“Pain in the Core of Pleasure” #5
“Ding, ding, ding! I think we have a winner!” I yell back and remove my switchblade from my pocket.
With one push of a button, the blade quickly unlatches from its sheath.
With what seems like all of the force that I have, I stab Jace’s leg through the rancid denim on his outer thigh.
The clotted blood that leaks from the open cut is immaculate.
The dark red fluid flows like thick oil on his jeans.
Her expression changes to disgust and sadness.
I glare down as she turns her head and vomits on the floor next to her chair.
“Oh, don’t be like that. I thought you would be so excited to see him.
” I crouch down on my knees in front of Jace and slice open the black zip ties around each ankle.
His body begins to slide off the metal chair, only being propped up by his arms wrapped around the back of the chair.
Thalia screams as his lifeless, dark brown eyes look up at her while half of his body slides down the seat.
“They always scream,” I inform her, nonchalantly moving to the back of the metal backing.
“They?” She probes quietly.
“Oh, she fucking speaks.” I glimpse over at her tear and makeup-smeared face.
“What do you mean, they?”
“The people I’ve killed.” I move behind Jace and slide the sharp blade through the zip tie that holds his wrists together. His limp arms fall to his sides. A loud sound of his dead weight falls onto the hard floor below him.
“Y-you’ve killed… people?”
“Of course. Do you think Jace is the only one?” I stand up and grab my folded plastic tarp and charged mini saw from the table behind us. She examines me as I scan over the number of items strategically placed in a long row.
“Why?”
“Why, what, Thalia?” I sigh, pulling the body lying on the floor in front of her feet.
“Why did you kill?” Her eyes move over me while I spread out the clear tarp on the floor.
“For you, baby,” I admit while smoothing over the wrinkles in the plastic.
“I never asked you to kill anyone!”
“Oh, I know. Call it an offering, or a gift if you will.” I stand up and move Jace’s body over the tarp.
“Who did you kill, for me, I mean?” More fucking questions. I walk over to my phone and press the option to stop recording.
I’ve never driven to Alan’s house quicker than in all the years I’ve known him.
The lights from the large city buildings shine through my dark-tinted windows as I drive through the many cars on the busy road.
My blood feels like it’s boiling with every shift I make.
She let him touch her. She fucking let him touch her!
After I told her how I felt, she fucking let him touch her.
I knew I should never have let another broad get under my skin.
My thoughts repeat the same phrases over and over until I reach his gated community.
Alan’s house is dark aside from the light coming from above the oven in the kitchen.
“Alan, what the fuck?!” I yell as I park my car and slam my door. As if the motherfucker can hear me. I walk up to the front door and jiggle the locked handle. Luckily for me, Alan gave me a spare key when he first moved into this place.
My hands shake as I slide the key in the lock.
“You better be here, you asshole!” I shout while walking in the doorway.
I follow it up with the loud slam of the front door.
The fucker’s house is empty! “Alan! What the hell happened in here?!” His kitchen is a fucking mess and the cabinets are completely shattered, there is wood and shards of glass all over the tile.
“Hey, you fuck! Are you home?!” I yell out again and continue to search his house. Leaving a mess like this, this isn’t him. “Ashley! Where the fuck is your husband?” No sign of her either.
I stomp through the house like a madman, searching his bedroom first.
“If I catch you fucking my girl, I’ll…”
His bedroom door opens to his bed, already pristinely made with no signs of wrinkles in the comforter. What a psycho. I searched everywhere in this wing of his house. Nothing but a destroyed kitchen and empty rooms. There is only one more place to check.
The fucking studio.
His eyes shoot daggers into mine as he stalks back towards my chair.
My body shakes from the intense amount of pain from the large gash he made in my leg.
The burning pain of my large wound, or mark as Alan calls it, stays constant against the cold metal chair.
My arms and legs are nearly frozen by the lack of heat in Alan’s storage unit.
I wait for his response, and my earlier question goes unanswered.
“Who have you killed for me, Alan?”
He continues to look up at me while he kneels next to Jace’s unmoving body.
“Well, Jace, of course.” His eyes scan down my form while he removes Jace’s Vans. I can feel the bile start to climb up my throat after hearing the matter-of-fact tone in his voice. “I started with Ruban Ara.”
“Who?” I ask through my loud sobs.
“Ruben Ara.” Alan glares up at me. “He tried to touch you, Thalia.” He throws Jace’s shoe to the side, and my thoughts start to connect.
“You killed him because he hit on me?” My cries turn into yells.
“Look at you, Listener. Finally fucking paying attention. "
His attention moves back to Jace and removes his other shoe. He tugs hard on the sole and throws it out of the way.
“You killed him, removed his eyes and his fingers, and set him up in the alley because he wanted to sleep with me? Do you realize how ridiculous that is?” The volume of my tone gets louder, filling the tense space in between us.
He lets out a small laugh and pulls off one of Jace's black socks. How is this at all funny?
“How long ago did you kill Jace?” Jace’s skin is no longer the golden brown complexion it once was. His outer layer of flesh is now tinted with a light hint of grey.
“How long has he been missing?” He throws the socks to the side near the shoes.
How can this be so easy for you? “I killed him the night you thought he was ignoring your calls and your texts. Wrapped him up in that roll of carpet over there.” He points to a large pile of stained, tan flooring in the corner of the unit.
“After that, I stored him in the maintenance closet of your apartment complex.” The hot bile that I was once able to swallow fills up my throat.
More vomit adds to the pile next to my chair.
“And before you ask why, he was going to give you drugs, Thalia. There was no way I was going to visit you in prison.” He gently lays Jace’s feet down on the tarp.
Alan clears his throat and pulls at the waistband of Jace’s jeans.
“I first used this saw on Ashley’s body.
” He gives me a small glance in between pausing his thought process to notice my reaction.
“Cutting into her flesh was something unexplainable.” The expression on his face is comparable to a man reminiscing over a happy memory. What the fuck?!
“Who’s Ashley, Alan?” My throat goes dry. Jace was one victim too many.
“She was my wife, Thalia ,” he retorts, adding emphasis on my name. “She doesn’t matter. She never really mattered. Our marriage was more of a financial convenience.” He pauses again while sliding the denim down Jace’s thighs. “She was in my way of getting where I wanted to be with you.”
“You killed your wife?” I feel the tears start to form in my eyes.
“Yes, I did. I killed her so I could have you .” His face contorts into a new manifestation from him, one that I’ve never seen before. I notice the bright green eyes that have hooked me in so many times have become glossy.
He clears his throat and starts to move the bottom of Jace’s shirt up his chest.
“Anyone else?”
“One more, baby.” He rises up from his crouched position and walks to his phone, propped up on the black tripod .
“You killed four people?” My dry heaves mix with heavy cries.
“All for you, Listener. Everything I do is for you.”
I study him as he scrolls through his phone as if he just told me about the weather forecast, not his admission to murder. He opens up the device to the local news source.
“Just in time. It looks like they found her just where I put her.” Alan turns his phone around and shows me the screen.
Police surround the alley next to The Neon Rose.
Her body is mostly surrounded by law enforcement, and I’m only able to see her pale, slender arm in the small space between people.
“Let’s see what they have to say, shall we?
” He turns up the volume, and the woman’s voice on the evening news grows louder.
“Police are reporting a new body discovered just outside The Neon Rose Lounge.” Her voice trails off, and I focus on Alan.
He turns the phone screen towards himself and stares intently.
He rubs his chin while looking at the scene as if he’s taking in constructive criticism from their news report.
“Police have no suspects at this time, but are calling the killer The Shadow. The vic-” The news reporter’s voice cuts off as he locks the screen.
“The Shadow. That’s interesting.” He props the phone back into the tripod.
“Why her?” Do I want to know the answer to this question?
“Because she wasn’t you.” His emerald eyes go glossy again.
Aside from Jace’s boxers, all of his clothes have been removed.
This will make the separation of his limbs so much easier for disposal.
I reach for my charged mini saw and place the blade against the ashen colored skin on his ankles.
Thalia stops the incision by asking more of her emotionally charged questions. What now?
“Stop!” She yells before I press the on button on the device. “What are you going to do to him?” She peers down at his body, and I can’t help the wide smile that moves across my face.
“Well, Thalia. What do you think I am going to do to him?” I let out a loud sigh and waited for her reply.
I am left with nothing but silence.