The Birthday Ax
by F.J. Gouldner

He had just moved to the country and life was good. No more madness of the city and its painfully frenetic pace. No more feeling as though you were strapped to a pulsating juggernaut waiting for something terrible to happen.

The country brought him much needed peace. And he grew closer to nature as the days went by. He took to chopping wood. With each swing of the ax he distanced himself further and further from the city and his past.

Then, on his birthday, the woman he had been seeing bought him a beautiful bone-handled ax with intricate onyx inlays and a gleaming razor sharp head. It even came with a hard shell case as if it were a musical instrument, red velvet interior and all.

She had intended that he use the ax for chopping wood.

But he had other plans.

This tool was far too fine to be used for mere wood chopping. Oh no, he was definitely going back to his old ways.

And the girl was going to be his first victim.

©2002 F.J. Gouldner

F.J. Gouldner has been writing since he can remember. He spent 6 years overseas in France and was published in several small journals while in Europe. He is currently in the process of becoming the "King of Flash-Fiction" and is slowly saturating the publishing world one story at a time.

"My goal is to pack a serious punch with my writing. Short, straight, right to the point. No hemming or hawing whatsoever. I think of my short stories as persistent jabs thrown by a tough young boxer. There are so many of them
coming at you they eventually wear you down."