Mulrey Beryl

The little girl cringed in horror. The man who had taken her terrified her like nothing else had ever done. He was older, maybe 65. The liver spots on his arms and hands and his snowy white hair told her that. He had tiny crow’s feet around his eyes. But, the sunken, midnight eyes and blood-red lips screamed volumes – they were more than subtle indications that something was not quite right with this man.

He slowly crept to his basement. The smell of rot hit him, awakening a powerful hunger in his stomach. He prepared his instruments and got out the Polaroid camera he kept for occasions such as this. He walked over to the red-haired, eight-year old girl cowering in the corner and took her picture. The film shot out of the front of the camera. He walked over and placed it on a drying rack, then turned back towards the little girl, murder gleaming in his cold, dead eyes. He took a step towards her and she screamed.

“Go ahead and scream, bitch. There’s no one who can hear you. This basement is sound-proof. No one will hear you and no one will miss you.” He unlocked the cold, steel locks on the chains binding her to the wall. Carefully, so as not to bruise her, he yanked her off the floor by her hair and set her down on the cool, steel autopsy table with a thud. He strapped down the leather restraints around her arms and legs.

The dim light reflected off the scalpel as he lifted it off the tray. A scream escaped from the girl’s lips as the blade sliced cleanly into her flesh. Mulrey sliced out a huge chunk of flesh and stuffed it into his salivating mouth. He chewed incessantly, relishing the tangy flavour. His hunger grew more with each bite.

Quickly, he continued to slice off more and more flesh, making quick work of the small girl. When his hunger was finally satiated, he rinsed off his instruments. He threw the girl’s remains into a barrel of lye and rinsed off the table.

Picking up the photograph, he placed it on the wall with the others – just one more of the many victims of his unnatural hunger. He made sure everything was clean and put in its proper place before leaving. He then switched off the lights and went upstairs to watch Jeopardy, humming the Final Jeopardy music as he did.