My new obsession Dexter presents Shiv Shank. Brian was the main reason I kept to it. Dexter's the second reason.
Disclaimer: Don't own it. Jeff Lindsay does.
Shiv Shank Prologue
I press my forehead to his. The last gesture of endearment for Barely Brain dead Brian. His breathing calm despite strapped to a table in Saran wrap and duct tape, aware that he is mere moments from death. If it was anyone else but my brother, I would find ironic humor in this. That I'm killing him on the table those five hookers he'd sliced and diced. Whose body parts he leaves for me to find. Yet, it is my sibling strapped to the table and I feel nothing, save grief. Instead, an odd rising sense of fear. Fear of what I don't know. It is unusual for me to feel anything in the first place, being the cold, emotionless monster that I am. And yet…
"I know what you've been going through all these years. The isolation, the otherness, the hunger that's never satisfied", he said, eyes boring into my nonexistent soul. "But you're not alone anymore, Dexter. You can be yourself. With me. Your real, genuine self."
My real, genuine self.
At night, the Dark Passenger roams free, a moon howls, and the hunt commences. By day, I am a devoted boyfriend, doting brother, and average blood spatter analyst. I fancy myself a master of disguise. A wolf in sheep's clothing.
But Brian, Big Brother Brian, shakes my perfect life at its roots. The moment he barges his way in with his bloodless bodies and his Barbie dolls. When he steps from our childhood home with that smile of a predator that had cornered its prey. I feel pure, utter shock for the first time in my life. It isn't fascination as when he turns my world upside down with his beautiful, pallid corpses. Nor is it horror that Harry has hidden my brother from me all this time.
No, it is authentic, jaw-dropping awe. Awe that I had a brother. A real, flesh and blood sibling. Standing mere feet from me. And he is like me. The thought makes me shiver.
Here he is, bound up like a package. Like so many of my other victims. But he is different. He isn't a trophy or an animal to slaughter. He is kin. He is my brother.
The fear constricts me; rising higher.
"You're the only one I ever wanted to set free," I whisper to him. I speak the truth. It's the least I can give him.
"You're the one that needs setting free, little brother." He responds and I can hear the rare desperation in his voice. "Your life is a lie."
My handle on the knife is firm, but the fear is swelling inside me.
He sighs, resigned. "Do it then, Dexter." His words drip with disappointment and defeat. "Do it so you can go back to your fake, perfect life."
Though his words hurt, the Code of Harry grips me. I have to do this. I have to. For Harry. For Deb.
"I'm sorry." And I am.
I raise the knife, ready to strike. The blade is inches from his throat and a moment to slice.
The fear is growing stronger and stronger.
I look into his eyes; acceptance and bitterness mixed into one.
My resolve breaks.
I drop the knife and it clatters to the floor. I raise my head and observe surprise, relief, and something I can't place on his expression.
"I can't do it." My voice breaks with emotions I shouldn't have.
He looks up at me with slight confusion. A silent 'Why?' lingers in the air.
"You're my brother." Was that explanation enough?
It seems it is because he nods, the daze leaving his eyes. Reminding me of the look he gave me when I accepted his brotherhood for the first time. The same look of consolation. It gives me consolation.
A great weight lifts from my shoulders. I breathe a long held in sigh.
There lay one unsolved question.
What next?
I've pretty much watched most of the series, but the 1st season stuck with me. Brian was the best antagonist this series ever had and I hated to see him die. I preferred the ending to the books over the series cause he came back. The series is still good, but it wasn't the same after his death.
I may continue this but it depends on the outcome.
R&R, please! Thanks!