"Could you hand me that lighter, Doctor Johnson?" He pointed to the Zippo that shined on the table. I handed the lighter to him, while trying to hold on to his deep, empty gaze.

"Thank you," he said. He paused for a moment to light his cigarette. "Now where were we, ah, yes - the room," he continued his story.

"It was almost midnight and my friends and I were drinking beer. You know, those beer that kicked your head to dizzyville. I had about three bottles, but it simply wasn't enough. I wanted more. Beer was like water then, after a few bottles, you get real dizzy, but still after a few more bottles, you crave for it, wanting to stay up until you fuckin vomit, you know?"

He paused again to ask me something.

"Do you drink beer, Doctor?" I didn't want to speak, so I nodded a yes. He continued his story.

"Well anyway, we drank. The boys didn't know how many bottles they've gulped down, and so did I. That time, my mother died. That's why I decided to take a little pressure off me and drank beer. One of my friend, Moles, yeah that's his name, invited me for a night out, and since I got nothing to do than fuckin weep for mom, I decided to go with him. So we did. We went to Jimmy's pad and in luck, Hick was there, with his fuckin beers. He always bring them beers wherever he goes, you know.

I didn't really know how mom died, except that I found her shitty boyfriend on the scene where she had her few last breaths. I wasn't that puked, since I saw dead bodies everywhere all the time.

Anyway, back to the drinking. There I was, throwing up all over the place. The boys didn't mind, as they all were fuckin drunk now. They would talk about shit they don't really cared about, for all they know. It was the alcohol. Upon throwing up, shit filled my alcohol-filled head. I don't know whether to believe it then, but it looks like someone was watching us, all the time we were drinking. I turned my head to try to rid myself of the feeling but to my surprise, the feeling proved itself right. He was there, for the first time, I saw him. I couldn't see his face, though. It was covered by the shadows, but he wasn't behind any. Shadow just seemed to cover his being. It was scary then, but little did I know that this person would keep me quite a good company. It was then I realized that we were never to be separated.

After a few days, I didn't see him anymore. I thought that only in my drunkenness can I clearly see him. But there was this one day that I thought I saw him. When I was making love to my girlfriend, I kind of caught a glimpse of him around the corner. Although I couldn't see his face, I felt as if he seemed to smile at me; urging me to do something. I reached for the razor off my cabinet and I skinned her. YEAH! It was the very first time. But to tell you the truth, I really do love her. Anyway, I never considered it as murder, as I have never killed anyone before. I can say that I killed her physical body, but not her soul. Police keep on torturing me for that, saying that I'm a fucking mental case. I tell you, they don't know shit!

Yeah, the memories both of us had. Those were wonderful memories."

He took a sip from the coffee I've offered him.

"You wanna know about the priest? Well, here it is. I never said this to the police, so, be confidential, Doc.

There I was, in mass. I'm a Catholic, you know, and I go to mass. The mass was already halfway through and the priest was doing his sermon. I appreciated sermons, yes very much. As a matter of fact, I went in mass for the sermons, to see God's mercy upon us sinners. But this priest was different. He said "If people stop sitting on their ASSESS, then maybe things would work out in GOD's way." He mentioned a bad word before the name of God, thus cursing His Almighty Name! I had to do something about it.

The next day, I went to confession. I'm religious, you know. So there I was, confessing when I realized that the priest was the same one yesterday, the very same bastard who cursed in God's name. I smiled in satisfaction, and I felt someone in the shadows did too. It was confirmed. I stopped confessing for the day and went towards the priest and fucking cut his belly open. I opened up his brain to see what kind of a mind he has to take the Lord's name in vain!

But temptation was always in the way. I found his brain so inviting, so sweet. I ate of it and satisfied my thirst with his blood. It was so good. God forgive me for being gluttonous. I should've offered his corpse as a sacrifice. Oh well, there are still others out there."

He paused for a short while, but just before he continued, I interrupted him.

"Thank you, Philip, but that's all I needed to know."

"What! You mean you're a fucking cop?!" His gaze turned into a glare as his hands were desperately trying to free themselves from the straightjacket.

"No, no, no. I'm not with the cops, Philip. You see, that priest, the one who 'cursed', was my brother."

"Huh?" A glitter of thrill showed in his eyes. "So, you're releasing me?"

"I'm sorry. I merely wanted to hear out that you DID kill my brother, but it looks quite different now. Since you were so descriptive in how you butchered him, I am going to prepare a meal such that he would be glorified."

With that I took the tranquilizer out of my pocket and gave him a shot. And then I moved my coat sideways to reveal a whole set of surgical tools. Oh, by the way, I'm not a psychotherapist. But I AM a doctor. And how did the guards let me here? It's because of my associate, I think it's because he wore an unusually large cloak that made him look like a psychiatrist.

Anyway, realizing the butchery done to my brother, I did the same thing he did. After all, this is not "murder", as he would put it. I ate his brains, just as he did to my brother. Those things were unusually delicious.

As I got out of his blood-filled room, a thought just came to my head. I looked at my companion beside me, but as usual, I couldn't see his face.

"You were with him too, weren't you?" I demanded.

I just felt his cold smile upon me again.

The End

Copyright 2001 by Dominic Sanchez.

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