As Seen On TV

It was a late Friday night. Me and my parents joined together in the living room to have what we call "family bonding" meaning sitting and doing our own thing in the same room. I sat at the corner of the couch scrolling through social media and through my reddit, while dad layed back in his recliner half alseep. A beer can sat on the box next to him and i could smell the bitter aroma of alcohol, which almost made me gag. My mom seated on the other end of the couch knitting away, making another scarf for her craft sales she always like doing. It was a rather dull night since there was nothing good on the television and we all resorted to watching the news just as some form of background present to flush out the awkward silence. I jumped as the news went to a commercial with a loud and upbeat tune, that almost felt too happy. The commercial began with a voice that said.

"Tired of using knives and blades that just wont cut, leaving you stressed?"

What was strange is the voice sounded deep and somewhat, distorted. Even more, the people using the knives shown in the video all wore what looked like a black bag over their faces as they stumbled trying to slice the tomato or carrot in front of them. I lowered my phone slowly as i stared at the starnge infomercial i had never seen before. I looked at my mom who's expression matched my own as she stared at the bright television screen. I nudged my dad to wake up and he grunted as he slowly opened his eyes. As he slowly came to, his face soon turned to the same confused gaze that me and my mother shared.

A man dressed in a red polo shirt and black slacks stepped into the camera veiw. His faced was covered by a Guy Fawkes mask. Its wide mustache grin and dark empty eyes made my stomach churn as he spoke in his deep voice.

"I'm here today to show you the amazing power of the Serial Baldes" He said in a cheerful voice as he held up what looked like a large cake knife in one hand, and a butchers knife in the other.

The camera slowly panned as he troted off to the right of the screen, showing the same 5 bag headed people all kneeling in a row. each had their hands tied behind their back and i assume their feet as well since neither were able to stand no matter how much the squirmed and wiggled. I felt my breath get heavy and i quickly tried to change the channel before we could see anything. It was in vain, for no matter how many times i hit that channel button, that same commercial would appear.

He walked up to the first hooded victim holding the cake knife in his hands and threw off the bag. My heart sank, when i saw the horrified look on 14 year old Bobby Richards face. Tears stains down his cheeks as his muffled cries were could barely be heard through the white fabric stuffed in his mouth. Bobby was a classmate of mine and also went to the same church as me. He was a very polite, christian boy, who had staright A's in school. There was even talk of him possibly making it into a big christian college upstate. My mother gasped at the sight as my dad wide eyed sat on the edge of his recliner. I could see the reflective glow of his sweaty forehead as he stared at the screen.We could hear sirens outside our house as dozens of cops buzzed pass our house. Probably on the look for this lunatic.

A number slowly appeared on the screen as the masked lunatic says

"call now if you would like to order this marvelous cake knife, but time is limited so call now."

A timer appeared on the screen as it began to count down, 59, 58, 57, 56. My heart raced as the clock slowly counted down. Watching as he drew the knife closer the boy's neck as Bobby began sobbing. The clock had reached 29, when there was a ring on the commercial.

"Looks like we have a buyer." He says in a cheerful tone as he lets go of Bobby. Bobby is then dragged off screen and the man steps up to the next victim. He removes the bag to reveal 15 year old Jenna Rennings the student body president of my school. I could feel a cold sweat on the back of my neck as he walked up with what looked like a steak fork. It's sharp ends twinkled as he placed it against her mascara smeard face. The same number appeared as he looks up at the camera.