Intermission 1

A shadowed man slowly crept in through the window. The apartment was dark, perfect for the pseudo-hunter. He prowled toward the back room. His prey slept behind that door. He knew it. He could smell it.

The door swung silently and a smug grin grew on Beyond's face. He slinked up to the side of the bed. As the madman stared at the nearly gone lifespan, he quickly grabbed the pillow from underneath his victim's head and began to smother Anna Eckheart.

The woman awoke and thrashed to get free. Beyond grunted as he increased the pressure on her head. "There, there, dear doctor," he whispered. "It's nothing personal. You're just needed for…artistic accuracy."

Slowly, her struggles stopped and Beyond lifted the pillow to reveal Eckheart's dull eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. "Well, that won't do." Beyond pulled on latex gloves and used his thumbs to gouge out the dead woman's eyes. With a sick slurp, he removed his digits from the bloody pits in her face.

The serial killer left the room and searched the kitchen until he found a large steak knife and a 32 oz. Tupperware container. Going back to the corpse, Beyond slit open her side and filled the container with blood. He then proceeded to splash the blood around the room, careful not to get any on himself. Blood stains are such a pain.

He put the Tupperware in the dishwasher and, after a second of hesitation, cut off Eckheart's fingers and put them in there two. He started the machine. Beyond allowed himself one last look at his beautiful work and smirked.

"Is that accurate enough for you, lovely?"

"Always carry a note-book. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever." — Will Self