Final Cut

by T. S. Worthington

  The room was just as he had left it when he entered his coma and he found a sense of déjà vu washing over him. It was eerie being up here and he suddenly felt as if he was being watched for some reason. It felt like there was something up here that he was not expected to find.

  It was probably just wishful thinking on his part after all of the exhausted effort he’d put into getting up here. If he had not found anything out at all he would have been incredibly frustrated with himself.

  Bill somehow staggered to his feet and began looking around at the empty room. His eyes moved from corner to corner as if there was something hidden in plain sight that was going to leap out at him. He was impressed by the way the wood of the walls seemed to speak to him, but he did not understand what they were saying. It was just a feeling, an impression that they gave off. He felt like he was shut off from the whole world up here and he supposed that was the way the attic had been designed to make one feel. It was not a storage attic necessarily; it was in fact a place to hide out. It reminded him of the forts he had built when he was a kid. He wished to hell he’d had a place like this to come and hide away from everything when life got too damn tough to deal with, but he’d had no real place like this.

  There were several boxes in the corner that held various books and things from his childhood that he had brought with him when he moved into the place. He had not actually looked at most of the items for years, but he decided that now was as good a time as any.

  Bill opened up the first box and thumbed through all of the comic books he’d spent his youth collecting. It was a hobby that he wished he had never outgrown, but now he felt he was too old to resume. If he’d never stopped doing this then he would perhaps have a much more extensive collection and he would feel that he was pursuing a lifelong passion and not a passing fancy or some man trying to relive his youth.

  He perused the box for a good half hour leafing through old comics and wondering if any of them might actually be worth something nowadays. He didn’t really think so, but it was possible. He had a good mind to take them down to Joe’s comics on 49th street and ask Joe what he thought. Joe was a pretty standup guy and might cut him a fair deal if any of them happened to be worth any damn thing.

  Bill opened up the second box. It was full of books mostly. He had become an avid horror novel fan when he was about twelve and started reading everything that he could get his hands on, building up a huge collection of Stephen King and Dean Koontz novels. They were a great escape from the turbulence of his home life when he needed it most. He had gotten away from it a bit in recent years, but it was something that he really wanted to get back into. He found that he missed the lazy and quiet evenings caught up in a great book.

  He realized the time was running away from him and he needed to shower and get ready for his date with Teri. As he started to close the box he noticed something near the bottom that he did not recognize. Reaching his hand deep in the bottom his fingers clasped around a small box. His heart just sank like a stone as he relived the terror that he had felt the first time he’d seen the box falling out of the linen closet.

  As he pulled the box out of the cardboard box of books he noticed that this was not a jewelry box. It was actually not a box at all; it was a small plastic case that blank DVD’s came in. Inside the case were three DVD’s with writing on them.

  Bill was not sure what was on these DVD’s but he was almost afraid to look. He had to pop them on the DVD player and he had to do it now. But he had no time. Not if he was going to be ready for his dinner date with Teri. His first impulse was to cancel the plans that he had with her. This was much more important. He had to get to the bottom of it. But if he found something terrifying on there he might not fully recover.

  A thought popped into his head right then. It was a thought he realized had been moving around in the back of his mind since the moment he had received his special surprise in the linen closet that morning. But the thought was so terrifying that he was not sure he would ever be able to live with himself if it ever turned out to be true. It had already terrified him to the very core and he knew at that moment he would be in shock if he discovered what he was afraid of discovering on these films.

  What if he was the killer?

  It was the most idiotic and outrageous concept he could conceive of and the second that he gave the thought merit as a legitimate idea in his head he tried to laugh it off. But once it was there and it had made its presence known it was impossible to get out of his mind. He knew himself. He knew that he would sooner kill himself than take anyone else’s life.

  But what if he was different before? What if there had been a dark side of himself that he no longer remembered? What if the car accident had cured him of some evil affliction to commit violence and murder and he was just now seeing the results of the life he formerly led?

  These thoughts began to swirl around his brain like vultures waiting to peck out the eyes of a dying man in the desert. It could not be. He knew that he could not be a killer. But what other explanation was there? He had read enough novels and true crime books to know that this sort of thing happened to people. The human brain was a very complicated instrument and there had been countless cases where people had committed heinous crimes and they truly remembered nothing. They had really convinced themselves of their own innocence and they could beat polygraph tests all day long. That was why the things were inadmissible in court. The human mind was capable of so much more than the average person realized.

  What if he had snapped and gone on some killing spree? Why else was he finding all this weird stuff in his house? It didn’t make any sense.

  “Cool out, Big Bill. Just cool out,” he whispered to himself taking several deep breaths.

  He was getting ahead of himself. He had no damn clue what was on these DVD’s and it was pointless to let fear take over and cause his imagination to run wild. He had to just let it go and relax. He would watch the videos and then he would know for sure.

  But he had a date to get to. He really wanted to see Teri. He was vaguely aware that it was the perfect excuse to delay the inevitable and to keep his eyes away from the content of the videos he now held in his hands, but he didn’t care. Right then he was too nervous to think. He needed just one night of fun and relaxation, or at least as relaxed as he could be with the fact that he had found himself caught up in one psychotic adventure here. He knew it was insane to be worried about spending time with a woman he was starting to really like when he had just discovered a severed set of body parts in his closet that morning and the whole thing was sort of laughable when he thought of it that way, but he needed the distraction. Bill honestly felt that if he didn’t have this distraction where he could pretend that everything was right with the world and he was back to his life and everything was totally back on track then he would go insane. Or he would have a heart attack. He was not sure which one was going to happen first.

  With those flimsy excuses in hand he grabbed the case of DVD’s and headed back down the ladder. It was ten times easier on the way down and he did not even slip one time. He considered that to be very lucky.

  Very lucky indeed.

  Chapter 6

  “MAN ABOUT TOWN”

  Billy could not believe what a great time he was having with Teri. She was even sexier out of the nurse’s uniform and wearing a form fitting dress with a short skirt showing off her incredible and shapely legs. His eyes would not stay in his head it felt like as he had to consciously focus them on her face to let her know he was paying attention when all his eyes wanted to do was roam all over her amazing body.

  It was nice to get out and get away from everything. But as much as Bill tried he could not stop the sinking feeling deep inside. He was caught in a weird position of not wanting this date to end any time soon because he was having such a great time and wanting to break every traffic law he could just so he could get home as fast as possible and see what was on those damn videos.


  They might have even been nothing. That was wishful thinking at best. He knew that but he was so scared he was grasping at every possible straw he could to make himself feel better.

  “Do you remember the homecoming of your senior year?” Teri asked.

  Bill shook himself away from his deep thoughts. “What? Oh, yea. I remember. That was a wild night!”

  “Yea. I was only in the eighth grade, but when you showed up at our door to pick up Buzz with your date I was so jealous. I wanted to be that girl so badly and I wanted to punch her in the face,” Teri confided with a smile.

  “That is funny. Her name was Sherri Francis. We dated most of that month and then decided to just be friends. I was pretty sure she was already friends with too many other guys,” Bill said. He took another swig of his beer and relaxed a bit, thankful for the distraction.

  “Did you know I used to have a crush on you?” Teri asked.

  “What do you mean used to?” Bill joked.

  Teri laughed. “Little girls have crushes. I have matured way past that,” Teri said.

  “I can definitely see that,” Bill flirted with a wink. He wasn’t sure where his debonair charming side was coming from tonight but he was glad it was there. It was boggling his mind a little how well he was compartmentalizing everything and letting go of the insanity in his life right then so he could focus on just being there and enjoying his evening with Teri.

  Of course he was not sure how much was just separating things in his mind and how much was just pretending that the elephant in the room was not really there. He found himself glancing at his watch nervously every few seconds. Once he was aware of this he then began to consciously pretend that he was not glancing at his watch so that Teri did not see it. It would be a tragedy if she got the wrong idea and thought that he was not enjoying himself there when he clearly was.

  “So, what is it like being your own boss?” Teri asked.

  “Well, it is really the dream thing for me. I’ve always wanted to work with wood ever since I was a kid and when the opportunity came for me to take this chance I jumped at it. It’s just the only thing I’ve ever really wanted to do. I think it’s important to find what you are truly passionate about and try to make a living from it. Otherwise your life and your contribution to the world will be very small.”

  Bill took another drink of his beer and marveled at how philosophical he had just sounded. He had no idea where that came from and he doubted that he could reproduce what he had just said. He had never really thought about it that way before, but now that he said it he realized that he was completely right with the way that he felt.

  “What is it like being a rehabilitation nurse?” Bill asked. He was actually very interested in finding out exactly how she had arrived at that career choice.

  “Well, I had initially wanted to be a doctor, but I decided that I was more cut out for nursing, especially rehab. I love working one on one with people and seeing their progress grow day by day. If I was a doctor I would not really be able to do that or see that. Being a doctor just makes everything so impersonal I feel. I love what I do now, even though it has a lot less prestige and of course a lot less money.”

  “That’s beautiful. I never would have thought you would go into a career like this or that you would be so awesome at it. From what I remember you were always a great athlete and a bit of a tomboy who cared more about practicing your jump shot than you did studying for tomorrow’s Algebra test.”

  “Well, everybody changes. Apparently I grew up when you weren’t looking.”

  “Yes, I’ll say you definitely did.”

  Teri blushed as she nibbled on her fries. “You know I was hesitant to tell Buzz that we were going out tonight,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “Well, he has always been so overprotective and insane when a man is interested in me. He has been like that since I had my first date at fifteen.”

  “Yea, that sounds like old Buzz. What a great guy though. And he is a good brother,” Bill said. He had actually not even considered what Buzz might think about him dating his sister. He wasn’t exactly sure he cared, but he figured that his best friend would not think much of it. It was him, right?

  “He is all those things, but he is also jealous and controlling at times. He refuses to believe that I am a grown woman who is capable of making my own decisions in my love life. As far as he is concerned I don’t have a love life and that is the way it should be.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you are exaggerating,” Bill said.

  “I’m really not,” Teri smiled.

  “Do you think he would have a problem with you dating me?” Bill asked.

  Teri thought for a moment and then smiled and shook her head. “Nah, I doubt it.”

  “Good, because I am having a blast with you,” Bill said.

  Teri smiled and ran her tongue seductively over her lips. Bill felt himself getting very excited. He could tell that the video was going to be waiting for a long time before he got to it and that was just fine with him.

  ***

  Bill watched Teri drive away from his house with a mixture of dread and a total satisfaction sweeping over him. She was amazing. After dinner they had gone back to his place and watched a little TV, but it was not long before they were making out and not long after that before they were naked on the couch. Teri understood that Bill was going to have trouble getting up the stairs and it might kill the passion of the moment to wait for him to have a triumphant moment.

  But the couch had worked out well and Bill had even surprised himself at how much room and creative use of the space he’d come up with by using the couch. He realized that he had never had sex on a couch before. It was interesting to say the least.

  Teri was incredible. The way she moved and felt when they were making love was the single most intense moment of his life. He hated to think it but it was far eclipsing what he thought he had with Nancy—at least physically. But if things kept going the way they were then Bill was certain that in his case lightning really was striking twice and he was one lucky man.

  But before he started jumping up and down he had a screening to do. He had put it off long enough and now there were no more excuses. He had to watch the DVD’s.

  Bill opened the DVD player and popped in the first disk. He let it load and sat down on the couch. He could still smell Teri’s sweet scent in the air which made it all seem even stranger. It was like mixing two different elements together that could become explosive in the wrong hands.

  The DVD started playing and Bill’s worst nightmares came true.

  He was looking at a film of a young woman tied to a chair. She was an attractive blonde girl with makeup running down her face from the tears she was crying nonstop. Her mouth was gagged and her hands and feet were bound to a chair tightly with slender, strong rope.

  The person filming was obviously holding the camera with one hand and the other hand they were antagonizing and terrorizing this poor woman. Bill could see a dowel rod in the other hand of this person and they just started to whack the woman in the back of the neck with hard thrusts. Down, down, down. Slap, slap, slap. The sounds echoed in the room off the dank, concrete wall as the girl tried to scream. The camera was shaking and jerking with each impact as it became obvious the maniac was trying to put more strength behind each strike.

  The camera pulled back for a second trying to focus on the girl’s reaction to being humiliated and beaten. It was now clear that the girl was completely naked. She had been humiliated in countless ways that was for sure and she had pretty much lost her mind and her will to live at this point.

  It was very disturbing to watch, but Bill knew that he had to see for himself what was happening here. He had to see if there was any point where he could see who was doing this to the girl. He didn’t see how, but maybe there was a mistake somewhere. He had to keep hoping and he had to keep wishing.

  The psycho moved the camera over eve
ry single nuance of the woman’s body and Bill found himself getting more and more nauseous at the very sight of the areas of her body that were now spewing blood from who knew what kind of vile torture and degradation she had faced already. It was almost as if the killer wanted to get her good and warmed up before she was ready for the camera shots.

  Bill’s entire body was breaking out in sweat and chills. He felt like he’d just been food poisoned and if he had been anywhere else he might have passed out right then. This was not something that his body was used to and it was not the kind of stress that he welcomed into his life.

  The girl’s eyes suddenly went wide with terror. She was seeing something off camera that Bill could not see yet. What was he going to do to her now? Bill didn’t think he could watch, but he had to continue this. It was the only chance he had.

  The camera suddenly moved to a table to the right where a wide array of tools was out on display. There were several different styles of knives there as well as a few drills, drill bits, and a saw. Bill’s heart lodged in his throat as he struggled to swallow and still keep air flowing into his lungs. He couldn’t bear to watch was going to happen next, but no matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he screamed at himself to look away he just could not do it.

  The camera turned back to focus on the girl as she began to shake violently and squirm as best she could while screaming at the top of her lungs, her voice cut off with the triple layer duct tape attached on her mouth. No one could hear her. Bill thought that over top the muffled scream he could hear the cackling of the killer. He was enjoying every bit of fear that he had caused.