The Scarlet Hand

A man commits murder, and his actions will start to mock him.

"What have I done?" I look upon the person below, now in their eternal resting place. "Wh-what have I become?" I say in a quivering whisper of a voice. There's no way I could have done it, yet I have the cold proof in front of me. The dead twisted corpse now lay silent on the ground. I stand there, frozen in time. My muscles stiff from the terror I have brought upon this soul. My heart beats rapidly as if it's about to burst out of my chest! My mind blank and all over the place. I don't know what to think... I killed this man. How can I live with myself? I don't know how, but I will have to. The image of him laying on the ground is gruesome. Only moments ago was he bursting with life... and I massacred him. I'll get rid of him. Yea, that's it. Then I won't have to worry about him anymore. It will be fine. After he's gone it's over with, just get rid of him! I tell myself forcefully. I can't function, I'm still stunned by this horrid masterpiece. Oh god. How am I going to pull this off? 

It doesn't matter if you know who I am, or where I'm at. It doesn't even matter if you don't know why I am in this situation. All you know is that I've taken this man's life and I'm left with the evidence of his demise. The scene is set. There's blood everywhere and the man's body still lay there in a vulgar position. I can't help myself and my dinner and everything else I consumed this past day churns out of my stomach. I wipe my face and pull myself back together. I have to make everything disappear. I have to be strong and get rid of him. A sharp chill runs through my spine at the fact that I still think of the corpse as a "him". It only makes me accept my sin even more. I snap back into reality and I take in my surroundings. It is late in the evening and the moon is full and high in the sky. A large grassy field is where this event occurred. The man had a truck and it's headlights bring light to where he now lays and I stand over him. Without a second thought I go to his truck and search it. I search it for anything to help me conceal his death. The keys are in the ignition and the engine is still on, giving off a small hum in the silent night. The vehicle is clean in the front and the only objects I find are a flashlight and a few matches in one of the cup holders, so I get out and check the back. I open the truck's bed to find quite a few things that I am sure will come in use. There's a can of gasoline, a shovel, an ax, a lantern, and a few unused trash bags. Great. I think, Just what a person needs after committing murder. I look at the items and I wonder how exactly I shall dispose of the poor creature I slaughtered. Many ideas come to mind, Why, I could burn him right here and now. Or I could just stuff him in a bag and throw him away with like the rest of my garbage. I pause for a moment pondering on my plans, then like a sick miracle... I know exactly what I'm going to do. I grab the ax and a trash bag and head towards my victim and I lay them down on the ground near him. I have to move the body from it's awkward position it's in, I hesitate, but with a jerk of my will I hurry up and with my bare hands I sprawl the body out on the ground so all of his limbs are exposed. I reach for the ax and hold it in my shaking hands. You can do this... I gather up all my guts and lift the ax above my head, it comes down on the corpse's left leg making the most dreadful crunch I have ever heard in my life. Blood splatters everywhere, but I continue to hack and so I can complete my mission.

About an half an hour later I have dismembered the poor man entirely. Nothing left on the ground but a puddle of blood and now I have obtained a bag containing two arms, a pair of legs, a torso, and a head. The head is the worst part, the expression frozen on the face is hideous so I made sure to hurry and not look at it as mush as I could. Starting the next step of my plan I load the bag into the passenger seat of the truck and I take the driver's seat. I drive away from the dreadful place... far away. My plan is to scatter all of the man's limbs in places no one will ever find him. 

Hours have passed and now I'm only down to the right arm. The night seems to be dragging and everlasting, it's getting hard to separate reality from a dream, and this is one nightmare I can't wake up from. I am exhausted from my hard work. I've been digging holes and driving all over the city searching for the most remote areas to bury the limbs. Now my objective is almost complete. I decide to drive home and give the man a "proper burying", in my own backyard. The last hole is dug and I place the remaining limb in the Earth. 

Satisfied and weary I'm to tired to worry about the events in the past evening. I'll work on getting rid of the truck and tools I used to make the man disappear tomorrow.

I enter my home a different person. A murderer. I almost forget what I had done until I look at myself in the bathroom mirror. A mess, I look dreadful. My hair matted, my clothes dirty, dark circles around my eyes, and blood splattered across my body and clothing. I take them of and I decide I'll burn them tomorrow. I take the quickest shower in history, because I'm in a rush to get into my bed and finally rest. I step out of the shower and look into the fogged mirror to find a hand print... It's obviously not my hand print, I think. I reassure myself I'm seeing things because I'm so tired and I disregard it. 

After a long night I finally lay my head down on my pillow, but I go to sleep a different person tonight. My eyes are heavy with fatigue and I'm glad I can finally sleep. Sleep will do me good, I can get over all this eventually. I'll be fine... My last thoughts before I doze of into a deep sleep. I was wrong.

I awake screaming and in a pol of my own sweat. Nightmares of the man's arm coming up from out of the ground to get revenge and strangle me was my only dream. My heart beating like the drum of death. I look out my window and I see it's early in the morning. I hop out of bed with at least the littlest bit of hope that everything was a dream! Alas... I can see from my window into my backyard, the small mound where I had dug and placed the man's arm. An eerie feeling comes over me and I sit and gaze plainly outside.

 Time has passed and I finally get myself together once again. I head into the bathroom once again and I examine myself in the mirror. Only to find a scarlet, crimson, blood red hand print tattooed on my neck...

Author's Note

This is my very first try at a short story (and this one is dark) so please share any thoughts, comments, and criticism please! Please ignore any grammatical errors! thank you for reading :)

Reviews

[Al R. Arce]

Not bad! First, the mistakes. I found 3. The scene of the crime is the woods, country, grasslands, away from the city. Has to be in order for you to do the hack attack, or even consider burning him. Yet you jumped to the city, looking for places to burry him. Second, even though the killer is clearly remorseful, you use the word masterpiece to describe the killing, when everything else is repulsive to the killer. Lastly, how did the killer get to the crime scene? The good, you tried to fully describe the feelings of the killer. You did not give a clue to the ending until the last sentence. The best part of the story was the searching of the truck and the killer pondering his options. One last suggestion. Don't you think it would have been more gruesome if the killer had found the arm within the bed sheets? Was it the hand that got there, or someone else? Adds a twist doesn't it? Good work! I mean it!

[Kitten]

Thank you for your review Cemi! I shall use the wonderful advice you have given me, and I am glad you enjoyed it :)

[Al R. Arce]

Writing a story is not drawing a straight line. Its more like cha cha cha dancing. You need to constantly go back to check that everything matches. It is super easy to drift while you write. Also, many times you'll have to change something you wrote before in order to accommodate something new you want. Always check!

[Kevin]

I really enjoyed this story! It's very good for a first attempt. Seriously my first attempts were just awful XD

[Kitten]

awwwww thank you Kevin :D

[annabellee]

The ending was really spooky, actually.
I also liked how you described things ... really graphic.
Well I'm not good at critizising somebody's work professionally but I found that the first part, where you describe her feelings and thoughts, was a little bit cliché. I don't even know why but I felt like I had read that too many times before.
But that doesn't mean I didn't like it, I actually did and I'm sorry I can't describe it any better.

[Kitten]

No it's fine! Thank you for your thoughts, it really helps me! I'm glad you liked it :)

[annabellee]

you're most welcome :)