continuing where we left off:
paul couldn't say how long he lay there dozing, seconds, minutes or hours, all he knew was the sun of his reality, not the inverted one of the periphery, began to rise from its rightful place. shaking away the sleep that accumulated around his eyes and stretching the knots that had formed within his shoulders, paul, minute man rip van winkle, began to come too. his spine was still broken, the severity of the break he could not say, his legs remained motionless before him, dirty and splayed in a V like fashion. with the throat tightening odor of human defecation wafting up to his now snot free nose was intensified as paul began rummaging about in his pockets. the first smoke of the day, he thought, is always the best. He lit and exhaled contentedly, surveying the damage done the night before. it all seemed so hazy and distant, as if it were the foolish escapades of the hard headed youth this old man once was.
paul knew he should be dead by now. his intestines were, after all, on public display and his spine felt to be protruding from his backside, broken edge grating against his makeshift laz-e-boy. he also knew that he had succeeded in the mission bestowed upon him by those devious and enigmatic periphery representatives. still the strange green liquid seemed to course through his veins making him feel fresh and, almost, energetic. why, if his body hadn't been in such a poor state, paul might even have considered joining a little fun run, had one been happening. something else must happen, that was it, it wasn't completely over. he smoked a little while longer till the smell of bacon, eggs, sausage and pancakes (or maybe even french toast) broke through the fecal fog that surrounded him. he had a cooking shift today, that was it, maybe he was meant to work one last time before expiring. then he noticed, or rather heard, movement within the recently deceased fiend's house. a sleepy smile began to creep across his healthy blushing face. he felt like some coffee.
he waited a while longer until the disappearance of her under cover lover began to dawn upon her. she tentatively opened the front door, reassuring herself that his vehicle was still soundly parked in the driveway, and stopped short when her eyes fell on the mess that lay sprawled out beside the tree trunk. she wore an apron and nothing else, an apron that demanded the cook be kissed, and within her grasp sizzled the rapidly crisping bacon paul had smell from outside.
she never expected paul could have found out so quickly of her infidelity, after all and honestly, he wasn't the quickest rabbit in the brood. but mistaken she was, for here sat paul eyeing her nearly naked form with amusement, she returned the look with one of shocked bemusement. her bacon began to smoke and burn. she set the crackling pan to one side of the doorstep, with the manner and demure of a patient mother gently chiding her whining child. she smoothed her hands on the front of her apron and began walking towards paul, a slight blush betraying what would have normally appeared to be a calm disposition.
she said hello and good morning. in response paul smiled cheerfully, if only a tad bit sleepily in her direction. she saw his wounds, unaware that his spine had split, and inwardly felt that if he forgave her she would call an ambulance for him, save his rapidly fading life.
"i don't know how this looks to you, i don't know how to explain this to you, i don't..." she stopped theatrically, a star performer pacing her sentences, exaggerating her pauses and of course...
"i don't know..." that utterly inessential, dramatic repeat followed by an ellipses.
as if on cue, she began to tear up until she burst into full on crying. between sobs she apologized to paul for all she had done to him. she admitted that she had sex with multiple men, different men, and at different times in their relationship. how she couldn't stand being without him which was why she never left. how she loved him, now, more than ever. how relieved she felt that she could now, finally, be honest with him. he smiled, stoic expression phlegmatic and unmoving.
then mistaking his smile for a sign of forgiveness and feeling now that she had, despite being caught, obtained the higher ground in the argument, began subtly hinting that he had driven her away. she kept it light at first, then it became a little rougher, hints and precautionary advice gave way to demands and accusations. man up for once in your sniveling life, seemed to be the most prominent of the demands. he smiled wordlessly back, this reaction to her scolding set her off for a second. she peered at him suspiciously. was he dead?
she leaned in, closer, hoping to spot some eye movement or feel some rank breath. she thought that feeling his pulse might complicate matters further, what if they finger printed his pathetic corpse and found her prints on his beaten neck or wrist? unlikely, yeah, but possible. she floated closer closer until there noses nearly touched, his eyes flickered down to her now fully exposed cleavage and darted back up, his sunny smile now wicked and sharp like a crescent moon. she had no time to scream, his movements were quick and precise, two flowing loops of his fleshy lasso and she was hog-tied. another flash and a loop around her throat shut off all breathing passages to her lungs. Paul could feel her writhing body begin to stretch the outer skin on his intestines but knew she would lose strength well before she would rip them open. her naked body, now arching in pain and desperation, collected leaves and dirt sticky with dew.
their bodies were found three weeks later by a kid named wesley walsh, bicycling through on his way to school (he said it was short cut, really he was cutting class to smoke a joint) who had stopped to piss and noticed the smell. five bodies total, investigators feared that a psychopathic murdered was on the loose. when friends, co-workers and neighbors were questioned and the rumor was brought forth, the police reassessed their initial ruling. the investigators ruled out murder suicide noting that the would be killer, paul, could not have possibly melted three grown men with sulfuric acid, then ground up the forth, a women, into what appeared to be coffee grinds and stuffed her lower half in the freezer, all with a broken spine. the coffee cup in paul's hands did rouse some argument, though. word eventually leaked out, via rumor, that a serial killer was on the prowl. the police apprehended a suspicious looking homeless man outside of a nearby convenient store three nights later. the grizzled man was brought in for questioning. they found nothing but a pocket knife, a belt buckle with no strap, some loose change with pocket lint and a vial of sour apple gator aide. a similar vial was found at the scene of the murder along with fingerprints from paul's hand as well as the homeless suspect. the court figured this was substantial enough evidence to make a case. the suspect, in court, claimed that the vial held a magical pharmakon that, once imbibed, would assimilate itself into the body giving temporary life to one's insides and the ability to command the animated organs. all temporary, of course, for it worked doubly as a potent poison that eventually drained the life of the individual. he was sentenced to life in prison with psychiatric care.
The homeless man disappeared during the Christmas season that followed. a large hole in the prison wall, appearing to be the work of a large explosive device (though the guards on duty claimed not to have heard a peep) and theorized that it was a two man operation. his corpse, along with that of an unidentifiable male, was discovered not too far from paul's place of work. the homeless man, serene smile on warty face, lay face up in snow with his rib cage exposed as if a time bomb had been nestled in place of his heart. the mystery corpse, on the other hand, suffered severe burns to the front side of his body. and, along with an empty bottle of sour apple gator aide swaying softly by his badly burned side, were words written in blood: The rumor is finished. all escapees are accounted for and the border secured. our mission was a success. have a happy holiday!
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