A change of heart (and mind)

Paddy Roberts stared up at the gorgeous clear night sky, looking up at the millions of bright points of light as he took a deep breath, inhaling the clean, warm summer air. “Paddy!” yelled the high pitched, always excited voice of his beautiful girlfriend and she ran across the wet grass, falling gracefully to the ground next to him with a giggle. “You look gorgeous Rosie.” Paddy said as he rolled himself onto his side, leaning in to kiss her sweet, cherry lip gloss covered lips. The two of them had been together for almost two years now and Paddy was overjoyed to see her looking so happy, everything seemed to be coming together perfectly. “So what are we doing out here?” Rosie asked, a coy smile flitting quickly across her lightly freckled face. “Oh… I thought we’d start with a nice walk by the river before dinner at Mariposa.” Rosie suddenly squealed with delight; “Mariposa! What’s the occasion? I didn’t even know you could get reservations there on short notice!” Standing up slowly Paddy reached out his hand, helping Rosie to her feet, “Do I really need an occasion to spoil the most beautiful girl in the world?” Paddy asked with a smile, “and I guess I just got lucky with the reservations.” Paddy lied, subtly brushing his hand past the small black box resting inside his jacket pocket; he had in fact been planning this evening for months now.

After almost an hour of lazily strolling hand and hand along the banks of the quiet river Paddy and Rosie increased their pace slightly and began walking towards the parking lot. “Are you sure we’ll be on time?” Rosie asked worriedly, turning to Paddy, “Yes, I’m sure” Paddy replied with a smile, reaching into his pockets for his car keys and quickly pressing the unlock button. Suddenly and without warning an absurdly severe shooting pain began near Paddy’s left temple, “Ughhhh” he groaned involuntarily, falling to the hard concrete. “Paddy! What’s wrong?!” Rosie screamed in horror, leaning down to Paddy’s now prone and shaking body. Although he tried to respond, Paddy’s vocal cords no longer seemed to work, the monstrous pain now spreading down from his head, through his neck and into the rest of his body. Rosie brushed away the tears streaming down her face and hurriedly emptied out her purse on the dark concrete, grabbing quickly for her cellphone and dialing 911. “Damn, no service!” she screamed in desperation and helplessness as Paddy writhed on the ground in front of her.

As quickly as the pain had set upon Paddy it suddenly disappeared completely, replaced with a strange numb, tingling feeling, as if his whole body had fallen asleep. Realizing he had been squeezing his eyes shut, Paddy slowly opened them, looking out into the darkness of the mostly empty parking lot. His senses seemed to be coming back to him at a staggered rate, his vision beginning to focus, then the smell of dew on the summer air and finally the sound of his girlfriend’s frantic screaming and sobbing. Slowly dragging himself to his feet Paddy turned towards Rosie; “Oh my god! Honey! Are you alright?!” Rosie asked frantically. About to respond, Paddy suddenly realized that something was different; turning his head from left to right, he felt as if some kind of fog had been lifted from his brain, everything was sharper, clearer, more real somehow. Suddenly Rosie grabbed Paddy’s shoulders and began to shake him back and forth “Say something! Talk to me!” she pleaded. Without the thought even entering his brain Paddy’s arm seemed to move on its own accord, delivering a huge, close fisted backhand to Rosie’s face, sending her sprawling to the ground with a cry of pain.

Paddy turned and looked down at his girlfriend, her nose now leaking a small stream of blood and felt a feeling he had never experienced before. A warm rush began to spread through his body, creating an almost electric buzzing in and around his head, it was something similar to excitement and the rush of adrenaline but far, far more intense. Paddy could not keep his face from breaking into a huge grin as he gave in and let the feeling flow through him in huge, pleasure filled waves. Then as if hearing a voice underwater Paddy heard Rosie’s high pitched crying “Paddy…. Why…?” the smile remaining on his face Paddy took a few steps toward Rosie’s prone body and stood over her. Again without even recognizing what was happening Paddy raised his large sneakered foot and brought it down with all his weight onto Rosie’s already bloodied face. The resounding crackle and pop of her nose breaking under his shoe brought Paddy to a new height of euphoria, a current of pleasure running through his body. Bringing his foot up again, Paddy stomped it down, repeating the process again and again, each time with more force and each time the feeling in his body became more and more intense. Paddy could not help but scream in joy as he watched Rosie’s face become more and more unrecognizable and the slow rise and fall of her chest become less and less frequent until it stopped all together. Giggling like a small child Paddy sat down next to his girlfriend’s bloody, broken, lifeless body and slowly pulled the small black box from his pocket.

Paddy was found a few hours later by police, covered in blood, still giggling uncontrollably, a pile of various organs sitting in his lap, slowly digging deeper and deeper into Rosie’s body with the sharp broken edge of a diamond engagement ring.