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2024-10-29 19:42:56She tried to switch on her phone. It only flickered for a few seconds then turned off again.
The shadow was now making its way towards her, dragging a long object on the floor.‘Come on!’ she yelled into her phone, attempting to turn it on again. It flickered twice then switched off again.The shadow was now in reach. It pushed away the desk between it and Clarissa.She slammed her phone four times in the palm of her hand, tears streaming down her face. She tried it again.The shadow swung the object onto its shoulder.Clarissa’s phone finally switched on. She quickly turned on the flashlight and shone it upwards in the direction of the shadow.Standing right above her, soaked from head to toe, was Sineas, a long axe resting on his shoulder. He did not say anything. He just stared back at her, his eyes holding no expression whatsoever.She wiped the tears and water from her face. She boldly decided to stand up. ‘Sin?&r
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Psych 93. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
For a Sunday morning, the weather felt very unforgiving. The thick grey clouds had completely concealed the sun and there was an icy wind in the atmosphere. The kind of wind that leaves your face feeling like an ice cube at each gush it takes at you. This was completely different to Justin’s funeral. Justin’s funeral had many willing participants but this time, people looked like they would rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Doreen, Trevor and even the teachers were there. Just two days ago, Inspector Charles had announced on the news the death of the notorious Axe Killer. The inspector had not looked as excited as Clarissa had expected. It almost sounded like he had been pronouncing the worst news ever. She had not even wanted to watch the news. As soon as the inspector had begun talking of finally getting rid of the “plague of the nation”, she immediately left the room. She even felt that her parents understood her pain. They had apologized to h
Psych 1. Sineas Murphy
Fireworks. Fireworks? Yes, that is what it sounded like. Fireworks. The sound was ear-splitting. Like a knife in the ear. Except, these were not fireworks. The Iver Johnson Revolver had finally served its purpose. Breechwood was one of the most serene neighbourhoods in the city. There had been no murder or suicide for the past thirty-eight years. Until now. The Murphy family was known to be one of the most peaceful families, so what had triggered this unforeseen calamity? It was like discovering a gun in the holiest church you could think of.With tears in his eyes, Sineas Murphy, the only child in the Murphy family, stood a few feet from the fresh corpse of his father. The blood flowing smoothly from the right side of his father’s head and the revolver still clasped loosely in his right hand. Sineas could not stop whimpering. This was too vexing a sight to register for a six year old. The blood though was too hard to see as it dripped onto the red carpet. The carpet was an
Psych 2. Pleading Sanity
‘Priscilla!’She sniffled. ‘Papa…Papa…Papa…’ she said then she stopped crying. She slowly swerved her head. Her eyes settled on Sineas. She leapt from her position towards him, her eyes speaking murderous intent.Janice was ready for her though. Stepping in front of her sister, she grabbed her arms from the front. Although being the younger and smaller sister, she was able to keep her at bay. Priscilla’s grief had obviously weakened her.She raved all the more, looking over Janice’s shoulder, ‘Say, “hello, papa! Hello, papa”! Say it! Say, “hello, papa!” ’ After a while of struggle, her body finally gave in. she collapsed into Janice’s chest, her body motionless. ‘Is that all the information you have, ma’am?’Janice had finally called the police who had arrived with the medic team as well. The police officer questioning her was in his uniform. A blue jacket, blue trousers and black formal shoes. The two medals pinned on the left pocket of his grey s
Psych 3. Leaving Yesterday Tomorrow
‘What?’‘Doctor Jacob, please!’ she pleaded. ‘Let me see my son before I go to jail.’‘You’re not going to jail, Priscilla.’She frowned hard at him in confusion. ‘Then why am I here?’‘Let’s…’ he shuffled the small stack of papers in front of him, ‘…let’s call it an intervention…’‘No, let’s call it a waste of time. You want to find out if I’m fit to take care of my son. I’ve been taking care of him for six years!’‘And it’s possible that during those six years he may have gone through similar forms of maltreatment as the ones you displayed this morning towards him.’‘I have never harmed my son..! Before,’ she aggressively objected leaning even closer than before.‘You have quite a volatile temper, Mrs. Murphy, that part is clear. Your temper would not have been a problem but the fact that that temper manifested into violence towards your one and only child; a six year old…’She began to weep, her face now turned hopelessly to the floor. ‘I just want to s
Psych 4. Settling in
There was no response.He heard footsteps approaching the bathroom. There was a knock.‘Sineas, are you alright in there?’He wiped water from his face. ‘Yes, Aunt Janice. I’m, I’m fine,’ he replied but he listened attentively, expecting something else to drop onto the floor.‘Good. Dinner is almost ready.’ She tapped the door twice before making her way back to the kitchen. Dinner was very quiet. It was rice and mincemeat with orange juice to wash it down. They were eating at the table in the kitchen. ‘How’s the food?’ she asked him before taking a sip from her glass.‘It’s great, Aunt Janice.’ He made an uncertain smile while he nodded.‘Good, good, my boy. Maybe tomorrow I’ll take you out for some strawberry ice-cream. I believe it’s still your favourite?’He smiled again. They continued eating but in strict silence again. After dinner, Janice led him upstairs and just as he had guessed, she showed him into his room. He picked u
Psych 5. School
‘I don’t think this is necessary, Aunt Janice,’ Sineas told her as he loaded his brown leather backpack with textbooks after breakfast. They were in the kitchen.‘Don’t worry, you’ll love it there.’ She kissed his cheek before she carried the empty plates to the sink. She was still in her white cotton nightdress. Her hair was done in an afro. It was rather untidy which meant she had not taken her morning shower yet. Sineas, on the other hand, was wearing a black leather jacket with a red polyester interior. He was also wearing blue denim jeans and black sneakers. His hair was a small, thick well-combed afro.‘But there was nothing wrong with the home-schooling,’ he pointed out. Eleven years of it and now you change your mind?’‘Did you not hear what Doctor Jacob said? You need human interaction, you need friends, you need…’‘A life, I get it, but, Aunt Janice, Doctor Jacob is just a money-hungry quack seeking suckers to suck money dry from.’She leaned her back
Psych 6. School (2)
He looked at her. Maybe she had changed her mind.‘Try to be normal,’ she said with the most motherly voice she could muster. ‘Just…be yourself.’‘What if I get bullied? What if the rest of the kids make the unanimous decision to declare open season on my life? In case you hadn’t noticed, Aunt Janice, I’m probably the only black kid here. What if…’She placed a finger on his mouth. She stared solemnly into his eyes. ‘If anything like that happens, my boy, just remember that misconceptions, bad judgements do happen…and so do accidents.’He stood still for a while. He gave her a quick nod before stepping out of the car and onto the sidewalk. As he made his way along the path towards the entrance of the school building, he felt invisible. Students would bump into him over and over again like he was one of those walkthrough doors at the mall. The sign, “Welcome to Malrich High School” was now hanging over his head as he walked through the wide open wooden doors.
Psych 7. "All Boys are the Same"
‘I don’t think there’ll ever be a bigger freak than him,’ Sabrina said whilst staring in Sineas’ direction during lunchtime. Their lunchtime was held just outside the school building at the hundreds of tables beside the statue of The Thinker, a few yards to the right of the entrance. There were about a hundred or so tables scattered here and there on the lawn where students could sit in groups, pairs or whatever number suited them. Sabrina was sitting with her two friends; Doreen and Clarissa. Sineas was sitting at a table ten feet in front of theirs. He was having lunch on his own.‘Do you remember what he did in class?’ Doreen said, bobbing her head back and forth with laughter. Her black hair smacked the table over and over again, frequently revealing her bulbous eyes and exaggerated lips.‘That was just a mistake, Doreen,’ Clarissa said, keeping her attention on her apple.‘Don’t tell me you’ve got a soft spot for the weirdo, Claire,’ Sabrina rolled her brown eyes at he
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93. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
For a Sunday morning, the weather felt very unforgiving. The thick grey clouds had completely concealed the sun and there was an icy wind in the atmosphere. The kind of wind that leaves your face feeling like an ice cube at each gush it takes at you. This was completely different to Justin’s funeral. Justin’s funeral had many willing participants but this time, people looked like they would rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Doreen, Trevor and even the teachers were there. Just two days ago, Inspector Charles had announced on the news the death of the notorious Axe Killer. The inspector had not looked as excited as Clarissa had expected. It almost sounded like he had been pronouncing the worst news ever. She had not even wanted to watch the news. As soon as the inspector had begun talking of finally getting rid of the “plague of the nation”, she immediately left the room. She even felt that her parents understood her pain. They had apologized to h
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92. Fireworks
She tried to switch on her phone. It only flickered for a few seconds then turned off again. The shadow was now making its way towards her, dragging a long object on the floor.‘Come on!’ she yelled into her phone, attempting to turn it on again. It flickered twice then switched off again.The shadow was now in reach. It pushed away the desk between it and Clarissa.She slammed her phone four times in the palm of her hand, tears streaming down her face. She tried it again.The shadow swung the object onto its shoulder.Clarissa’s phone finally switched on. She quickly turned on the flashlight and shone it upwards in the direction of the shadow.Standing right above her, soaked from head to toe, was Sineas, a long axe resting on his shoulder. He did not say anything. He just stared back at her, his eyes holding no expression whatsoever.She wiped the tears and water from her face. She boldly decided to stand up. ‘Sin?&r
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91. To Catch a Killer (Part II)
Clarissa was running up the street, screaming and yelling at the top of her voice with the cold, heavy rains beating down her body. She had first tried Mrs. Lancaster, their neighbour’s gate but the loudness of the rain obliterated every other sound. Gasping for breath, she looked down the street. Her house was now just a glimpse. She could not see anyone but she was positive she was being followed. She continued up the street, kicking every gate and yelling for help. A wild and delusional thought leapt into her head. She could climb up one of the gates and call for help from the inside. Fear quickly ridiculed this idea. She probably would be dead before she made it to the top of the wall. Another thought leapt in. School! But of course. It would be hard for anyone to find her in such a giant building. Fatigue lowered her pace. She could not increase her speed past a jog. School was now only about ten minutes away. As she jogged, she kept turning her head behind her. The
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90. Epiphany
Clarissa lay on top of Sineas, a small red blanket covering their completely naked bodies. They had switched on the TV and turned to a sports channel, but they were not watching it of course. They had lowered the volume. The heavy rains could be heard beating on the roof from outside. Sineas was stroking her back, gently. ‘So…who taught you?’ he asked her.‘Taught me what?’‘Don’t play dumb, Claire. The moves.’She smiled, then said, ‘When you hang around sluts like Sabrina and Doreen, you pick up a thing or two. Not implying that I’m a slut too but when all your friends can talk about is how to catch a man…how to pleasure him; that stuff tends to stick to your subconscious.’‘So you’ve never..?’‘Had sex? No. That’s actually the reason why Justin broke up with me. Sabrina and Doreen hooked up with some of the members in Justin’s crew but Justi
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89. Heaven's Delight (Part II)
WARNING !!! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VERY STRONG SEXUAL CONTENT !!!‘I don’t think you needed food for that,’ he said.‘What do you mean?’ She raised her head.‘Your personality made it to my heart first.’She smiled and reached for his hand from across the table. ‘Dessert?’He nodded once. ‘Yes, ma’am.’She got up and walked towards the fridge and moments later, she returned with a small, pink ice-cream lunchbox and two glass dessert cups. It was a mixture of strawberry and vanilla.Sineas licked his lips when she pulled the lid off of the container. ‘And the night just keeps getting better and better,’ he said.She laughed and scooped the ice-cream with a large spoon into the two dessert cups. She placed spoons on top of the ice-cream. She clapped her hands. ‘Shall we, Mr. Murphy?’‘Yes we shall, M
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88. Heaven's Delight (Part I)
Inspector Charles had just finished having supper when the doorbell rang. He told his wife and daughter to sit tight while he went to investigate who was ringing the doorbell so late in the evening. Shorts, vest and all, Charles opened the door. He looked around but there was no one in sight. He looked down. There was a brown envelope lying at his feet. His heart skipped a beat and his hands trembled as he stooped down to pick it up. The previous envelopes had been written the words: “To Inspector Charles” in both uppercase and lowercase letters but this one was written in all caps and bold letters: “TO INSPECTOR CHARLES”.He wanted to open it there and then. He had ripped it halfway open when he stopped. He looked around again, apprehensively…and vigilantly. There was still no one. No sound, save for the faint barking of a mongrel miles away. A stray, black cat ran silently along the sidewalk, probably chasing a rat. Even though he could see no one, Charles decided not to risk i
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87. Busy Bee
‘Oh, she didn’t get “snatched up” by anyone, Viola. They wanted to get her, they thought they did but instead they caught a very shocked and now angry, black kid. An angry, black kid who happens to be her son.’‘Murph, listen ta me; I had no choice!’‘No choice?’ He laughed scornfully. ‘Viola, you’re not a kid. You’re old enough to have choices. And I was beginning to think that we were becoming friends or something.’She pulled her chair in closer towards him, ‘But Murph, we is friends! Its just that the inspector put my aunty in a predicament.’‘What sort of predicament?’‘The inspector found out from several patients that your moms was helping the nurses with some of their treatments and in some occasions, she helped the doctors diagnose them. The inspector threatened ta put the hospital under investigations and would make sure that three-quarters of the nurses and all the doctors there would be suspended. He offered an alternative though. He promised ta make all o
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86. The Informant
Sineas arrived at school at one o’clock in the afternoon. The students had already begun to pour into the lunch area. He concealed himself behind The Thinker statue, carefully browsing the students one by one. He waited and waited for at least fifteen minutes. Finally, he saw her. She was sitting alone on a table in the middle. He only saw her back but he could tell it was her with her white turtleneck sweater and the rabbit tail on her head. He decided to wait a little longer until most of the students were seated. Then he made his move.He carefully and silently began walking towards her, his hands in his bomber jacket pockets and his eyes focused on the back of her head. He stopped behind her, just a few feet away.She had unloaded onto the table a pickle sandwich, a carrot salad and obviously- an apple from her lunch bag.Sineas just stood behind her, looking down at her. He did not care if anyone was watching him.Clarissa stopped eating. She froze s
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85. Priscilla Murphy
‘Do you see her?’ Deputy James asked Inspector Charles.The inspector did not respond. Finally, he handed James the binoculars. He leaned back in the passenger seat and let his deputy have his turn. The deputy took a long, good look. After about two minutes, he placed the binoculars on top of the dashboard just above the steering wheel. He also leaned back in his seat. ‘You think Plan B may have fed us false information?’ James asked the inspector.‘After the consequences we promised her if she didn’t cooperate? I don’t think so, James. I don’t think so at all.’‘And what about the evidence, sir? Didn’t your source promise to leave the evidence at your doorstep this morning?’‘There was nothing. I’m starting to think whoever sent those letters was just trying to divert our attention.’ ‘But, sir…’The inspector silenced him with a raised fi
