An Ordinary, Average Guy

Note: This story was written for a contest that was more or less about presenting a villain in a less than usual way -- in a charming way. It's not really like my other stories and I've gotten a few.... comments about it and people being 'scared' to read other stories.

While I don't like to hear someone being put off enough not to read something else... it was written with a specific idea in mind and contest guidelines.. and to get such a response is pretty much a compliment.

I guess what I'm saying is enjoy the story, but don't judge me off this!


Word Count: 1,854

Go with me for a moment, will you? Take a little walk, just a little one, down a path you've never been down before. A little trip of vicarious imagination never hurt anyone, did it?

Let's say you're me. Just for an afternoon. A few short hours walking in my shoes, thinking my thoughts. You'll need to set aside your own thoughts of course. You'll need to ignore your own preset morals and inclinations, those don't apply. No, not here, not inside my head. Perhaps it will be easier to imagine you're trapped inside my head, helpless to do anything, to change anything, but also unable to filter anything out. So it's really 'us' going for a walk. With me so far?

Don't worry; we won't do anything too freaky today, nothing too bizarre.

So let's start with the basics, shall we?

How about, we're just walking through an indoor shopping mall, easy enough, right? Nothing fancy here, nothing out of the ordinary. Just a mall with countless strangers milling about, searching for whatever it is that strikes their fancy. Nothing about us they'll notice. Just yet another ordinary, average looking guy. Late 20's or early 30's if anyone even bothered to try and guess an age. Brown hair, perhaps thinning just a bit. A little stubble on my chin. Average build in the most nondescript of clothing. A smiling glint in my eye; I love to be in malls. I love to feel the energy of people doing whatever it is they are doing. A mall is like my candy store. I revel in being in the background with so many people about. The kind of person you'd not look at twice. The stereotypical background extra of life. That's me.

In this day and age, no would think twice about the old leather satchel bag on the shoulder, strap across the chest. Perhaps it holds a laptop and I'm in search of a wifi spot to do a little blogging? I'm not of course, but that's the image some casual viewer might get. Just an example. Just giving you a glimpse of the cover, as it were.

If these miscellaneous people could only read my thoughts, they'd be shocked. Just like the scorpion and frog, it's in my nature you see. I’m the scorpion and everyone else I come across is a frog. It's always there; you can feel it can't you? This little compartment buried deep inside my mind. You can feel its thoughts, I'm sure. Each and every person I see, it evaluates. Just how easy would he or she be to kill?

Have I really killed someone? I guess I shouldn't have to warn you not to go wandering off whilst in my head now, do I? Perhaps you are curious, am I telling the truth? If so, the memory of it, the experience of it, is locked away in the storage lockers some place inside my brain. But let me ask you this, would you really want to find such memories? Would you really want to experience all the things I did as if you were me? That's what it'd be like. Not like watching a movie or reading a story. No, opening up a memory would be living it. It would be as if you had done the deed yourself.

Truth be told, I'd like to know what your reaction would be. In my own way, I hope you do wander and find something. I am nothing, if not curious. Once you start the replay, you couldn't stop it, not until that reel of film is done. But, we're not here for that, no, not today anyway.

You can judge me all you like, but, well, that won't do you much good. No, not while you're in my head. You're supposed to putting aside your gut reaction, aren't you?

I've no interest in the stereotypical conversations of Good vs. Evil, of Right vs. Wrong. I live in a world of grey. No, I thrive in this world. You see, what's Good and Right really depends upon your point of view and what tidbits of information you have. You can't really say that killing another person is always Evil and Wrong – it's just not true. Not even in the Bible is this true. David killed Goliath and was celebrated. It's all about what you choose to value. And that means it's all a matter of opinion.

The one thing I've learned in life is that while it's nice to know what another's opinion on something is, that opinion is worth not a penny more than I paid to get it.

So, here we are, strolling through the mall with a beat-up satchel over a shoulder. I wouldn't go so far as to say my mind is filled with murderous intent, but I'm doing a bit of shopping myself. A bit of daydreaming. A bit of analysis.

I've got choices to make. Options to peruse. Schedules to consider.

I do take this seriously, it's really my job. I don't mean this is how I make money, I don't need money. Fortune smiled on me for that. In fact, by pure chance I was left with the very real thought exercise: "If money were of no concern, what would you do with your life?"

Most people prattle on about doing nothing, but sitting on a beach drinking margaritas all day or fully dedicating themselves to some sort of humanitarian volunteer work. I shouldn't use the word prattle, but from my point of view, those are both worthless. I can say worthless, because I thought about both of those, and other options for a while and worthless is what I decided they were.

It's all relative. It's all my opinion.

My choice, my active and conscience choice, was to dedicate myself to the, as has been said by others, hunting the greatest game of them all: people.

That's rather pretentious I know, but it's fun to say. It's also not quite true. Killing people really isn't that hard. People are surprising fragile beings. The hard part is not getting caught or killed yourself. Therein lies the challenge. Therein lies my drive.

My original goal was could I carry off the perfect murder? You know, kill someone and not be suspected of it. Turns out that with a little bit of planning, that's easy to do. Boringly easy.

Why don't we sit for a minute in the food court? There's no better place to people watch. I'm sure, you need a moment to gather yourself, to ponder that you're inside the mind of, if labels must be used, a serial killer.

Not just 'a' serial killer, but, over time, I've actually become more than one. At least that's what the police say. You see, law enforcement tends to classify and identify killers based on the methods they use. I've never been one to do the same thing over and over and over. I get bored too easy. I need to change things up. I need to branch out and try new things. As a result, there's more than one active investigation looking for me. Each one is looking for a person who fits a particular workup, but really they are all looking for me.

That's why I got choices to make. Which persona strikes next? An existing one or is it time to try something new?

That's why the mall is so helpful. It's where I gather ideas. Who to target and why. I like to create a little back story. I like to approach this as a vocation, as if I were an actor in a play – a method actor to be sure. There are lots of variables to think about. Lots of little details to sort out. Only go after one gender? A particular racial group? Age? Appearance? What's the schedule of killing? All of these things need thought. Never mind sorting out the method.

Like I said, this is my job. My full-time job. It's not all I am. It's not my singular interest. I'm not one dimensional. I date. I host cookouts. I play pool and cards. Like I said at the start, I'm ordinary average guy with all the standard trimmings.

That's not to say I don't dabble; that I don’t moonlight. That I won't do a little one off killing now and then just for fun. Sometimes it's nice to have a little one and done, you know? Less stress. Less planning. Just an instant of satisfaction and then off to something else.

Have you ever seen a guy just lounging in a place like a mall? A bag of some sort, a satchel perhaps, resting near him? No, it doesn’t' hold a laptop or books or anything like that. At least, not in my case. No, it holds my own set of goodies. A couple knives. A stun gun. A small .22 caliber pistol. A length or three of rope.

I'm really stunned how many people just never carry any rope at all. Not even in the car.

A few other odds and ends. It's my day bag. Everything perfectly expendable. Nothing of value what-so-ever, but enough options to let me improvise should the itch of a one-off strike me or perhaps I'll stumble over the ideal next person in one of my serials. It's all part of being well prepared. Fortune favors the brave and chance favors the prepared. Something like that. If I didn't carry anything, I'd miss ideal opportunities and then what would I be?

I wouldn't be being the best I could be is what. That's as bad as lounging on a beach sipping over-priced booze all day. Pointless.

Am I Evil? Am I Wrong?

These sorts of questions are pointless.

Let's say there is a God. Everything that is was created by God. If God didn't intend, or at the very, very least allow, for something to happen, it wouldn't. God's all powerful, so there must be at the very minimum his tacit approval for everything that's ever happened. If not, the all powerful could fix or would have made it impossible in the first place. Just like people don't have wings, so God clearly intended for people not to fly as bird does. This gets off into quite the foggy area since God is supposed to be totally benevolent, but that's a whole other issue.

Let's say there is no God. Then any form of morality is truly just one person's opinion and there is no Good or Evil. There are simply choices people make and events that happen. Any meaning given to them is but one person's thought. Nothing more or less. Just like some people dislike licorice and others love it. Licorice neither good nor bad in and of itself, only in the mind of a person does it get such a label.

In the end, who am I? I’m just an ordinary, average guy who's found the one thing he excels at. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I think that's enough for now, don't you? Perhaps we'll chat again soon.