For Paul, the hardest one was the first one. He found her down in Brickton, near the factories. She was not pretty, and looked to him to be at the end of her days from drugs and too many men and too many pimps beating her up. She had burn marks on her arms, and when she got into his car, he thought: I won’t be doing anything too awful. Not too awful. It’ll be like putting an animal out of its misery.
“You a cop?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No way. I’m just a very desperate guy.”
He told her he knew this place, an old apartment, not real pretty, but it was private and it got him off. When they reached Swan Street, she laughed. “I been in these apartments before. Christ, they look better now than I remember them.”
He nodded. “Will you be impressed if I tell you I own them?”
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“Really? Wow. You must be loaded.”
Paul shrugged. “They went for cheap. The city was going to tear them down, but I got that blocked, bought them up and fixed them up a bit.”
“They look empty.”
“Just started getting them ready for tenants,” he said.
They went upstairs, the green lights of the hallway like haloes around her red hair. Inside the apartment, he offered her a drink.
“All right,” she said.
“Need to use the bathroom?” he asked, opening the freezer door to pull out the ice tray.
“If you don’t mind,” she said.
“Go ahead. Take a shower if you feel like it.”
“Well, you’re buying,” the woman said.
When he heard the bathroom door close, he went and took the key from the dresser. Standing in front of the bathroom door, he waited until he heard the shower turn on.
He checked his watch.
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It was two minutes to midnight.
From the shower, she shouted, “Honey? You mind bringing my drink in and scrubbing my back?”
He drew opened the bathroom door. Steam poured from under the shower curtain. When he was inside the bathroom, he turned and locked the door. He put the key in his breast pocket.
“That you?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll join you in just a few seconds.”
He crouched down. Beneath the sink, a large wooden box. Opening it, he lifted the cloth within. He grabbed the hand-ax and then closed the box.
He set the small ax on top of the sink. He unbuttoned his shirt, and took it off. He hung it on the hook by the door. Then, he stepped out of his shoes. Undid his belt, and let his trousers fall to the floor.
“Baby?” she asked.
“In a minute,” he said. “We’ll have some fun.”
Pulling off his socks, and then his briefs. Grabbing the hand-ax. Looking at himself naked in the mirror, ax in fist. 106
For a second, the glass flashed like lightning, and he saw her face there.
A glimpse.
Then, he pulled back the shower curtain and began opening the door to Heaven.
107
Be sure and look for other Douglas Clegg books in print and in ebook form, including:
Isis
Afterlife
The Words
Purity
Nightmare House
The Priest of Blood
The Lady of Serpents
The Queen of Wolves
The Hour Before Dark
Goat Dance
The Attraction
& many others.
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Document Outline
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A Supernatural Excerpt from the Book
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/BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...
About the Book
About the Author
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Excerpt from Isis by Douglas Clegg
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By Douglas Clegg
Table of Contents
About Isis
About the Author & Illustrator
Excerpt from Isis, A Tale of the Supernatural
Illustration from Isis
Where Flies Are Born
The Machinery of Night
265 and Heaven
Other Books
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