SoulScape (standard:horror, 3798 words)
Author: A.M. Snead	Added: Oct 21 2002	Views/Reads: 3645/2618	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
When a psychiatrist's patient is put to death, he realizes that the evil is not dead, but just beginning to live.

BLACK MOON COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY 

1-  Strapped securely to the gurney, Alec waited patiently for them to
find a suitable vein in which to insert the catheter. 

The ceiling bulged and swelled above him, pressing down closer and
closer.  Alec knew it was simply a reaction of the barbiturate they had 
administered, so he payed it little mind except to become fascinated by 
it all.  He didn't fear the death they were struggling to administer. 

Their fingertips pinched and prodded the inside of his right forearm and
wrist, and for the  fifth time inserted the needle tip.  A faint smile 
twisted his lips as he barely felt the sharp prick.  Though he didn't 
look at them, he could feel the medical workers' eyes flicker across 
his face like insect tentacles.  He could feel their tension and 
anxiety at their inability to find a useful vein. He ignored them as 
they withdrew the needle again and moved to the other arm and began 
prodding the tender flesh. 

"Why the hell is he smiling like that?"  One of the technicians muttered
irritably with an edge of uneasiness.  "It's frickin creepy." 

The other shook his head as his face pinched.  "Ignore him."  he said
quietly, then swore softly as another insertion failed to take. 

Alec closed his eyes as gracefully as a baby falling asleep in its
mother's arms and imagined the strange little man who had come to see 
him two days ago.  Who, at this very moment, was in Alec's room back at 
the Asylum praying for Alec's soul.  He thought of Dr. Frank Harlin and 
wondered if the man was watching this botched attempt to take his 
patient's life.  But no, Harlin wasn't here.  He was at the Asylum as 
well.  Alec could feel the man's guilt like a telepathic wave, and he 
liked the sensations it gave him- like a million tiny fingertips 
massaging the surface of his skin. 

The catheter was finally in place, a wide strip of tape securing it.  In
a moment, one of the medical technicians would begin the Saline drip.  
Alec's eyes opened and settled on a plain, circular clock mounted high 
on the wall and began to subconsciously count the minutes. 

Why, exactly, was Dr. Frank Harlin suffering guilt?  Oh yes, because of
the woman.  Dr. Kim Delaney.  Alec's smile broadened.  She had been so 
trusting of him to insist they be left alone, despite Harlin's 
objections.  But she'd talked Harlin down and gotten her own way.  
Killing her hadn't even been a challenge, hardly fun at all.  But there 
was more to his guilt than just the death of Dr. Delaney;  Frank Harlin 
felt he had failed Alec as his doctor. 

Alec stared at the clock;  almost five minutes ticked by since the
Saline had been turned on.  About ten minutes to go. 

He thought about his mother.  It had been nearly twenty-five years since
he last saw her, but her face was as clear as a bell in his mind.  The 
wretched whore who had brought him to the Asylum.  Sent him to hell 
while breath still swelled his five year old lungs.  She'd become 
afraid of him, though she'd never admitted such things aloud.  But he'd 
detected it too clearly in her eyes.  She knew he wasn't right and 
wished to hide him from the world. 

She would be the first. 

His eyes followed the second hand.  The technicians were beyond his
vision, but he could still feel them in the room.  Another few minutes 
and they would turn on the Sodium Thiopental, followed by the 
Pancuronium Bromide and Potassium Chloride.  Approximately five minutes 
after the poisonous solution entered his bloodstream- Alec would be 
dead. 

He waited, welcoming.  He could smell death hovering just outside the
carnal realm, and that old Reaper had a sulfuric stench that stung the 
nostrils.  Alec squinted and could almost see death's face- it was 
little more than a skull mottled with tendrils of rotted skin.  It 
smiled darkly at him, but Alec just smiled back;  the fool, the joke 
was on him.  Because back at the Asylum, away from the death chamber, 
the priest was praying for Alec's soul. 


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