horrors2

Paracetamol_Boy.The_Smile.tex

  1\chapauth{Paracetamol Boy}
  2\chapter{The Smile}
  3
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  5
  6{\em Narrated by Luke Bavarius}
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  9
 10I woke to a darkened room. The streetlights outside my window cast
 11eerie shadows onto the floor. My mouth tasted carpet. My entire
 12body was immobilised with searing pain. I managed, with great
 13difficulty, to turn my swollen face toward my left. The living area
 14was littered with broken furniture.
 15
 16
 17
 18So it had come to this. My wife had taken the kids and left me for
 19dead in what was once our family apartment in the central hub of
 20New York City. Blood seeped out the open wounds of my trunk and
 21saturated my dark blue clothing with an even darker sheen. There
 22the knife lay still, blade digging into the carpet in front of my
 23face. My own knife, that my own wife had turned on me.
 24
 25
 26
 27I could hear the soft wails of the police sirens from the streets
 28below. That was the least of my worries. Despite my dizzied state,
 29my thoughts drifted to my lovely kids, Johnny and Sasha. I wondered
 30if I would see them again, if they were safe. The steadily
 31loudening sirens registered faintly in the back of my mind{\ldots}
 32
 33
 34
 35Suddenly, I had a flash of mental clarity. It was the insight of a
 36dying man. I could not fight to live. I had lost too much blood,
 37the evidence of this mixing with the contents of my voided bladder
 38and slowly pooling around me like a seeping fountain of death. I
 39was a broken man. There was the chance an arterial bypass would
 40keep me alive, but even if I lived there was nothing to live for. I
 41didn't want to let anyone else think otherwise for me.
 42
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 44
 45The knife was only inches from my face. My good arm, my left arm,
 46could move but only with mind-numbing pain. Slowly, agonizingly, I
 47brought the arm closer and closer toward the knife. I grasped its
 48handle and lifted it from the carpet. Each action was excruciating.
 49But pain is only temporary, for in death there is the ultimate
 50release. My thoughts drifted again to Johnny and Sasha, as I used
 51every ounce of my remaining strength to roll onto my back. I
 52positioned the knife in front of my chest and closed my
 53eyes{\ldots}
 54
 55
 56
 57``Daddy.'' I recognised the voice and opened my eyes. In the dark, I
 58could see two small silhouettes sitting cross-legged beside
 59me.
 60
 61``Johnny?''
 62
 63The silhouette on the left nodded at me and smiled. The smile had
 64no lips, only teeth. I shook.
 65
 66``Daddy, what are you doing?'' the shadow on the right enquired
 67meekly. Sasha?
 68
 69``Daddy{\ldots} daddy's going away for a while,'' I whispered. The knife
 70was still in my hand, in front of my chest, frozen in place.
 71
 72``Look{\ldots} daddy can't be with you guys for very long anymore. I won't
 73be alive for long{\ldots} I must go.''
 74
 75``But you can't go, Daddy.'' The silhouette on the left was still
 76smiling, the white of his teeth glowing eerily in the darkness. ``If
 77you go{\ldots}I'll eat Sasha.'' The teeth spread to a grin.
 78
 79
 80
 81``Johnny,'' I gasped. As I looked on, Johnny's grin seemed to
 82grow wider and wider. The rows of teeth separated to form a hole between
 83them, and the hole widened to a yawning chasm of unfathomable
 84darkness. A different voice emanated from the hole. ``Daddy,'' it
 85drawled. ``If you go{\ldots} I'll eat Sasha.''
 86
 87
 88
 89Still in immense pain, I balked, speechless, at the two shadows in
 90front of me, one sitting silently, the other leering at me, teeth
 91as far apart as a basketball, face torn apart by a chasm.
 92
 93My vision blurred and it became increasingly difficult to breathe.
 94The knife dropped from my hand. Between ragged breaths, I gasped
 95weakly. ``Johnny{\ldots} you have your mother's smile.''
 96
 97
 98
 99Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the silhouettes were gone,
100leaving only the space they had occupied.
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103
104I wept bitterly. 
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