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Melanie quickly but carefully unlocked her front door. She was mindful, as she always was, that her husband might be lying in wait to kill her. Although she felt fairly confident she'd already won her and Jonathan's game of cat and mouse with her latest gambit, you could never be too careful.

She reached into her purse and withdrew a small pistol, before standing to side of the door and opening it. Then she dove inside, rolled forward, and came to her feet in a crouch, sweeping her weapon left and right.

The living room was clear, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the interior door to the garage in the dining room was slightly ajar. She whirled to face the door, and then approached in slowly, her head on a swivel.

Again, she stepped to the side of the door, and slapped it with her palm to make it swing open. A small mirror that she kept in her purse, when angled just right, showed her no one was inside without her having to leave cover.

Cautiously, she stepped down into the garage. To her surprise and bewilderment, she found that a large plexiglass enclosure had been set around a folding table inside. Two gaps had been cut in the plexiglass, through which two telescopic painter's poles had been inserted. One had a sharp knife duct-taped to the end, and the other hand the grabber she used to reach objects on high shelves tied to it, with a wire running down the pole to control the jaws.

To her dismay, on the table behind the plexiglass she saw an opened Amazon box, the very one she'd prepared earlier that day. Beside it on the table lay the note she'd put inside, along with a rock of the appropriate weight to represent its contents.

Bomb. You are dead, the note said.

She frowned in consternation. Except Jonathan clearly wasn't "dead". He must have noticed something off about the package, and gone to Home Depot to construct this makeshift blast shield. It wasn't a real blast shield that would protect you from an explosion, perhaps -- but then, neither was a note and a rock a real bomb.

As she was about to turn away, a pair of strong arms seized her from behind. She felt the dull, rounded edge of a butter knife slide lightly across her throat, the coldness of the metal making her shiver.

"Where did you come from?" she whispered, hoarsely, her heart pounding.

"Shh, you can't talk. I just slit your throat." Jonathan whispered back, affectionately, and pulled her against him. He kissed her neck gently, and added, "I took the shelves out of the tool cabinet so I could fit inside, hid the shelves and the tools, and then I just waited. For hours."

Melanie let out a blissful sigh, melting into the "deadly" embrace of the man she loved -- the man she'd "killed", and been "killed" by, dozens of times over.

"Aww..." she said, tilting her head up to look at him smiling down at her. "You really know how to make a girl feel special."

This was adorable, great job!

Oh wow. I loved this slice of life. You captured an adorable relationship through... Warfare. LOL!

You're a great writer

Heck, I want that

[removed]

"So I was checking my mailbox for a pipebomb recently..." -RussianBadger 2022ish

The couple were looking for ways to have some fun in their relationship. When you have a child to look after, the spark seems to fall out of place. Looking for help, they needed advice anywhere they could get it.

The man was stumped for ideas. He thought back to his academy years, and a game he and his friends would play. Everybody had their target, and they would each search for the target they were assigned and tag them. The one who succeeded got the next target, and so on and so forth. He remembered the game fondly, it was one of those experiences at academy that made him the man he would become.

He'd teach it to the family that night.

He showed it to his wife and daughter as a game the three of them would play. It seemed to work well. He thought he could let his daughter win on a lark, but she seemed to not need the help. They would have some fun playing, then studying, then off to bed. It was nice. After the game was done, he went to his wife. "Now that you see the rules, let's have a game for ourselves. You and I, no need for our daughter."

His wife was taken aback.

"I didn't do well in it, but sure, it sounds like fun."

He was happy. He made his plans. He went to a friend, and got a box, then put the card in it saying 'Bomb. You are dead.' The box was sent back a couple days later, made to look like an urgent message.

His wife knew she was it. She had no clue how to play the game right, but she seemed to know how.

That night, she was waiting for him, still dressed in her work outfit. She met him at the door. She smiled, and prepared. She was still a little unsure what the game's title meant, but clearly she had the spirit.

A little too much.

"Mama, what have you done?"

"I thought that's the game Papa wanted to play!"

OFFICIAL REPORT:

"Operation Strix has failed.

Twilight is dead.

The "Thorn Princess" is responsible for his murder.

Awaiting new plan."

this is stupid cute, amazing work!

I laughed my ass off after reading the ending

When you know that the twist is something expectable, always best to pile onto the twist to give an extra bonus to the reader. If that means turning into fanfiction, so be it.

?

[removed]

I did not get it

Theres a bit of a fanfic element to this one, so some of the context from the original series is needed, especially for the last part. But basically the man proposed this assassination game to his wife and she took it... a bit too seriously

This, thank you for explaining it for the person.

For people who don't know the series it's got the fanfic element for/need the context: link

See the response in a different reply for context.

Yah i know but the end idk about Twilight Oh heard of spy x family if not for the style and was englush would've watched

Me too! Reminds me of when I used to ambush my roommate with nerf guns. Even worked out a few booby traps. I could definitely see myself doing something like the story above. XD

Sounds like fun. If I ever get a partner I'll suggest that

It helps to get creative too. For example rubber chickens' heads can be removed and attached to an air filled balloon. I call them scream grenades and depending on the brand it can make a very scream like sound or sometimes closer to an air raid siren. Then twist the baloon and kink it into a door frame. Repeat as desired. As soon as the door opens the tortured screams of the souls burning in hell are released all at once. XD