After the Rain

Serial killer at large.  The killer has murdered fourteen women over the past sixteen months.  If anyone has any information about The killer, please contact the Daton County Sheriff's Office immediately.

It rains all the time.  I hate rain.  People say that a rainbow is God's promise to never again flood the earth.  I haven't seen a rainbow in years.  Maybe God changed his mind.  Maybe God realized the filth and scum that now consumes the earth and He has decided just to wash it all away.  The end is near.  People also say that before the earth ends Jesus will come take the souls of the faithful home.  I don't even think I have a soul anymore.  
Her house is small, but it's beautiful.  I sit here staring at it, sitting outside in my car.  The rain continuously slaps against the windshield as I wait for her to arrive.  Her name is Lola Gowan.  She's beautiful.  She's single.  She's perfect.  I've been watching her for the past month.  I know everything about her day to day life.  For the past thirty days, she hasn't made a move that I didn't know about.
The radio is playing quietly in my car.  It's set to some pop rock station.  The shit that people call music these days is ridiculous.  After a song plays the DJ reads off a few news articles.  He mentions the professional baseball player that broke his arm.  The 18-wheeler that rolled over on the freeway.  The serial killer at large.
I look into the rear view mirror and I see the killer.  He's tall and slender.  His skin is pale and he has deep black hair.  His name is Martin Thanos.  I have information about Thanos, but I do not contact the Daton County Sheriff's Office.  Martin Thanos' well being is very important to me.  Fourteen girls.  I didn't realize I had killed that many already.  After the first girl that I killed, everything flew by so quickly.  Everything became so easy.  I remember the first one.

I was sitting in a little bar outside Daton County.  I was celebrating being hired at a new firm.  I was a little drunk.  This girl was sitting a couple seats down from mine.  She was young and pretty.  Liz, her name was Liz.  She had flowing red hair and full, bright red lips.  She was wearing a dark blue dress.
She was sitting alone, so I thought I would offer her some company.  I moved to the seat next to her and offered to buy her a drink.  Of course she accepted the drink; most people don't turn down a free drink.  After she got her drink I tried to make small talk.  She wasn't much into it, but she humored me.  Eventually I finally worked up the nerve to ask her to come back to my apartment with me.  She turned me down and walked away.
When she left the bar I followed her home.  I drove a few car lengths behind her with my headlights off.  It was raining, so it would have been hard for her to see my car behind her.  I wasn't really sure what I was going to do to her, but I had a pretty good idea.  The way she made me feel couldn't go unpunished.  She humiliated me, she had to pay.
She pulled into her driveway.  I stopped on the side of the road a house over.  I watched her as she got out of her car and walked into the house.  I waited outside until the lights all turned off.  I got out of the car and crept up the the house.  I found an unlocked window and broke into the house.  In the kitchen I found a nice stainless steel butcher knife like the ones you see Chef Ron selling on cable at three in the morning.  I then made my way to her bedroom.
Shh.  Quiet.  I whispered to her after I covered her mouth with my hand.  Her eyes opened and she tried to scream, but couldn't.  It wasn't very polite to turn me down at the bar.  I held the knife in front of her.  A tear rolled down her cheek.  I pressed the cold steel against her neck and slid it across her skin.  Shh.

A pair of headlights sparkle through the wet windshield of my car.  I step out of my car into  pouring rain and watch the car pull up to the house.  The car shuts off and a thin, beautiful woman steps out.  I reach into my car and pull out a silenced 9mm pistol that I keep under the driver's seat.  I walk up the driveway and put the gun barrel to the back of Lola's head while she is reaching into her car to grab her purse.
Are you mugging me?  she asks, her voice trembling.
Money isn't my vice, Ms. Gowan.
What do you want?
Walk into the house,  I tell her.  I follow her into the house.  Sit down.  I say, pointing to a dining room chair.  She sits down, I tie her arms and legs to the chair.
Are you going to rape me?  she asks, now with tears building up in the corners of her eyes.
No, Ms. Gowan, sex is not my vice either.
Are you going to...kill me?  Her eyes glisten from the thin layer of tears.  She knows her fate, I don't need to tell her.  I hate to speak the words.  I know that I'm a sick, fucked up person who is going straight to hell the moment that I finally die.  I try not to think of it, but I never feel worse than when I tell someone that at some point during the night I am going to kill them.  
Thou shalt not kill.  One of ten commandments from God that all men are supposed to follow.  People break them all the time.  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife.  Thou shalt not bear false witness.  These people are sinners just like me, so why aren't radio disc jockeys calling their names over the air waves.  Why is killing someone any different than telling the world that Elvis is king or fucking my boss's wife while he's at a conference in Portland.
Do you have a boyfriend, Ms. Gowan?
	What?
	Answer the damn question or I'll cut off one of your toes.  Do you have a boyfriend?
	Yes.  Her voice quivers.
Do you love him?
Yes, I love him.
Have you ever cheated on him?
Why are you asking me this?  she begs me.  Tears running down her cheeks.  I walk out the door and slam it behind.  Outside the rain still pours down.  I walk to my car and get out a briefcase.  I always try to wait as long as possible to get the briefcase.  I walk back into the house and set the briefcase on the kitchen counter.  Lola watches every move that I make with pure terror engulfing her face.  I open the case and pull out a small pair of bolt cutters.  She starts crying.  I kneel down in front of her and position the small toe of her left foot in the bolt cutters.
Have you ever cheated on your boyfriend, Ms Gowan.
Yes, she says, crying harder every second.  Yes, I have.
Do you think that you are a better person than I am?
Yes, I do.  I pull the bolt cutters away from her toe.
A sin is a sin, Ms. Gowan.  My wife cheated on me once.

I told Maggie that my plane was coming in at three in the morning.  That was a lie; I would arrive at ten in the evening.  I wanted to surprise her.  I had been in Portland for the past week.  I took a taxi from the airport to my home.  Normally Maggie would pick me up, but that would certainly ruin the surprise.
When I arrived home all of the lights were off.  I assumed that Maggie was at a friends house killing the time until I came home.  I went inside the house and got a beer from the fridge.  I walked to our bed room and turned on the light.  The son of a bitch that lives across the street was on top of my wife.
Martin!  Maggie screamed in surprise, not quite the way I had imagined it.  The kid that was banging Maggie got off the bed and put on his pants.  He finished buttoning his pants and ran for the door.  I smashed the beer bottle into the kid's face.  He fell to the floor.  Blood from the cuts on his face dripped on our new carpet.
Maggie.  I said calmly.  I walked over to the bed and pulled the covers away from her.
Martin, I'm sorry.  Just calm down and let's go talk about this.
No, Maggie.  No talking  I picked up a bottle of sleeping pills that Maggie used to treat her insomnia.
Honey, please don't kill yourself, just talk to me.
They aren't for me.  I crawled on top of Maggie and held down her arms with my knees.  I pushed her head back and forced open her mouth.  I popped open the bottle and poured the rest of the pills into her mouth.  She tried to scream and to spit out the pills but I pushed her mouth shut.
Surprise, Maggie.

You killed your wife?  Lola states really more than asks.
According to the police it was suicide.  The boy from across the street raped her, so she killed him and then herself.
Why did you kill the other girls?
Power.  I hate saying it, but its the truth.  There's no reason to lie to someone that you're going to kill.  I've killed a lot of people, but I have never felt guilt before I murdered them.  I have never felt like a killer so much as I do an addict.  This girl, though, makes me feel like the lowest level of a human being.
Do you really want to kill me, Martin?  Martin.  I haven't heard another person call me by my name ever since the night I killed my wife.  I'm silent.  The truth right now isn't what I want to admit.  I don't want to kill anyone, I just do.  Crack addicts don't want to do blow.  Alcoholics don't want to drink.  They just do.  Killing is my compulsion, and I am an addict.
Martin, she says it again.  The name that I haven't heard since my first taste.  Do you really want to kill me?  Do you feel like this is the right thing to do?  I still don't respond.  I walk outside and stand on Lola's porch.  I light a cigarette and stare out into the rain.  The damn rain.  It's always raining when I kill somebody.  It's like the angels are crying for the soul I am about to release.  The rain makes me want to kill.  If the heavens are going to shed their tears for my sins, I will give them something to cry about.  Water runs from my hair and down around my eyes.  It hides the tears of my own.
I walk back into the house.  My wet boots squeak against Lola's hardwood floor.  She looks up at me and stares into my eyes.  She's not an idiot, she knows.
No.
Then why are you going to?  You don't have to do this.
It's raining, I have to.
What are you talking about?
After the rain, Lola, I promise you this will be over.  I walk over to the briefcase and pull out a 9mm pistol.  I take out a pocket knife and cut the ropes off of Lola.  She rubs her wrists and looks up at me.  I cock the gun.
You don't have to do this!  She screams.
Yes, I do.  I set the gun in Lola's lap and get down on my knees.
What are you doing?
Make it stop raining.  
She picks up the gun.  Her hand is trembling.  
Do it, Lola.
Lola places the gun barrel against my temple.  I can feel the cold metal shaking against my wet skin.
I can't do it, I'm not a killer.
A sin is a sin.  If you don't pull the trigger I will kill you.  Do it!  I want her to kill me.  I have never wanted anything more in my life.  I have forced my pain onto others for far too long now.  I have killed my wife, her lover, and fourteen other girls.  I have ruined hundreds of people lives.  I have struck fear, pain, and suffering onto my community.  This is the only way out.
Lola opens her eyes and looks down at me.  Her lips shake as tears roll over them.  She starts to bring her hand down.  I reach up and grab her hand and push the gun back to my temple.  This is the only way out.  This is my judgement.
Do it!  I wrap my hand around hers and begin to pull back the trigger.  The clatter of rain against the window slows down.
No.  
I squeeze my hand tighter around hers.  The hammer clicks.
Shh.

In local news, a sixteen month manhunt ended early this morning as serial killer Martin Thanos was found dead in a Daton County home.  Thanos is believed to have killed himself after murdering homeowner Lola Gowan.  The body of Gowan has not yet been found.  Thanos' latest victim brings the final death toll to fifteen, and marks the end of his reign of terror.


EPILOGUE

Do it! Martin screamed as I held a gun to his temple.  He wrapped his hand around mine.  His hands felt cold and lifeless.  His eyes were a certain shade of gray, his soul had truly been lost.
No. I whispered.  My hands trembled as his grip tightened around my finger and the trigger.  His eyes met mine one last time as his executioner.  His lips parted ever so slightly and his breath gently escaped.
Shhh.  The trigger released and the metal slug cut through Martin's head.  Blood coated the room in beautiful crimson and Martin's body fell limp to the floor.  
I called the police and anonymously reported gunfire at my home.  Then I got into my car and drove away.  The rain pounded against my windshield as I sped down an old country highway.  The rain had finally ceased for Martin Thanos, but for me it had only begun.