Page 2 of Pure Silence

Father had shown Day how.

Where to cut.

Where to stab.

Where to make it quick and quiet, always soquiet.

Day found his knife still lodged in Mark’s neck, and he carefully removed it. He paused, realizing now he needed to wash the knife and his hands again. With another heavy sigh, he returned to the sink.

After he’d finished, he put the knife back in his boot. He hummed as he fetched paper towels from the dispenser to start wiping down the surfaces inside the bathroom that he might have touched. It was sloppy. It was a mess. It was a disappointment.

Father would have been upset with him.

Day found his groceries stashed under the sink, and he made a face when he spied a small splatter of blood on one of the bags.

Hopefully no one on the bus would notice.

He slipped out of the bathroom, finding he was at a gas station and it was nighttime now. The store was closed according to the sign on the door, and none of the lights were on.

How had Day gotten here? When did he leave the grocery store? What had happened?

A quick check around the gas station revealed that the cameras were only for show and nothing could have been recorded.

Lucky.

Foolish. What about on the street? What about at the grocery store? How did you lure that monster here? Where else could your fingerprints be? Your DNA?

Day didn’t have answers for any of Father’s questions, and he decided to ignore them.

He’d done what had to be done.

He’d had to silence Mark Edwards. The man had snakes crawling out of his mouth, dark vipers that snapped at the air around them, twisting and coiling and oozing their poison…

Bus.

Day was on the bus now, and his head still hurt.

He hugged his groceries close.

When he was finally home, he brought the bags to the kitchen before removing his headphones. He smiled, basking in the wonderful silence as he put his groceries away. Not having power limited his options for meals, but he made do with a small kerosene stove. He ate a lot of canned items that he could easily store and heat up, and he always bought the largest tub of peanut butter available.

Sometimes he didn’t even make a sandwich. He would get a big spoon and eat it out of the container.

But not tonight, no.

Tonight, he wanted to celebrate. He’d taken another monster off God’s beautiful Earth, and he deserved something special. He was going to eat not just one buttwocans of beef stew. He opened the windows in the kitchen, cursing the cold but needing the ventilation while he cooked.

Day ate, cleaned up, and closed the windows.

He undressed and put his clothes in bleach. He poured water into a pot to heat up to bathe. He scowled when he had to open the windows again. He told himself next time to heat the water first and then take off his clothes instead of standing here naked in the cold.

Next time, yes.

Because there would always be a next time.

Father had been charged with a special mission from God to cleanse the wicked from the Earth.

Those whose lips speak with venom, those whose tongues spit lies, those whose hands shed innocent blood, those with hearts that beat with corrupt schemes, those whose loins swell from conflict… We are here to repay God’s wrath.