When We Decline. \ (Open)

[William J. Crane]

What did it take to grasp another living person’s screaming head in your hands, squeezing so tightly that your arm quivered uncontrollably? This was a question that, if asked earlier in his lifetime, William would not have answered—perhaps he would have just replied with a nervous chuckle and carry on with his duties. But now, snarling and body full of brimstone, he fought desperately to let go becaused he now knew what it took: A mere flick of the wrist... A mere flick of the wrist, he could kill this man with such ease. A voice whispered in the back of his mind, ‘Just release, just release!’ only it could not be heard over the high pitches of insanity screaming at him. Pain exuded from his knees pressed against the gravel and assorted debris digging through the fabrics of his leggings, poking teasingly at his dermis. Of all things, William just couldn’t understand why this man wouldn’t shut the hell up and opted to show him how annoying he was by screaming back at him. Saliva sprung from his mouth as he freed a monstrous bellow, leaning closer when the man then turned away from the bodily fluid.

When William’s otherworldly shriek came to an end, frustration grew so much stronger in that climax that, for unexplained reasons of his own, with a slight movement he broke the latter’s neck. The sound seemed to echo off the interior walls crumbled down to the floor. A sound he bathed in like nectar and sweet, sweet honey.

William was not surprised that the noise attracted attention from the man’s companions on the second floor. However, these people would not be out for vengeance. After all, chances were that they were planning to eventually kill the man themselves hadn’t William come along. He assessed each individual and found comedy in the fact he could tell each one’s rank in the group by how tall they stood. Being so, obviously that meant the straighter one stood, the higher respect they have. And here’s the punch-line William soon realized after making these deductions: He slouched lower than them all. A tall, robust man with a scar extending from his temple to his jaw smirked at William, which triggered the snickering of his goons and a taunting display of blunt weapons. William wavered on his wobbling legs, vision blurred and multiplying the batch in a haze. Sweat rolled down his face, following the same track as the smirking man’s scar.

“So, you think you can murder our brother and just get away with it?” He called out. William didn’t respond. “… Did you hear me, you stupid bitch?” The man’s voice rose with his animosity. William didn’t respond. “Are you deaf or something, you old cow!” Heaving forth, his hurried pace planted him directly in front of William. He didn’t respond. “Y’scared, aren’t ya?” The man’s disgusting smile split, revealing the most grotesque of oral hygiene William had ever witnessed.

“Don’t you care to brush your teeth three times a day?”

The man cackled wildly at such a remark, before he could speak once more, William cut him off.

“If you do not brush them three times a day… they’ll all fall out.”

There was such a dark expression from William, the man couldn’t be amused. He opened his big mouth to speak; hastily, William reached into his coat and thrust one of his little home-made bombs into the gaping orifice, then plummeting his bat into the latter’s abdomen he scurried through the gaggle and up the stairs, careful to not concern himself with what was going on around him.

(INCOMPLETE).