Axe Grind
Grinding, grinding... Well, that's all she could hear. Outside, metal on gravel. A car pushed down the street; a pole along the sidewalk... Lucrecia's attention wandered. Brushing her short, limp red hair idly, she pouted to her reflection. The mirror sprawled across the wall, taking up most of the space- a gift from her lover. She smiled, secretly and to herself as she watched her features twitch in the dim light - oh, what an admirer she had indeed. The guttering candles caused a shudder of shadows across Lucrecia's sharp features, a twinge in the back of her mind forcing the neck to twist, check behind her. Nothing moved. That fact in and of itself was unnerving, it seemed something should move, the dust particles in the air be alive with some kind of electricity. But the girl's fears were met with silence, an unyielding wall of stillness. Grinding... Her porcelain teeth bearing down on those lovely lips of hers, something reeling in her mind. She was safe...right?
The clang of the telephone was the first sound Virus heard as she stirred from her place on the ground. Enveloped in the usual inscrutable blackness that greeted her at these hours, her hand cast about wildly for the contraption. She wasn't sure why nothing sounded right in this place; clocks that should beep go buzz, of course phones that should ring would clang instead. Finding the receiver, she grudgingly lifted it to ear, shuddering at the sound of static that was forever in the background. "Huh." Silence on the other end- was that breathing? "Virus..." Virus's eyes snapped open, lips curling into smile, teeth glittering in the faint light streaming through the shutters. "Ah, Lucrecia..." she broke off into giggles, pitch reaching high into the rafters. Here was the girl she'd fought so hard to attain, showering her with pretty plants and dead moths and silk ribbons 'til that creamy skinned tart had welcomed her. One of the lovelies she so often coveted, beauty resplendent in her pale skin, often fearful blue eyes, crimson red strands of hair, hanging so low on that lanky body... Another laugh rumbled up out of Virus's lungs, a hollow metallic boom that strained over the phone wires. "Yes, Lucrecia, my darling..." So far away, how could Lucrecia see the sick gleam in her eyes; the wild depths her name induced? "Virus...I know it's late...baby, could you come over?" Ah, there was the break in her whiny little voice, the fear she waited for so often. Clutching her hair in a fit of desperate rage, she seethed over the mouthpiece. "LUCRECIA..." "PLEASE, Virus...it's scary here!" That childish voice, tinny and wheedling...A gutteral sigh pushing past a wired throat to rasp into a fragile ear. "Yes DEAR..." A new expression carving it's way into Virus's features, she rose from her place on the cold floor and walked to the door.
Shuddering from her place on the floor, Lucrecia lifted her skinny china-doll body and rested it against the window, leaving the dead receiver screaming on the carpeted floor. The noise was a welcome break, though one that did nothing for the girl's fear. The candles' flames were ebbing away, waiting with Lucrecia'a held breath until Virus got there. She smiled, thinking of her protective "girlfriend". Virus was curious, and not what she'd call attractive, but the wild, blind devotion she had showered Lucrecia with-that had snared her in. An almost completely silent effigy of a forced kind of adoration, Virus was there when she was needed, and listened unceasingly. Almost childlike in her mannerisms, she was decidedly harmless, Lucrecia decided. Now all she needed was for her to get there- then she could quell the nagging fears that assaulted her almost ever night....every night since they'd met.
And OH she was coming, sweetheart. All those lovelies had to come to their conclusions, and just cause she was weeping didn't make it any less true. There were ends to meet here, and by God, they'd be met.
SLAM. Lucrecia's door struck the wall and she screamed. "LUCRECIA!" The snarled response from what should have been the warming figure. Lucrecia's smile died, when she saw the look that permeated the tensed Virus, a loud CRASH of the mechanical heartbeat ringing in their ears. Air gone electric passed for minutes between them as the porcelain toy quaked, now stared down by a dripping, imploded eye. Maniacal laughter, the gripping kind, dragging Lucrecia's nerves by the neck and reducing her to a quivering pile of bones. Her mascara running, oh dear. With a noisome whirring, one arm grabbed her by the neck, lifting her inches away from glimmering teeth, stretched into a painful grin. "Why HELLO dear!" She shouted, voice breaking into a painful pitch. "Virus," the girl whimpered..."What...what..." She was responded with the sound of her head, cracking against an ironstone urn. Stomping over to her bleeding little trinket, the smile mutated into a sneer, black saliva dripping from her maw. "I CAN'T. FUCKING. STAND. THAT VOICE!" She watched Lucrecia cringe in terror, whimpering confusion. "THAT VOICE!" she roared, slamming a metal fist into several glass plates. "I can't stand that VOICE you use on the phone! I can't stand that you make me USE the phone!" Her screams took on a demented screech, self control dissolving as conciliatory sobs were issued from a pile of ivory skin in the corner. From a place near the doorway, the monster hoisted a glistening metal axe, swinging it with abandon towards the puddle of horror. "And I CANNOT. STAND. THAT. MIRROR!" With her final deafening cry, she heaved the axe at the monstrous reflection on the wall, shattering whatever reality it held into tiny, glittery pieces, Virus's victorious laugh overpowering the hopeless shriek from the bleeding Lucrecia. Turning to her with violent emotion, the monster stalked over, each step drawn out. "You want dramatics, I give you 'em," she growled, raising the weapon above her head as she cornered the immobilized girl. "I CAN'T. FUCKING. STAND. YOU!" With one last bellow, for herself, for her forged chance at love, and for the empty husk she'd poured into, she brought the axe down. Oblivion pouring her guts out to the plush carpet, candles finally flickered out as the beast made her exit, tears forming at the corner of her only useful eye. She'd had a chance and she'd lost it.
Only minutes later, the grind, sounding through the night.
A sound missed by Virus, who was shortly tucked into a dark corner of Damon's apartment, blood-stained body sprawled on the floor. A cigarette glowed at her cracked and bleeding lips, hanging listlessly as a mechanical whirr accompanied her hand to wipe the tears from her cheek. She didn't glance over when Damon walked in the door, noting her blood-smattered prescence with a tired sigh. "What happened now, Virus?" Her stare blanky penetrated the dark depths of the ceiling, unblinking as she a trickle of blood cascading down her jaw; a sigh squeezing past the gritted teeth. "I gave her up."
She rolled onto her side, squeezing her eye shut. Listened to the sound of the coins in her pocket clattering to the ground.
Payment for the axe-grinder.
The clang of the telephone was the first sound Virus heard as she stirred from her place on the ground. Enveloped in the usual inscrutable blackness that greeted her at these hours, her hand cast about wildly for the contraption. She wasn't sure why nothing sounded right in this place; clocks that should beep go buzz, of course phones that should ring would clang instead. Finding the receiver, she grudgingly lifted it to ear, shuddering at the sound of static that was forever in the background. "Huh." Silence on the other end- was that breathing? "Virus..." Virus's eyes snapped open, lips curling into smile, teeth glittering in the faint light streaming through the shutters. "Ah, Lucrecia..." she broke off into giggles, pitch reaching high into the rafters. Here was the girl she'd fought so hard to attain, showering her with pretty plants and dead moths and silk ribbons 'til that creamy skinned tart had welcomed her. One of the lovelies she so often coveted, beauty resplendent in her pale skin, often fearful blue eyes, crimson red strands of hair, hanging so low on that lanky body... Another laugh rumbled up out of Virus's lungs, a hollow metallic boom that strained over the phone wires. "Yes, Lucrecia, my darling..." So far away, how could Lucrecia see the sick gleam in her eyes; the wild depths her name induced? "Virus...I know it's late...baby, could you come over?" Ah, there was the break in her whiny little voice, the fear she waited for so often. Clutching her hair in a fit of desperate rage, she seethed over the mouthpiece. "LUCRECIA..." "PLEASE, Virus...it's scary here!" That childish voice, tinny and wheedling...A gutteral sigh pushing past a wired throat to rasp into a fragile ear. "Yes DEAR..." A new expression carving it's way into Virus's features, she rose from her place on the cold floor and walked to the door.
Shuddering from her place on the floor, Lucrecia lifted her skinny china-doll body and rested it against the window, leaving the dead receiver screaming on the carpeted floor. The noise was a welcome break, though one that did nothing for the girl's fear. The candles' flames were ebbing away, waiting with Lucrecia'a held breath until Virus got there. She smiled, thinking of her protective "girlfriend". Virus was curious, and not what she'd call attractive, but the wild, blind devotion she had showered Lucrecia with-that had snared her in. An almost completely silent effigy of a forced kind of adoration, Virus was there when she was needed, and listened unceasingly. Almost childlike in her mannerisms, she was decidedly harmless, Lucrecia decided. Now all she needed was for her to get there- then she could quell the nagging fears that assaulted her almost ever night....every night since they'd met.
And OH she was coming, sweetheart. All those lovelies had to come to their conclusions, and just cause she was weeping didn't make it any less true. There were ends to meet here, and by God, they'd be met.
SLAM. Lucrecia's door struck the wall and she screamed. "LUCRECIA!" The snarled response from what should have been the warming figure. Lucrecia's smile died, when she saw the look that permeated the tensed Virus, a loud CRASH of the mechanical heartbeat ringing in their ears. Air gone electric passed for minutes between them as the porcelain toy quaked, now stared down by a dripping, imploded eye. Maniacal laughter, the gripping kind, dragging Lucrecia's nerves by the neck and reducing her to a quivering pile of bones. Her mascara running, oh dear. With a noisome whirring, one arm grabbed her by the neck, lifting her inches away from glimmering teeth, stretched into a painful grin. "Why HELLO dear!" She shouted, voice breaking into a painful pitch. "Virus," the girl whimpered..."What...what..." She was responded with the sound of her head, cracking against an ironstone urn. Stomping over to her bleeding little trinket, the smile mutated into a sneer, black saliva dripping from her maw. "I CAN'T. FUCKING. STAND. THAT VOICE!" She watched Lucrecia cringe in terror, whimpering confusion. "THAT VOICE!" she roared, slamming a metal fist into several glass plates. "I can't stand that VOICE you use on the phone! I can't stand that you make me USE the phone!" Her screams took on a demented screech, self control dissolving as conciliatory sobs were issued from a pile of ivory skin in the corner. From a place near the doorway, the monster hoisted a glistening metal axe, swinging it with abandon towards the puddle of horror. "And I CANNOT. STAND. THAT. MIRROR!" With her final deafening cry, she heaved the axe at the monstrous reflection on the wall, shattering whatever reality it held into tiny, glittery pieces, Virus's victorious laugh overpowering the hopeless shriek from the bleeding Lucrecia. Turning to her with violent emotion, the monster stalked over, each step drawn out. "You want dramatics, I give you 'em," she growled, raising the weapon above her head as she cornered the immobilized girl. "I CAN'T. FUCKING. STAND. YOU!" With one last bellow, for herself, for her forged chance at love, and for the empty husk she'd poured into, she brought the axe down. Oblivion pouring her guts out to the plush carpet, candles finally flickered out as the beast made her exit, tears forming at the corner of her only useful eye. She'd had a chance and she'd lost it.
Only minutes later, the grind, sounding through the night.
A sound missed by Virus, who was shortly tucked into a dark corner of Damon's apartment, blood-stained body sprawled on the floor. A cigarette glowed at her cracked and bleeding lips, hanging listlessly as a mechanical whirr accompanied her hand to wipe the tears from her cheek. She didn't glance over when Damon walked in the door, noting her blood-smattered prescence with a tired sigh. "What happened now, Virus?" Her stare blanky penetrated the dark depths of the ceiling, unblinking as she a trickle of blood cascading down her jaw; a sigh squeezing past the gritted teeth. "I gave her up."
She rolled onto her side, squeezing her eye shut. Listened to the sound of the coins in her pocket clattering to the ground.
Payment for the axe-grinder.