The Ratcatcher

Prologue

The rat squeaked in delight as it taunted me, darting across the moonlit room. It scampered back and forth, from me to the far wall where its nest was, and back again. I took a step forward, pretending to give in to the chase. Its beady eyes lit up and a smirk flitted across its scarred face as it continued running across the room.

This rat was fast. I had faced worse, of course, being in the business that I'm in, but it was a rather speedy little thing nonetheless. I approached it once again as it was near the far wall and placed a small crumb of cheese a few feet away from me. The nasty creature immediately stopped running and lifted its nose, smelling the air. It scampered towards the cheese in three bounds and gobbled it down hastily. But by that time he was as good as dead.

I quickly dropped the bucket on top of the rat and slid the bucket across the floor towards the hole in the wall. This particular hole in the wall was more of a gap, really, or a sign of bad construction, for it was a space where the wall and floor were supposed to meet - yet they didn't. This rather large gap was the perfect place to send captured rats to their deaths, for if they fell down through they'd soon end up in the alleyway three stories below. "Farewell, vile thing. You put up a good fight.", I said as I slid the bucket over the gap, sending the rat to his doom.

~That's all for now folks!~

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