“You know.” He sniffed. “You’re fucking crazy.” He laughed uncomfortably.
“You’re the one who approached me and tried to lure me in. Who’s really the crazy one here?” I asked in a baby voice.
Rudy tried to snatch the butterfly knife from my hand, missing as I sliced his palm. The smell of fresh blood seeped into my nostrils as I became excited by its presence. “Give me the knife!” he grunted, lunging a second time, missing again.
“Too slow,” I sang, taunting him.
Rudy turned, fuming as he ran at me, slapping the knife from my grasp. He grabbed my wrists and slammed my back into the brick wall, the cowboy hat falling to the ground as he pressed his forearm into my throat. “You know what, maybe you just need that crazy spirit of yours broken.” He released my wrists, reaching down as he unbuckled his belt.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice strained beneath the pressure of his arm.
“Exactly what you were just begging me to do.” I began to squirm, desperately trying to break free of him. I didn’t want him anymore, and I sure as hell didn’t want his dick in me. “Stop moving!” he demanded.
“Go fuck yourself.” I kneed his balls hard as he cried out in pain, releasing me.
Rudy fell to his knees, his flaccid cock dangling from his jeans as he turned to meet the wheels of my roller blades. Thesound of his nose cracking filled my ears as his body slumped over. Rage consumed me as I flipped him onto his back, straddling his motionless body, ferociously ramming the wheels of my skates into his face, listening to squelching sounds of his flesh as his bones crumbled beneath my anger. Blood splattered my face, its warmth causing me to overheat as I screamed, raising my arms over and over again, pounding the wheels deeper until his face was nothing more than a pile of mush on the road.
“Fuck you!” I spat, dropping my skates. My arms trembled, my breathing shaky with adrenaline and horror.
I glanced around, my crime thankfully tucked away from prying eyes, unnoticed. I caught the metallic reflection of the sun radiating from my knife nearby.There you are.
I leaned over Rudy’s lifeless body, gripping the blade in my hand as I stared down at his sad excuse for a penis.You’re no man. I grabbed the limp shaft, pulling it as my knife began to cut into his flesh, sawing the useless, fleshy appendage from his corpse, blood pooling around us on the pavement.
I held Rudy’s measly dick in my hand, staring at it, when something barked from behind, startling me. I turned, noticing a gangly stray dog sniffing the blood-soaked air as it licked its lips.
“Are you hungry?” I asked in a sweet, innocent voice. The dog whined, hesitating to approach me as it stared back at me. “You poor thing, I bet you’re starving, aren’t you?” The stray whimpered, staring at the penis my hand. I glanced down, a striking idea sparking. “You want this?” The dog barked with a ravenous hunger. “Here.” I tossed the dick in its direction, the fleshy lump squishing as it hit the pavement and rolled. The stray inched toward the appendage, wearisome but desperate to eat. “It’s okay, it can’t hurt you. Not anymore.” The dog rushed to Rudy’s penis as he began to lick it the blood, tasting Rudy’s flesh. “That’s a good boy,” I cooed. I sat there, admiring the strayas it ate the penis, leaving nothing behind, the worthless pound of meat satisfying its hunger.
I glanced back at Rudy’s unrecognizable face, realizing I needed to find a new place to leave my mark. I retrieved my lipstick, freshening my lips before reluctantly raising his hand to my mouth, lingering a moment to ensure absolute perfection.
“There.” I admired my work, placing his hand sweetly atop his chest. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” I stood, snatching Rudy’s cowboy hat and placing it back on my head. “I need to find arealman. One who doesn’t need to force me and has a much nicer cock than you.” I grabbed my skates and knife, my buzz completely gone, and skipped from the alley towards the beach.
I continued,humming to myself, kicking at the warm sand when I noticed him. I stopped, unsure if what I saw was real or if my mind really had gone crazy. Reef turned, looking in my direction. “Did you miss me, Barracuda?” His grin melted me, dissolving my sadness and raising my spirits. I couldn’t help but smile back at him.
I walked to his side, dropping my skates as I sat down next to him in the sand dunes. The two of us sat there, quietly watching the ocean as the sun beamed overhead. “Is that blood I smell?” he asked, still focused on the water.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I just killed a guy.” Reef snapped his head towards me. “I also cut off his dick and fed it to a stray dog. But don’t worry, he was an asshole,” I teased. I knew he’d never believe me, and somehow, I felt oddly comfortable enough to just blurt the truth out to him.
“I guess that’s one way to make the world a safer place.” His eyes returned to the water. “I knew there was something dangerous about you.”
My lips curled, forcing back a smile. I wasn’t sure if he really meant it, or even believed me, but hearing him respond so calmly to such a drastic confession was the most reassuring thing he could’ve done. “It doesn’t scare you, knowing I just murdered someone?” I asked, watching as a few fishing boats gathered in the distance.
“Not one bit. If anyone should be scared, you should be scared of me.” He winked. “I knew you were a murderer when I first found you.” I gasped, knowing he wasn’t playing around or teasing me. He was being completely serious.
“W-what?” I asked.
Reef glanced at me, his jaw tight with a smile. “I could smell that dead man’s blood on you.” How the fuck could he do that? “Oh, I tasted your violence that night, Barracuda.” I scrunched my face, staring up at him in confusion, speechless. “Killing changes a person. It alters their blood, leaving it with a very unique taste, one only another predator would recognize.”
“I’m really confused right now.” Reef knew I was a murderer, but how could he have tasted it? He’d never tasted my blood.
Reef pointed to my shark bite. “Who do you think marked you?”
I busted out laughing, trying to catch his joke. “We did a few crazy things that night, I admit that, but you didn’t do this. Asharkattacked me, Reef. A shark.”
He continued to grin, nodding his head. “I know. And I didn’t attack you. Iclaimedyou.”
All I could muster was a soundless breath, my mouth dropping open as I stared at him with wide eyes and a perplexed look. Was Reef really sitting here, claiming to be a shark? A fucking shark? And not just any shark, but the one killing abunch of people? This had to be a joke. It had to be. There was no possible way any of what he said was true.
“I know,” he said. “It sounds crazy. Insane.” He stared back at the ocean, watching as the sun slowly began to descend, casting a golden hue of wrath across the beach. My eyes traveled along the features of his face, noting how serious he was.
