Insanity Stains Red

nine

We didn’t get many visitors; our secretive behaviours had long since warned any friendly neighbours and well-wishers away. So it was unsurprising when several curious men and girls – girls who should have been about their chores – came to investigate the sound of an unfamiliar car pulling around back. I ignored them all.

I parked the car as close to the basement door as I could. The less distance I had to drag the body, the better. I heard several gasps as I got out of the truck, mostly from the girls – due to my blood-covered appearance, I was sure. But they could make of it what they wanted; they already thought I was a monster; their opinions of me couldn’t possibly get any worse than that, surely.

It wasn’t until I had marched to the passenger side and dumped the body to the ground that I got any reaction from the men. I supposed they were used to seeing girls covered in blood – and even dead – but not hauling around a corpse bigger than they were. Even in these parts, that was strange behaviour. But then, I guess they didn’t know me very well – seeing as I viewed this as an everyday occurrence, and I knew there were several others that thought the same way I did. ‘What’s the big deal with death, anyway? We all die.’ I’m just delivering that blow sooner than might have otherwise been received.

One of the younger – and obviously newer – men startled when he saw the body, and went to run inside; likely to fetch help or alert the proper authorities in this place. Or whatever passed for that, anyway. Thankfully, he was stopped at the door by Jack; one of the older men who had been around almost since the time this place had been founded. I was glad that Jack had stopped the kid; there would have been a lot of awkward and uncomfortable questions to answer elsewise. Jack murmured to the younger man for several minutes, both watching me furtively from the side; glad I could entertain them.

I grabbed the body by the ankles and began the long process of dragging it across the hard-packed earth to the door; its head knocking against the occasional rock and making me wince each time. It was probably a good thing he was already dead – that looked painful. ‘Seriously Red, now you’re feeling sympathy for a corpse – what next? Want to wrap it in blankets so it doesn’t catch a chill before you chop it up and feed it to the dogs?’ Now, that would just be ridiculous – we want the body cold, else it will smell! I didn’t understand why the voices seemed to be rolling their eyes at me at that time; perhaps I’d missed something.

It was in the basement that Aizen found me. He came up behind me as I was in the process of dumping the body in the dog meat freezer – I’d have to come back later and deal with it properly; not that the dogs would need feeding anytime soon, if they’d already fed that girl too them today. I really didn’t want to think about that, so his timing was perhaps excellent, as always.

“Been busy, have we?” Aizen’s smooth voice made me jump; I hadn’t heard him walk into the room. Not surprising, considering the noise I had been making, but I was angry at myself nonetheless. The hair on my arm stood up as he brushed against me, moving to stand beside me so that he could peer in at my handy work. I looked from the body, to Aizen, and back to the body again. I shrugged, staring into the lifeless eyes of what had probably been a really nice person – too bad I’d never know. I closed the lid of the freezer with a thump and turned to face Aizen full-on.

“I was frustrated – needed to vent.” I kept my voice casual, as if it were no big deal, though I knew that he of all people could understand my reasoning behind my actions. It wasn’t coincidence that had brought this random group of men together; we all had something in common – some deep, dark secret that started with the flash of a blade in the dark, and ended with a pool of congealed blood. I shuddered, wrenching my mind out of the darkness, lest I invite it to play once more.