Why Lucifer Rebelled Against God

Excruciation Is for Reality What Oil Is to the Car Industry

"She won't be the hottest woman I've raped, but once the tears start flowing she should be attractive enough," thought Mats Ludvigsson as he smiled at his date. A 22-year-old, blond and chubby ethnically Scandinavian girl with eyes far apart and crooked teeth. They were in her home in Göteborg, an apartment larger than the dreams of most people Mats knew. Mats hadn't introduced himself by his real name; instead, he called himself Kevin. The overweight 47-year-old felt ill-suited in his suit that didn't quite fit, but when you lie on your Tinder profile that you're a CEO, you have to put in some effort to enable people to fool themselves. On top of his suit, he wore a necklace, bearing an ornate amulet with brilliant-cut diamonds surrounding an oval-cut ruby. She had insisted that he try on the garnished thing and gave him two quick kisses as payment for wearing it.

"You're way too good-looking to be such a good cook. It's unfair, leave the practical stuff for us ugly people to master" he said while feasting on the mushrooms and steak. Lying about finding her more attractive than he did, and enjoying the meal more as well.

"That's just half of it. I'm also smart. I know, being smart and attractive is like illegal or something". Jessica didn't believe that attractiveness had a negative correlation with intelligence, but was smart enough to know that most average-looking and ugly people liked to believe that. She also didn't buy that she was that attractive, but knew to play along with forced compliments. Ludvigsson had committed his first murder at the age of 19, killing a senior citizen in a failed attempt to get away with theft, during a botched breaking and entering. Her death had been a means to an end, but many of his other abuses were for what criminologists called "expressive motives," i.e., he enjoyed doing them for their own sake. Even if his date, Jessica, wanted to sleep with him, he would escalate the situation to where she wasn't comfortable and willing. Because he loved the resistance and fear, nothing aroused him more than tears.

The food made him drowsy and lightheaded, making it harder not to comment on the apartment. She was obviously wealthy, but it seemed she had used her capital to decorate the apartment in the manner of a 13-year-old girl trying to vex her parents. Statues in gold and pink, framed photographs of reality TV stars. The open floor plan, combined with a century-old liquor cabinet set among mahogany bookcases and contrasted by the stainless steel of the hyper-modern kitchen, could politely be described as eclectic. In the same way that a man who talks loudly to himself in public about ducks conquering the world can be described as eccentric.

"Can I ask you something personal?" she giggled, her bubbly demeanor suggesting that the champagne had been successful in conquering her body. He nodded in response. "Do you have any last words?" Jessica said as a joke, a joke at Mats' expense.

His laughter stopped short as realization dawned. He tried to stand up, but weakness spread through his limbs. Before he could react, she lunged at him with a steak knife, driving it into his chest. Mats crumpled to the floor, and she didn't stop there, stabbing him repeatedly. All her tipsiness had been an act, a ruse to make him feel in control. She had eaten only from her plate and had prepared his food out of his sight. If he weren't occupied with the agonizing pain and fear of dying, he would've felt the sting of shame over his own gullibility for missing the blatant signs of being drugged.

***

As Jessica cut up Mats' body with a bone-saw, blood poured out on the thin plastic sheet she had covered the floor with. She had excused it by claiming that her dog had a bladder problem. As she finished up, ready to store the valuable parts in her fridge and grind up the rest for her dogs, she saw that she had made a grave mistake. Her embroidery, placed on the dining table, had been splattered with blood. Psalm 82 was inscribed in it, her favorite Bible quote:

"God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 'How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.'"