CHAPTER 1: THE SMELL FROM HIS SIDE OF THE BED
Melissa first noticed the smell sometime in April.
At first, she thought it was the old house.
Then she blamed the air conditioner.
Then the pipes.
But month after month, the smell only got worse.
Every night it filled their bedroom.
Rotten.
Sickening.
Impossible to ignore.
And somehow, it always came from the same place.
Jason's side of the bed.
"Seriously, you don't smell that?" she asked one evening.
Jason looked up from his laptop.
"Smell what?"
"The smell."
He shrugged.
"I think you're imagining it."
Imagining it?
Melissa almost laughed.
The odor was so strong she had started sleeping with the window open.
She hired pest control.
Nothing.
She called a plumber.
Nothing.
She even replaced the carpet.
Still nothing.
Then one day, while changing the sheets, she noticed something strange.
A small tear underneath Jason's side of the mattress.
And when she touched it, Jason practically jumped across the room.
"Leave it alone."
Melissa stared at him.
"It's just a tear."
"I said leave it alone."
For the first time in seven years of marriage, she felt genuinely uneasy.
Why was he acting like that?
Three days later, Jason left town for a business conference.
The moment he was gone, Melissa grabbed a flashlight and a utility knife.
She walked into the bedroom.
Locked the door.
May you like
And sliced open the mattress.
Seconds later, she wished she hadn't.
