Harbinger Ch. 5

The Sadist’s Epistle

Halfway across the country

It’s 10 o’clock at night. He should have been home three hours ago, but his boss wouldn’t let him leave until he finished the Gillespie account. This caused him to miss his bus and now he has to wait another hour for the next one. Last time he checked, public transportation was supposed to be a convenience, but in practice it just proves to be a giant pain in the ass.

His ride finally arrives and he pays the fare before sitting down. The bus is surprisingly full for this time of night. A couple of teenagers in the back are playing music from a boom box at an annoyingly high volume. The person two seats behind him is coughing her lungs up and it makes him wonder what he’s going to catch on the ride home. He looks at all the other passengers that occupy the bus with him. Their collected scents hang thick in the air and it makes him nauseous. He hates all of them.

Twenty minutes later, he is finally dropped off at his stop and left to enjoy the five minute walk to his house, alone. The night air cools him and it helps to cleanse his nostrils of the vermin’s scent. Before he knows it, he’s already at his front door. He looks back over his shoulder as he works the key in the lock and lets himself inside.

He sits his bag and keys down on the table by the door and then goes into the kitchen to grab a beer. He opens it, chugs it and grabs another before going to sit in the living room. He turns on the TV and begins to get comfortable. The long day had made him even more tired than he initially thought, because he falls asleep to the sounds of the local news in less than three minutes.

………..

The sun shining through the living room window stings his eyes. He smacks his lips and tries his best to alleviate the cotton mouth he had acquired during his slumber. He stands up and winces, because his back aches from sleeping upright in his recliner for the entire night. It’s at this point he notices that the TV set is turned off.

‘That’s odd,’ He thinks to himself. ‘I could’ve sworn I had left it on.” He shrugs it off before going to the kitchen to cook himself some breakfast.

He opens the fridge and gets out a carton of eggs and orange juice. He shuts the door and glances at the kitchen table. His spine runs cold. Now sitting on its polished, wooden surface is the head of a young woman. Resting in her mouth is an envelope. Someone had broken in and put it there while he was sleeping.

He slowly walks toward it, his hands shaking. When he gets about five feet away he breathes a sigh of relief. The head’s fake. Whoever made it did a fantastic job, though. The woman actually looks just like her. He reaches into its mouth and pulls out the envelope. The letter inside reads:

Mr. Cade,

You are an artist and your talents should be shared with the world. Aren’t you tired of hiding your true self? Dressing in a suit and parading around in front of all those people you despise?

You see, we know who you are. Better than that, we know what you are and we know where you hide your bodies. We have a proposition for you.

Four nights from now, hundreds of those like you will congregate in certain cities around the world for one evening to do what they do best. This isn’t a game, there are no prizes and your life will very likely be finished after it’s over in one fashion or another. However, you will finally be able to feed the hunger you’ve suppressed for so long without the fear of legal consequences. Within the next twenty four hours, you will receive all the information you need. We’ll be in touch.

Ps. If you don’t participate, we are going to the police with all the evidence we have against you.
And no, we’re not fucking around. Just something to keep in mind.

He read it three times before putting it down. He knew he should be furious, but this was just too intriguing. A whole night to indulge what he’s been forced to conceal for his entire adult life? He smiled just thinking about the possibilities. He then looked at the severed head on the table. They even modeled it after the woman he has locked in his basement at this very moment. Definitely a nice touch.