---

 

This writing was accepted for publication in the 84 page perfect-bound issue... Down in the Dirt magazine (v080) (the March 2010 Issue) This is also available from our printer as a a $7.47 paperback book (5.5" x 8.5") perfect-bound w/ b&w pages

Order this writing in the book (bound) Down in the Dirt prose edition		order the 5.5" x 8.5" ISSN# book order the 8.5" x 11" ISBN# book

Carrier of Death

Victor Phan

    Frantic hands swam inside of the leather bag. They removed a long black cloak and laid it on the workbench. The hands smoothed out the cloak and caressed it lovingly. The hands went into the bag again and this time they found an old sickle. The sickle blade was brown and burgundy with rust. One hand squeezed the leather hilt of the iron sickle until the knuckles turned white. The other hand ran its thumb along the edge of the blade until tainted blood was drawn. A tremor of ecstasy quaked through the bleeding hand as the blood was sucked from the dripping wound.
    Once again the hands opened the bag. This time a mask was removed. It was a drama mask one would see at the theatre. Gentle fingers stroked its smooth surface then clenched into a fist. The mask was too perfect. It needed to symbolize the new face of its owner, one of sickness and death. The hands frantically rubbed clay onto the mask and molded it into the new visage, not one of comedy or tragedy, but one with the fervor of decay – a face of death.
    The hands moved in rapid motions pressing and kneading the clay onto the mask. The sickle was used to create indentations and texture to the new face, the true face – the face of fallen purity. The hands came to a halt. The countenance reflected the disease and the ailment of the owner, yet something was missing.
    An angry fist slammed into the workbench. Something was missing but what was it? The fist shook with fury as blood seeped from the knuckles with splinters of wood piercing them. That’s what was missing – the color red – the color of blood. Red would be such a befitting color for the mask. After all, tonight plenty of red will be shed.

**************************************************************************

    There was a loud beeping when Sean opened the door for Candy. Sean ran to the far wall of the living room and entered the number sequence, disarming the alarm. Candy came into the luxurious setting and shut the door behind her.
    “Oh my god. Your house is so nice!” Candy said as she scanned the living room.
    “Well yeah,” Sean replied with a smirk.
    The living room walls were decorated with posters from Sean’s movies. Just a year ago Sean was a small time television actor doing shows on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Last summer Sean starred in a special effects blockbuster about man’s last stand against an alien invasion and Sean’s career skyrocketed. He became the hottest new face in Hollywood.
    Candy walked over to the crystal mantle against the wall. She looked at the pictures of Sean with other celebrities. There were pictures of him receiving his Teen’s Choice Award and with gorgeous pop stars at the VMAs. She thought about how jealous her friends were going to be when they heard about how her dream came true. Of course she would brag about this until the day she died. Why wouldn’t she?
    It all happened so innocently. Her friend called the night before excited she had tickets to the opening day of Sean’s latest action adventure film. It was a movie about him being the last man in the world fighting a race of mutant lizard-people. Her other friends were invited as well. Candy passed on the invitation because she had to study for her psychology exam. She stayed up all night and crammed as much information as humanly possible. She considered taking a few bumps of speed like the rest of the girls on campus, but it was much too late to score.
    The next evening she came to her psychology class with more confidence than ever. She was ready for battle with psychobabble bullshit. Within a half an hour she finished the exam and slammed it onto the professor’s desk. The startled look on his face was priceless.
    With time to kill she went to the local café for an espresso. Staying up all night studying had taken its toll. She needed something rejuvenating. Candy bought a latte and sat at a table sipping it slowly. There was a little buzzing from her pocket. She removed her mobile phone to see it was a text message from her friend.
    The message stated how much fun they had and how hot Sean looked in the new film. She felt a surge of jealousy. She began typing her reply when she noticed someone standing in the coffee line. There he was, Sean, just a couple feet from her table. Unconsciously she let out an excited shriek. Everyone in the café turned to look at her. Sean’s eyes met hers and a smirk drew across his face.
    That was roughly twenty minutes ago. She couldn’t believe she was in his living room looking at his pictures right at this moment. She turned to him and said, “None of my friends are going to believe me when I tell them about this. I mean — I’m like your biggest fan.”
    “Whatever. Follow me . . .” Sean fumbled looking for a name.
    “Candy.”
    “Yeah, what you said.”
    Sean headed down the hallway and Candy followed. She had never been in such an extravagant home before.
    They entered his bedroom. The sweet fragrance of the aroma candles was the first thing Candy sensed. Her eyes took in the room. The walls were lined with red fabric. There was a large bed in the middle of the room covered in satin sheets. Candy looked up at the ceiling and saw her reflection in the mirror above the bed. She realized a lot of girls have been in this room.
    She turned to Sean to say something but suddenly he was in her face. Sean held her by the back of the head and kissed her deeply. She felt his silky tongue parting her lips. It snaked its way into her mouth and violated her tongue.
    Normally when faced with this type of situation, she would break away from the kiss and slap the son of a bitch, but this was Sean motherfucking Dekker! How could she resist him? He’s been the star in her masturbatory fantasies since she was fourteen. She had nicknamed her removable showerhead after Sean. She had spent almost every night with one shaking hand on her own breast and the other one aiming the showerhead at her throbbing clitoris. She would scream Sean orgasm after orgasm imagining herself in the moment exactly where she was now, in her hero’s house with his tongue in her mouth.
    She grabbed onto his collar and pulled him in tighter. She desperately wanted to feel his hard body against hers. Candy felt his hands exploring her body. Apparently Sean was a bad boy since he wasted no time at all and went for the good stuff. She felt one hand squeezing her breast and the other hand squeezing her ass as if testing fruit for ripeness.
    Pulling him in closer, she felt his rock hard cock rubbing against her pelvic bone. Candy let out a yearning moan and felt herself get soaking wet. Sean grabbed her shoulders and violently threw her onto the bed. She landed flat on her back with so much force the wind was almost knocked out of her. When she looked into Sean’s eyes he was wearing the look of a predator wanting to eat her alive. She would welcome it, of course.
    Sean stood up and peeled off his clothes. Candy bit her bottom lip in anticipation. Sean got on top and began peeling off her clothes as well. She was astonished at how fast he got her to only her bra and panties. He must have had a lot of practice.
    They kissed more passionately and aggressively. Sean rubbed himself against Candy’s eager parts. He tilted her weight and pulled her on top of him. She straddled him and bent down for more kisses.
    “Are you kinky?” Sean asked.
    Candy didn’t know how to answer this. What is considered kinky or taboo to one can also be boring and tame to another. She felt the safest bet was to ask the most obvious question, “What are you into?”
    Sean turned his head to look at the bedposts. He then turned back to meet Candy’s gaze.
    “I want you to cuff me to the bed and ride me.”
    Candy didn’t know how to respond to this. No one had ever asked her to perform bondage before. Most of the time kinky meant the usual requests from college guys who watch way too much porno. She expected him to ask to fuck her in the ass and then have her swallow his cum afterwards. She would have happily obliged, but bondage was something else entirely.
    Before she could respond Sean grabbed her head by one hand and kissed her. Again she felt his silky tongue invade her mouth. She felt his warm hand slide under her panties. Candy panted as she felt his finger slip inside her pussy. Her mind relaxed as his hand worked its magic. The musk of eminent sex filled the room.
    Sean let go of her head and reached for the nightstand next to the bed. His hand opened a drawer and fished inside of it. He removed a pair of shiny handcuffs. Her eyes were still looking into the drawer when she saw piles of little orange bottles – the kind you get prescription pills in.
    Sean shut the drawer and handed her the cuffs. She could sense the fire come alive in him. His eyes were wild and she knew what they wanted. She leaned over and stretched out his arms to the posts. He kissed her stomach and she felt chills down her spine. She felt his body quake with anticipation. She clumsily cuffed his wrists to the posts. When the lock clicked shut she heard Sean’s gasps, like he was going to erupt just from being restrained.
    She kissed his mouth a little more and arched her body on top of him. Sean looked ready for the games to begin. She slid her hand down his chest to his stomach. Those abs turned her on so much it was almost unbearable. Then something came to her mind.
    “Wait. Do you have a condom?” she asked, reaching for the drawer.
    Sean caught her arm and replied, “No. Fuck it.”
    He closed his eyes in anticipation. Candy lifted her leg up and slid her drenched panty to one side. She took his hard cock in her other hand and felt its hot pulse. This was what she always wanted. This was the wet dream of a lifetime. She looked up at the ceiling and saw her reflection. It was the reflection of a winner.
    She closed her eyes in her triumph. She was about to slide him inside of her. Neither of them noticed the shadow that entered the room from behind her. Suddenly everything went black.
    Candy came to and realized she was lying on the bedroom floor. Completely dazed she could hardly control her movements. All the sounds in the room echoed and it was difficult to keep her eyes open. She felt a sharp pang in the back of her head.
    Candy felt herself getting sleepy but she forced her eyes to stay open. Her vision was hazy and difficult to focus. Her eyes found the mysterious assailant standing at the foot of the bed. The figure was draped in a black hooded robe. It wore a red mask of malady and held a rusty sickle in its hand. Candy saw that the hilt of the sickle had fresh blood dripping from it and instinctively touched the back of her head. She felt the warm fluid seeping out from her and winced in pain.
    Sean panicked and screamed at the sight, totally unlike the heroic characters he played in his movies. Maybe he was a good actor and not just another pretty face after all, Candy thought.
    “What the fuck?! Who are you?! What do you want?!” Sean screamed.
    Candy felt sheer terror inside her heart. Her legs were still too wobbly for her to run. The only thing she could do was watch. For some reason she couldn’t understand, Candy’s eyes were drawn to the mask. It looked like it was hand made and carved in clay to look like sickness or death. That’s it! Death! The mask reminded her of a story she was forced to read in junior high literature. The title was something about Red Death but she couldn’t remember what it was for the life of her.
    Red Death was the name she dubbed her silent assailant. Red Death crept on top of Sean’s writhing body. His once hard member was now a wet noodle. Sean kept screaming for help but Red Death kept on creeping up towards his face. It stopped when it had him completely mounted.
    “Hey! Get the fuck off me!!!” Sean screamed. He continued his shaking but Red Death pressed its weight onto his sternum making it almost impossible for him to breathe. The hollow eyes of the mask gazed down at Sean. He trembled as tears began streaking down his face. Sean has never cried in any of his roles but if this was a performance now then the man deserved a fucking Oscar, Candy thought.
    Red Death’s hand stroked Sean’s face ever so gently. A finger wiped a tear from his eye. The sickle raised into the air. Sean looked up to the mirror just as the sickle began its downward arc.
    “Somebody help!!!” Sean screamed.
    Mercilessly the sickle fell upon Sean. The sounds that came from him were not remotely human. The sickle sliced left to right and up and down in quick motions. Sean’s flailing limbs were drenched in blood. Large gaping wounds blossomed on his chest. Candy let out a scream and tried to get up on all fours but fell face first into the carpet. All she could do was watch her hero be carved into something less than human, something more reminiscent of what hung from meat hooks in a butcher shop.
    Eventually the chopping sounds stopped. Red Death dismounted Sean and returned to the foot of the bed admiring its work. Candy saw Sean’s twitching hand hanging off the bed, blood dripping from the fingertips. She wanted to hold it but was too scared. What was going to happen to her now? Was she next?
    Red Death turned and faced her. She screamed and covered her face expecting the same wrath, but nothing happened. Candy looked down at the bed and saw what was left of Sean. Sean was once voted the sexiest man alive but now even a necrophiliac wouldn’t want a piece of him. Actually he was just that – pieces, she thought.
    Candy thought of all of the heart broken fans. She thought of the sequels that were never going to happen. Candy cried out loud and thought, why did this happen? What did Sean ever do to deserve a fate this horrible?
    Red Death walked towards the door. Candy mustered up the courage and demanded, “Why?! Why did you kill him?!”
    Red Death stopped and turned to face her. Candy knew what this meant. This was the end of the road for her. She was spared if she kept quiet but now there would be no mercy. Red Death stared and Candy accepted her fate. There would be no more psychology tests, no more hot nights with the showerhead, and she would never see Sean’s last film.
    Red Death slowly took off its mask. Underneath the mask was the face of a once beautiful girl. She looked pallid and dying. Lesions were all over her face.
    “You should thank me. The selfish fuck gave me AIDS,” said Red Death. Red Death put her mask back on and left Candy there on the floor. Candy stared down the doorway as the realization sank in. Red Death had saved her from the carrier of death.

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...