Licking on a piece of cake he had saved, he wondered where his brother had gone.  Without him, he felt alone in the vast world where strange walls rose to great heights and the very ground on which he stood stretched on forever.  At the click of a door opening, he raised his head as the woman entered the grimy kitchen, where a bag of week-old trash brewed a rotten stench that permeated the small flat.  He jumped up at the sight of fresh food, and watched intently as she plopped down her grocery bags on the sticky linoleum floor.  With a glint in his eyes, he rubbed his hands.  
      Bulges of red, green, yellow, and purple all made their way onto the kitchen counter.  He jumped towards the colorful display and surveyed the strange shapes and textures.  Gaunt and enervated for not having eaten properly in two days, he desperately hoped that this array would provide a decent meal. The smooth surfaced red seemed to teeter on an elevated knob of the warped counter.  The green drew him close with its fragrance, but he jumped back when he noticed droplets of water sparkling in the dim light.  The yellow lay limply on its side even when he kicked it with his foot.  The purple looked more appetizing, but his stinging eyes prevented him from getting close.  
      In his peripheral vision, he noticed the woman’s flailing elbow hit the red.  At first, it seemed to glide across the uneven surface, maintaining its perfect sphere.  Its silky exterior shined like a star in the dim light and he gaped at the glowing orb.  Then he watched the red gain momentum as it inched closer to him with each passing millisecond.  The red grew larger and larger.  He could not tear his eyes from the monstrous blur as it threatened to mercilessly crush him on its relentless path downwards.  A mosaic of the red monster obstructed his sight, and he remained confused as to which he should avoid.  He began to blindly race down the counter as the tumbling mosaics grazed his heels and shaded his path.  He panted, scrambling down the endless slope, reaching towards the edge that seemed to grow further and further away with each step while the red swiftly closed the distance between them.  Seconds before the red completely crushed him, he leaped off the edge of the counter.  He stretched his arms and clung to the wall on the other side as the red slid down his back to the floor below.   
      As he stood in the shadows, catching his breath, he felt a cool wind scrape his back and make his hairs stand on end.  He quickly turned around and saw the woman opening a squeaky door.  A blast of freezing air flew out from the opening and the sheer force of the wind blew him a foot away.  He shivered and approached the curious new space that had opened before him.  The shelves and walls were blindingly white, a spot of cleanliness and purity in the otherwise dark and filthy kitchen.  Rows of clear, crystalline blocks lined the shelves, and he approached these shining objects as if in a trance.  He bounded over the chunks and lumps, gaping at the shining facades, and reached a flat plane surrounded by mountains of icy, cold wedges.  The frosty wedges emitted a chilly air that made his eyes hurt and his breath grow white.
      As he looked around, he saw himself reflected in one of the wedges and reached towards his image, only to realize that he was not alone.  He quickly turned around and saw a clone of himself on a different block.  Its head was cocked at the same angle as his, and when he waved, the clone waved back.  Behind him, he caught sight of yet another standing with his back towards him, also shivering in the cold.  To his sides, he saw rows and rows of himself staring with the same skewed glance.  He noticed that the tall mountains that surrounded him reflected his eyes, towered over him with distortions of his body, and watched him from every angle and every height.  He whirled around, faced one of his reflections, and boldly smacked it with his hand.  With a wince, he pulled it back, and the block followed.  He shook his hand, but the chunk was firmly glued to it.  He saw another image of himself in the block, trying desperately to pull its own hand away.  He jumped back in surprise and crashed into yet another cube.  The cold, wet slab clung to him like velcro and he blindly waved his arms and shook his body, trying to free himself.  Everywhere, he saw more creatures flailing and he shrunk back in fear, but the creatures followed.    
      Suddenly, the lights grew darker and he quickly looked over the icy terrain to see, much to his horror, that she was slowly closing the door.  He began to run towards the darkness, reaching out for the sliver that grew narrower every second, stumbling over the blocks that clung to him like weights.  With a final push, he broke free from the crystalline claws and jumped outside, away from the white terror.  His skin tingled and prickled, and he rubbed his hands together.
      He espied black claws reaching towards each other above a black plate, and he eagerly leaped towards the new discovery.  He landed on the black center circle and crawled inside the cage of metal prongs.  Suddenly, a hiss startled him, and he smelt a pungent odor emanating from below.  Flickers of blue gradually rose from the holes, their tails quivering at his slightest movement.  It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen: a thin film of white floated lightly amidst the blue sparks, like the morning fog that sets in before the blue sky.  The dark blue centers of each petal and the light blue borders mingled and flared as the circle surrounding him grew larger and larger.  He relished the warm air that enveloped and thawed him, and he lay back with a sigh.  He reached out towards the blue wall, wanting to touch the ephemeral lights that seemed as if they might disappear at any second.  
      The sudden pain made him snap back his arm, and he gaped at his singed fingers. The shimmering blue took on a more definite curve, and the walls began to resemble a gaping mouth with pointed teeth that threatened to devour him at any moment. Above him sat a gray surface that blocked his way out through the top.  When he attempted to push it off with his hands, he was horrified to feel that the gray radiated an intense heat.  The blue reached out and tried to grab him with its talons, and he ducked down on to the black to avoid the hot, gray ceiling and the snaking blue lights.  He closed his eyes and trembled, tightening himself into a ball as the heat and heavy air slowly oppressed and suffocated him.  Suddenly, the gray surface vanished, lifted away by the woman to the sink.  Gasping for fresh air, he burst out of the heated box. 
      Rolling around the counter top, he grabbed onto the yellow that still lay on its side and used it to pull himself upright.  The woman paused in her work by the sink and glared at him.  She shut off the faucet.  He looked curiously at the water dripping from the slender pipe.  There he stood, silently watching the drops plop into the metallic sink, listening to the periodic splash of when the droplets touched the silver surface.  With a sudden gust of wind, a bloody club covered his vision and smashed into the counter next to him.  Alarmed, he sprung away from the yellow and looked in astonishment at the woman who wielded the heavy baton.  On the spot where the bat had landed, he saw an eye lolling around, separated from the head and partially flattened into a green pulp.  With a sonorous crack, the club ripped through the air and smashed down beside him again.  He jumped up and clung to the walls, his legs shaking.  In silence, he observed as the woman searched for him all around the kitchen.  
      Both stood noiselessly, her eyes spinning around in their sockets trying to locate him, and his eyes fixated on her.  With another roaring swish, she swung the bludgeon into the wall where he had been only seconds earlier.  He fell onto the counter in shock, and scrambled hurriedly for a way out.  He spotted an open window and began to make his way towards his escape.  He dodged the lethal swings and the deadly arcs of the bloody bat as it cleaved the air.  A leg dangling from a mangled torso flew past him, and he recognized the remains of his brother.  He jumped out into the open and quickly flew away as the red bat smacked the window.
      ***
      She sighed and picked up the magazine that lay on the windowsill.  Pulling out a piece of tissue, she picked up the bits and pieces of tomato that lay splattered on the floor and threw them away.  She returned the clean pot on the stove and filled the empty ice cube tray with tap water.  Leaning against the counter, she sighed and muttered, “Stupid flies.”



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The Serial Killer, 9-10