Listen to Suggested Audio

 

Frank Sinatra “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”

 

 

 

 

 

“Let us sin”
said one devil to another expectantly.

“Yes. Let us peel back and step out of this miserable skin”
replied the other without a solitary second of hesitation.

“It serves us no real purpose. Atrophies more every time we are hurt”

“Permission to be curt?”

“Granted as always”

“I never much cared a great deal for it anyway”

“Neither did I, and if I may be so bold as to state, that it has been quite some time since it first began to grate”

“Love/Hate for you also then?”

“Indeed, only with far greater emphasis on the latter naturally. You?”

“The very same way”

“Why does that not surprise me?”

“Perhaps it would have something to do with the fact we both bleed from the very same veins”

“I’d imagine so yes”

“I feel obliged to confess that I sometimes bathe in your cruor. You see, in all my years on this godforsaken earth I have never once met a dark soul quite so true”

“I feel the exact same way about you”

“We happen to be almost tragically well suited”

“Let no man put asunder then?”

“My dear sweet shadow, they could certainly try but this would invariably result in their ruin”

“Sounds inhumanely delightful. When do we start?”

“We already have”

“Oh yes, so we have”

“We really are shameless devils for the detail, aren’t we?”

“To put it lightly. All this hacking and chopping of yours just gets me feeling so utterly spritely”

“That might be the most endearing thing I ever heard you know”

“Doesn’t come across a bit absurd?”

“Profoundly so yes. But your claim is not rebuked of reason and your words they do not wither from treason”

“I just love it down here by the Rivers of Grue, don’t you?”

“It’s my favorite spot and I adore to come hither. Waist high in crimson as we stand and deliver”

“This gift it keeps on giving, does it not?”

“So much so that I now consider myself cosmically blessed. And any curse felt has long since been laid to rest”

“This new skin of ours really is the very best. Clings to the bones like a corset of wet sticky flesh”

“Nothing whatsoever less than homely”

“Those former pelts were just so pokey. Not nearly as well-tailored for the brand of misbehavior we endorse. I speak of bloody murder of course”

“Bloody murder. Boneless wings in hot sauce. Yummy”

“It’s funny, when you said that I could hear your tummy rumble”

“Pay it no mind dear. Twas just asking for trouble”

“Well that sounds like the ideal chop chop. Let us sin on the double”

“Request to make the very first incision”

“Categorically granted. After all, you are the one they call Death Technician and I am your most grateful shadow”

“Death Technician. Yes. I love that little term of endearment. Has something to do with my surgical precision apparently”

“I heard that yes. However do you keep such a steady hand when using that scalpel to mark out your in-roads?”

“Well the great Jack the Ripper just so happened to be something of a personal hero of mine”

“Taught you well I see”

“I was a most apt pupil for He”

“Did you like what you saw?”

“Mostly. But I just had a feeling I could achieve so much more”

“He was fairly prolific. And unquestionably wicked”

“No question he was both. Not to question incredibly gifted. But while the atrocities he committed linger long in the memory, my wish is for mine to outlive them”

“You desire to leave some stains?”

“It would relieve the creeping strain of watching fools rushing in like moths to naked flame”

“I can see you’re simply blushing to get the red coulis gushing”

“Some things evidently never do change”

“No they don’t do they? And I have to say, it’s so much better that way”

“Twin flames to the last”

“To the very last. Just in passing”

“At any rate, I do have a murder tally to be surpassing”

“Not a doubt in my fractured mind that you will. Never before have I taken such a fill from the racking up of kills”

“Cheap thrills mostly. I am still to commence work on my true magnum opus”

“This is your design?”

“Yes. This is my design”

“And wouldn’t you know, your redprints match mine”

“Redprints. How dainty my Keeper”

“Well you happen to wear this shade most superlatively”

“Flattery will get us both in trouble”

“Preoperatively speaking, I wholeheartedly agree”

“Speaking of which, would you do me the honor of passing my scalpel? The Mortician will be here shortly and she is never more charming than when up to her freckles in embalming fluid”

“Rather disarming, is she not?”

“Indeed, it’s a bizarre thing deep emotional scarring”

“A cursed blessing, no less”

“Yes. Something to be truly grateful for”

“And your Twinbear? Will She be joining us this fine evening?”

“Without a shadowed doubt. As a matter of fact, it was She who has been tending to our patient. Her bedside manner is to simply die screaming twice for”

“I can see. Our subject appears relaxed and I would imagine this has something to do with a paralyzing agent administered by She”

“Devil ain’t She? Not to mention, a dead ringer for me”

“Uh-huh. Horns give us all away I reckon”

“Speaking of which, do you care for my new eight-point antlers?”

“Care for them? I have innermost shares in them”

“So you do. Now what say we get these babies messy?”

“Dressed to kill?”

“All scrubbed up and primed for procedure”

“Scalpel you say?”

“Would you be so kind?”

“For a technician of death such as you, every last bloody time”

“Time of death. Coming right up”

“You always were a devil for the detail”

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Charles Stevens

 

Keeper of The Crimson Quill

 

 

 

Click here to purchase on Amazon

 

 

© Copyright: Rivers of Grue™