The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Body Image
by Jill Girardi

He spared no expense on the gown. He sketched it with her slim body in mind, ordered the sheerest fabric to create a window to her curve-less hips, her nonexistent bosom. In his mind, he imagined the square shoulders, the too-long neck, the chin like the waning moon. And the color! He choose a shimmering green-black, the color of a fly’s body. He cut and sewed the fabric himself, making it slightly too big so it would hang like sagging flesh from around her neck. He was, after all, the master of all designers. He could humiliate, and the world would applaud him for it. This time next year, A-Listers would be copying the style because SHE had worn it once. No one would know he had gotten his revenge- except for her. The great beauty who had slighted him would now appear ugly, even hideous, for the first time in her young life. He worked slowly, deliberately, making sure to present her with his greatest work the night before the ceremony. It would be too late to acquire a dress from another equally-prestigious designer.

The night arrived. She had no choice but to wear the unflattering gown, to be photographed in it as she accepted her award.

She was still wearing it when she killed him.

Fiction © Copyright Jill Girardi
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from author Jill Girardi:

Graveyard Smash:
Women of Horror Anthology Vol. 2

Step through the prettiest cemetery gates you’ve ever seen and experience tombstone raves and widow’s dances, Japanese snow-spirits, Aztec bruja and temple goddesses, vengeful ghosts, djinn and cannibals, vampire hunters, plague bearers, graverobbers, and terrors beyond reason. Read through the night as the dead rise from boneyards all around the world!

#FRIGHTGIRLSUMMER recommended reading!

 Available on Amazon!