The Dark Soul

by Duke Thompson

trick.

  And it sure did. Yessiree Bob, it worked like a charm!

  The dancing corpse flopped right up at me, and then… BAM! I put a gash right in its side, and then brought the axe down meeting its neck, and I was surprised how easily it was tamed. The blows seemed to calm it down. When I threw that axe down again, it was laying there on the barn floor, only slightly jerking, and its head burst off like a bottle rocket. I swear it unhinged from his spine easier than the cap off a Coke bottle, and that got me real amped up, let me tell you!

  I shouted, and flicked my hair back again.

  I’ll spare you the real bloody details, and the wicked sounds it made while that axe tore into his arms, legs, and the rest of the corps, because I think you’re all filled in at this point.

  I think you know where we are now, but just in case you forgot (I sure as hell didn’t), I’ll remind you.

  After I got the thing into as many pieces as possible, some of the parts started to move again, and that was when I realized (in the momentary excitement and butchery) that I had committed a major no-no. That hand I told you about at the beginning of this story… yeah, now you know where it came from.

  It was running right for me, and it did jump. Oh-fucking-boy, did it jump! IT LEAPED! Holy cow, man. I had no time to react. No time at all. One moment, I was standing there, and the next moment the thing was latched onto my face, no weaker than the jaws of a shark, and I was hurtling back into the barn doors. Despite the lock, the doors busted right open. Wood chips going everywhere. The pain in my back was horrendous. It’s not like in the movies. Believe that, because when I went through those doors, it was at high speeds. It’s a miracle that my neck hadn’t snapped backwards when that hand slammed into me. Wooden doors like that don’t just break when somebody slams into them. If they do, though, whoever it was that slammed into them can be sure that they’re going to be spending a long time in the hospital. And I did, because I snapped my spin.

  I screamed in pure agony.

  The hand tore away at my skin like a rat. A big nasty rat. I felt it rip away at the flesh in my cheeks, and dig its extremities into my eyes. If there is one thing I regret from that day, it's not clipping the homeless man’s finger nails before I put him in there.

  Well, that brings me to the present day. Here I am, back in my barn, in my wheelchair. I left the hospital almost a year ago, now, and I haven't wasted a single day. I’ve been working on the next big thing. It’s going to change my life, and the lives of many others, forever. Could bad things come of it? Sure, but I’m evil, so why do I care? I’m warning people. That’s what I’m doing right now. My obligation is over.

  I’m starting to get real anxious now, so I’m going to hurry the rest of this up.

  I haven’t wasted a single moment since leaving the hospital. Missteps or not, I couldn’t leave things unfinished. So I began modifying my machine. Now it doesn't trap souls. It switches them. Switches the soul from one body to another. It also does it without completely destroying the bodies like before. I won’t go into grave detail about how the whole process works, because I’m going to write a manual on it very soon. Once I’m in my new body, I’m going to hire a team of scientists, share my knowledge, and then we’re going to take all of this to the next step. At this point, I’m just hungry to see what I can achieve now that my mistakes are all out of the way.

  So, before me are two glass cylinders. One of them is empty, because it’s the one I’m going to be getting in. The second one has a live person in it. I had to give him a little something to knock him out. He is a tall, rich man. I plan on having a lot of fun in his body once I switch our souls.

  He won’t have much of a good time in my body. It’s totally wrecked, and plus I’m going to shoot this body in the head after the switch. I can’t have him telling anyone about what I’ve done, can I?

  After I switch bodies I’m going to continue my research. I’ll have access to more money, so I can take my work as far as it goes.

  Time to go. Hope you enjoyed my story. The body associated with these crimes? Long gone, by the time you read this. And the soul?

  Hell, I might be someone you know…