Gecko-Man

IX. Won't It Be Wonderful?

"What do we do, my darling girl? What do we do?"
The man with the polished shoes sat in a small wooden chair in the big stone cavern, head resting on his hands, elbows resting on his knees and eyes resting adoringly on the creature kneeling in front of him.
"They're menaces, those two. Filthy tiny ants that bite. And they know things. Too much. I shouldn't have told the boy our plan, I shouldn't have said anything. But I hadn't expected him to escape. No, I hadn't, my dear.
Why did it have to be him, the perfect subject, the one to whom I told everything and the one who ran? And he's told the girl, the dirty nosey girl who threatens me. ME! I shan't have it, my love, no I shan't. I told her too much as well, I was too proud. I thought I could leave them be, the dull insects who are of no consequence to me. But I can't, I realise that now. I can't let them run around and ruin our plan. I'll kill them. I'll skin them and roll them in salt and rip out their jaws. Twist their tendons until they snap like elastic and smash their eyes to shit with a rock. Yes. You've persuaded me, as always. We'll get them, my love. By this time tomorrow Orem Stalé and October Rayn will be caught and I will rent their rotting little bodies. And then, my dear, and then, nothing will stand in our way. You will never be in pain again, and you will stay like this forever. Won't it be it wonderful?"
The creature closed its bulging eyes and groaned.
She was clearly pleased, the man thought.
The man with the polished shoes watched the bubbles wobbling up the glass dome of the creature's helmet and repeated his last words quietly to himself.
"Won't it be wonderful?"