, she screamed, "Why?! You murdered our child and you almost killed me!"

His brows knitted together. "Elsa... I don't know what you're talking about. You need to rest right now."

"Black cohosh was found in my blood,"

He froze, then let out a sharp laugh.

"And somehow that means I poisoned you? Do you hear yourself? I know you can't accept what happened... but we will try again, Elsa."

Elsa grabbed the small container of black cohosh sitting right beside the laptop bag and threw it at his chest. "Then explain this!"

He stared at the bottle on the floor for a long moment. "How did you find this?"

"Why...?" she whispered.

Elsa lunged forward, slamming her fists against his chest. "Why?! Why did you do it?!"

His fist tightened around her wrists, halting her movements. Looking down into her eyes, he sneered, "Because I never wanted it."

He shoved her away. Elsa’s weak knees collapsed, and she fell hard to the floor.

"Get it through your head, I never wanted a child. Definitely not from you."

"Then why did you do it?!" she screamed through her tears. "Why marry me, you prick?!"

He picked up his towel, folded it neatly, and placed it on a chair.

"Because you were the only way to get what I wanted—my grandmother's property. I'm still pissed off that I had to marry you just to get my hands on it." He turned his back to her, looking out the rain-lashed window.

This wasn't the man she had been married to for two years.

"Let's be realistic," Josh said, turning back to face her. "We're already divorced. The court finalizes the decree next week."

"What... What do you mean?"

He squatted down, keeping his distance from her. "You signed the asset waiver and the separation agreement yourself. They were tucked right in with the medical authorization forms for your prenatal care."

"You tricked me."

He shook his head. "I just ended what would have ended eventually. I just did it much earlier."

The front door clicked open.

"Josh—" Dora walked right into the apartment but paused dead in her tracks. She was holding another dark bottle.

Elsa laughed, pushing herself up from the floor. "You are all monsters... devils... murderers!"

She scrambled toward the kitchen, her hands diving into her purse.

"Josh, stop her! She's going to call the police!" Dora cried out.

"Elsa! Stop!"

Josh lunged at her, locking his hand around her throat and slamming her back against the kitchen counter.

Elsa clawed at his arm, fighting for air while desperately trying to keep hold of her phone. Josh wrestled violently to tear the device from her grip.

"Don't make this difficult, Elsa!"

The sharp clatter of utensils and shattering glass echoed through the room as they struggled.

"Elsa—no—stop!" Dora rushed in and yanked Elsa’s head back with brutal force.

Elsa's foot slipped on the wet floor. She lost her balance and tumbled backward.

CRACK.

Her skull collided heavily with the glass coffee table. The surface shattered into a hundred jagged pieces.

For a second, silence swallowed the room.

Blood began to pour from her head, soaking rapidly into the rug. Elsa choked, her fingers twitching against the sharp shards of glass.

"What did you do?!" Josh’s panicked voice sounded muffled and blurred.

Elsa's eyelids grew impossibly heavy.

Josh stared down at her body, his hands shaking as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hey..." He swallowed hard. "Something went wrong."

Silence. He glanced at the blood spreading beneath Elsa.

"...She's dead."

Another long pause.

"No... this wasn't part of the plan."

Through the fading light of her consciousness, Elsa heard him calmly planning how they would call emergency services an hour later—telling them his wife had tripped and fallen while he was away on a business trip.

The front door clicked shut, the lock sliding into place, and darkness swallowed her whole.

If there is another life... Elsa prayed fiercely in the dark. I'll make sure you're the one who dies.