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Pain2 min read

September 22, 2015 by Pen 3 Comments

“It hurts,” he screams. I want it to hurt. I turn the dial a little bit to the right. I took it. The dial I’m turning. From an old lady I killed. After it all went south. I got it off the record player on the shelf. Before I burned her and her house down to the ground.

Electricity is precious now. I use it to inflict the pain back into them. I like pissing it away. Into. The ones responsible for this nightmare that pretends to be life. I used to feel OK. That was a long time ago. Now I am haunted. And all of you are going to be haunted too. That thing you give me. Hopelessness. Endless torment. It’s coming back to eat you. I took the clay you gave me and wrapped it around myself as a shield. I’m invulnerable now. For a little while.

And I’m going to do every single person I can. Like I did that old lady. She pretended to be so sweet. But her teeth were rotten. Like the world. The one you were stupid enough to let me be born into.

Fuck you, mother. You gave me good grammar and a sense of overriding guilt. And not much else I can think of. So go fuck yourself. With those sharp fingernails you cultivated oh so carefully. That false piousness fooled no one.

He’s screaming again. Cursing me. I don’t have time to listen to this. Time to turn the dial a little further to the right.

It all flows how it’s supposed to. A teacher I had once told me that. It sort of stuck. All through everything falling apart. The world heated up. The oil ran out. The stocks went down. Inflation went up. You left and I started going crazy.

“It hurts,” he screams. Again. I turn the dial all the way up until he can’t scream anymore.

Now it’s my turn. But I’m quiet. I have a stockpile of pills that keep the screams away. For now. They’ll run out some day. My turn is coming.

Filed Under: Short Stories Tagged With: life, OK, pain, pen, penfist, short story, time

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Haliaetosgirl says

    September 23, 2015 at 7:18 am

    you make me stare darkness in the face. it’s uncomfortable but important.

    Reply
    • penfist says

      September 30, 2015 at 5:33 pm

      One of the things I want to do most with my writing is make people stare at things which are uncomfortable.

      Reply
      • Timbo says

        October 10, 2015 at 11:50 am

        I was just happy to have pleasant conversation (if not disturbing and morose) on a plane ride home from SEA-DEN. And you can’t beat those kindle prices!!! Very nice to meet you (timballock@gmail.com). I want to check out the Cabin in the woods in the near future. Decompress!

        Reply

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