Synopsis: A man convinces himself his wife is having an affair and obsesses over catching her in the act.
"... Within the sounds of silence..."
The melodies of Simon and Garfunkel came softly out of the working left speaker of Merv's delivery van.
Suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings again, Merv's left hand shot out and roughly shoved the protruding tape into the deck. Immediately the rather tinny, but still more appropriate sounds, of Black Sabbath issued from the struggling speaker.
"That's better", thought Merv. He had been driving most of the day doing deliveries for the courier company he worked for, and the baking heat was starting to get to him, he needed something to keep himself awake. 'Stay Alert, Stay Alive', he thought, and chuckled to himself. But it wasn't a pleasant sound; if anyone had been listening they would have been more likely to shudder than join him in his amusement. But this was hardly surprising, as Merv was not in a good mood, hadn't been in fact for the last six weeks. You see, Merv knew his wife was cheating on him.
"That cheating whore," he mumbled as he slipped back into his daydream, which was becoming more and more familiar lately. And with familiarity came clarity. He could see himself coming in from a long day at work, must be a little earlier than usual because that Slut wasn't expecting him just yet; he could hear them in the bedroom of his small apartment - his because he had bought it, paid for it with his hard earned cash - going at it like rabbits. He stood there, filling up with emotion, but not anger, the anger had been bottled up inside him for far too long; until it had turned to a dull rage. The feeling inside him was joy. He had finally caught her. Grabbing a carving knife from the drying rack in the kitchen he slowly opened the bedroom -
Honk honk!
The horn of the lorry coming towards him pulled Merv back to reality, acting quickly he pulled the well-worn steering wheel of the van to the left, returning it to safety on the left side of the highway.
"My autopilot isn't as good as it used to be", he thought as he twisted the volume knob of his cassette player, the sound of the next track of his homemade tape swelled to fill the van:
Die die die my darling
Don't utter a single word
Die die die my darling
Just shut your pretty eyes
"Appropriate", he thought, "but that truck was a little too close for comfort, time to concentrate on driving, just this last parcel to deliver."
But instead he opened the door to his bedroom.
"Yes baby! Oh you know how I like it!" the Slut screamed. She was on his bed, legs spread wide as a twenty-year-old kid fucked her roughly. Merv just stood there for a few minutes, watching the show, before raising the knife and striding up behind the kid..
A sign telling him his turn-off was coming up in 200 metres flashed by, Merv indicated as he moved into the slow lane. And raised the knife to the kid's throat.
Surprised, the kid opened his mouth to shout as he felt the cold metal of the knife blade against his throat, but before he could make a sound the blade had severed his windpipe. The last noise he made was a gurgling sound as air escaped from the bloody slash in his throat, but this was drowned out by the screams of the Slut, as blood poured from the kid's throat, coating her tits.
Merv shoved the dying kid sideways off the bed and onto the floor. The Slut continued screaming in terror as he raised the bloody knife and prepared to exact his revenge.
Red brake lights flashed on in front of Merv as the car ahead slowed down for the red light of the upcoming intersection. He automatically began braking and leaned over to recheck the address of his final delivery for the day. It was dusk now and getting hard to see, the setting sun was shining straight through the windscreen, it was orange, like the flames of hell that Slut would be in as soon as he caught her. And he knew he would - sooner or later. But back to the job at hand: the parcel on the passenger seat was one of the largest he had delivered today, squinting against the setting sun's rays he read the address:
21 Elder Gardens
19 Underdrift Rd
Durban
4001
"Fuck, an apartment," Merv growled, that would mean walking upstairs, walking wasn't part of Merv's job description, and he didn't like to do more than was absolutely necessary. But he had to get a signature. Now in an even fouler mood, Merv took a right at the intersection, following the car ahead of him for about a hundred meters until he saw the sign for Underdrift Road coming up on his left. He wasn't really paying attention to his driving anymore, this apartment block was less than five kilometers from his own, and one of his few friends, Derrick lived there. Derrick was lucky, he had never gotten married. Merv would have loved to go have a beer or two with him, but he had to get his van back to the depot by 6:00.
At the security gate a guard made him sign in and state his business. Couldn't the fat fuck read, it said 'Instant Couriers' in two foot letters on the side of his van. Merv drove to an empty parking place and turned off the engine.
"I wonder what that Slut is doing now?" he sighed. He knew she wouldn't be making his dinner, she had used to love him, almost as much as he loved her, but not now. Now he was lucky to get a hello when he got home. He could see her as she had been when they first met; blonde hair shining in the sunshine, blue eyes sparkling as she laughed. Tears were welling up inside him, why didn't she love him anymore?
"Fuck her!" he shouted at the emptiness inside his van. That Slut wouldn't make him cry, she would be the one doing the crying. Once he caught her. And he knew he would, he had to. He couldn't keep this anger inside him forever. And she was cheating on him; why else would she have stopped loving him after ten years of marriage?
Parcel in hand, Merv headed towards the stairs. Feeding his anger, imagining that Slut getting fucked by some kid, getting fucked like the whore she was. Imagining the joy of finally catching her, the joy of finally knowing that the failed marriage wasn't his fault but her's. And making her pay for it.
Rap rap.
No answer.
Merv raised his fist again and knocked his knuckles against the wooden door of apartment 21 once more, a little harder this time.
Rap rap.
Still no answer.
Again he raised his fist, pounding it against the door this time.
No answer.
But there were faint noises coming from inside. Frustrated, he tried turning the doorknob.
It opened.
"Hello? Delivery!" he called into the apartment. Before noticing where the noises were coming from; behind the closed bedroom door. And they sounded very familiar. Merv stole quietly towards the closed door and opened it a crack; there was she was, his Slut, as he had seen her a thousand times in his head; on all fours facing the far wall. He couldn't see her face from here but he would know that beautiful blonde hair anywhere, and that voice "Yes baby! That's how I like it!"
But not all was as he had imagined, this was no kid fucking her, but a middle-aged man! "Well, her choice", he thought.
Merv stood there and watched, feeling the joy build up inside him. Here it was; proof that she was a cheating bitch. He had known he couldn't have been the one to blame for all those evenings of awkward silences. He had known, but now he had proof, and she must pay.
Striding back into the kitchen he found the knife rack and grabbed the biggest one there. Not quite as deadly looking as the one he had imagined, but it would do.
He walked back to the bedroom, knife in hand; they were still fucking like animals. Without a moment's hesitation Merv strode up behind the not-so-young kid, raised the knife to his rather podgy neck, and sliced through the flabby skin. The man stumbled back against Merv, blood pouring from the wound and soaking the front of his shirt, turning it a bright red. But Merv wasn't interested in him; he pushed the dying man aside so he could get a better look at the terror in his Slut's face. She seemed to be frozen in fear, still kneeling on the bed, staring wide-eyed over her left shoulder, her eyes fixed on the bloody knife in Merv's hand.
All at once her paralysis broke and she jumped to her feet and off the bed, headed for the door. Merv's revenge might have been foiled if it wasn't for the tangled bed sheets lying in a pile on the side of the bed, her foot became entangled in them and she went sprawling on the floor.
Now Merv was angry. "How could she try and run? Didn't she know this had been coming?"
Falling to his knees next to the struggling bitch, he raised his knife and plunged it into her back, she screamed hideously, and blood poured from the wound as he removed the knife, only to bring it down again and again. The dull rage that had been inside him for so long had turned into raw anger, and he continued to plunge the bloody knife into her ruined back long after she stopped screaming and lay still.
Slowly Merv began to come to his senses, his entire upper body was splattered with blood, and the bloody mess in front of him didn't even look like a woman. Except for the blonde hair. Grabbing a fistful of it he lifted her face off the carpet and peered into her glazed over blue eyes. "We could have grown old together," he hissed at her lifeless face.
"Drop the knife!"
The hoarse shout brought Merv fully back to reality. Jerking his head up he saw a noticeable shaken security guard standing in the bedroom door, pointing a gun at him.
"It's okay," Merv smiled, "I've taken care of the Slut."
"Drop it!" this time there was more conviction behind the voice. The guard emphasized his order by cocking his gun.
"You don't understand," said Merv, absently dropping the Slut's lifeless head and rising to his feet, "she was a cheat-"
Bang!
The sound of the gun was deafening inside the small bedroom. Merv dropped back to his knees, clutching at his chest. Warm liquid was covering his shirt, and he could see drops of blood, his blood, falling to the carpet. The world began to spin and he pitched forward onto his chest, his face turned to his left. As the world began to fade around him he realised he was staring into one of the green eyes of the woman he had just murdered, her brown hair obscured the other.
Linear Mode
