The Becoming: Part I of III

The fire popped and crackled as another piece was gently put in. Derek could feel the raw heat of the flame on his face, but it did not bother him. The events of the past few hours were enough to distract his attention from all physical pain. The dreadful memories repeatedly echoed inside of his head as fear and shame pulsed through his body. He kept saying to himself that it was not his fault, but in his heart he knew it was. He had lost control. He had done the unthinkable.

Candles were sporadically placed around the room, as if to keep the darkness away, but the room remained dominated by shadows. Derek’s body shook with fear as he nervously picked up another piece with his quivering right hand. He clinched it tightly, slowly building up the courage to place it in the fire. Staring into the large fireplace in front of him he watched the other pieces melt away, gradually turning into ash. He looked back at his right hand. It was trembling uncontrollably, grasping the soggy, blood soaked package.

It was a package like all of the others. Tenderly wrapped in old newspaper, holding a small piece of his lover, or at least who he wished had been his lover. He had always admired Jessica Easily. From the moment he had first set eyes on her, he had longed for her. Everything about her seemed to be mysterious and beautiful. She possessed everything he had ever wanted in a woman.

He could never express himself though. The pit in his stomach ached as he thought about what a bully he had always been to her, laughing when the other kids laughed at her, standing by as they played jokes on her. He had never wanted things to be like that though. Her long black hair, her blood red lips, her deep brown eyes, and her pale as milk skin, everything about her made him tingle inside. The thought of hurting her never crept into his fantasies. In his dreams he had thought she would eventually love him, and that things would come together and be perfect.

The idea that she would respond negatively to his advances back then had seemed nonexistent. They had been meant to be together. He could just see her walking up to him after school at the bus stop and giving him a sweet peck on the cheek. He could see her after expression, her head tilted slightly to the left, a wide happy smile on her face, and her eyes twinkling in the sun of a late Autumn’s afternoon. She would whisper to him about how much she had always liked him, about how much she secretly wanted him.

Derek reached up with his left had and nervously scratched his sweaty, shaven scalp. There was no turning back now. It would be best to just get it done with as quickly as possible. He swiftly reached toward the flame and placed the bloody package into the fire, pulling back quickly once the item had been delivered. Wrapped tightly in its newspaper covering, it quickly caught on fire and began to burn, just like all of the others.

After a few seconds of watching the flames eat away he glanced over to the pile. The gruesome packages sat sporadically on a blue towel he had brought down from the bathroom. Blood oozed from all of them, soaking the towel and spilling over onto the hard wood floor. There were still several more pieces left. Under his breath he quietly cursed himself as he realized it was almost mid-night, and there was still so much to do.

In a few seconds he would continue his work, but for the moment he just needed to sit and rest, just to ease his tortured mind. His hands and clothes were by now completely covered in blood, not to mention everything in the house he had touched since the murder. On the floor next to him sat a hatchet with a foot long wooden handle, and a sharp three-inch iron blade. Its edge had recently been wiped clean, and it shined happily in the fire’s glow.

The next hour waned and blurred itself in his memory. It had all been so robotic, but it had gone so perfectly. The final piece had been placed in the fire, and as he watched the flame consume it, an eerie sense of closure settled upon him. The evidence was now almost all destroyed, and when the fire was finally put out, he could dump the ashes down the sink, or some other place where no one would ever be able to find them.

Tears suddenly flooded into his eyes. She was gone, gone forever. He thought back over the night’s ordeals, replaying the events in his head, fruitlessly trying to figure out what he could have done different, but nothing could bring her back. She was dead, and he had been the one who killed her.

As the flame died down a sense of relief filled him. It was almost over. Soon everything would be okay and life would go on as it once had. Derek stood up from in front the fireplace and began pacing around, he was stiff from sitting for so long and the sweat that had been pouring out of every orifice on his body had left him soaked. His skin felt as if it had bathed in hot steam.

As he was walking around the room, trying to think of what to do next, a shadowy figure caught the corner of his right eye. His heart skipped as he quickly turned to see who was there. At first he thought it was only his imagination running wild, there was no way he could be caught, there was no way anyone could have been watching him; but the figure remained settled in its place amongst the shadows of the room. It was standing only about fourteen paces away from him, and stood so it was directly facing what had been the roaring fireplace. The realization that it was real soon sunk in and he felt all of his hopes and dreams dissolve.

“P-Please I-I can explain. I mean, I can pay you, whatever you want,” Derek managed to choke out.

A sadistic smile could be seen on the stranger’s face at the mentioning of the comment. It then stepped forward into the light, revealing it’s beaten, stitched up body. It was only partially clothed. It’s pitch-black T-shirt and blue jeans had been severally ripped and stained with vast amounts of blood. Its eyes were blackened and much of its body was covered with bruises. Its wrists, neck, forearms, and legs were riddled with what looked like tight wire stitching. It was obvious that the stranger’s body was made up of decapitated body parts. Derek took a closer look and stared back in horror, he was looking at Jessica.