He grabbed ahold of both of my shoulders and the moment he did the trees faded into a ribbon of white blinding light which was then replaced by avocado walls and orange cream wall paper.
The room was obviously designed in the 70's and it was accompanied with popcorn ceilings and abstract art that hung on the walls.
For a moment I thought I'd gone back in time but then I noticed the digital microwave and the plasma screen tv in the other rooms of the house.
"Where are we?" I nearly slipped in something wet and reeking of metal.
"This is the house of Darren Darken and it's currently a crime scene. Oh may be I should mention that's a pool of blood you just stepped in".
I leapt back from the spot and i twisted myself towards the door but the thing is I didn't know where the door out was so my foot gave way and slid sideways so I nearly spun down onto the floor.
The Tall Man held fast to my wrists and he was able to stop my downward momentum however since I wasn't yet on my feet I just ended up awkwardly leaning on him with my chin on his chest.
It was so embarrassing.
"Rather squeamish are you. I thought you were used to the sight of blood and smell of Death".
" I am I'm just a bit jumpy today for some reason. Anyway how do you plan on tracking this creature?"
"I shall send my friends ahead of me and all over this town. They will scour through every last inch of this place, they will monitor every one to the very last woman and child.
Every movement of every soul in this town will be watched and everyone's whereabouts shall be well accounted for.
Nothing and I mean nothing will be overlooked. I'm going to find this creature, I'm going to capture it and then lastly will kill it".
"Oh let's not be hasty. We don't know the motives of this creature. He may be just doing these things in order to survive."
"Survival I understand but this creature kills for pleasure. He kills for sport. He likes to play with his victims before he kills them.
His weapon of choice is: mental torture.
He enjoys torturing them mentally, driving them mad, creating mental instability. "
"Whoa. How- how do you know all of this?"
"I know because I examined the bodies of most of his victims. There brains had severe scarring that can only be caused by prolonged trauma.
This isn't your usual PTSD this is complex post traumatic stress syndrome also known as CPTSD.
I've seen this kind of damage before so know what I'm talking about.
He seems strangely attracted to trauma. If somebody doesn't have trauma he makes it for them.
He appears to like fear as well
He either feeds on it or perhaps he just enjoys the scent.
Then again the trauma and fear might just all be part of the game he plays with his prey.
When a human has fear a certain hormone is secreted from the skin and perhaps like a hunter smells out blood he might find his victims by smell perhaps. This is as far as my research has taken me".
"Well that's considerably more than I've gotten. So that's quite impressive. So good job, good work. You know it's just occured to me that I don't even know your name. You do have a name right? I mean you're not from some planet where everybody's given numbers instead of names right?"
"Yes of course I have a name. My name is Jebadiah Morningside. Doctor Jebadiah Morningside."
"Oh well that's great but what do I call you exactly?"
"Don't call me sir, don't refer to me as mister, don't you dare give me any cute pet names. Doctor would do nicely but when you speak to me to directly you are to call me Dr. Morningside. If we are in public you may call me Mr. Morningside. However when we are alone you may call me Jebadiah.
Have I made myself clear or would you like me to repeat myself?"
"No I think I got it. Well as you know I'm Magenta. People that know me on a friendly basis call me Mag, My public name either is M. T or Miss Glory.
Only my very close friends call Maggie but I suppose I don't really care which one you call me just as long as you don't refer to me as girl, orphan or child."
"I already know all these things. I care very little of what you are called so let's just call you Miss Glory for the time being."
"Alright Dr. Morningside.You want to keep things formal than that's fine by me. First name basis is usually for good acquaintances and good friends.
Didn't you say something about you having a few friends?"
"How absolutely preposterous. I have no friends. The friends I spoke of are merely machines of my invention. It was a figure of speech".
"Right. Those silver things zooming all over the place. Got ya. You know that's really quite sad you don't have any real ones but you know I'm not one judge. Friends are hard to come by. Friendship takes alot of time and energy not to mention patience and commitment."
"Precisely why I don't have any".
"Right. Why bother with all that stuff?
I mean you're a doctor, sometimes a surgeon and you run your own business. You probably have enough on your plate already."
"Are you finished?"
"Talking? No, never. Look I talk when I get nervous. I mean it doesn't happen all the time but when I feel a awkward moment coming on I talk...alot. It's a defense mechanism."
"Interesting. What exactly are you defending?"
"Embarrassment. I don't know may be I'm just trying to hide the fact that I'm socially inept and inadequate."
"For somebody that is socially challenged you do rather well...for yourself."
"That's nice of you to say so. In fact that's probably the nicest thing you've said to me so far. I'm super curious though did you uh have any friends before all of this?"
"A few here and there but they're gone now".
"So now you're all alone. Tell me did you kill them off or did you scare them away?"
This was meant to be a joke.
"Neither. I just grew to be far too high maintenance". He curved one side of his lips upward to form a grim smirk.
Apparently he knew I was joking. He does have a sense of humor after all.
"On a serious note I killed some of them. The rest became a part of my collection of...slaves."
"Oh so you're a slave master. I've never met a slave master before. So uh what's that like being in charge of a bunch of slaves?"
"What a peculiar question. It has its moments I suppose."
"Moments of what exactly?"
I still thought he was joking.
"Moments of enjoyment, of pleasure and contentment. There's something incredibly invigorating to have that kind of power. Life can be truly beautiful when you have absolute control. You should try it sometime".
"I'll pass thank you. I'm not really interested in power. Wait what are you doing with that?"
He had a plastic bag in his hand that was pooling up with a red liquid on the bottom.
It took me a little to process it but then it dawned on me that he was carrying the same bag that had the severed heart was inside
"I'll have you know You're tampering with evidence".
"Interesting that you would say that especially with that little slip up you had a few moments ago. If I didn't know better it almost sounds like you're siding with the police. The police as you know are calling this atrocity a suicide. Yet if you want to join the ranks of those...robots, go ahead,i shan't stop you. Be...my... guest".
"No, I'm not siding with anyone. I just want these killings to stop."
"Excellent news. Now if you don't mind I'd like to take this to the lab so I can further examine it".
"What about the body? Aren't you going to take that with you too?"
"Oh I can get to that later. Come now there's nothing left to see here".
"What makes you think I want to come with you? Wait where are you going anyway?"
"Back to the mortuary of course. Unless you want to stay here. I however would highly recommend that you come with me, perhaps you might see something you like, a room perhaps."
"No I don't really want to stay here but you- you better not do anything funny. When I say funny, I mean weird dark and twisted stuff. I'm not down with that okay".
"Getting nervous again are we? Why so uneasy? You still think I'm leading you to the slaughter?"
He gave me another grim smirk to display his amusement.
"You kill me you will lose your chance of ever finding that creature. You will never capture it on your own. I've dealt with alot of monsters in my time. Ever since I was little girl I've been dealing with them. Sometimes I even made them cry".
"Yes I know your story Miss Glory. Your first encounter was when you were precisely 5 years of age. You were armed with nothing but your mind and you used that mind of yours to ward it off. You unlocked it's fears which in turn sent it screaming from your bedroom. You have such unusually strong mental powers for someone who's human. It's very curious and very odd that you possess such abilities but no matter. Yes I suppose you are more useful to me alive.
So I shan't kill you just yet".
"Some are born stronger than others Dr. Morningside. I can't help it if I'm one of them. You know humans might surprise you. You might even find that they are far stronger than you think. Don't underestimate me Doctor and don't try to fool me. So I'll come with you but only this once. I'm giving you one chance and if anything weird dark , twisted and creepy happens I'm out of there. You won't have to worry about paying me anything because I won't be there working with you in fact I won't even be anywhere near you at anytime. "
"Relax. I was merely putting you on. I have no intention of harming you".
"Good let's keep it that way".
"
