Michael Elmore
A Case Study for Lachrymology
She didn't see him when she entered the house. The lights were turned off, and so she couldn't have possibly seen him in the pitch dark. Her first clue that something was wrong was the silence. Normally, her father's irregular, loud snoring would fill the house, but tonight it was missing.
"Maybe God intervened," she thought to herself. "Maybe his snoring finally irritated the Almighty, and He decided to do something about it." She laughed silently to herself about her theological wit, but was still unnerved by the utter silence that permeated the house. Thus, she decided to check in on her parents.
bloodgutsdeathratsblooddeathwhowhatwhereAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Her parent's bedroom was decorated in a new shade of red that she recognized all too well. Not to mention the other, meaty things that dripped down with the red from the walls and ceiling. She stood and watched (witnessed) too long, far too long. Somewhere within her, something was screaming, but it wasn't her. No, it wasn't her. Instead, she (didn't see it) walked back out into the hallway. (Police. Where were the Police?)
She turned on the lights in the TV room on the way back through, and almost missed (ignored) him. (a piece of notnothing furniture is what that is, nothing more nothing notless. that is not a man not a man not a man. AND NO GUN.) She got as far as the doorway to the kitchen.
"Who told you, daughter of Israel, that you could ignore me?" he asked. "What lead you to believe that I would choose to ignore you, and let this infernal charade continue? I have come to take that which is mine, and destroy all that which is not. Your world has denied to me all these things that you and your family and your friends possess. I will take all these away, for they do not belong to you, daughter of Israel."
She froze. "What do you want?" she asked calmly.
"I want nothing. I desire nothing. I will take nothing, for nothing belongs to me. i burn daughter of Israel, and the world shall burn with me."
She turned around in the doorway and faced him. He was average. Not tall, not short, not handsome, not ugly. (Not anything.) "Go away. Please go away." She had said this often, and most had listened. Tonight, this new man did not. Instead he came closer.
"I will not obey. I will not listen to your prettyface and prettywords, nor will I tolerate your prettythoughts. I will burn all that is inconsequential and unnecessary in this world. You are not necessary. I will not tolerate you." At this word, she charged him, knocking him to the ground, and ran for the front door. He recovered quickly, and fired a single shot from a kneeling position that penetrated her knee and destroyed her kneecap.
She collapsed in a great deal of pain, and now unable to move any further, she simply laid on the ground and whimpered like a wounded puppy.
The man quickly walked over to her collapsed form, and turned her onto her back with his foot. She whimpered and squealed more, as if she believed that if she was annoying enough, he would run away.
"STOP YOUR IGNORANT WHINING, WOMAN!" He stomped on her throat with enough force to stun her, but not enough force to cause damage.
"Now then, you will listen to me, and you will witness to the pain of living." He stood above her now, with one foot on her throat, and the other planted next to her head. He aimed the weapon down, towards the top of her forehead. "For years, I have attended your churches and your schools and your institutional facilities. Your world has taught me to cry. You do not know pain, and so you have never cried. I will teach your world what it has shown me. " He looked away for a moment, towards her parent's bedroom.
"By the way, would you like to know about your brother?" Her eyes widened. Her brother, now two years old, would have been sleeping upstairs. "I didn't think you would. I decided not to waste ammunition or much energy. That new frying pan in the kitchen did the trick well."
Right on cue, she attempted to scream. The man thought to himself, "I should tape this. It would be better than the sitcoms, the pre-fab dramas. Life makes much better entertainment than fiction. Kill you neighbor for kicks!" The foot on her throat prevented her from screaming, which was his plan.
"Do you have anything to say now? Mind you, daughter of Israel, that these are your final words in this life." He slowly lifted his foot so that she could speak.
She looked up at him through her veil of tears, and spoke. "Jesus weeps for you soul. May you..."
He reapplied the pressure to her throat and aimed the weapon. "Jesus knows pain, and now so do you, daughter of Israel. Die. Die in pain, and find the peace that death can only bring."
She closed her eyes as the pressure on the trigger gradually began to increase and prayed to God. Her last thoughts were silenced by a great roar, which slowly faded only to be replaced by the sound of children. Only to be replaced with the sound of children quietly crying.