He Said He Loved Me by Solomon Blaze

‘They’re ready for you beautiful!’ shouts the stage manager through her dressing room door.

Christ, my first arena gig and I’m sold out! Ivy thinks with ecstasy, as she snorts another line...of ecstasy.

‘Aaah!’ she hisses at herself in the heavily lit mirror, sniffing a glob of crystals down the back her left nostril and wincing with pleasure at the Drip’s aftertaste; she rubs her gums to make sure she gets all the expensive goodness.

‘Who’s the man?!’ Ivy shouts at her reflection.

She smashes the mirror with a numb fist as she feels the rush of the hit, ‘WOOOOOOO!’

Ivy thought of her ex fiancé briefly, wondering what he would do - providing she hadn’t killed the abusive coward three nights ago – if his drunken, feckless, fat ass could see her now...

...I’m so fucking glad he’s not alive to be here. She said to herself conclusively, winking at herself in the mirror.

He Said He Loved Me by Sara Travis

When I look back on that night, I don’t really think there’s anything I’d do differently. It all went as I could expect. I mean, okay, sure – it probably would have been better if I’d tidied up a bit afterwards. I didn’t really think about that at the time, but yeah … that might have helped. Or, like, if I’d been a bit quieter. You know, during. Yeah. But no, I think, considering the circumstances, it all went alright. Not to plan, exactly, but … alright.

I mean, it was his own fault. If he hadn’t opened his mouth, none of it would have happened. At least, you know, it wouldn’t have happened the way it did. We were just hanging out, you know? We were just … enjoying each other’s company. Eating ice cream on the couch. I had Baked Alaska, he had Phish Food. I’ve always hated Phish Food, it’s far too rich, don’t you think? So yeah, anyway, we were just … happy. And I’d like the record to show that I’d told him at the beginning that I wasn’t looking for anything serious, I’d told him I wanted to keep it casual. And he said he was fine with that. He said we’d take it slow, you know, we wouldn’t rush anything. We’d let it develop, that’s what he said. And I never said anything cos, you know, I didn’t want to … dash his hopes or anything. But I had no intention of letting anything develop. Like I said, I wasn’t looking for anything serious. 

But he had other plans, see. And surely, if you’ve thought about stuff like this a lot, you know, thought it through and everything, surely you might think about maybe letting the other person know? Before it’s too late? So we’re sitting on the couch, eating ice cream, and out of nowhere he starts blurting out all this mush. And I’m like, ‘Woah, easy there,’ and he’s like, ‘No, but listen,’ and I’m like, ‘I know where this is going, don’t do it,’ and he fucking does it, doesn’t he? I mean, what was I supposed to do? 

So he’s spewing all this stuff, and it’s getting harder for me to get a word in edge ways, and then finally, when I think it can’t go on much longer, I mean … it gets bad. It gets really bad. 

He pulled out a ring, Officer. He said he loved me, and he pulled out a ring. Well, I panicked. Wouldn’t you? I just didn’t think straight, I couldn’t get my head to focus, I panicked. I – and I’m not proud of it, I’m not proud at all, but I grabbed the poker next to the fireplace and I just … I just started bashing him. I was angry, you understand that, don’t you? He’d humiliated me. I’d told him it wasn’t gonna be long-term, he did know. He did. I guess something just flipped in my head. Like a switch. Click. And that was that. I just bashed his head in. It made a right mess, I can tell you. Well, you’ve seen the photos, haven’t you? You know. 

I guess that’s all of it. But I am sorry, you know. I am sorry. I wish I’d never met the guy. I wouldn’t be where I am now, would I?

He Said He Loved Me by Ben Hayward

The night was lonely,
And the bus was dark.
He said 'I love you'
And not that fucking car.

I still remember the night we met,
Steaming passion in festival toilets.
He left his wallet beneath the septic tank,
I found it after the drugs had worn off.

His name.
His address.
Pictures of him with another woman.
His social security number.

I've moved in next door.
The pot is set to boil.
He said he loved me
And not that fucking band.

He Said He Loved Me by Lesley Whyte

"But you definitely saw him this morning?"

"Yes, he woke me up to say goodbye."

"Was there anything unusual about him? Did he say or do anything strange? Was he acting in any way out of the ordinary?"

"He woke me up to say goodbye."

"He wouldn't normally do that?"

"Not if he wanted me to be there when he got home."

"I see." He made a note on his pad, but he didn't think any of this was especially worthwhile. He was stuck wasting his time talking to the wife when his colleagues were out doing the real work, hunting the real criminals. That was why he'd got into this job, to do good, not to talk to upset women. Although, he noticed, Mrs Bannerman didn't look that upset. In fact, she looked more bored than anything. She was a lot younger than her husband - younger than he himself was, in fact - with bright coppery hair, perfect lipstick and a perfect figure. Maybe if all the upset wives he had to talk to looked like this, he wouldn't mind being left behind to interview them.

"He said he loved me."

"Sorry?"

"Before he left, this morning? When he woke me up to say goodbye, he told me he loved me."

"And that was unusual?"

"Oh, yes, very unusual."

"I see."

"He hasn't said it in months. Since the day before our wedding, in fact."

"Oh. He...he didn't say it on your wedding day?"

"No, that's not his style. Can you tell me why I'm actually here?"

"Well, I'm afraid there's been an incident involving your husband. He was...he was found in an alleyway near his office. Badly beaten."

"Beaten?"

"Both of his legs are broken. There could be spinal damage, too, but we'll know more when he wakes up. They're already running tests at the hospital."

"Who would do this to him?"

"Actually, we were hoping you could help with that."

"I have no idea."

"It seems he was having some financial trouble. A gambling problem or borrowing money from a loan shark would make a lot of sense. Do you...do you know anything about that?"

"Financial trouble?"

"It does look like the work of a loan shark."

"So, you're telling me the money's gone?"

"Honestly, I couldn't tell you. Can we get-"

"I'm sorry, but I really need to call my lawyer. Can we finish this off later?"

"You're not in any trouble, you don't need a lawyer. We're just trying to establish-"

"Oh, it's not for that. I want her to start putting the papers together. If there's no money, there's no marriage. Excuse me."

He Said He Loved Me by James D. Irwin

I was glad she was in my room, but wished she wasn't crying. The floor was littered with tissues stained with wet mascara. They looked like Rorschach tests. The box was nearly empty now. The situation was making me uncomfortable. I didn't know what I was meant to do. She was just sat there sobbing and saying ‘he said he loved me’ over and over again. He hadn't meant it, but I couldn't say that. There were a lot of things I couldn't say.

In the end I just down next to her on the edge of the bed. I put a tentative arm around her shoulder. Her sobbing stopped, just for a moment. I pulled her close, and hoped my actions would speak at least as loud as his words.

Day Six

And today's prompt is...

He Said He Loved Me