SHEOL

22

I had dozed off for a little while as I leaned my head against the cool, clean glass. I'm not exactly sure why, though. I suppose it was just one of those nights, when you feel like you can run ten miles because you're just so awake, but your body is actually as tired as if you had just ran twenty. I guess my brain just never seemed to catch up.

Only about twenty five minutes had passed from the time I had fallen asleep until the moment I woke back up. I was never good at falling asleep in moving vehicles, especially for long periods of time.

"You're awake." Kingston said as I hazily rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms. The Window Killer glanced over, then went back to polishing the machete.

"Did anything happen while I was asleep?" I asked as I scanned the empty cabin for a mutilated corpse.

"Not really." He replied. "The Window Killer was just telling me about the work he did with my grandpa."

The Window Killer looked up from his catharsis. "He's a fine man, Kingston. Even though the result of working with him ended up costing me my life, I'm glad I did it. I wouldn't trade the memories for anything."

"Were you the Healer's only apprentice?" I questioned after he finished reminiscing. "Or were there others?"

"There was another. A young girl." He replied.

"What did she end up doing?"

"She helped the Healer make the candles. I was more inclined to do the 'dirty work'."

"What was her name?" Kingston asked.

"I don't recall." He said dryly.

"What do you mean you 'don't recall'?" I challenged. "You worked with her for a long time, didn't you?"

"I did." He said.

"Then what did you call her?" Kingston questioned.

"I called her by her name, of course. I just never took the time to keep it in my memory. She wasn't very important in the grand scheme of things." He then mentioned "I didn't like her all that well".

Kingston caught on to what he was implying quicker than I had. "Was she a virgin?"

"Perhaps." The Window Killer simpered. "Even if she were not a virgin, I probably still would have ended her life."

I shifted in my seat. "What did she do to deserve being killed?"

"She was a nuisance. She asked too many questions. She wasn't good at her job. What more can I say? The Healer didn't like her much either. When he had found out, he was most relieved that I had disposed of her."

"You were jealous." Kingston blurted.

"Excuse me?" The Window Killer answered, looking up from his blade.

"I said: You. Were. Jealous." Kingston grinned.

The Window Killer guffawed. "Don't be so irrational, my dear boy. Why would I be jealous of such a being? I am clearly superior, considering the fact that she was incompetent enough to die at the mercy of my blade." He then shot a brisk smile at his knife.

"But," Kingston interjected. "the reason you killed her was because she got in the way of things between you and the Healer."

"Hardly. She did get in the way, but not in that sort. She was clumsy and dull and just unsuited for such a job. I figured that she would have had more use becoming a candle, rather than poorly attempting to create them." He smirked. "My dear Kingston. I was far more important to the Healer than that girl ever was. It wasn't a competition; she had lost before she'd even begun."