Hideous Homicides Part Two
He sat at his computer flicking through the photos. They were of the place he used to live, images and reminders of a former life. He looked and mused at what he saw. The bedroom he had slept in. The lounge and the kitchen. The back garden with all the flowers in the various pots he had planted. Memories of that former time. He knew that when he had taken the photos that some place and time he would look back at them.
Where did it all go wrong? The problem in his last job when he had to quit, it all happened way too fast. Then while looking for another job he had not told his partner and as weeks went by it all became difficult to approach the subject. There were some days when he had to go out all day, pretending he was going to work. It all became an act and a lie. Not done on purpose, no malice intended. A situation that went out of control. It began to crash down when she started getting suspicious and telephoned his work place. Left over a month ago! What was going on? The writing was on the wall from then.
Things went down hill and she moved out back to her parents. The house was put up for sale. He did find a new job but the pay was nothing like his old job. The anxiety he had suffered from had gotten worse and more frequent. It was nearly a year later that those feelings had waned. They waned due to some pills from the doctor, Prozac set him straight.
Sat in that chair in front of the computer his thoughts drifted to what he faced. Aged 42 living in a rented flat, no family, a poorly paid job, no friends, a messed up mind suppressed by drugs, no girl friend and nothing positive on the horizon. During his darkest days he had had thoughts of suicide but did not pursue them. Things were going to take him over an edge of sorts. What is there to lose?
His new job had good and bad points. The good was it was Monday to Friday and some of the people he worked with were quite nice. The bad though would run into a huge list. For the level of work the pay was laughable. The people in management and those who were at the top and made decisions were useless. His own manager was a complete fool. A fastidious, arrogant pratt who was only happy when he could make someone's life a misery. He already had targeted some of the work force. One of them had to be signed off sick by his doctor and the other was close to a nervous breakdown.
The decision was made. He knew what he was going to do. A sick idea had been cultivated. It was now not just an idea or a notion. There was a plan and a method all worked out. Payback was coming and someone was going to pay the highest price possible. It will shock and stun people. This would be a newspaper headline that would grab attention. Television news of this will astound the viewer. Tomorrow night all will be revealed. Tomorrow the plan is put into action.
The time was just before 9pm. At this time of year it became dark at 4pm so now it was very black indeed. He had parked his car around the corner from his ultimate destination. His eyes scanned the view outside. It was raining heavily and quite windy so not many people were venturing about. Although in a residential area, this was a quiet location, perfect setting really for what was planned. On the passenger seat he had a rucksack. Inside he had a claw hammer and a machete. It was time to get into action. He grabbed the rucksack and opened his car door. Once out in the rain he put his hood up on his black parka coat and put the rucksack on his back. Stepping through the pouring rain, he made his way to the house.
As the rain continued to fall he reached the house. A light was on in the front room, the curtains were drawn and he could make out the flicker of a television set. Silently he moved up the drive way and inched his way, back to the wall towards the rear of the property. The darkness was his friend. Dressed in black meant being seen was less of a risk. He peered through the kitchen window. Nobody was in there. The person he had come to see must be in the lounge watching television. The riskiest part of the mission was how to get inside without being detected. His hand slowly for the door handle of the back door. His gloved hand gently pulled the handle downwards. It felt loose in his grasp and the door felt light, it was not locked. He had hoped this would be the case. It was a gamble that the door would not be locked. Some people don't lock it when they are at home. This gamble had paid off. Not totally paid off as he had to get inside still. There was still a great risk of his plan failing at this stage. Stealth was the key word from now on. A noise to his right suddenly grabbed his attention. Heart jumped for a moment however it was only the clink of a cats collar. In a rather opportune moment the cat also wanted to enter the house. The cat of course would use the cat flap. Four cats lived here. The sound of the cat flap as the cat entered was the queue to go in himself.
Hardly daring to breath he stood still as a statue in the kitchen. The cat had gone straight the slightly ajar door and headed into the lounge. Judging by the comments from the person in the lounge it was plainly clear that the cat had gone to see its owner. A slight grin came across his face. He was inside safely and almost ready for the main event. Excitement and nervous tension coursed through his body. The noise of the television and the cat purring made sure the extraction of the claw hammer from the rucksack was done with no noise. In his right hand he gripped the hammer. He brought the hammer up to his mouth and kissed the head of the hammer.
Creeping up to the slightly ajar door he peeped round it and could see the lounge ahead of him. Sat on the sofa was the person he had come to visit. She was sat glued to the film on the television. He was going to come up behind and give her a big surprise. The person sat on the sofa groaned and puffed out her cheeks. The baby inside had just moved and she could feel this shift. Be about another week or so before the child was due. She and her husband were excited at the prospect. She was alone as he had gone out to a local pub to a quiz night. It would be another two hours at least before he came home. She was content to watch a film while munching on some rice cakes and drinking her herbal tea.
It seemed the cat was his new best friend. The cat jumped off the sofa and came into the kitchen. In doing so the cat had pushed the door open some more. The was now clear. He had the hammer above his head. The plan was to move fast and strike the blow swiftly. Adrenalin surged. The element of surprise was his. In a flash he was through the door. The hammer was brought down hard as he reached the target. A pulverising blow struck the top of her head. It was all so sudden, no time to scream. The sickening strike in an instant caused the world to black out. This was perfect. No noise, no screams, the television volume masked what little sound there had been anyway. Slumped forward the woman was motionless. A maniacal smirk was broad across his face. The feeling now pumping through his veins was the highest he had known. It was a rush and such a feeling of intense almost sexual sensation.
He came around the sofa and hauled the lifeless woman's body onto the floor. She lay spread-eagled on her back. All helpless and with blood pouring down her face. The top part of her skull was caved in and splintered. He noticed a fragment of skull on the sofa which made him strangely warm inside. The next part of the plan was about to begin. He ripped open her maternity dress exposing her swollen belly. The machete was now in his hand. He began to hack around the edge of the swollen belly. Tonight a baby will be delivered a bit earlier than was expected. Blood and bits of skin smeared the carpet. His hacking became more intense. He could just about make out the object of his desire. With ferocious force he hacked and ended the existence of the baby inside. His hand then reached in to pull out the tiny messy corpse.
The cat had now wandered back into the lounge and started to make a noise. The machete soon ended any noise. The final part of his plan was now due. This was the ultimate end, the pay off and the money shot. First though he wanted a drink and to wash the blood and human tissue off. Into the kitchen he washed his hands in the sink. Bloody red water gurgled down the plug hole. Now he was opening the fridge door and pulled out a bottle of cola. With the bottle top off he took a long gulp of the cool refreshing drink.
Back into the lounge he needed to find her mobile phone. Everyone had camera phones these days. This was going to be perfect. He clicked the phone into camera mode. Standing over the lifeless bodies he aimed the phone and looked through the phone screen. "Say cheese." he whispered. The phone camera flashed and the picture was taken. He looked at the image and his finger pushed send picture. Now he was going through the address book to find the name of the person he was going to send the picture to. The name appeared and he pressed ok. It was now ready to send. Once he had pressed send the image would travel through the ether and somewhere a phone would beep to tell the owner he had received a picture message. When he looked at his phone he would see it was from his beloved wife. Once open it would be a life changing image. A huge grin spread across his face. Oh what a sight it would be to see his manager open the picture message. Inside he chuckled to himself as he sent the message. Now the fun would begin.
The local pub had on a quiz night that was quite busy. The group of friends had all had plenty of drinks and plenty of competitive fun in their quiz teams. There had been a strict rule that nobody cheated and tried to look up answers on the internet on their mobile phones. In fact the rules had been mobile phones turned off and kept in pockets or handbags. One quiz team member had put his mobile phone in clear view on the table. Given that his wife was heavily pregnant he needed to have his phone on just in case there was any emergency or his wife had to call him. The question now being asked by the quiz master, incidentally this person was one of the team leaders, was a tough question. Huddled together they discussed the possible answer. How many goals did the England football team score in the entire 1966 tournament? As they debated the number of goals a mobile beeped on the table. It was the beep of having received a picture message. The owner of the phone reached onto the table and picked up the phone. Holding it in his chubby right hand he looked at the screen. A picture message from the wife it said. His thumb pressed the button to open. It took him a few seconds to comprehend what he was looking at. His eyes widened then concentrated hard on the image displayed on the phone. His skin turned very pale and he felt sick in the stomach. Was this a joke? He was puzzled and confused. There was also a sinking feeling of fear and dread. His throat was suddenly very dry. He clicked off the picture and dialled his wife's mobile number.
Stood in the lounge the phone in his hand started to vibrate and then play that really annoying ring tone by the crazy frog. This really was like Christmas. This married couple only both had video phones. Now when he answered the husband could see via video his dead wife and dead baby ripped from inside the womb. Things were going even better than he had hoped. He pressed answer, making sure that the phone was pointed at the bodies so as not to show himself in any way. The husbands phone screen showed him the scene he had thought could not be real. On the floor of his lounge was his wife, mutilated with their unborn baby protruding from her stomach. The macabre scene was also viewed by colleagues. The quiz was now a non entity. The live video footage of death was sickening. Disbelief and tears flowed. It was real, all too real. The husband was overcome and started to scream and cry. He felt like he was going to vomit and breathing became difficult.
In the lounge he ended the call. His work was done and it was time to make his escape. Time was an enemy and he had to flee the scene with great haste. This was a life chasing night. The hammer and machete wielding employee was changed forever. For the pregnant woman and the unborn child there would be no more life. The husband although alive was also dead. This had been the payback that festered inside a person and had been turned into reality. Those that had crossed him in life would pay. The price was a high price. From now on his thoughts would not just be twisted and vengeful, they were going to be acted upon. This had been a watershed. From now on he was getting even.