Unfortunate

The match sparked into life and briefly lit up his face as he lit his cigarette. He took a couple of drags before turning his attention back to the man tied up on the floor. He looked at him for a few seconds before smirking a bit and then bending down in front of the man, balancing on the tips of his feet. Again he stared for a few more seconds and then took another drag, then put the cigarette out on the man's cheek. The man groaned and his faced clenched up in pain but he did not scream or yell, even with his mouth gagged. He was mostly silent.

"You know," said the man tossing the cigarette butt away. "It's a shame your pretty little wife and her sister weren't here tonight. We were really looking forward to sharing their company after all this messy business was done. But what can you do. I guess we could wait for them but since your bitch ass won't tell me when they'll be back we can't really afford to hang around too long. But you know that's fine, makes it worse for you, more fun for us."

He pulled out a switchblade from his back pocket and flicked it out.

"You ever had a small, thin blade like this here stiletto slowly slid under your finger nails, Mark?"

The man's eyes slightly grew wider as he began to violently struggle at the ropes binding him.

"Calm down now, we won't get to that just yet. I was just curious. Though it seems that you haven't had that before, but seems like you know what it must be like. Yeah it is not fun let me tell you..."

Mark still struggled against the ropes and was now grunting and most likely trying to yell against his gags.

"You messed with the wrong people, Mark. See next time you...well there won't be a next time will there? I sure hope you've learned your lesson. And if you haven't, don't worry...you'll be dead very soon."

The man pulled out a small box from his jacket pocket, drawing out another cigarette and a match again and lighting it up. This time he dropped the still burning match on the ground, then took a couple of drags and tossed the burning cigarette to the curtains. The man closed the switchblade, tucked the box back into his pocket and stood back up and walked towards the kitchen where he began rummaging through the cupboards. He carelessly threw out anything he was not interested in until he seemed to finally give up his search.

"You don't have any damn tea in this house, Mark? How terribly un-classy my friend."

A car door outside slammed.

Mark's wife and her sister were home.

The man smirked. "Well now, how terribly fortunate."

The cigarette butt slowly smoldering, slowly began to heat the curtains it lay under. They ignited. The man smiled as the fire quickly began to spread.

“Well I best be on my way,” he sang loudly. “I forgot to tell you I spilled a bit of gas around the house, so sloppy of me. You take care now, Mark.”

Outside a raven flew low over a burning house while two women stood by hysterically crying as fire fighters attempted to put out the flames. It circled around surveying the situation before landing in a nearby tree, it’s back to the blazing scene, now staring at the full moon. What a peaceful night, thought the raven. But not for those folks down there. How unfortunate. Unfortunate indeed.