Queen the Killer

1

Ever since I laid my eyes on him, he enraptured me. Ever since I read the newspaper reports on his activity and unknowable whereabouts, I knew. I knew in my throbbing heart that it was my sacred destiny to be like him. To know his secrets. Like some supernatural, apparitional force, he manages to evade all detection, succeeding almost every time to send his victims to eternal slumber. And yet he was supposedly merely a teen with a bad case of mental instability...

I thought about it. There was no logical explanation as to how an inexperienced teen could be so effective at killing. Normally it would take meticulous planning and studying the victim. And even then, there is a fair amount of luck involved, especially in getting away with it. Is there something he has that other murderers don't?

... yes, there has to be. Some sort of power that turns a simple murderer into an unstoppable killer. Whatever it was, I was going to find out.

I rummaged through the Internet for clues. I tried many search engines. All night I kept at it, finding no leads and growing more exhausted. I was getting up to go to bed when something caught my eye. At the bottom of the screen was an unusual link reading, "The Sigil of the Psyche". It led to a page about a book of the same title; this supposedly told about the connection between a mysterious force that effects the brain and the miraculous abilities of those affected by it. I was hesitant about its authenticity, but considering it took me all night to find this, I decided to order it. It took a good-sized bite out of my allowance.

A small box arrived at the doorstep several days later. Opening it and removing the wrappings revealed a cover decorated with a sort of Lovecraftian fractal pattern and a metallic smell that vaguely reminded me of old rust. Something about it was...foreboding. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but it felt as though the moment I saw the book, it too saw me. In fact, it stared deep into my soul with its non-existent eyes, deep into the root of my cause, into my lovesick heart.

It felt like it knew.

I went into my room and plopped the book on my desk. It hit with a thud that sounded like a creaking door. I whirled to face the entrance of my room because of it. Of course, nothing. I flipped to the table of contents and found a chapter called "The Sigil and the Killer". Page 666. I went to see nothing but a large symbol surrounded by a looping script I didn't understand.

At that moment, I had a strange feeling. It was like I was being watched, and whoever-or whatever- was watching me saw me from the corner of their eye for a split picosecond. Then, the feeling went away as suddenly as it came, as though the thing watching me ran off. I swore I heard the faint noise of someone crying in fear as that feeling went away.

Reluctantly, I turned to the next page. Only another strange symbol was there, and underneath was a small short phrase in tiny italic letters: "Thou shalt fall into a slumber most deep." Upon reading it, I felt drowsier than I had felt in my entire life. I barely got into bed before the coma of the night overcame me.

I had no dreams.

I had no sensations, no thoughts. It was as though I was disembodied.

Yet for some reason, I felt a passion in the depths... of something. Something of which I couldn't grasp the true form.

Another strange feeling arrived when I awoke. This was more of a tugging, slightly painful feeling. Again, it quickly disappeared, and I thought I heard in the distance outside a distorted voice that said, "somebody once told me". It sounded just like Mario. I was puzzled and looked outside. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it was the middle of the night. I went downstairs and looked at the time on the stove.

2:48 A.M.

I turned on the lights, and the book was there on the counter, opened to another page. Page 999. My entire circulatory system stopped functioning, because my heart stopped and my blood froze in its veins. I didn't know how I was still conscious, but at that moment I wished I wasn't. On that page was a passage written in that strange looping script, surrounding an inverse symbol. It was a symbol written in a red reeking substance, a symbol which beckoned to me. I felt a compulsion. A compulsion to read, even though I couldn't understand what it was that I read. I flipped backwards, going through the book from near the end at page 999 to the beginning. And there, in the immersion of the book, outside of the haze of the pages I saw his face: the most beautiful thing I could possibly imagine. I saw the purest snow white of skin, those ringed, never closing eyes, and that manic carved out smile. I smiled back, and wished I could never tire of smiling. I got a knife from the kitchen. I spread some of the red substance from the symbol over my mouth in the curved arc of a grin. I drew a sigil on the back of my green school uniform with a black bow, drew the patterns on the cover of the book on the white band of my hat, and put them on. I opened the door and a ghost was there. It said in a voice like Mario's, "there's a skeleton inside you."

With that, I vanished into the night.

_________________________________________________________

A child estimated to be about 12 was sighted with a kitchen knife in hand several nights ago. The witness gave testimony about the child and how they attempted to stab him:

"It was in the middle of the night. I was sleeping rather lightly, and heard shuffling in the bedroom. I woke up, sat on my bed, and looked around me. Nothing was there. Thinking it was just my imagination I fluttered back to sleep. Right on the edge of dreaming, I heard the soft eerie voice of a child whisper, "Killer Queen has already touched that dream." I jolted up, my skepticism in the paranormal faltering. That is because in the hour prior to the incident I heard a voice in the hallway say, "somebody once told me". There was nothing in the hallway when I looked.

Ahead of me that night, at the foot of the bed, was what appeared to be a child with a hat that had a strange pattern on it, and some kind of hyper-realistic jam-like substance spread across their face in the shape of a giant smile. The figure was shadowy. They had a wild look in their eyes.

The figure lunged at me and attempted to stab me in the throat. I got a gash in my wrist from holding back their arm, but luckily the child was as strong as a child would be. Even though it hurt, I easily pushed them away and they landed on their back. The figure then screamed, got on my bed, threw the blankets on me, and lunged again aiming for my heart. I used the blankets to deflect the knife and threw them back at the child. They screamed again, dropped the knife and ran off. Looking out the window, I saw the child run out of my house, off the streets, and disappear into the woods.

They left behind their hat. Inspecting it under the light of my lamp, I saw the patterns clearly and got an eerie feeling. Like I was being watched. I looked on the inside of the hat and found a tag.

On the tag, written in sharpie, was the name 'Tony'."

____________________________________________________________

After telling the news reporter of the attempted homicide, I began to wonder who this "Tony" kid was. There was no last name, and I didn't want to get into anyone's business calling from nowhere. I'm pretty sure his parents are concerned already. Though that does bring up another question... how did his parents not notice his mentality? Did they not care about him? Is that why he wanted to kill? I haven't come across any neglecting parents anywhere in this town, so I doubt it's the case. Besides, that look in his eyes seemed so... abnormal. Almost like he was possessed.

I shook the thought from my mind as I made my way from the living room to the kitchen to pop some popcorn for a movie I was going to watch. I remembered how hot the bags got when they were fresh from the microwave, and saw the gash in my wrist was still relatively fresh, albeit dry. It still hurt when I bent my thumb. I'm going to have to use my left hand for holding the bag this time. 3 minutes passed, and I filled my bowl.

I went back to the living room and loaded up my DVD player with the movie. I lied down on my sofa, popcorn in a bowl on a table next to me. As the movie loaded, for a split second I heard something from the corner of my icebox. Like, a "yoo-hoo!" sound. I turned to the icebox to see it undisturbed. I faced back to the TV screen and the movie finally loaded up. I pressed "play" on the main menu.

After the first scene from the movie, I felt something drop onto my head. I took it off and held it in front of me. It was the kid's hat. I saw inside, next to the name tag a phrase on tape that read, "the Killer".

I looked up, then behind me. A chainsaw flew in the air, heading straight for my face.