First Blood
16 Mar 2019Today’s prompt: “Write a scene that begins: ‘It was the first time I killed a man.’”
“It was the first time I killed a man. You never forget your first. He had sandy blond hair. Kind of a weedy little beard. I’d been staking him out for about a week. I prayed. I asked if he was the one I was looking for. And one day as I was walking past him, saying to myself, ‘Cthulhu, give me a sign,’ a cloud blotted out the sun and it got incredibly dark out. And I was like, ‘This is it. Now I know.’
“I was all nervous and giddy. I had this real fancy ceremonial dagger. I don’t really mess with that anymore. Let the young kids have their flash. A simple knife will do.
“I totally messed up, too. Completely fucked up when I tried to knock him out and pull him into the van. Freaked out and killed him before I was able to bring him back to the altar. Never forgot the shame of that. But his blood was hot and it covered my hands. Even though everything went wrong, there was still this thrill, his blood cooling sticky on my hands and the light going out in his eyes.
“That almost never happens now. The priest tells me all the time I’m one of the most reliable poachers. That I’m much better at getting sacrifices to the altar without drawing attention than the other cultists are.
“You know, I really like the fact that Reverend Critch lets us kill the sacrifices we bring in. A lot of priests, they do all the kills themselves. Make the poachers do all the work, but don’t let them have any of the fun.
“Sorry, I’m like this all the time. Whenever I have to wait a few minutes for Reverend Critch to show up to do all the incantations, I just start babbling. It’s not like I’m nervous. Excited, maybe, I guess. It’s a good thing we’re down here where nobody can hear either of us. Especially not you, what with the gag, ha ha.
“But yeah, it’s funny how you never forget your first kill. I can barely remember the guy I killed yesterday, but I still remember that one.
“Oh, gosh, I don’t want you to think you’re not memorable or anything. All victims are special in their own way. You put up a really great fight! Most people I just take completely off guard. You’re one of the more interesting people I’ve dealt with in a while!
“Oh, I think I hear the reverend now. Sorry to cut our chat short. Um. I’ll try to make it quick.”