creative writing

1. Sarah Dantin
Intro Forensic Toxicology
Section 62343
January 22, 2014
The Truth Behind the Burn
In England, in the year 1666, there was a woman by the name of Persephone Smith. She was a
petite mother of three. She had a husband who was a silver smith. They looked like a happy family. To
everyone, but looks can be very deceiving. After the birth of their third child, Mr. Smith began to stay
out late at night. He only came home in the early hours of the morning saying that he had slept at the
shop because of a heavy work load or that he and his friends went out for a few drinks. Persephone
started to suspect that there was something amiss. With this in mind, she proceeded to follow him one
night and find out what was really going on. What she saw, she never expected to see. She followed him
and found that he was at her best friend’s house and the two were in a deep, romantic embrace. This
just would not do. She decided to get revenge. Sweet revenge was what she craved, but did not know
how to go about it. She wrote a letter to her cousin in France seeking assistance. Time passed by, but
she did not let on to her knowledge of the affair between her husband and her best friend. Finally, she
received a small package from her cousin with a letter attached. The letter stated she was very sorry for
the events that occurred but the powder in the box would solve the problem. The powder was a
powerful poison that was obtained from a well-known sorcerer. There were also directions on how she
should go about using the poison. The instructions said that she should serve this powder in a wine or
pastry due to its sweet taste. A few hours after they had ingestion, they would both drop dead from
“natural causes.” A few days later, she sent the children to her parents’ house saying that she and her
husband needed alone time. That afternoon, she invited her friend over for tea and pastries, certain to
dose her friend’s favorite in the powder. That night, she prepared dinner for her husband with a large
glass of wine also spiked with the poison. He told her he had to get back to the shop to do some more
work and she let him go with a smile on her face. Once he left he headed to his mistress’s house only to
walk in and find her laying on the ground. He knelt by her body not knowing what was wrong with her.
To his dismay she already felt cold and there was nothing he could do. As he attempted to stand his legs
gave out and he realized he felt weak, before he knew what was happening he too was lying on the
ground. Shortly after her husband’s death Persephone arrived at the house, she grabbed a nearby lamp
and poured the oil out onto the two bodies. As she withdrew the letter received from her cousin, she lit
a match and caught the letter on fire. Taking one last look at the two bodies, she threw the letter onto
them engulfing their bodies in flames. Leaving, she took one last look and said, “Revenge is ever so
sweet”. Sadly, the fire got out of control and began to engulf everything around it. What started as
burning passion of love turned into a double murder that caused an entire city to be destroyed in what
has come to be known as the Great Fire of London.