“Are you still playing your games with me, Alan?” She asked, smiling. “Come on out, Alan. I’ve got a treat for you.” Teased Kate, unbuttoning her blouse a little more. She walked slowly over to the wardrobe. Behind Kate, a skinny figure slithered silently out from under her bed. Kate reached the wardrobe, and stroked one of the handles on it. “You asked me to reveal all, Alan.” Said Kate. She looked down at her breasts, which were practically hanging out of the blouse that she was wearing. “Well, one more button should do it. Would you like to see?” Kate wanted to know. A muffled sound came from within the wardrobe. “I take it that’s a ‘yes’ then?” Smiled Kate Williams, and she pulled the wardrobe doors open. Immediately, Alan Lane, his head covered with a transparent plastic bag, fell forwards, almost knocking the woman over, before his whole body crashed to the ground. Kate jumped backwards, and looked down at her lover, who was face down on the carpet. His hands and feet were bound, and the bag that had been shoved over his head, before being tied in a knot under his chin, was filled with blood. Kate Williams screamed, but no sound came out. A skinny hand had come from out of nowhere and was now covering her mouth.

Kate tried to scream again, but couldn’t. She was pulled backwards by someone standing behind her. It was Howard Trenton. He drew close to Kate, breathing heavily into her ear.

“Alan will be dead in a few more seconds.” Howard whispered to Kate, who recognised his voice immediately. “He’ll either bleed to death, drown in his own blood, or suffocate from the plastic bag… whatever way that you look at it, he’s fucked. Shall we watch him die, Kate?” He asked. Kate suddenly began to struggle; she tried to run forwards, breaking from Howard’s grip, whilst at the same time attempting to bite at his hand, which was still covering her mouth. This was met with Howard tightening his grip on Kate even more. His other arm wrapped itself around her stomach, squeezing hard. Kate would never have guessed that Howard was so strong; it felt like she was being held by a man twice his size. “Try anything like that again, and I promise, Kate, I’ll make your death really, REALLY fucking painful. Do you understand me?” Asked Howard, his mouth close to Kate’s ear. The woman nodded slightly. “Good, good. Now, shall we watch Alan die?” Howard repeated his question. He felt one of Kate’s tears running over the back of his hand. “Fucking hell, Kate, I thought that you were made of tougher stuff than that.” Laughed Howard. “I mean, just look what a cold, hard bitch you were when you dumped me, out of the blue, last night… man, that hurt, it really did. I’m the one that should be fucking crying.” Continued the teenager, and he laughed again.

Howard moved forwards a little, pushing Kate with him, so that they were standing right over Alan Lane. Howard kicked out slowly with his foot, pushing it against Alan’s shoulder, rolling the older man over, so that he was lying on his back. The college lecturer stared up through the blood-splattered plastic bag at Kate and Howard,

“Look, Kate. Alan’s turning blue. That’s a good sign. It means he’ll be out of his misery really soon.” Howard whispered. Kate tried to turn her head away from the sight of her dying lover. Howard pulled his hand even harder against Kate’s mouth, and could feel the shape of her teeth against his palm. “Look at him, Kate, or I’ll crush your mouth so hard, your teeth will start cracking.” Howard threatened, in a soft, almost gentle voice. Kate turned back towards Alan, and Howard eased the pressure on her mouth. She was forced to watch as Alan Lane took his final breath, sucking some of the plastic bag into his mouth as he did so, turning it red. And then he died.

“It’s done.” Whispered Howard. “I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth now, Kate. But before I do, I need to know that you’re not going to try and scream for help, or anything like that… because, Kate, you’ve got a choice here. You can either behave yourself, do exactly as I say… hey, you might even win yourself a reprieve if you’re a really good girl! Or… well, you can play me up, not comply with my wishes, piss me off… and that, my dear, will cause me to drag this whole, nasty business out for a very long time. I’m not in any rush to get out of here, Kate. No rush at all. I’m quite happy to stay here, with you, all night, if needs be. Now… are you going to behave yourself?” Asked Howard. Kate nodded, and Howard Trenton slowly took his hand away from her mouth.

Howard continued to hold Kate from behind. Now he had both arms wrapped around her.

“You can talk to me, if you want to, Kate. It’d be nice to hear your thoughts on what’s just happened to Alan here tonight. Me personally? Well, I think that it’s shocking, I really do.” Said Howard. He giggled to himself. “Just look at the poor man. He’d probably spent all day looking forward to seeing you, to getting around here and fucking the arse off you… and who can blame him, eh Kate? Man, I’ve been there, and it was sweet…”

“Why?” Asked Kate, quietly.

“What? Did you ask something just then, Kate?” Replied Howard.

“Why?” She repeated.

“Oh, do you mean why did I kill Alan? Why am I doing this to you, now? Is that what you mean, Kate?” Said Howard, his lips almost touching Kate’s ear. She nodded in response. “Because it’s what I do.” Howard informed her, and with that, he let go of the woman, then pushed her onto the bed. Howard remained standing, looming over his terrified victim. “You see, Kate, Alan wasn’t the first person that I’ve done this sort of thing to, and he won’t be the last, either.” He beamed. Howard puffed his skinny chest out a little. “Do you know how many people I’ve killed, Kate?” He asked. Kate shook her head.

“Eight. Well, nine, including Alan here. Or maybe it’s more than that… I can’t remember…” was Howard’s answer. Kate closed her eyes for a moment in terror, and then opened them again. More tears flowed down her cheeks.

Howard Trenton sat down on the edge of the bed. He smiled at Kate.

“The first person I killed… I was only about thirteen when that happened. It was a sort of accident. But the ones after that, they weren’t accidents at all. They were deliberate. The first few, they were scary, because I wasn’t sure if I was capable of doing what I wanted to do or not. I was scared, Kate, just like you’re scared now. But do you know what? It turns out, I was capable of killing after all, and I never really looked back. It’s a shame about Alan though… he just got caught up in the cross-fire and…” suddenly, Kate lashed out, as hard as she could, with her leg. Her foot, which was clad in a leather boot with sharp heels, slammed into Howard Trenton’s chest, knocking him straight off the bed. In an instant, Kate shot up from off the bed, past Howard, who was lying on the floor, winded. She pulled at the bedroom door, just as a bony hand gripped at her ankle.

“Come back, Kate. You’re not going anywhere.” Said Howard angrily.

“Help!” Screamed Kate, as she slid backwards, towards Howard. She went to scream for a second time, but it was too late. Howard was up and right behind her again, his hand clamping down across Kate’s mouth.

“Now, what did I tell you? Didn’t I warn you not to play me up, Kate? Didn’t I?” Asked Howard, as he dragged the college worker back onto the bed. “You shouldn’t have done that, Kate. It was a really stupid thing to do, because now everything’s going to be so much more painful for you.” Said Howard, and he grinned as his whole body slowly locked around Kate’s.

***

Howard lay on the bed, next to Kate, watching the morning sun begin to filter through a gap in the curtains. Looks like that bad weather held off, after all. Good. I’ve got a lot of work to do today, thought Howard. He slowly pulled himself away from Kate’s frozen body, and sat up in the bed. Howard turned to his former lover, who stared up at the ceiling.