The Final Dinner

The In-Laws.

"Honey what's taking you so long!" Logan had been waiting in the living room for almost an hour.

Ohhhh... if he only knew what was on his wife's mind.

This type of late wasn't just your typical getting dress late, oh no it was the kind of late that made Lily contemplate going into the woods and willingly let a bear slowly chew away at her legs than visit her in-laws late.

They were ungrateful, arrogant, pompous over the top little shits that deserve a first class R.I.P package from death himself and she'd gladly pay all the expenses.

"I'm almost ready dear" the words could be heard as clear as looking at the stars through a window at the night sky, but as difficult to translate using a vocal device translator locked behind a vault, encrypted by the de-Vinci code written on ancient stone in a time that never existed.

After ten minutes of facial exercises in the mirror she was ready.

"You seen my keys?" Logan enquired to their daughter Kate.

While looking at her sweet little baby girl a tear of joy rolled down her cheek.

Kate their daughter had been shaking her head left then right to the question asked by her dad.

"Why are you tearing up honey" Lily also shook her head left then right a silent approval that she wasn't alone, maybe just maybe her daughter understood.

Weeks upon weeks they'd been trying to stop her from hiding everything that could fit into that itty bitty cute hands of hers.

She'd always heard mythical stories of that rare instant in life when your kid would do something so amazing it would leave you speechless.

Basking in happiness for a my-NOOT moment she'd been so proud knowing all too well it would take him at the least an hour to find them.

She couldn't have been more wrong... at that very second she saw her daughter Kate reach into her pockets, giggling as though taunting her, out of all the days she'd choose to help out it just had to be this one didn't it.

She'd been given the gift of seeing it all play out in slow motion, before Kate formed the words that would label her a terrorist, a traitor to the nation of Lilydom and an F in the academy of mommy she knew she was screwed .

"Da...da, key, key, key" if humans could disintegrate and blow away into the wind this was the opportune moment to see it happen.

Her mind screamed ' Mutiny I tell you, mutiny!'  while her mouth muttered "Oh how sweet" in a monotone voice.

This was it, it was time, the pie she made had been sitting on the table waiting for her on the way out and she had improvised all the facial expression needed to perfection, all that was left of her was to drop off her kid at her parent's house on the way.

Lucky bastard she thought to herself, she tried everything to avoid having to go two years in a row but the family pinned her into a corner and made her promise to come again.

One and a Half hour to drop off their daughter and an hour drive after that into the depths of hell, those beautiful memories, the love of thanksgivings, the smile and happiness she felt as a child all ruined by the devil herself called Glenda or formally known by her husband as 'MOM'.

They'd reach hell's layer and obviously the devil had been waiting to greet them.

"The tables are all set and names are written where you'll be sitting" no pleasantries such as how was your trip? or nice to see you, the devil really was as busy as written in the bible.

Glenda ushering them on way in.

"Oh, I'll take that dear" taking the pie that was in Lily's hand signaling one of her other sons to put it somewhere out of sight.

"There's no room on the table... maybe next year" and it had began.

First smile just as she practiced, lips, no teeth, eyes forward and try her best to stay away from sharp objects when close to her mother-in-law.

Phase one had been completed successfully.

The chatting had started, soon to be interrupted by the knocking of glasses ready to lie to God like a dog telling the truth about chewing on your shoe.

"We should all thank our God for the mercy of life, even though my God will bless others with it anyway because he's the real deal" Lily's eye flew open in wonder who the hell is this woman praying too.

She was pretty sure no God would accept a pray like that but to each his own as her husband wasn't a strong believer in anything.

The cutting of the turkey gifted to the head of the household, finally the madness was over.

Who the hell prays for half an hour, she knew she fell asleep at some point because the last thing she remembered after the second dear lord was amen.

Either way she'd made it through first phase which was the beginning of dinner.

"Where's Kate?" one of the sisters asked in a polite manner she knew the trap all too well, surely it was a loaded question with intent.

She had been prepared for this.

"With my mom" a calculated answer follow by an irresistible blow,

Lily continued "Heard you bought a new house, how exciting" she knew Kelly loved to brag and talk about how better her life was than anyone else.

Like taking candy from a baby she'd maneuver her way out of every possible conversation like it had been written in a script for a TV segment.

Technically the script was written in her brain and rehearsed in the mirror flawlessly.

"When are you guys going to stop living like rabbits and by a house?" Kelly husband interjected.

"When you guys get married or have a kid maybe then I'll think about it."

Her husband playing defense in a game he clearly didn't know he was a part of and there it was another win for her team.

Kelly wanted a kid more than anything in the world but for some reason her husband refused every time, maybe that's the reason she  bragged so much about money.

Mission two completed, only two left to go before she could make a quick escape.

Another empty plate meant another loose cannon,

"Lily heard you've been contesting having any other kids with Logan" Cheeky little shit thought he'd caught her off guard but checkers are for kids, chess were for mental stimulation but war oh yes anything in war was fair game and she was good at that.

"Yeah, about that I've been talking to nurse Carla about it and..." He stopped her mid conversation.

"I agree with you as you've already been doing a wonderful job with one kid already, take your time no need to rush these things" he was cheating on his wife with Carla.

 Lily had only found out a couple days ago, who in their right mind would leave for a two to three hour drive to her boring little town to 'visit' the free clinic when there's one like two block away from where they lived that was usually always empty.

Beside she and Carla really did become friends.

She and Carla sent his wife a mail with the photos surely she'd receive it on her return home.

"Happy thanksgiving to everyone" Lily smiled using the number four on her list of facial practices, it was a beauty too she called it the conspicuous smugness .

Completely avoided Glenda at every turn or eye contact as messing with the mom directly would surely put a dent in her relationship with the entire family.

"You do eat a lot, seems like you're putting on a bit of size" yep Lily knew it would come eventually Glenda wasn't the one hit wonder either, she was the type to keep swinging till she hit her mark.

Lily resorted to using her husband's dad as bait as he'd been the only nice person to her in the family.

" Mr. Roland gave me some of the families recipe so I've been trying it out a lot lately maybe I should stop, I guess" looking to Mr. Roland who clearly was a jokester of devious comebacks.

"Well, look at my wife she's been using it for ten years and she still hasn't lost a single pound" he laughed.

Satan couldn't launch a direct attack at me either in fear that her husband would call her out.

Lily excused herself for a bit and got lost on the way to the washroom, she hated that the house was so complicated to maneuver about.

She'd seen that basement door before... this time though it was unlocked.

Thinking why not take a peek, on her way down she noticed it was flawlessly cleaned to the point of sparkling.

Seeing a wooden crate with a button was about the weirdest thing there.

Above it had old news reports of missing young ladies clearly aging further back than time itself.

She chuckled a bit thinking maybe it was a montage of family members until she saw the most recent one which was a picture of her husband ex who'd been missing for a while now.

She'd been all over the news just recently.

Nothing good would come of pressing the button to the crate she had to get the hell out of there.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm..." she heard mumbling coming from inside the crate.

Finally combating the fear and letting curiosity get the better of her, she decided to push on the blinking red button.

Shelves pop up automatically there were skulls with a picture beside it on one side and another secure compartment that had a lid which she removed.

She stumbled as far back as humanly possible with what she saw.

"You probably shouldn't have done that" her husband, his father and the rest of the family staring at her terrified face, surely not one she practiced in the mirror...