A Good Read

It had been a long and arduous week. Kai had declined after-office drinks, intent on settling in for the night, holding company with his Glenmorangie and his latest novel. An after-hours caller had kept him at the office later than he had intended.

“It’s 8:30, for Christ’s sake,” he muttered as he walked through the front door of his modest semi. A quick change, a piece of toast spread thick with butter. He poured his first glass from the already opened bottle. Side lamp for light, he nestled into the sofa and settled into his read:

“Daylight filtered into dust as its ashes streaked through the sky. The moon loomed ominously, casting dark and impenetrable shadows across the streets below. Under its gaze, the lamplight flickered.

He was tired, and all he wanted to do on this sombre night was to leave behind the chatter of the office and sink into a fictitious world where he didn’t have to think. Didn’t have to be anyone or anything to anyone. Just himself and the words of another offering sanctuary and a touch of malaise. The whiskey he drank numbed his throat. He liked the way its warmth swabbed his esophagus, momentarily taking his breath away. Taking life away.”

Kai shifted in his position, a coldness running through him. He fetched the rest of the bottle from the kitchen, poured himself another, and tugged a fleece blanket over himself for extra warmth and tactility—something to feel.

“He poured himself another, taking comfort from it. The glug-glug of liquid was satisfying. The drink numbed his senses as he read. The GHB slowly filtered through his system, mingling with his blood. He will be the first victim of the season. He will be too tired to fight. The eyes that had been watching him, waiting for him to return, are hidden in plain sight. If only he would look. They stare silently from the shadows of the living room wall. He will regret his sordid after-hours affair. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Heavy. Heavy and tired. The whiskey and the words filtered into a haze of sleep, his head beginning to droop as the book fell to the floor.

He woke with a start. Disconcerted, he retrieved the fallen words and continued to read, his eyes blurring and jumbling the letters.

“Tonight, he will learn why women should be respected. Tonight he will die.”

Kai sprang up, fighting his body, his mind too numb to think. He turned abruptly.

The hammer glinted in the shadow of the lamplight. “Hello, lover,” a green eye winked as she wrought the first blow.

He hit the floor.

Helpless.