mirror of https://github.com/nealey/Horrors2
74 lines
2.8 KiB
TeX
74 lines
2.8 KiB
TeX
\chapter{In the Mirror}
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\by{TheElectronicOne}
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Out of the darkness came Rothard Mavalero. Grunting and thumping,
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he was the city undertaker. It was not a job many would like but he
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had kept it for fifty years. Some people thought that was unnatural
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but they did not know the half of it. And if they knew the whole of
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it they would have run in terror. Bodies interested him. He liked
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the way they looked. He liked the way they felt. But most of all he
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liked the way they tasted.
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Today it was Mavalero's favorite kind of body. A floater from the
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river. It was still fresh, like a recently caught fish. The coroner
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wasn't at work yet. Nobody would know what he was doing. He dragged
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the bloated corpse and looked into its eyes. Suddenly, he began to
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pry the eyeball from its socket. A sweet ``snap'' sound happened as
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the elastic snapped. He licked the slimy eyeball, savoring the
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salty taste. Then, as the deceased's other eye seemed to watch him,
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he bit into the juicy retina. It tasted chewy and meaty, just like
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he had expected.
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Mavalero looked down at the body tauntingly. Blood was oozing from
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the empty socket. He liked that it was helpless. He stabbed at the
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face to make more blood come out, then dipped his finger into the
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blood-filled socket and tested the quality of the victim. When he
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was done with the little game, he started to pry at the other eye.
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This one did not come out so easily. It felt like it was glued into
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the socket, and he had to tug and tug. But finally, with the help
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of his pocket knife, it came loose. The eye stared Mavalero in the
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face. He did not care. Rothard Mavalero was a very bad man. He
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downed the second eye with pride, smacking his lips as he smiled in
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his conquest.
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But as he began to ponder what he would eat next he saw something
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in the corner of his eye. He didn't know what it was. His heart
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raced like a galloping horse. He turned slowly towards what he had
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seen. Then he sighed with relief, because it was just the mirror.
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He had seen his own reflection.
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{\em {\ldots}or did he?}
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He looked at the reflection, but his face looked unfamiliar. He
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turned his head, and his mirror self seemed to delay a little bit
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before copying him. With a piercing, inhuman scream, Rothard
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Mavalero realized what he was seeing. It was not a mirror, but a
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window into a room that had been cleverly copied to resemble his
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evil laboratory in every respect. The man was not his reflection,
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but the young but hardened detective Luke Bavarius in disguise.
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Bavarius had seen everything: the body, the eye eating, the
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blood.
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He felt a nervousness arise in his throat. He struggled to hold his
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posture as he waited for his certain death at the hands of the
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private eye. Vomitus dribbled out the mouth of Rothard Mavalero.
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Then, as he watched, Bavarius reached through the glass and
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strangled him alive.
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