Psycho Candy

by Steven Hunter

  "Belinda. What a nice surprise. Are you going to invite me in?" The mental health nurse fell to her knees and Candy kicked her squarely in the jaw. Blood flew from Belinda's mouth and she rocked backwards. "Come on Belinda. Let’s get you to bed."

  Belinda cried out, an ear piercing vocal expression of sheer agony as Candy dragged Belinda by her hair, pulling the woman and the remainder of her pride across the floor and into her bedroom where Jan was standing over the body of Manic who writhed and shook, trying to escape the ropes and tape that held him captive. All but his socks had been removed and his hands, tied at his waist had instinctively gone to his penis.

  Jan crouched down beside him. "You would have been better off playing the hero than holding the major in your hand," she said into his left ear.

  Manic whined behind the grey masking tape.

  He gripped tighter still on his flaccid member. Belinda looked at her fallen lover, then at Jan who stood with the other kitchen knife, then to Candy, "What do you want Candy? What is it that you want?"

  Candy smiled, "I want you to suffer Belinda. You see you really made my life a living hell whilst I was incarcerated. Lets just call this Karma."

  Belinda made to speak but Candy held up a warning hand.

  "No, It's fine if you don't believe in Karma, Belinda. What is important is that you understand why I'm doing this. I like to think of it as a bonus kill. You see, I have a quite a few more lives to take before I get to reclaim my soul, yes Belinda, my soul, just because you met me in a mad house doesn't mean that everything slightly outlandish I say is a lie. But you're the kind of person that I'd want to kill anyway. So all I'm saying is..."

  "What the fuck are you saying Candy?" Jan smiled across at her new found companion.

  "Oh yeah," said Candy, "Jan's going to teach me how to make drugs out of your brain."

  Manic's cries gained volume as Belinda merely moaned into her hand. Candy kicked her again, this time in the temple and Belinda fell to the ground and into a state of unconsciousness.

  "Where do we start?" asked Candy.

  "On this one," replied Jan, pointing to Manic.

  Candy closed her eyes for just a minute. She wondered now seriously about her sanity, and whether or not she still possessed any.

  She thought her smile said no.

  When she opened her eyes again, Jan was holding the glass syringe she had used to inject at Wanda's.

  "We're going to have to share," Jan said, her tone matter of factly.

  "Sharing is what It's all about, Jan. Drugs are meant to be a social thing," replied Candy in an equal tone.

  Manic could not believe what he was hearing. What the hell were they going to do with that needle? He had been about to ring on Belinda's doorbell when the knife had been at his throat and then the handkerchief over his mouth and the smell which he now guessed had been chloroform or some other kind of knock out chemical. And then he had woken up here, tied up and gagged, yet still so far as he could tell, largely unharmed.

  Now he moved his head in fright as he felt the sharp point of the needle against the base of his head. He began to struggle frantically and felt his hair being grabbed firmly and his head held in place.

  "Okay basically, if you can find a pen or something it would be easier to show you, you see you've got to get the area bang on."

  Candy shook her head. "It's okay, Jan. I'm a quick study. I was training to be a surgeon. I'm pretty good at the practical side of things."

  Manic tried to relax and think about things that made him happy. For the life of him though all he could think about was the collection of pornographic magazines and the dildo he kept underneath his bed and who would find it first.

  Candy looked Jan in the eyes then at the needle and Jan followed her gaze and then the Dizorian deftly plunged the needle into the orderlies brain and pulled the needle to a certain length.

  "That's it. It should now be around a specific collection of cells. In Dizor we call them the Manx group although Faith used to call the chemicals gained Serotonin and Dopamine. What we're going to do anyway is get a mix from this guy and then we can see to your friend over there." Sweat dripped from Jan's forehead as she carefully drew an orange fluid from into the barrel.

  "How the fuck do you do that. There should just be blood and shit?" exclaimed Candy.

  "It's the needle. It's measured specifically for this kind of thing. Plus, I've had experience." Jan withdrew the needle and then plunged it into the meaty mass again, this time drawing out a slightly darker chemical into the mix, which she then shook up. All this while Candy hadn't bothered to look at Manic once. Now she looked down to see the black man with his eyes closed tightly, his expression set to a painful grimace.

  "You think he's dead?"

  "You figure?"

  Candy could not work out if Jan was joking or not so she said nothing.

  Jan looked up. "I'm serious. If he's still alive then his pineal gland is still going to be good."

  Candy looked at the man again. "I thinks we might have to forgo the pineal on this one and just take the other brain shit."

  Candy felt the first rush of orgasm as the plunger fell deeper into the barrel and the mixture met with her blood. She looked at Jan who was carefully carrying out the injection and she was sure she could see through her and onto the red papered walls beyond.

  Halfway and Jan took the needle from out of Candy's arm. "Shit this has your blood in it. Hope I don't get knocked up this time."

  Candy shook her head. "Don't think it works like that here."

  Jan tapped her arm, not bothering with a tourniquet and with practised ease slid the sharp point into her own arm. Soon the barrel sat empty, yet Candy felt filled with strange new urges and feelings.

  Jan looked at her and Candy smiled. She’s fucking coming on to you, Candy thought to herself, yet this realization, which she was now sure she was, did not bother her.

  "We really have to do something with Belinda."

  "Let’s just tie her up for the mean time, eh Candy? I have something I'd like to share."

  Candy looked at the corpse of Manic, than at Belinda and wished there was someone either alive or awake she could take advice from.

  She looked again to Jan. "Sure. Let’s just tie the bitch up. Then you can show me, you know... how to be a lesbian."

  Candy giggled. Jan smiled broadly. Minutes later Belinda was tied with her hands behind her back and her legs knotted together. They had put her beside Manic, who was slowly leaking blood from his head onto the carpet, which Candy had noted and thought of as poetic in some way.

  She wished perhaps that the blood could be used in better ways. She was after all a doctor and this blood was just going to waste. God knew how many lives it could save. Am I a doctor? she then thought to herself. The idea seemed plausible enough. Jan had taken to the bed and was now in a state of undress. She motioned Candy over.

  "You know I'm a doctor, Jan. I'm actually a highly educated psychopath. I could maybe still be somebody. Not on this planet of course. But maybe if we could get to yours-" Candy let the thought trail off.

  "You wouldn't be any better off on my planet Candy. Doctoring has been outlawed under the natural survival act."

  Candy nodded. This sounded about right.

  Of course, they would get rid of the doctors first.

  Still, she had better make sure she was thinking straight.

  "Why?" she asked Jan.

  "Because weakness is not good for the gene pool. On Dizor murder is not illegal. Neither are the drugs which this world has decided no good. This world seems to like to lock up It's pleasures alongside its instincts and urges."

  Candy laughed. "Yeah. It's called society."

  She noticed then that Jan had somehow undone most of the buttons on her shirt without realizing and was now finishing and glancing at her crotch.

  "You really like me like this, Jan?"

  "You are to me the best kind of person on your world Candy. I only worry
for your state of mind. You see when Faith, Faith juniors mother, came to Dizor, she would not feel the conditioning that held her wants and desires in a metal box. You however still have this somewhere inside of you. So much conflict cannot be good for the mind. Yet, still, you are strong, Candy. This is obvious. Also you are honest with yourself. You show enjoyment in the actions you take, in every feeling and cruelty that exists within you as you are supposed to, as it is part of your nature. You have in a way freed yourself. That to me is very attractive. You remind me in part of home. Do you think in some way you are lucky? You live to a private law. You indulge in things others can only contemplate in their minds."

  Candy could relate to what the Dizorian was saying, and for the part she found that it made perfect sense. "Yes, I suppose I do get to partake in things the majority will not. However, It's not like it hasn't come at a price-"

  "What if you could change things?"

  Candy thought about that for a moment, "If you mean go back. Make it never happen. Be a doctor somewhere else," Candy was convinced she at least should be a doctor. Maybe it was the drug which has seemed to wrap itself around her heart, but she had had her heart set on it, "then I don’t think I can answer that. I was happy before. I can't deny that. Yet perhaps that this never happening ever was an option in the first place and that's why I can't really see it. Of course I could imagine myself, married, with a practice, house, couple of kids. But in reality I'm a serial killer with no chance of a normal future regardless of the outcome. To think wishfully like that is kinda torturous. All I can do is find terms with this present I now live in and hope that the present accepts some of my terms. I think If I had given in and sat dreaming of the life that I had once carved for me I'd have just settled into that institution, taken solace in their bullshit. It's only the sting of the truth as it slaps me in the face that keeps me alive, keeps me fighting."

  Jan let her hand fall onto Candy's jeans over her pussy and started playing with the buttons."Then it makes sense to take pleasure wherever you can find it. don't you agree?"

  Oh boy, thought Candy.

  On the chair Belinda muttered something about her pork and drifted back into unconsciousness. Jan undid the button. Candy shrugged and closed her eyes and laid herself against the covers. Soon she felt wetness down below. Behind her closed eyes pictures of suns and massive planets flooded her field of vision. She was in bliss. She began to relax further as the pleasure grew below, the gentle lapping she supposed of Jan's tongue lending a further beauty to her experience of vision, and she began to forget all else around her. She risked opening her eyes and saw Belinda staring at the pair with a startled expression on her face. Candy winked then closed her eyes again. The feeling was just too good to stop, and she felt herself cumming and moaned aloud. Presently she opened her eyes. Jan stared up at her expectantly. Candy ran her fingers through the Dizorian's hair and blinked deliberately, screwing her eyes into an expression of enjoyment.

  "We should definitely do more. But I don't like being watched. Is it okay if we take a break to deal with the voyeur over there?"

  Jan turned her head. Belinda did not bother to look away. Tears streamed her bloodied face. Candy wondered why she felt no pity. She knew it had nothing to do with the way Belinda had treated her. She was just no longer affected by the misery of others. She noticed that Jan also seemed unaffected and she said so.

  "Her tears don't bother you either?"

  "No. Why should they? They are just a natural reaction. Does that mean I should condition my reactions to her own?"

  Candy tried to understand what the Dizorian meant, and found she could not.

  "We merely try to ignore what a passing emotion is trying to make us believe and feel. We find that if this emotion is so strong that if we react to it, it will create a spell of belief over us, and limit our capacity to do something. This is called free will. It reminds us that nature tries to protect itself when it created us by putting its own chemical stamp on us. We however can evolve past this. However, emotions are also part of our consciousness, they bring us messages and they refuse to be ignored. So we process them quickly, let them know we understand their message and move on without deliberation."

  Candy thought she now understood. "What about love?" she asked.

  "Love without emotion, is love without greed. We do not consume the ones we are with. Love is no longer a selfish thing, but a constant feeling. That is the difference in Dizor. We do not settle for the emotions our body forces upon us. Instead we evolve feelings to our satisfaction."

  Candy frowned. "As a doctor I have to say that that makes a lot of sense. I certainly don't have the same responses I used to. Even the thought of killing before carried a serious warning of NO with it. So I guess I've by-passed some of my conditioning."

  -Yet at what price, Thought Candy. Technically I'm considered insane. How many people can be wrong about something like that. And who the fuck even cares. No one gives a shit if I say I'm more evolved because I can stick a knife In someone's eye without getting the heebie-jeebies. All I've done is- "Isolate myself. I've isolated myself Jan. This may be a change in human personality. But it’s a lonely place."

  "Maybe we can still help you, Candy," Belinda's voice was direct and did not waver.

  Jan looked across with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "What good did you do her before? Your whole system is based to disbelieve your fellow kind, because she speaks out from the norm," Jan said.

  "That was before. Before I knew the truth. But now I can help."

  Candy laughed, "Yes, perhaps you can help. Perhaps you can make people understand."

  Belinda nodded, "Yes, I could make people understand. And we could help you then Candy."

  Candy's thought voice was practically yelling – (she's got a phone in her pocket, hit nine-one already)

  Candy did not worry though. She wanted to know exactly what Belinda proposed. She was after all talking one medical professional to another.

  "Belinda as a doctor I have to say medicine seems to have let us down. Perhaps the only way forward is the exploration of the human mind, within the human mind."

  Belinda knew then that she was a goner. The complete crazed look in Candy's eyes and the way she fingered the blade, and what the hell does she mean 'doctor', she never completed medical school?

  Candy could feel Jan's understanding beside her in her mind, encouraging her. Candy could see it all in front of her. She would literally take the understanding out of Belinda and put it in herself. The thought made her giggle.

  Belinda had taken on a frightened appearance and Candy tried to reassure her. "You're a scientist Belinda... You'll be famous when I write my report."

  "Candy. Candy, listen, you're on a chemical, you've taken a chemical. You’ve taken Mark's brain, oh for God's sake-"

  Belinda's attempt to reason turned into a sob.

  Candy nodded, "Yes, but Belinda, at the end of the day if the doctors don't do something then who will. Jan get the pineal."

  Jan nodded and Belinda screamed as the juices from her Pineal gland were sucked into the syringe. The phone Belinda was holding hit the floor, and a voice could be heard faintly coming from the reviver.

  “911. Which service please?”

  Candy picked up the phone, “It was a medical emergency, but I'm a doctor, hell we both are and it's all taken care of.”

  The phone shattered into pieces as it hit the wall. A dumb smile had crossed Belinda's face and for some reason it bothered Candy so she threw a blanket from the bed over Belinda and dragged her into the hallway

  "This is strong stuff, Candy. We should be careful," said Jan brandishing the needle.

  "Of course," said Candy, "We shouldn't really leave the room when we take this stuff. Not until we feel ready."

  Jan nodded. This all made perfect sense. For the briefest moment she saw Faith, the original, her daughter’s mother, reflected in the atoms standing before her. Then again it was Candy. She patted Cand
y's arm. "It's good to meet like minded people."

  Candy smiled.

  It certainly was.

  CHAPTER SIX

  QUESTIONS WRITTEN IN RED, ANSWERED AND READ

  Faith Emerald had very rarely frequented John's apartment. In fact, it was with some disbelief that she received the news he had one.

  “Where the hell did you think I lived before I met you? The fucking bus station?” John had asked, although not unkindly.

  This had pretty much been Faith's assumption, although she did not say so. Instead she had avoided the question completely and instead given John's living space a quick once over. To say it was tidy was an understatement. Everything was ordered, and more than that, there appeared to be a pattern in the order. That had been two days after meeting him. He had needed to collect (amongst other things) some clothes and money.

  He had offered her breakfast and coffee, and when she declined, something stronger, indicating the collection of liquor which stood in bottles both tall and short, some transparent others coloured. She had declined this also and he had shrugged and picked up a small bottle, muttering the word “gin”.

  As he had unscrewed the lid and put the bottle to his lips she had turned her back and again began appraising the interior of his living room. Maps old and new lined one half of the wall facing her, whilst the other half was taken up by photographs and the occasional painting. She had been about to ask about one of the paintings in particular, one of a blonde haired woman – there was something about it that held a particular sadness, despite the smile on the woman's face – when another feeling had stole over her, and for that instant she felt more frightened than she ever had in her life. She turned towards John and his gaze was fixed upon her, although it seemed there was nothing really there behind them. And he had muttered something; it had been nearly inaudible, yet she could have sworn he had said “Jessie”, in fact it was as if he was addressing her.

  “John?” Faith had said gently, “John, can you hear me?”