I like the challenge of writing short stories of 1,000 words of less. This one is 732 words long. I’ve tried to make them count. I hope you enjoy this little slice of fantasy.

SMILES AT MIDNIGHT

©MikeFinn 2025

I woke to the smell of coffee and warm croissants with an undertone of sulphur that I was beginning to associate with happiness.

I stretched, looked at the massive figure filling my bedroom doorway and said, “I will never get used to having a demon bringing me breakfast in bed.”

“Demon is a derogatory term devised by humans who feel threatened by beings who are smarter, stronger and sexier than them.”

“,,,and who have horns, hooves and eyes with rectangular pupils and smooth scarlet skin with ebony markings that move according to their mood,.” I teased.

“Like I said, sexier than them.”

“And you demons have scary names like Baal and Beelzebub and Moloch,” I said. 

“Names imposed on us by priests who wanted to inspire fear to keep control of their flock. Besides, in your language, my name is Smiles At Midnight. How scary is that?”

“It depends on what you’re smiling at.”

“Last night it was you. And you didn’t seem scared. Although you did scream a little.”

“Don’t you go smiling at me like that this morning. Let me eat my breakfast. We have a big day ahead of us. I need to keep my strength up.”

“You eat. I’ll watch.”

“You’re still smiling.”

“I enjoy watching.”

I let him watch. Then I let him smile one more time.

Afterwards, we showered together and he painted the runes onto my body that would protect and strengthen me for what I had to do today.. 

I looked at myself in the mirror, fascinated by the way the runes transformed me. I was naked, but I didn’t look vulnerable or even sexy. I looked like vengeance. 

Smile At Midnight came up behind me and met my gaze in the mirror. He wasn’t smiling any more.

‘Are you ready to cut yourself free from your past and take the next step in becoming who you were always meant to be?”

“It’s a big step,” I said. 

“The first human sacrifice always feels like a big step. The second will be easier. Are you ready?”

I looked again at my image in the mirror; strong, fierce, unforgiving. She was who I wanted to be.

“Yes,” I said. 

He wrapped his arms around me, worked his magic. Instantly, we were transported to a tall, round room, made of ancient stone. It smelled of sulphur and blood. The only light came from a circular grate in the ceiling. A chain descended from it. Hanging upside down from the end of the chain, just as Smiles At Midnight had promised, wasJames Dolan, my husband. Throughout the ten years of our marriage, James had beaten me and abused me, wearing me down and eventually driving me to the point of suicide. I wondered how long James had been hanging there. Then I decided I didn’t care.

Smiles At Midnight was hidden from James by a glamour. James thought that I was alone, and, even though I was naked and painted in runes, James was certain he could dominate me. 

He was bound and gagged and hanging upside down, but his eyes still burned with fury. Despite the ball gag filling his mouth, he was trying to shout at me. To scold me. To fill me with fear. James was too arrogant to be afraid and too used to power to understand that he no longer had any. 

I met James’ fierce stare. I said nothing. I held out my right hand. Smiles At Midnight placed a knife in it. 

James finally started to struggle then. From his perspective, the knife had appeared out of nowhere. It startled him, but he wasn’t yet afraid. He never had had much imagination.

I looked down at the knife. It was a Sabatier paring knife. Small but wickedly sharp. It was the knife I  had taken from our kitchen a week ago on the night I’d decided to sit in a bath and slice open my arms. I was in the water, about to make the first cut, when Smiles At Midnight appeared and offered me a different path. 

I’d come a long way since then. 

I looked up at James, and suddenly he looked afraid. I realised that it was because I was smiling. 

I let my smile widen and moved towards him to take the next step in becoming the person Smiles At Midnight had told me I could be.