"Hey dad."Carl called.
"I've been looking for you for quite a while."
Dad pushed himself from underneath the truck.
He was trying to fix up something that was loose.
He dropped the spanner.
"Hello son...how is it's going?"
"Good... where have you been?"
He got up and grabbed a rag from the roof of the car to clean his palms.
"I've been around."
Carl scrunched his nose as he noticed a bruise on dad's face.
"What happened there?"
Dad shrugged it off.
"It's nothing...I got into a small argument with a customer who thinks his wife is cheating on him with me...can...can..you imagine?"
He chuckled mildly and sat down on a bench close by.
Carl joined him to sit down.
"That's really messed up."
It was about 10 minutes to 5 pm that evening. The breeze was becoming cooler and the day was becoming a bit cozier.
Carl inhaled the sweet smell of the forest.
"Sorry we were late dad. There was one hella traffic down town. Something major happened."
Dad heaved a sigh.
"I heard...man's body was found in the town square,dead with his fingers cut off."
He sounded worried.
"This is bad...bad for business! In fact.. our lives may be in danger too!
It...it... nevermind Carl...go in."
Carl shook his head.
"Its what? Dad? What?!"
"I think it may be a serial attack. I think whoever did this, would strike again. Soon! We may have a killer in South Jivenson!! This has never happened before!!!"
Carl shook his head unbelievably.
"How...how...how did you hear about this anyway?"
"Jireh told me."
Jireh was sort of dad's friend.
Frankly,we didn't like him. He was too loud and talkative.
Carl nodded slowly and began to pace around.
Forget what he said before!
This wasn't fun...this was scary as hell!!
***
Mr Thompson staggered slowly and drunkenly in the little path way at the east of the cafe.
He wondered why he felt so tipsy.
He was just taking a little bottle of Black Stout.
It was not supposed to make him feel so drunk...at least not yet.
Maybe Gwen was right.
He was getting old!
He could make out the time on his watch. How he did it,he didn't know.
But there was one thing he knew;it was 6 o'clock pm.
He seriously didn't mean to hit Gwen again. He was sorry.
She was a good woman, putting up with him all the time!!
He looked up to the sky.
He could make out the full moon through the think overhead branches of the trees.
He knew he had walked too far off.
Nevermind,Gwen would find him. He laughed. It was her job after all. She was always going to be the obedient b**ch.
"WHY AM...AM...WHY...AM I SOOOOOO SOOOOO DRUNK??"
He screamed into the woods.
His words were slurred.
He missed the city. Why did he even agree to this stupid road trip. He frowned at the beer bottle in his hand.
It was too cheap for him.
He wanted red wine,not cheap old beer!!!
Gwen said it would be a good time to "bond"!
'Ptuahh'! He spat.
"STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!!!!"
He yelled.
Maybe she chose it so that she could come to this stupid cafe and flirt with it's stupid owner.
Thank God he gave him a piece of himself!
Ungrateful b**ch and her sugar daddy huh?
He spat again.
Not on his watch!!!
He sat on a log near by...more like fell on the log.
He had walked too far. He could not even paint out where he was.
How long had he even walked?
2 hours? 3 hours?
He was almost dozing off when he heard some ruffles in the bushes. At first,he thought it was just a rabbit or something.
He chose to ignore it.
He heard it again.
Maybe it was the alcohol kicking in and messing up with his head.
But before he could make any logical assumption when he heard the third ruffle, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head.
Then... darkness!!!
***
Thompson blinked his eyes continuously.
It was blur at first.Really really blur.
Maybe this was the Great White Throne of Judgement.
This was the day he was going to be thrown to hell!!
Then...SPLASH!!!!
The water washed out any thoughts he had.
Tom came to his senses as he entered into a coughing fit.
He tried to move but his body was tied tightly to a chair.
It looked like a basement of a house. It was painted white throughout.
The light was bright and it shone proudly in the room.
He looked around briefly.
The only things in the room were a large table ( really, really large), two sharp knives (really, really sharp), on extra chair and a black bag.
He was in deep shit trouble and he knew it.
A figure walked into the room.
A figure he knew too well.
"G...G...Gwen...wha... what's go...going... on?"
At this point,he was sure he had peed on himself.
She drew out the other chair and say down calmly in front of him.
"Hello Tommy."
She smiled calmly.
"Wha...wha...what kind..kind of sick joke is this, Gwen?"
He eyes widened in anger.
"JOKE?!!! JOKE!!!! THIS IS NOT A JOKE TOM!!! THIS. IS. NOT. A JOOOKEE!!!!!"
It was like she had another personality acting up in her.
Then,she began to sob silently.
"Can't... can't you take me seriously? Tom...is it so hard to take me seriously? Even when I want to kill you?"
His eyes widened and he gulped hard.
"Wh...what?Ki...ki...kill..."
He could not utter the remaining words. He would choke if he did.
Now,his heart was pounding like a sledgehammer against his chest and his breathing was becoming shallow and labored.
"All those years of suffering...all those years,Tommy."
She smiled satisfactorily.
"It would all come to an end today, it would be a perfect beginning for me and a DESERVING END FOR YOU!!!!"
She began to laugh and sing.
I was a human
Breathing and thinking
Eating and drinking
Philosophising
I was a human
Before you killed me
And ripped my heart out
I knew what love was
Now when they ask me
I just reply slow
Sound like an iPhone
I do not know love
I am a robot!!
"I'm a robot now Tommy!!
All those years of your filth filled self, taking away my youth and beauty!! Beating me, hitting me, raping me...it made me...it made me inhuman!!!! I'm INVINCIBLE!!!! TOMMY!! THANKS TO YOU!!"
She began to sing and dance around like a child.
"Gw...G...Gwen...we...we...we can...can... talk about... about... about...this ok?Let...let...let me go...and...I swear... I'll...I'll never touch you again... please...we...we...we can put it all aside."
Mr Thompson was already in tears now.
"Oh my gosh Tommy!!!! Put it all aside!?? Not even the deepest and darkest prison on Earth can make it up!! You're a dead man Tommy!!"
The sweat beads on his forehead had turned to a river of overflow.
"Gwen...you can't kill me... you'll... you'll go... go to jail...I swear... you'll go to jail!!!"
She laughed hard at his words.
"It's so cute of you to worry about me my dear 'husband'...but someone else would be taking that punishment for me."
She smiled sweetly and approached him with a paper, a pen and placed one of the knives,at his throat.
"Write these words Tommy."
She said slowly while cutting off the ropes binding his hands.
She began to say the message slowly as he tried to write as calmly as possible.
When he was through,she gagged his mouth and dragged his chair to the table.
The look of horror on his face was unimaginable!
His pupils were completely dilated.
His body had turned as white as stone.
He tried to scream through the material in his mouth but only muffed sounds came out.
He knew he was dead.
She tied both his hands to the table and brought her knife closer to his fingers.
"This is to make sure that after I kill you, even if you are reincarnated, you would never hurt anyone, ever again!!!"
And then...as a skilled butcher,she began!!!