cademia023
Honorary Poster
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- Nov 27, 2016
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Made With Extra Love by reddit user u/lifeisstrangemetoo
“Jesus Christ,” said Landsman. “What do you think he’s doing with them?”
I didn’t reply. I simply stared down at the dead woman whose chest cavity had been unceremoniously ripped open. Like the rest, her heart had been removed with surgical precision, in stark contrast to the brutality that had splintered her ribs like toothpicks.
I sighed and rubbed my head.
“I suppose you can ask him that when you catch him,” I replied. “Do it before my shift tomorrow and I’ll buy you a beer.”
“You’re leaving?” said Landsman.
“Promises are promises,” I said. “And besides, it’s bedtime.”
He shook his head, but said nothing. I ducked under the evidence tape, and climbed into my unmarked vehicle. The ride home was silent.
When I arrived, the sun had already set, and darkness was rapidly creeping in. I checked my watch--only a few minutes late. I unlocked the door and trudged inside. My wife was on the living room sofa, watching reruns.
“Dinner’s cold,” she said without looking up. “And she’s waiting for you.”
I relaxed a bit, and made my way down the hallway toward my daughter’s room. The door creaked open, and I reminded myself to put some oil on the hinges when I had the time.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said tentatively.
Sarah turned her sleepy head. Clasped tight in her little arms was her favorite teddy bear, a brown plushy that was even bigger than her. We had bought it to stop the nightmares once the killings started. It had only moderate success.
“Hi Daddy,” she said.
The air between us was tense.
“Did you catch him yet?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“I saw about the woman on the news,” she went on. “I wasn’t supposed to be watching but I saw it.”
I sighed and sat down on the corner of the bed.
“We’ll catch him soon,” I said.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
I bent down and kissed her on the forehead, and she rolled over and was soon snoring. I watched her for a while, lost in thought. Truth be told, we had a pretty good idea of who was behind the slayings, but no idea where to find him.
The prime suspect was surgical intern at the local hospital by the name of Paul Brown. He ended up crácking under pressure and was fired from his job for s†éáling painkillers. Threatening suicide, he had been committed to the very same hospital at which he had once worked, and released just before the killings began.
But so far, all of our intensive searches turned up nothing. My head buzzing with a million problems I could not solve, I stood up and went back to the living room.
“Gonna come to bed tonight?” I asked my wife.
She said nothing. My answer.
Two hours and four fingers of whiskey later, I had fallen into an uneasy sleep. My dreams were not pleasant.
The next morning I awoke to my phone alarm with a sigh. The sky was a pallid gray as I drove into work. I decided that I could afford to be a little late, and that I would stop by the toy store for another teddy bear, hoping to both comfort my daughter and thaw my wife’s icy mood.
Yet when I got to the store, it was closed. I could see from the parking lot that the insides had all been torn out.
That’s odd. Didn’t the store only just open a few weeks ago?
I climbed out of my unmarked and went up to the large display windows, now empty and devoid of toys. I pressed my face to the glass. My stomach dropped. I reached for the radio on my belt and called it in, then I went back to the trunk of my car, grabbed a tire iron and smashed the lock.
I ran in, hoping that there was still time to render aid. But as I drew closer I saw that it was far too late for that. The body was pale, and the blood had already dried. The chest had been carved open and the heart removed. But the worst part was that I recognized the body. It was Paul Brown.
By the time we put it together, the owner of the store was long gone. The name he had used to register the business belonged to a dead guy. At first I was upset that we hadn’t caught him. A couple days later, I found a better reason to be upset. That was when we found out what he had been doing with the hearts.
That was when the teddy bears started to smell like rotting flesh.
“Jesus Christ,” said Landsman. “What do you think he’s doing with them?”
I didn’t reply. I simply stared down at the dead woman whose chest cavity had been unceremoniously ripped open. Like the rest, her heart had been removed with surgical precision, in stark contrast to the brutality that had splintered her ribs like toothpicks.
I sighed and rubbed my head.
“I suppose you can ask him that when you catch him,” I replied. “Do it before my shift tomorrow and I’ll buy you a beer.”
“You’re leaving?” said Landsman.
“Promises are promises,” I said. “And besides, it’s bedtime.”
He shook his head, but said nothing. I ducked under the evidence tape, and climbed into my unmarked vehicle. The ride home was silent.
When I arrived, the sun had already set, and darkness was rapidly creeping in. I checked my watch--only a few minutes late. I unlocked the door and trudged inside. My wife was on the living room sofa, watching reruns.
“Dinner’s cold,” she said without looking up. “And she’s waiting for you.”
I relaxed a bit, and made my way down the hallway toward my daughter’s room. The door creaked open, and I reminded myself to put some oil on the hinges when I had the time.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said tentatively.
Sarah turned her sleepy head. Clasped tight in her little arms was her favorite teddy bear, a brown plushy that was even bigger than her. We had bought it to stop the nightmares once the killings started. It had only moderate success.
“Hi Daddy,” she said.
The air between us was tense.
“Did you catch him yet?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“I saw about the woman on the news,” she went on. “I wasn’t supposed to be watching but I saw it.”
I sighed and sat down on the corner of the bed.
“We’ll catch him soon,” I said.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
I bent down and kissed her on the forehead, and she rolled over and was soon snoring. I watched her for a while, lost in thought. Truth be told, we had a pretty good idea of who was behind the slayings, but no idea where to find him.
The prime suspect was surgical intern at the local hospital by the name of Paul Brown. He ended up crácking under pressure and was fired from his job for s†éáling painkillers. Threatening suicide, he had been committed to the very same hospital at which he had once worked, and released just before the killings began.
But so far, all of our intensive searches turned up nothing. My head buzzing with a million problems I could not solve, I stood up and went back to the living room.
“Gonna come to bed tonight?” I asked my wife.
She said nothing. My answer.
Two hours and four fingers of whiskey later, I had fallen into an uneasy sleep. My dreams were not pleasant.
The next morning I awoke to my phone alarm with a sigh. The sky was a pallid gray as I drove into work. I decided that I could afford to be a little late, and that I would stop by the toy store for another teddy bear, hoping to both comfort my daughter and thaw my wife’s icy mood.
Yet when I got to the store, it was closed. I could see from the parking lot that the insides had all been torn out.
That’s odd. Didn’t the store only just open a few weeks ago?
I climbed out of my unmarked and went up to the large display windows, now empty and devoid of toys. I pressed my face to the glass. My stomach dropped. I reached for the radio on my belt and called it in, then I went back to the trunk of my car, grabbed a tire iron and smashed the lock.
I ran in, hoping that there was still time to render aid. But as I drew closer I saw that it was far too late for that. The body was pale, and the blood had already dried. The chest had been carved open and the heart removed. But the worst part was that I recognized the body. It was Paul Brown.
By the time we put it together, the owner of the store was long gone. The name he had used to register the business belonged to a dead guy. At first I was upset that we hadn’t caught him. A couple days later, I found a better reason to be upset. That was when we found out what he had been doing with the hearts.
That was when the teddy bears started to smell like rotting flesh.