Ink

Ink

                You could say that Nathan Ellis had an ongoing romance with death. He was intoxicated by the sensation of ending someone’s life. In that brief moment when he snuffed out someone’s life like a tiny flame, he felt things that no one else in the world could provide for him. Death gave him great power that he could never feel in his daily life. It also gave him a great high, and then there was also the excitement that came with doing anything forbidden or taboo. But all of these pleasures were short lived, and he was quickly left empty and feeling disgusted with himself. But still he always craved the next thrill that his mistress death could offer.

                Nathan wasn’t a killer by choice. He believed that it was written in his DNA, in his flesh and bone. He craved it and needed it like food and water. The affair started off with small pets and other small animals he captured, and his parents knew back then what he was up to, but would rather sweep it under the rug than admit that their son had a serious problem. Unfortunately now at twenty eight years old he found that he couldn’t share that aspect of himself with anyone else; therefore he kept his relationships with everyone shallow at best. He had to keep that side of himself a secret or surely be persecuted for being different.

Tonight Nathan had followed his paramour death to a small home on a lonely country road. He was down on his knees in a tangle of overgrown bushes. He had been waiting there for about twenty minutes, but for some reason his heart was still racing. The stalking of his prey was always an exciting process. His prey that he was stalking today was a cute brunette who worked at a bookstore that he sometimes went to.  Her name was Valerie and if he was correct, she should be getting home soon; after she closed the store for the day.

                Then he saw her car coming up the street. The headlights reflected off of his wire-rimmed glasses. Cautiously he let his back rest against the house where he wouldn’t be seen. Then he listened as she got out of the car, and walked up the walkway to her front door. Her blunt hills clicking on the sidewalk was the only noise that he could hear besides the crickets. He heard the front door open, and then close, giving his victim a false sense of safety.

                He waited a few moments, and then Nathan rounded the corner of the house. In the light of her bedroom window, he watched as she shed her clothes revealing her supple tanned flesh. Valerie wasn’t aware of the show that she was putting on, her closest neighbor was two acres away and shrouded by a thick layer of dark forest; so she didn’t usually bother with closing the curtains. Nathan looked on as Valerie headed into the bathroom not even bothering to shut the door. As excited as Nathan was he was also extremely anxious, the longer he stuck around the more he ran the risk of getting caught.

                The House Valerie occupied was very old with old fashioned windows, which allowed Nathan to break in with little effort. He slid up the mesh screen, and then slowly raised the window; careful not to make a sound even though Valerie wouldn’t be able to hear much over the sound of the shower. Once inside, he braced himself beside the bathroom door with a shoe lace wrapped up in his hands and held tightly.

                The shower cut off, and Valerie took a minute to dry herself off, before emerging from the steamy bathroom.

                Much like a cobra Nathan struck quickly. He attacked her from behind as she passed through the threshold catching her off guard. Valerie couldn’t have screamed if she wanted to. The dirty shoelace was wrapped around her throat instantly. Nathan pulled the string tight around her neck cutting off her air supply. Valerie tried to fight him off, but was pushed down to the floor. She tried to grab something, anything that could be useful, but her arms were pinned by her own body. The lights blurred together, and then disintegrated before she could even get a look at her attacker’s face.