A short story I wrote. I was limited to 600-700words and had to use silences to tell part of the story. 

(All comments, constructive, criticisms, feedback is welcome) 

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The atmosphere was uncomfortably quiet. The yellow glow of the dining room lights lit up everywhere. The sounds of knives and forks, clinking on plates was all that could be heard. A photo of three people hung on a wall, a very young boy stood smiling, with a bike by his side. A couple were behind him, a chubby woman standing, with a fake smile, stood by her husband. He was a stocky man, with stubble which looked as rough as rust.

Simon, a baby-faced boy, in his early teens, sat chewing laboriously. He occasionally flicked his eyes upwards to look at his mother’s face. Jennifer was her name. Her head was slightly turned away from Simon, but he couldn’t help but notice the slightly darker area of her make-up-layered face.

“So Simon; how was school?”

The gruff sound of his father’s voice made Simon wince in his mind; that voice was like gravel to him.

“It was fine” the soft voice of Simon replied. Larry scoffed at Simon.

“Just fine?... is that it?....alright then.”

Jennifer looked up at the wall photo, in a shadowed corner of the room. She could just about make out the images. She then focused on the wine bottle in the middle of the dining room table. She took a look at the empty glass in front of her and filled it up. Jennifer was uninterested in her food. She picked up the glass of wine and downed it hurriedly. Simon just looked on in pity. Larry sat stuffing his face, not bothering to chew with his mouth closed. He used his hand to wipe his mouth. He turned to his wife with a gluttonous smile on his face.

“Thanks darling, You know how much I love this stuff; well today it tastes a little off, but it’s still nice".

Jennifer just nodded in acknowledgement of the insulting compliment.

Simon continued staring at his mother’s face, this time he looked straight at her. The faint mark of a bruise was not easy to hide. Simon had flashbacks of when his mother used to be chubby and lively. Now she looked worn & tired. A woman once outgoing, was now shy & withdrawn. It seemed something… or someone had taken that away. Larry once again wiped his mouth with his hand. Simon turned slightly and couldn’t help noticing the deep pinkish marks on his father’s knuckles. Larry clocked onto Simon’s glare, and he stared back, his cold-eyes sending a message that that said, ‘If you know anything, you better keep it to yourself.’

Larry belched, and stopped for a second,

“Honey? Are you sure you made this correctly? It has a different taste.”

Before any reply could be made, he continued filling his wide mouth. Simon looked on hiding his disgust. He looked down at his plate of half eaten lamb & potatoes, and continued eating. All this while, Jennifer had never looked at her husband directly; but now as Larry continued eating, she seemed to stare harder after each mouthful he took, her dull-eyes willing him to eat and eat.

Later that night, Larry staggered into the bathroom, knocking things down in an desperate effort to steady himself. Air-freshener, insecticide, perfumes, all fell into the sink in clatter. The bathroom was filled with the dark blue glow of the night sky. Larry dropped to his knees and began vomiting violently.

“Jen!” he screamed out. “J..J..J- uerghhhh”

His words were blurred out by the content of his dinner rushing from his stomach to his mouth.

“H..h..heeelrgh!”

More sickness.

And then silence. Jennifer and Simon came out and stood in the doorway, Jennifer stood staring at the unconscious body; slumped on the ground. The air was filled with the stench of vomit.

Simon stood staring at the container of insecticide. He thought it was odd that it was there.

They had never had bugs before.