"In Process"
- Bane discovers the thrill of killing -
I will kill him.
The thought tasted strange. Otherworldly. It should be the thought of someone else, not his own. Perhaps it wasn't his after all. But he could not let it go.
Maybe he liked things that tasted strange. Or as of recently, his own thoughts had not been good enough for himself. Irregardless, the more he thought about it, the more he found himself taking pleasure in it.
Two nights ago, just before he had been left alone in the darkness again, to wait and shiver, he heard a peculiar sound. It sounded like glass on the floor. As soon as the door closed behind him, he knelt on the floor and searched with his hands until he found it. A small knife. Must have fallen out of her pocket.
Fifteen-year-old Cadomir Bane hid it in the bottom of his small box of belongings and began to make plans.
I will kill him.
When would he murder his current least favorite person? To begin with, the murder must take place at the right time. He couldn't do it whenever he wanted, and had to select a time when he would have the least likely chance of being caught, and the most likely chance of making a run for it once the man was dead. Secondly, Cadomir had to know he could kill him without leaving too much evidence, or drawing too much attention.
The first factor, Cadomir could take care of. He had a good sense of time and how the place worked. It was a habit, really…memorizing meaningless data in the happenstance that it might become useful in the future. Data such as work shifts, the number of windows in a room, who took cream in their caf, the colors of string on patches. All these little pieces of information he collected.
However, the second factor would be a problem. He had never killed someone with a knife before. Cadomir supposed a quick stab to the heart might do the trick. But, what if he missed and punctured a lung or rib instead? Maybe he should the cut the throat. But that might not work either, since he did not know how deep he had to cut in order to make a kill. Would stabbing the neck work? Perhaps, unless he missed. Stabbing the heart would be easier than stabbing the neck.
Needless to say, this subtracted from the pleasure he knew he would receive from killing. If he could not make a perfect kill, it might not be worth it at all. He did not like the idea of getting messy.
But the right time, as expected, arrived. He hid the knife beneath his sleeve, and he waited in the shadows.
Kill him. Kill him.
Tonight is the last night he's going to mess with me.
"You're late, Bane." There he was, as to be expected. The same voice, the same drunken tone, the guttural choke catching on a broken lung.
He swallowed, trying to get rid of the dry spot in his throat.
"Late?" Cadomir tried to smile. Too casual—bad move. "I was right on time."
"I wanted you to come in early tonight. You remember why." The man locked the door and stepped towards him.
"I remember why."
"I don't think you ever listen to me anymore. Why is that?"
He will not mess with me anymore. It's all over.
He pulled the knife out from behind his back.
"Don't touch me again."
The man laughed…now of course, that was also to be expected. He had an odd sense of timing with his laughter.(1)
"Wh—what? Tell me you didn't say that and maybe I'll—"
Cadomir moved the knife forward into the man's stomach as quickly as he could. He could tell he penetrated the skin, and Cadomir heard the man's sentence cut off as he let out a gasp of alarm.
"I said. Don't touch me. Again."
Kill him, oh gods, kill him. Kill him, kill him!
He pulled the knife out and repeated the same motion. This time, it sunk in deeper. Cadomir could feel it. He shoved the man back and drew the knife into his stomach a third time. The man backed up, choking, as he slowly sank down to the floor.
For a split second, the shock of what he was doing swept over Cadomir's mind. Was he really a murderer? Was this really happening? Was he about to stoop this low? But then it ended as quickly as it had come. He knew this was exactly what he wanted. He was enjoying himself. No such distraction as imposed morals, second thoughts, or imagined divine intervention could get in his way now.
He knelt over the man. Unable to stop himself, because of how strangely fun this was, he plunged the knife into his chest, stomach, ribs. His shoulders and neck. And then, when the man's disgusting body finally stopped moving, he began to disfigure the face to his full satisfaction, until the man did not look like a person anymore. This part was the most fun of all, only sad bit was Cadomir could only do it to him once.
Unfortunately, this meant that when Cadomir stood back up, he discovered much to his disappointment that his kill had not been merely as clean as he had hoped. In fact, it was very messy. His knees and face were dripping with scarlet blood. It would take hours to wash out the stains. He took the utter revulsion of the mess he had caused to heart. This meant that he learned a most important lesson that night: even if he was enjoying himself during the act of murder, living in the moment, he could not let his pleasure compromise the clean kill. Efficiency had more value than entertainment. He never forgot this lesson.
Finally, one last mental note to Cadomir Bane. Next time you start collecting 'meaningless' data, start with data that isn't so meaningless. Knowing how to make a clean kill with a small knife, for example. Good thing to know. Do research before you go about killing someone with a weapon you have never used before.
He left the room, as content as if it were his birth-date.
I guess this means I am a murderer, now, he thought. I can live with that.
(1) - The setting of this fic, as well as the role of the anonymous "man" in Cadomir Bane's life, are intended to be obscure. This is because I will go more into detail of where exactly this location is, what is going on in Bane's life at the time, and why he wanted to kill this person, in future chapters. I would have explained most of it here, but my intention was to focus on his early experience with murder, and I did not want to distract from that element with a bunch of information and backstory.