I Am Chosen

Severed

Los Angeles, one year before the Chosen Killings

It had seemed like Piggy just wanted Kacey to see the tableau he had created; the bonfire and the painted boys on the walls, the heads on sharpened sticks. "You don't understand," he had said. "Not yet. But you will. It'll all make sense I promise." And then he had left, turning off the light and leaving her once again in darkness.

Before he had flipped the switch Kacey had seen something else across from the scene; something tall draped in a black fabric. It had been square at the top, with a long piece that stuck out from the lower part, almost like a chair with a really high, thin back.

Kacey had already needed to pee before Piggy had arrived. After he had left, once the first few hours had passed, her bladder burned and if she hadn't done something she would have just wet her pants. Finally she had decided to use her left hand to undo her pants, stick her butt inside the wall and do her business there. Her mom and dad had taken her camping several times when she was a kid, so she had gone to the bathroom without using actual facilities before, even though it had made her feel like some kind of animal. But to have to do it while chained to a pipe... even animals had freedom when they answered nature's call.

Though she tried to keep track of how long Piggy had been gone, it was no use. Time simply dragged by. She yelled for help at the top of her voice, again and again but there was no answer; no sound beyond the muffled noise of the street and the buzzing of the flies.

During that time she had tried to view her situation from every conceivable angle. It seemed, for now at least, that there was no hope of escape. Maybe she could talk her way out? What plans did this psychopath have for her? Why was he dismembering people and using their heads in his grotesque display? And... what was under that black sheet?

Someone would come for her. She just had to hold out long enough. She would get through this. Right now the most important thing was not to lose hope.

Kacey guessed that somewhere close to a full twenty-four hours had passed when Piggy finally returned.

The door across the room opened, and Piggy's bulk filled the doorway as he dragged something inside. There were sounds of exertion, footsteps; the track lights suddenly flared. The fan engaged and the "campfire" roared to life. Kacey looked to see what Piggy had brought in...

It was a person. An older man in slacks, loafers and a striped button up shirt. His body lay limply on the floor.

"What did you do?' Kacey asked.

Piggy was standing, breathing heavily as he looked down at the body. Removing his glasses to clean them with his white T shirt he turned to Kacey and said, "Another piece for the display. Got some more work to do first though."

Piggy replaced his glassed and reached down, grunting, shoving his hands under the man's armpits, hooking them and dragging the body backward at an angle toward the tall, sheet-draped structure.

"Piggy, this is-what you're doing... listen, listen: I read the book, Lord of the Flies. We read it in high school. And the way I remember, Piggy, he was the logical one, right? The rational one? Wasn't he the voice of reason?"

Huffing, Piggy stopped, dropped the body and stood, wiping sweat from his brow. "He was s'posed to be, yeah. But really he was blind. Chose the wrong side. If he had been smart, he woulda seen that the darkness in our hearts is the only true way."

"The only way to what?"

"You'll see. It'll all make sense. Even them guys at school that think they know it all, the ones that like to beat on guys like me, they'll know that we're actually on the same side. They'll know that I'm right."

"Right about what?" Kacey pleaded. "Look whatever it is you're doing, you can still stop and, and think about this. You can still make different choices."

Piggy looked at Kacey, his eyes and face both devoid of emotion. "But the choice is clear," he said. "So clear that there really is no choice." Walking around the body, Piggy grabbed the sheet and pulled it off and to the side to reveal...

A guillotine.

An actual guillotine, like something straight out of the French Revolution.

"Pretty wicked, huh?" Piggy said, tossing the sheet to the side. "Dad had it made for one of our exhibits. After he and mom kicked off... well, all their stuff became my stuff." The track lights gleamed off of the blade where it sat, up in the tall part of the wooden structure, between the posts. Below were two blocks, separated by several inches, the first with a half circle at its bottom and the lower one with a half circle at its top. Dark crimson spatter coated the wood. At the sight of this, the blood turned to an icy sludge in Kacey's veins.

"This is the tough part," Piggy said as he pulled under the armpits of the man, maneuvering around a kind of table extending off the tall piece, grunting and puffing as he awkwardly hefted the body onto the wooden platform.

"Don't do this," Kacey said. "Whatever happened to you, the kids who... abused you, your parents dying, we can talk about it..."

"Talk... is useless," Piggy said between breaths. Once he had the body lying on the platform he walked around and pulled the man forward, lifting his head so the neck was in the semicircular groove in the bottom block of wood. "My art will say what needs to be said." He slid the upper block down. Proceeding to a door in the corner opposite the diorama, Piggy opened it, removed a bucket and brought it back, placing it under the man's head. He then grasped the end of a rope wound around a metal piece on the post nearest Kacey and began working it loose.

This lunatic was going to chop off a man's head right in front of her.

"I know you think this will send a message," Kacey said. "But this isn't the way to do it. Trust me this won't prove anything. Let's just-"

Piggy stepped to one side so he wouldn't block Kacey's view. Staring at her blankly, he let go of the rope.

As the blade fell, Kacey turned away, shutting her eyes tight. She managed not to retch at the sound of sharpened metal severing flesh and bone. The same couldn't be said when she heard the man's head land in the bucket.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It probably doesn't speak well of me that I was extremely excited to use a guillotine in my story. But come on, guillotines are SO cool! At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this week's installment and as usual, I'll see you all back here in one week! Stay awesome.