Emergence ~ Split

Epilogue

The Weight Between His Shoulders

Festering thoughts tangled between ideas. Thin fibres tightening and constricting across his mind. Dennis was broken, the man had been hollowed out and re-filled with the poisonous blood of his inner demons. Deep inside, hidden beyond the s harp and callous corners of his mind, Dennis regretted it, he was scared, lost and out of control.

The voices that influenced him were familiar, safe and promising. He was content to listen.

They told him to hide, wipe his hands clean and find a place that he could own.

He found himself walking the abandoned pipes underneath the zoo. A place surrounded at night by the whispers of beasts, pure and timid in comparison to his own demons . Dennis knew this was the place where he belonged, where he could lock away his monsters and bury himself in the regrets of what he had become.

Dennis got himself a job, a structure. He fed the monsters living above him, the Beasts that were unaware of his own creature.

But something kept crawling underneath his skin. Like teeth tracing along his spine. It kept him awake, it kept him begging. He needed something. The voices crowded his mind, telling him to work, sleep and ignore it. Dennis was afraid and there was something pulsing in time with his own heartbeat, but it was something much more stronger.

Beat, beat, beat.

It rang out loudly in his empty heart.

It pushed against the back of his throat, suffocating him. The silence drowning around him was haunting. He needed to see it, to feel it. To know the Beast within him .

Dennis pushed himself out of bed, stumbling to his feet and feeling light headed from the lack of oxygen swirling in his head. For a second the blood flooded his ears with the thump of his heart. He was saved from the dreaded thoughts spearing around in his mind.

It wasn't Dennis as he left the maintenance facilities underneath the zoo, a collection of ideals were gathered at the forefront of his head . Already shaking with the adrenaline of a hunt he walked, avoiding the cheery giddy kids prancing around the zoo.

They didn't need to pay to visit the monsters locked in cages, when Dennis knew the real monsters were within.

It was nearing two in the afternoon as his stoic faced searched, scanning the glittery colours of the restaurant and the glinting reflections in the carpark.

Enjoyment lurked beneath every soul, there were different methods of bringing it forward. Dennis needed to bring out his happiness, feeling it buried beneath his unseen fear.

Three young girls caught his attention, beautiful and conceited in their own nature. The look of the girls had his breath puffing out quicker. He was so close, he could take them. He watched as a man joked lamely by their side, carrying boxes and directing them to a silver hatchback.

Dennis stepped out forward, quickly meeting the man's confused blue eyes.

The girls were in the car, their voices carrying loudly as they remained indifferent to the silenced plea leaving the man's throat. Dennis clamped his hand tighter, drawing him into his chest and heaving his body behind a car. He proceeded quickly to open the drivers door and sit himself in the vehicle. Already he was overwhelmed by the strong female scent. His skin crawled as he gripped the steering wheel. He wanted this. Completely.

The girls didn't struggle. Easily undertaken by the heavy spray of chloroform as he pulled out of the carpark and continued to the zoo. He used the back entrance. Heaving the three bodies out of the car and gently placing them into the storage room. He placed Marcia and Claire on the same bed. The red head girl, Marcia, was lightly freckled and her singlet showed off the scattering of freckles down her shoulders. He would start with her.

Casey had her own bed, she lacked layers upon layers, in her short sleeved shirt. He wanted to pry her apart, tear her apart. He wanted to have her.

He managed to withdraw himself from the women as he stood watching, waiting for them. He was calmed by the sound of their breaths and soft heart beats. He wasn't alone with the horrors of himself when he had these girls. When he had Casey.

He watched her, trailing his eyes across her dark hair and small frame. The girl wasn't exact. She didn't have the same scars running across her wrist. Instead, she had blue nail polish. Dennis blinked, it was Claire.

He looked to Claire on the second bed with Marcia. Her hair was a dark blonde, her skin covered by long sleeves and a filthy pair of tattered jeans. He had made a mistake. He lifted Marica off of Claire as he dragged Claire over to Casey's bed. Before removing Casey and placing her in Marcia's bed.

The new Casey didn't have blue nail polish. But her hair was lighter, crowding his eyes as he tried to sort through his feelings.

The women were wrong. They were impure.

He considered leaving them there. Turning and abandoning his socialisation. But instead Claire woke up, her dark eyes flicking across to his as she gasped. Already tightening a polished hand around Marcia and trying to get away from his glare. It was too late to reconsider.

He felt soothed. Like a cold sponge melting away the burn t charcoal that had seeped into his skin.

And so it began...