“Power. I want to be the most powerful man in the world. Money, girls, cars – you name it, I want access to all of it.”
“Then this offering will be much more severe.”
I gave him the most sarcastic look I could possibly give with just my eyes. There was nothing he could ask of me that was too much, not for what I was getting in return.
“I need a body,” he said. Before I could fire off my usual volley of questions, he added, “Not just any body. A human body, and it has to be one that you killed yourself. Have it by dawn, or you can kiss my ass goodbye, along with your third wish.”
I laughed. I laughed and Oscar almost looked puzzled, which was just fucking hilarious and made me laugh even harder. I plucked my knife from the kitchen counter – the one I’d used to cut out the bimbo’s eyes the night before – and sauntered out into the street, imagining what I was going to do when I was rich and famous.
I wandered around the streets for a while, looking for an easy target. After all, no point in making my task any harder than it had to be. I was hoping for someone old, someone hobbling along like they were going to pass out and die at any moment anyway.
Instead, I passed by a park and saw a little boy playing on the swing set.
I was a little shocked to see a kid out so late, his parents nowhere in sight. My guess was he’d snuck out of his house. Either that or he just had really shit parents. He looked at me and smiled. Fuck, he even waved at me.
He couldn’t have been more than seven. He was small, even for that age. He’d be easy to get back home.
It was just too perfect.
I walked over to the swings and talked to him for a few moments. It was easy to gain his trust – poor kid wasn’t gonna live long enough to learn any better. He asked me to push him on the swing and I acquiesced, moving to stand behind him.
It was over a lot more quickly than the other two. My hand covered his lips and I dragged the knife hard across his throat, severing his artery and piercing his windpipe. He started to struggle, tried to scream, but it only took a minute or two for his body to go limp and his breathing to ease into nothing.
I probably should have been a little more concerned about the blood left behind at the scene, but I assumed Oscar would take care of it for me. It was the least he could do.
I cradled the kid in my arms, as though he was my own son and I was carrying him home. He was covered in blood, which might have raised some suspicion, so I wrapped him in my coat. By the time I got to my apartment, my coat was ruined with the blood. I was a little pissed about that, but considering the kid had met a worse fate than that, I let it go.
As soon as I passed the kid off to Oscar, his eyes started to gleam. He laughed as he lifted the body into his arms, towering over me. He gave me something of a grin as he said, “You really have no idea what you’ve just done.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I’m pretty sure I just killed a kid.”