Saturday, July 20, 2013

Prompt #1: Whimsical murderer

It has certainly been a while since I last updated. But I have juicy updates for you at last. My friend (let us call her EGM, for now) - or, more accurately, partner-in-all-crimes - and I have begun a little writing expedition. We each write a take on a topic that we cannot relate to whatsoever, and compare our snippets. Yes, these updates you see are our attempts to become Vladimir Nabokov. Rest assured that we are not as twisted or as bone-headed in person as our characters appear to be.

The cap? ~500 words. I hope you enjoy these blobs.

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Prompt #1: Whimsical murderer


Broken String's Version:

He licks his fingertips and smirks.

He could not remember why his favourite colour had become red. It is a colour of such passion that he had often, again for no particular reason, overlooked. But one day he discovered it suited him well.

It was the end of a routine day where, after his tedious work, his foot angled harder a notch than normal, and he found his car stained with the dark red of twisted passion, and he stood before a sprawled figure overlaid by innards and gaped.

The wounds. The battered face. They sent shivers down his spine, not of fear, but of quintessential pleasure. It was a beauty too great, the desire for which suddenly dominated the entirety of his existence. He suddenly wished to bestow this beauty to all of the dull mankind by his own hands and strength. He suddenly felt he had a purpose.

He smirked, as he is smirking now. The odour of the stains and the sight of the mangled organs excited him beyond all expectations, and he could never forget the sensations again.

He stands surrounded by weak moans, stroking the edge of a knife, eying the sea of red before him, and smirking. Human beings are so much more interesting when at his mercy. Of the many voices there are desperate begging, there are spiteful curses, there are painful screams. He is almost tempted to yield to some of the pleadings he hear, harmonious sounding as they are, adding to the beauty of the red around him. But all is futile for the beggars in the end. All are at his mercy. All will succumb to his might, and become his brush to paint the world a crimson, grimacing red.

He lets his blade run through the skins. The dull sounds of the slashes mix with the shrilled screams and send him shivers again, not of fear, but of quintessential pleasure. The red flows onto his hand. Not enough. More! More! As adrenaline dominates his movements, he laughs and thrusts the blade down, slashing, hacking, until the baggage is opened and the beans spill out with the gushing fountain of red. This is ecstasy. The acme of ecstasy.

He hooks the long line of digestive tract with his fingers and places it under his nose. Ah yes. The smell, too. The smell of red is the essence of it all. It is his favourite part of a bloodbath. He leans his face in and sniffs and sniffs like a starved bloodhound, and amidst the miserable cries of living subjects that are like music to his ears, his senses rise a new orgasm of satisfaction, of joy, of twisted passion of red, of strength of domination.

Yes, he thrills to kill; his purpose is to kill, and he is not one bit ashamed.

He licks the intestines and smirks.

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EGM's version:

I left the office early and didn’t have anywhere in particular to go, so I wandered down the trail along the lakeside. It was a rainy November afternoon, so the usual crowd of nature lovers wasn’t there. In fact, it was completely deserted, but I knew from experience that every now and then a straggler would show up, hastening to some important destination, inexplicably preferring the muddy path to the main road.

I hoped it wouldn’t be too long.

I found a nice quiet spot and stood staring out at the water while I waited. I hadn’t been here for a long time. I’d found other places to amuse myself – with a hobby like mine, you can’t be too predictable – but this was one of the best. Not as cliché as a dark alley, where all the other idiots went. People were on their guard in alleys; sometimes they had weapons, and there was no point getting mixed up in all that. Maybe the others enjoyed the adrenaline rush of the fight, but not me. I preferred it quick and easy.

Finally, a boy came around the bend in the path. He was wearing a backpack and slouching slightly from the weight – probably a highschooler skipping class. He glanced at me without much interest as he approached, then went back to staring at the ground.

I slipped my gun out of my pocket and shot him in the chest before he even realized anything was wrong.

He flopped to the ground like a marionette cut from its strings. I went and stood over his body to watch him die. That’s the best part. His mouth opened as if to scream but only blood dribbled out. His eyes did the screaming instead, flitting around wildly as if looking in the right direction might save him.

Of course, it didn’t. I watched eagerly as his eyes went unfocused, then dulled. The eyes fascinated me every time. I would see something draining out of them, something imperceptible until it was gone. This one drained fast.

When it was over, I left the body where it was and headed for the main road. Somebody would find it soon enough and call the police. I would read about it in the paper the next day, express my horror around the water cooler. Nobody would suspect me; I didn’t even know the boy’s name.

I don’t understand why people think it’s so difficult to get away with murder. All those idiots who get caught? They’re making such elementary mistakes. Honestly, if you just put a little thought and effort into it, it’s the easiest thing in the world.

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And that, my friends, is your dose of disturbance for the day.