Chapter 1
Chapter One: The Man
He’d chosen the concealment of the night for a reason. In the shadows, all manner of sins could be committed. He lurked around in the darkness, savouring it.
A sinister smile appeared on his face as he pulled his knife from the inside pocket of his coat. The woman in the chair before him began struggling, furiously and desperately, knowing she was not going to make it; knowing that she was going to die.
She could not even look her killer in the face, as a dark mask shrouded his face from view. Maybe it would be better this way, she thought, not knowing.
He sensed the fear radiating from her. He relished it. He licked his lips as though he could devour her emotions. His appetite heightened as she struggled against the rope binding her to the chair. She had tried to shout for help, but all that came out was a muffled cry.
He advanced towards her, his knife outstretched. Yet, he paused. He would not kill her, not at first. He would stretch out her suffering, until she understood. The man used the knife to nick the gag around her mouth, tugging it down.
“Help! Help me! Oh my God, please somebody help me!”
Her screams reverberated around the room like the instruments of an orchestra and he closed his eyes to the music. Was she still unaware that no one was coming for her?
Now he would silence her. Forever.
The man raised the knife to her throat, and moved his fingers to the end of the knife. Just one small push and she’d bleed out before him.
She began whimpering, her tears trailing down her face.
“Please don’t kill me... I’ve got money, I can pay you, please don’t kill me, I can pay, please, whoever you are don’t, don’t do this, don’t…”
“You don’t know me?”
She shook her head.
“Do you want to know me?”
He leaned towards her. The brown of his eyes glinted and she noticed the length of his eyelashes. His irises were cracked, allowing the grey to bleed through.
Smiling, he moved towards her ear. Then, the man whispered his name. Her eyes widened and her lips warped into a piercing scream as he pushed the knife into her neck. Her skin split as easily as paper and he took a step back, to watch.
Instantly, she choked on the copious amounts of blood pooling in her airways and she began to lose her vision. Her bulbous eyes twitched and eventually froze, captured in a scream.
After a few minutes, he cut the ropes tying her to the chair. Her body slumped the floor. He toyed with her for a few minutes, before ripping open the faint buttons of her blouse. Taking the knife once again, he cut delicate lines into her chest, until a three by three grid was formed. In the top middle box, he carved a circle.
The man stood back in the dim light, admiring his work. He preferred her like this, a mausoleum to his artwork. Then he hoisted her body over his shoulder like it was weightless. He hummed as he picked up her body, carrying it to his car.
He drove a good distance along the winding road, before he dumped her body in a nearby skip. Then he drove away into the night.
The man had completed his mission.
