Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 256

This week's picture prompt first appeared on the account of eclecticmark5909 on a social media site called Ingur, so I am assuming it is his own picture taken in the graveyard (and I can't find anything to say otherwise). 

Now some people believe this to be a 'mortsafe' created to deter body snatching and grave-robbing in the 18th and 19th centuries, BUT this particular image is of Seath Mor Sgorfhiaclach's grave in a secluded area of the forest of Rothiemurc­hus estate, near Aviemore, Scotland. He was a 14th century chief of the Clan Shaw, and Suzie Lennox, a historian specialising in body snatching, said it was put there to stop people removing the stones that lie on top of it - because they are cursed, and people touching them have died! Read her blog post about it. It's fascinating. 

Of course this image lends more to something being stopped from getting out raather than something getting in - or does it? 

The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here. 

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Sweet Revenge

She kicked it, but all that did was leave her hopping and her toe hurting. Mandy hated him – if he was still alive she’d strangle him, here in public at his graveside. She didn’t care if they carted her off.

She’d put up with him for years. His stupid jokes and his stupid laugh that always grated on her. She’d ingratiated herself with his spoilt, stuck-up children, pretending to be okay with not having one of their own because he didn’t want any more. She’d tolerated all his groping and pawing – even in public – letting him think she loved it. She shuddered. Anyone watching would think it was from the cold. And all along he must have known, if he’d done this.

She’d sat there at the Will reading, ready to receive some kind of recognition for all the work she’d put in. All the years of pretending to care, even wiping his arse while he was sick, but it had all been for nothing. He’d seen straight through it.

She wanted to scream, and she could, people would think it was grief, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. She had no doubt he was there watching her. It was the kind of thing he’d do – although usually with other people, not her. He loved to stick around and reap his sweet revenge. She’d been foolish to think she’d gotten away with it.

Mandy looked at the cage he’d had put over his grave to stop her getting in. He knew she’d try and find a way to exhume him and take what he had put in his coffin. They said you couldn’t take it with you, but he had. And she hadn’t minded, because she knew there was plenty more. She just hadn’t known she wouldn’t be seeing any of it.

Her mind tried to think of ways round it, ways to get into it. How far did this thing go down? But she knew her husband and how thorough he’d always been. She’d be a fool to try. She considered coming back in the dead of night with a blow torch, but they’d know it was her – who else knew what was in his coffin with him? He’d made sure his kids didn’t. But he hadn’t stiffed them the way he’d stiffed her.

She snorted – stiff, that was funny; he’d not been stiff for years. Clearly he was making up for it.

The laugh broke her rage. She sighed, and looked at the strange lattice work on the grave. It reminded her of something. It was similar to some iron work he’d had made for their home in Greece – a home she still had access to. It gave her an idea. Mandy smiled. She’d show him sweet revenge.