Cyber Prey

[Silkie]

The monitor sat glaring blue in the darkness of my small office, with only the blinking of the cursor on its flat screen. I cursed its mechanical travesty and banged hard on the control, alt, delete keys twice, in an effort to reboot the damnedable machine. I drew a long slow drag from my nearly half burned cigarette. It only infuriated me more when after several beeps and a few whirs the machine halted at the same blue blank screen. My knowledge in the ways of computers was amateurish at best and so I set about finding someone to call. The filing cabinets would ideally be the best place to start, with its consumption of neatly categorized and organized receipts; but only if I were organized as such. Avoiding the tall metal stands I flipped through the tattered cards of my Rolodex in half hopes of finding the right number and considered the method of which lottery winners were selected. The smoke in the 12-foot by 12-foot square room dried my eyes out and I rubbed them grizzled fury, but that was as effective as grinding sand into my pupils.

I went to the window and pulled back the heavy beige drapes that blanketed the thick plate glass. The afternoon sun spilled into the room and turned its contents into one brightly lit disaster. It looked like most people’s storage room and it wasn’t surprising that it had become my office when my ex-wife demanded that I move my so-called junk into a room somewhere out of her way. I stared outside at the sun glinting off the sidewalk and thought about her way.

The way her heels had clacked precisely with each purpose-filled stride had been exciting to me once, sexy even, but now the thought of it made me clench my teeth. It had been her constant nagging and organizing that had eventually ruined our marriage. I suppose she grew tired of my clutter. Reluctant to stop griping about Lara, I yanked the curtains closed, drenching the room in darkness once more and hunted down the phone book. It was of course, lying on the floor beside my desk.

Two hours later an over eager young man arrived at my door appearing nervous and smart although very nerdish with his shirt tucked tightly into his pants which were being help up on his scrawny prepubescent frame by a slim black leather belt. At the end of his right arm, his bony hand clasped his technician’s case, rather firmly, I must say, and I took note of it. But it was perhaps, his crooked grin that caught me unawares and began it all.

I led him through the silent rooms of the house walking steadfast and without variation of either speed or gait. I had let the house get run down since Lara wasn’t around anymore; it must have been horrible to my guest as we Ascended a flight of narrow shaky steps. We turned right at the top and walked in single file fashion whilst neither of us carried out any sort of conversation. My ears pricked at the sound of his black casual shoes shuffling quietly on the carpet behind me and I sensed the rigidness of his spine as if he were leaning against me. I took note of it. He coughed a little just as we entered into the door of the room that stood along the back wall of the corridor. He followed me more from curiosity than duty I surmised.

The bedroom had stayed exactly as it was the last day Lara had slept in it. The rumpled covers were still scrunched in the shape of her body as she had lain upon them and stretched her luxuriously long, tanned, lean legs. Her pillows were still askew from the force of our emotions in that final moment. My heart quickened as I went around the bed and saw the portrait of my beloved, hateful wife Lara, painted as though she were still breathing, with the inks of her life force, her blood. It was hard but I continued on towards the door beside her bureau. I was sure the child-like technician would turn and flee when he set his gaze upon that portrait but he continued behind me just the same and did not even startle when he realized he would have to bend down to walk into a door standing only 3 feet tall. I took note of it.

I felt, rather than saw, him hesitate in the doorway. I flipped on the small lamp on the desk and motioned for him to have a seat. It took some coaxing on my part to get the young man to sit down and when he finally did the light from the lamp cast an eerie glow around him, giving him a sickly pallor. I could see the computer’s reflection in the lens of his glasses as he laid down his case and he ran his fingers gingerly across the keyboard .Ah, the trademark of a computer geek. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched him get comfortable with the machine. I’m not sure what went wrong. I had a power failure last night and now it won’t boot up.”

Squinting his eyes together he pushed his glasses upwards with his index finger and faced the offensive monitor, “Sounds like you just need to reformat. That’ll take me a couple of hours and I charge $60 and hour.” Fearfully he looked back at me for approval.

“Money is never a problem. I’ll stay out of your way.” I turned and left him alone with only the sounds of beeps and whirring.

While the young man was working away on the simplest of tasks I began my preparations. If there was one thing I had regrettably learned from Lara, is that tidiness is a result of preparation. I usually didn’t like much to have to agree with her on that but yes it is true. I lined the mahogany table with a sheik black silk runner topped with golden candlesticks, green ivy and burgundy roses. I set aside only the best, highest quality culinary utensils all gleaming and spotless. I poured myself and my guest a glass of port wine and sought about fetching him for dinner.

He smiled, somewhat, when I entered through the small doorway of the office wine in hand but he accepted the offer without question and I took note of it. “What is your name, I would like to know after having you in my house all this time already.” I encouraged him to relax and feel safe.

“My name…” he stammered, “my name, is Todd.” He managed to recite with a remarkable calm assurance on his outward appearance, but one look into his eyes and you could easily tell that he knew this was surely not a good day.

“It is a pleasure Todd, to have had you here. Were you able to fix that beast?” I drank from my glass of wine, cocky in my attentive conversation.

He seemed to let his guard down just a bit, only a smidgen though, “Yes, it was simple, probably just blew out all the system files in the power failure. I reformatted it and put some simple programs on it but you’ll have to reinstall your software yourself. Unless you want to pay for more help.” He even relaxed enough that his face fall into a crooked grin. I took note of it.

“Fantastic, then you’ve earned your fee and I’ll even throw in a few extra dollars. Can’t live without a computer these days.” I opened the door and followed him out of the room. Once again we walked in single file fashion through the Lara’s bedroom and much to my bemusement he held his head high, daring not to look to the right or the left. He made his way out of there rather quickly and silently marched down the hall towards the stairs. I followed without a word behind him watching the muscles across his shoulders tense and tighten with every step. It was the 5th step down that I did it.

I nonchalantly reached out with both hands and shoved him as hard as I could down the stairs. His body hurtled forward, limbs entangling themselves as he rolled end over end. He thumped heavily, once his head bounced off the railing and snapped with a sickening crunch of bones. When he landed at the bottom his eyes stared upwards at the ceiling from the twisted view of a right angle neck. His technician’s case had come open and all his tools were scattered all around him. I had enjoyed the show immensely and worked up an appetite but it would be a couple of hours before I could eat so I got to work.


Although he was slim, he was heavy and I had to drag him into the laundry room. I threw him into the large metal basin Lara had set up as a home made hot tub and pulled off his shoes. His clothes were not necessary and would be cumbersome so I needed to get rid of them. It wasn’t had to cut them off I would just have to remember to burn them later. I had to make sure I followed the plan, it was a carefully constructed plan and I had to follow every detail. Every limb was hacked off at the joint and then skinned, carved and boned making sure to package every piece individually in large freezer size storage lock bags. The head and face was by far the hardest part to carve. It took some talent I discovered to correctly get the right size pieces and not leave behind any fragments. The mess was horribly hard to keep to a minimum and I was soaking wet by the time I was done, I was happy for it to say the least. I took note of it. After I showered and dressed I took my packages and headed for the kitchen.

I set the oven to 500 degrees and laid out several cookie sheets. It was a marvelous site to see me in my tidy kitchen with bones lined up on the counter like a 4 star chef’s spread. I warmed 2 large pots of water and 2 skillets of oil on the stove. I tossed in a couple of crushed garlic cloves and hummed while I stirred the water. The bones baked for 2 hours, browning and crisping. Their smell was scrumptious. I took note of it.

When all had been prepared I made myself a simple plate of mashed potatoes, string beans, a salad, and oh yes, Todd over rice pilaf. It was quite good and I eternalized over every morsel. But the plan was not yet over and so I rose from my seat somewhat groggily as I had a full tummy and proceeded to clean up my mess. Although I was exhausted from my ordeal three tasks remained uncompleted.

The clock read 3:18 am when I finished getting rid of the pieces the body. I spent most of my time grinding up the bones in my food processor until they were mere ashes. A lot of ashes were flushed down the commode I’m afraid. The neighbors two dogs also enjoyed a fully tummy. I fed the rest of the young technician to them through the fence. I believe they will fancy me from now on.

My eyes were half closed and my muscles ached as I drug them up the steps and down the hallway to the office. I am a very strong person, you see, I will go until the end; if I feel it is important enough. I plopped down in my computer chair and pushed the button on the monitor. My desktop sprang to life and waited eagerly for me to input information. I knew I must oblige and bid its calling so I logged onto the Internet listening to the screeching tone of the modem dialing and drummed my fingers. Email awaited me but I ignored it as I logged into my Blogging page and began telling my tale. There will be others, living a solitaire existence, and we will find our prey one way or another. The feedings will continue.

[heinzs]

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

Evil, indeed!

[L0nergurl08]

Hey i liked it-it was a little freeky but im a good way. god bless and stay safe.

[ehli'schild]

very nice imagery. i had an easy time picturing the whole story, lurid as it may be, thanks to you. good work. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />