A Single Step Behind

A killer with a sense of humor. Just my luck. I look down at the homicide victim and my eyes linger on the shirt. It is a Monty Python Spamalot shirt and it says, “I'm not dead yet”. Well beg your pardon, but you are. Now. Someone had seen to that. They had even made sure. There were multiple stab wounds, but the text was undisturbed. I roll my eyes and call the coroners. Time to play a little joke.

***

         It taunted me. Staring at me. Telling me my failures. I had to prove that the streets were unsafe, with me around. I was minding my own business, working in the shadows, as I normally did. And there it was. The white of the writing cutting into my eyes blaringly bright against the black background. I smiled to myself as I realized that this urge, this desire, this need, this god forsaken thirst would soon be quenched. This thirst that I have been repressing and naively ignoring. Hoping it would just go away. But now that the time was ripe, that soon I would feed it, I realized that whatever this is, it couldn't possibly be wrong. There is no reason to wish it away.

***

         They weren't very happy with me. The coroner's office, I mean. They all take this job so seriously. That isn't wrong, but they need to accept that I need to make light of things sometimes, just for the small amount of sanity I have left. I reached over and was about to pick up the Monty Python tee shirt when my partner yelled bloody murder. Literally. It went something like this: “Bloody murder, Jack! What are you thinking? You don't even have any gloves on!” I tend to forget about basic things when I am thinking. Like gloves. Its a good thing Jaquie is my partner. Yeah, her name is Jaquie. Jack and Jaquie. The chief thinks he's clever. But we do work well together.