Monday, April 13, 2015

Mounting Costs


So this is a sequel to At Least it was Free which is down there somewhere if you haven't read it before. It is also based off the same prompt as the last story.



“April showers bring May flowers, at least, that’s what my black suited ‘agent’ used to tell me.”

He flicked the razor with a practiced hand. Crimson sluiced off the blade, pattering on the floor as he closed the weapon.

“Nothing to say? Okay, I can talk enough for both of us. The first one wasn’t in April though. So that never made sense to me. Over the years half of the retrievals did come in that all important month. Like this one.”

He tilted his head and let an absent smile play over his lips. The patter of thick drops against a window in the next room soothed him. He slipped the razor into the right front pocked of his slacks.

“Do you like the suit? It’s new. It cost me a fortune. I don’t like how dark this grey is though. My last one was lighter. My kid likes the color though, says it makes me look like money. I think that’s a Johnny Cash reference but I don’t ask. I’m embarrassed to admit I’m not hip enough to understand an eight year old. Anyway, things keep going like this and I’ll end up dressing like my benefactor soon. I wonder what happens then?”

He paced in front of his one man audience. It was always frustrating when silence filled the room. It left him alone with his own thoughts. That was never good because he thought about what kind of husband and father a man like him made. He filled the quiet with his story.

“So anyway, the flowers actually came at the end of the job, not in May. That’s okay, the first one was the best because it made my dreams come true. They are always the same; these little silver things. After that first one though? They just weighed heavy on my conscience. Like I didn’t need them, I can’t spend them, and I don’t want them. Still they seem to bring good fortune. Well, to me. So about the April showers.”

The click of his thick soled heels sounded a bit too much like death to his own ears. He stopped and stared into those wide, unblinking orbs.

“Number five was in April, that time it rained blood and I had to collect from a politician. Six was a few years later and it poured nickels and dimes. I got that one from a tobacco company. Thirteen was when the sky opened up with toads and I visited a priest. Can you imagine? A priest! It went on like that. Yours was number twenty, so I don’t have too many left, and as you know it is showering locusts out there. I wonder why that is? Still, I have to collect or the good luck ends.”

He leaned down and stared into the glassy eyes as milky cataracts began to mist them. He shook his head. He did always hate this part.

“And that, officer, is why I had to murder my arresting officer.”







#shortstory #dark #horror #author #writer

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