A Short Story About A Killer

Author: Filthy Pie

((I’m just gonna share this one here to get some ideas. I figured some of y’all would be into that. Of course I’m gonna make it into a larger work, this is just some type of teaser. Btw, I don’t know English and I was too stubborn about not wanting to use a translator so I’d appreciate it if you could point out the grammatical mistakes as well.))

It’s the 32nd body that Tapehead had finally left something for the police for the first time other than the pictures.

“OPEN MY HEART” – carved onto the victim’s back, the still wet and red blood telling them that they just missed Tapehead. Again. Now the fresh stitched wound on where the victim’s heart was made sense.

They looked at each other. They knew somebody had to do it, whatever inside could get them a step closer to the killer. Clara sighed while still looking at the victim’s back and nodded, “I’ll do it.” She said flatly and kneeled down next to the victim’s left side. After snapping her black latex gloves on robotically, she turned the victim over and saw the fresh wound again, now knowing what it means. She pulled out her pocketknife and sank the blade into the dead flesh through the stitches without lingering. Once she decided the opening was wide and deep enough she pressed her fingers inside. It felt wet and cold. Disgusting. But she didn’t flinch and moved her fingers around to find something, though she didn’t know what she was supposed to look for either.

Tapehead could’ve just placed whatever it was on the body and make sure the police had it. But no, he went out of his way and bothered with it just to mock them. It wasn’t that much of a labor for someone who deliberately and carefully disfigures his victims though. Both before and after their death. It seemed he tried to do most of his gruesome activities before their death though as long as they could tell from how many of less lethal ones he demonstrates initially.

He was a publicly known serial killer. The police had to warn the people somehow. The media was involved at every single step he took but there still wasn’t almost anything about him. Even his gender wasn’t for certain. He was caught on camera for once. Tapehead preferred to do his crimes in abandoned buildings on the outside of the cities. Most of them were illegal to get into and some of them weren’t even on the map. They’d smell horribly of god knows what and most of the time the bodies would be in such hard-to-reach rooms because of the filthy corridors that lead to them to a point where the police starts thinking that there might be other victims that they don’t know of yet. Using the advantage that they don’t have working cameras in them or outside them or on the roads leading to them for dozens of miles since nobody even goes to those places, Tapehead somehow brings his victims into those buildings and kills them there with various tortures being applied first after tying them down to a chair or table – whatever’s convenient at that moment. People know because Tapehead leaves polaroid pictures of the torturing process step by step of the victim in an envelope nearby out in the open. But this time there were no envelopes. Just a message carved onto the victim’s back.

Sometimes some pictures’ blurred or censored versions would be posted on the internet since now this is a case that’s shared with the public. Or sometimes they wouldn’t be posted but described with words. Tapehead would never be in them though. The first and only time he was seen was when the abandoned building he chose had a camera outside of the entry, he didn’t notice that one because it was far away, it seemed. From the time of the footage, they could tell that it was him leaving after being done with the body. Because of the distance and how old the camera was, they could only see his clothes and not in detail. Tapehead had a black shirt and a black jean jacket on it. As well as black shoes, black gloves and dark grey jeans. They couldn’t tell the sizes of the clothes or anything. They could just tell he looked like a male overall. He could also be a smaller chested woman but it just didn’t seem like it, the possibility still remained though but the media already decided Tapehead was a “he”. His identity remained unknown. He had a balaclava covering his head but it had a strange texture. From what they could tell from the bad quality, it seemed that the balaclava was covered in some type of dark grey duct tapes. After that he was known as “Tapehead”.

The obscure placements of the bodies made some cops think: Why did he not even attempt to hide the bodies? He just left them right there, in the middle of whatever room they died in. But they never had to think too much about the answer. After the second victim, they understood that Tapehead wanted his victims’ identities to be known. He wanted them to know who they are.

And that was the third proof to connect the first and the second victims together by the killer after where and how they were killed along with the envelopes. Both those two victims and every others who came after those were all society’s rotten apples. They were either rapists or murderers. Some both. He started with the ones who everybody would agree obviously deserved the worst. But then he started sometimes killing people who just talked too much. People who publicly supported other rotten apples. Or people who posted a reel talking badly about women. He was done with those quick, didn’t torture them to death but he still killed them.

This was the main issue why Tapehead didn’t get caught yet apart from how clean he does what he does. Because people supported him. Women, men, mothers, fathers, siblings… Even some cops, lawyers, judges… And most importantly: Strong people supported him too, they just knew. People with connections, who easily get things done were helping him too. The police just figured, they didn’t know for sure but that had to be the case. Because some people hated his guts too, of course. At first, the police were half-hearted to catch him. So the case was given to another department who actually wanted him dead.

It only took Clara to dig a little deeper until she could feel a type of plastic on her gloved fingertips. She started pulling it out – no need to be careful, the man’s already dead. She stood up after taking it out and they stared at it silently. It was a little plastic bag, holding a folded paper in it.

They looked at each other: Should they see what’s in it? Normally, they’re supposed to send it with no touching as possible. It’s an evidence after all. But it could be something urgent too. Maybe something they need to act fast with. It’s Tapehead, after all.

Eventually, they make their decision. Another cop there, Daniel, puts on new black gloves and takes the bag from Clara. Everyone’s silent, their faces blank yet still solemn. The Sun is just starting to set outside, even the wet drops falling from the leaking pipe above don’t bother the silence. Daniel passes the now empty bag to another co-worker and unfolds the paper:

“SHOOTTHEDIRT.COM
@THESHOOTERX
7 P.M.
TONIGHT”

(End of teaser)