Stranger's Call

Part Seven

He’d always loved the smell of burning. It reminded him almost too much of the pleasant BBQ’s he’d seen as a child. Not in his home, of course. His father hadn’t been around and the woman he’d been forced to call mother was too drunk all the time to have thought of doing it. But the neighbors, his childhood neighbors, had lived the sort of life he had always wanted to grow into. The smell of the wood burning and rising in the rooms around him made his evil smile return, watching it jeer into an electric blue and white as he threw more fluid into it. The flames sparked up and on with it. 

The jars of collected organs began to turn brown then black, and then burst, just as he turned and walked out the room, humming to himself. He adjusted the small shoulder bag on him, where he’d collected his favorite pictures and a few of his favorite tools before setting the room ablaze. He’d done the same to all the rooms where there was any evidence of the work being done. Almost two decades of work that he knew of and he’d only just begun two years prior, himself. Enlisted, you might say, by a seller of his favorite goods, after they discovered what skills he possessed and how quick he was with each subject. 

He’d never been told what had happened to the previous surgeon. Simply handed the thrilling keys to his castle, and put straight to work. He was God in his finest glory in this place. No one told him what to do or how to do it. And they most certainly didn’t think he’d allow them to discover that two ridiculously lucky girls had managed to escape him temporarily. He couldn’t risk the damage of  what such a discovery might make on any of his future endeavors. 

He’d even begun to enjoy the hunt for new subjects. Though he hadn’t been pushed to do that bit of the business, it pleased him to choose them. His favorites all had similar features. He was aware some psychologists would say they reflected in resemblance the woman he had never been loved by. In truth, you might say, they did. His mother though, she had been old and wrinkly, mean and already past her prime by the time he did away with her. These subjects held all the attributes that his mother hadn’t: purity, innocence, independence and the thrilling feature of always being left abandoned. Perhaps they also resembled him as well, he thought suddenly. 

It made him laugh, unsure why but then, again why not laugh? He glanced again at the wrist watch; 9:36 PM. Time was working with him, a good omen indeed. He walked with purpose down the halls, flames licking the walls around and behind him as he went. The rising blue-white light almost blinding to glare at, as he paused at the entrance to the staircase. 

‘And now, to business.’ He adjusted his shoulder bag strap across his shoulder, placing the bottle of solvent inside for safe keeping. From his pocket he pulled a revolver and stared at it with annoyance. Such a vulgar tool, but it would keep them from trying anything too daring. Once he had them tied up and ready for transport again, he would put it away.  Oh yes, they would be transported to their proper places, he could not allow the bitches escape. After all he was an efficient surgeon in his own right and it had been part of his agreement. They would not like it if he abandoned the task.  

The flames would stop them from attempting to escape him above, and all that was left was making their escape through one of the two exits and through him to do so. There was also a  basement floor, which with the fire and immovable elevators wasn’t very easy to reach. He grinned at his genius, mentally patting his own back as he walked with no rush down the second floor staircase, this one not yet burning. Once reaching the first floor staircase door, he pulled out the bottle of lighting fluid, threw some against some rags in a corner and flicked a match to them. Flames immediately sparked up, he doused the walls and some of the trash littering the floor. But he didn’t wait to watch the flames lick up the liquid and climb the walls. He’d already opened the door and walked onto the first floor.