Fear and Loathing He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. Dr. Samuel Johnson Something I’ve learned over the years: Even in the most dire of circumstances, I am prone to fits of laughter.  For instance, I just awoke tied to a chair, staring up at the… Continue reading Chapter Twenty-Three

The Fixer What’s so surprising that I crawl. I descended from the worm just like you. What’s so surprising that I eat glass and dance on fire.  Felix Morisseau-Leroy Detective Tiller is staring into one of the precinct’s stark interrogation rooms through a one-way mirror.  Inside, the as-yet-to-be identified suspect calmly looks around the room. … Continue reading Chapter Twenty-Two

Unforgettable Never before has someone been more unforgettable. Nat King Cole, Unforgettable Monday.  Columbus, Ohio.  The snow flutters through the air like ash, the flakes suspended in a slow dance with the light breeze rushing through the downtown streets.  I tug at the collar of my coat as the taxi cab leaves me in a… Continue reading Chapter Twenty-One

For I must go where lazy Peace Will hide her drowsy head; And, for the sport of kings, increase The number of the dead William Davenant   The airplane cuts through the air high above the Atlantic ocean. Ensconced in the window seat, I moodily gaze out at the passing clouds-castles. In the distance, the… Continue reading Chapter Twenty

One thing you can count on: You push a man too far, and sooner or later he’ll start pushing back. Max Payne   A man walks across a parking lot, moving along a row of luxury vehicles, each one with medical plates. In the background, Sankt Marien Hospital looms against a twilight sky, laden with… Continue reading Chapter Nineteen

And the wild regrets and the bloody sweats None knew so well as I: That he who lives more lives than one, More deaths than one shall die. Oscar Wilde   I tighten my grip around her neck, a thumb behind each ear, holding her still as the elevator races up to the top floor… Continue reading Chapter Eighteen

Hell doesn’t want them Hell doesn’t need them Hell doesn’t love them The devil’s rejects Rob Zombie, The Devil’s Rejects   I grab my bag off the bench and rush out of the locker room. “Come on,” Kitty says, tugging of my hand as we hurry down the narrow hallway. We turn left and head… Continue reading Chapter Seventeen

I feast on sympathy. I chew on suffer. I chew on agony. Metallica, Poor Twisted Me   Standing over a rusted-out sink, I stare at my broken reflection in the cracked mirror and the pink-tinged saliva foaming down my chin. Reaching into the back of my mouth I yank out a tooth and drop it… Continue reading Chapter Sixteen

There is no other world. Nor even this one. What, then, is there? The inner smile provoked in us by the patent nonexistence of both. E. M. Cioran, Drawn and Quartered   “Evening, Mr. Byrnes,” I say pleasantly while taking a seat at the table across from the Rikers Island inmate. “Name’s Jagger,” the Irishman… Continue reading Chapter Fifteen