Axel

Fiction. Short stories about the moment a small lie gets expensive.

[Axel @akxql]

My best friend took $60 for a tray of food we were supposed to be giving away.

I was standing right there. So were the six people we hadn't fed yet, including my dad.

She put the money in her pocket and went, “Don't look at me like that.”

[Axel @akxql]

At checkout, my best friend paid half. I paid the rest.

The volunteer asked for two names. My friend took the pen and wrote hers under mine.

Our first lesson was Saturday. Neither of us knew ballroom.

This one’s fiction.

[Axel @akxql]

My best friend leaned over at the charity auction. “Bid once. The couple behind us wants the lessons.”

I raised my card at $500 for twelve ballroom lessons for two. I was only meant to get things moving.

Nobody else moved.

[Axel @akxql]

I leaned over. “I'm not paying five hundred.”

She put a hand on my arm. “Please. I'll pay half.”

“Sold for five hundred.”

The room clapped. I put my card down.

[Axel @akxql]

My husband asked her to stay. She said no. He paid her for the week.

After she left, he put the pieces in a shoebox.

“I need a night away,” he said. He picked up his coat and left.

This one’s fiction.

[Axel @akxql]

My husband was telling our cleaner not to come back because she’d broken the blue vase his mother made.

I was the one who broke it.

She stood in the hallway with her gloves on, looking from him to me.

I said nothing.

[Axel @akxql]

She took off her gloves. “I didn’t touch it.”

My husband said, “She told me you did.”

They both looked at me.

“No. I broke it. I panicked. She wasn’t even in the room.”

The cleaner put our spare key on the table.

[Axel @akxql]

His girlfriend put her daughter’s coat on. “We’re going.”

My brother followed them outside, asking her to wait.

I put the cake back in its box.

I carried it home.

This one’s fiction.

[Axel @akxql]

My brother cut the birthday cake and told everyone he’d made it.

I let him.

His girlfriend’s little girl picked up her fork. “No almonds, right?”

“None,” he said.

[Axel @akxql]

He put the knife down. “I thought you used normal flour.”

“You never asked.”

His girlfriend had asked him to handle the party. He forgot the cake, so I baked it at six that morning.

“Just let me have this one,” he’d said.

I thought the lie ended at who baked it.

[Axel @akxql]

He looked at my sister.

“You said you were an only child.”

She asked him to come outside with her. He said he’d rather go home.

I passed Mum the potatoes. Neither of us ate until the front door closed.

This one’s fiction.

[Axel @akxql]

“You said you were telling him tonight.”

On their first date she’d said she was an only child. She told me he’d complained about his ex’s family always being around.

I let her call me a coworker once. Somehow, now I was catering.

[Axel @akxql]

Mum had set four places. I hung the apron on the door and took mine.

Her boyfriend smiled. “You joining us?”

Before my sister could answer, I said, “Yeah. I live here. I’m her sister.”

[Axel @akxql]

My sister grabbed me in the hallway before I could say hello to her boyfriend.

“He thinks you’re the caterer.”

I’d spent two hours cooking their dinner. She was holding an apron out to me.

[Axel @akxql]

I put the broom down.

“No. He said he was locked out. I broke the window. He sold the guitar this morning.”

My brother said my name. His wife asked for the buyer’s number.

He unlocked his phone and gave it to her.

I finished sweeping while she called.

This one’s fiction.

[Axel @akxql]

His wife came in through the open front door while we were sweeping.

He hugged her. “Someone broke in. They took your guitar.”

She looked at me. “You found the window?”

My brother kept sweeping. “Tell her.”

[Axel @akxql]

“I need you to say you found it like that.”

His wife’s guitar was gone. Her dad played it at their wedding.

“I sold it this morning. We’re two months behind on rent.” He checked the clock. “She’ll be back in ten.”

“You already broke the window,” he said.

[Axel @akxql]

My brother called from his back garden and said he’d locked himself out. He handed me a brick and pointed at the small kitchen pane.

I broke it.

Then he pulled his keys out and opened the front door.