November 2008
Something to Do With Sebastian by Douglas Lind
A Rainy Night of Density with a Reckless Neurotic by Richey Piiparinen
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DEADLINES: AN ANTHOLOGY OF HORROR AND DARK FICTION, will be released in November of 2008! Visit www.cometpress.us
All of Me
by Bill West
Bill West lives in Shropshire, England. He is a member of the Bridgnorth Writers' Group, I*D Writers' Group and a number of on-line Writers' Communities. His work has appeared in Thirteen Magazine, FlashQuake, Mytholog, Heavy Glow, Right Hand Pointing, 21 Stars Review, Zygote in my coffee and Bewildering Stories. http://www.writewords.org.uk/bill_west/
“All of me” was previously published at The Lampshade (now off-net) in Issue 7, May 2006.
"All of me, with you always." Lydia said.
Together they sat at his table in the large workroom, and ate her left breast, fricasseed. It gave him a thrill.
In the candlelight she looked like his mother. His father had wanted a daughter, never a son.
"Do it now." she said. "I will never be happier."
Victor got up, walked behind her chair and lifted the hammer.
"Remember, all of me, with you always. You promise?" She touched his hand as he gripped her shoulder.
He grunted, swung the hammer and broke her skull.
He snapped a cable-tie around her ankles and hung her from a steel hook, then cut the carotid artery. Bright blood splashed into a bucket. Her eyes flickered, she whispered something before the light faded.
He worked with skill: trimmed the flesh from her bones and put the choicest cuts in the freezer.
He cooked some rump. The air was filled with the smell of roasting meat.
After his meal he swept the bloodied sawdust into a pile. What she had wanted didn't count. What did he care that every man she had ever known had abandoned her? This was about him, not her. He threw the skull, bones, lungs and offal into a dustbin in the corner. They could be fed to the pigs in the morning.
Tired and well fed he went to bed on the couch in the corner.
He dreamt of the bloody sawdust, the bones in the dustbin. He saw clearly but could not wake, could not move.
The bones stirred and rattled in the bin, reattached themselves limb by limb. A skeleton rose and crowned itself with the tattered head. The corpse stepped out, took the boning knife from the table and approached the couch. A hand like bloody twigs held the blade to Victor's belly which rose and fell with each breath. Its face drew close, hair brushing his cheek.
“I said, all of me.”
All of Me is copyrighted 2006 by Bill West and may not be reproduced under any circumstances without his permission.