E: The penultimate bit

It all ended on Wednesday, 9 days after Marvin had vanished. I was
tense and angry all day and by the time afternoon came round I just
couldn't sit around in the house anymore. I decided to go for a walk in
the woods. It was still raining heavily when I left, but nevertheless I
didn't head straight for the woods. Instead I took a detour through
Wimpole Street so I could see where Marvin lived. His house wasn't hard
to spot, being as it was the only one with a policeman standing outside
the door. I was disappointed with the house to be honest. It just
looked like a standard, terraced, two up two down. I don't know what I
expected - an ostentatiously painted television aerial perhaps, or a
big sign saying "Marvin Lived Here". But it was just a rather drab
terraced house.

I was still disappointed when I got to the woods. I wandered off the
path a bit and sat on a handy fallen tree, contemplating life and
death. It all seemed a lot more complicated than it had when I'd been a
boy. In those days you were born, you went to school, you got a job,
got married, had children, retired then died. It was the same for
everyone. But now. Now there was all this 'teenage' business. Young men
seemed to go to school forever, though they didn't learn anything -
certainly not manners. They didn't get a job until well into their
twenties. And in that extended childhood they grew insolent, rude,
violent - disrespectful. It just wasn't right. Boys should either stay
boys forever or become men when they should do. There shouldn't be any
of this in between, 'teenager' stuff. It just wasn't right. Men didn't
walk down the street cupping their girlfriend's breasts. Men didn't
shout disrespectful comments and elderly women. Men didn't drink on
street corners. And yet?. And yet now they did. Or those that did it
thought of themselves as men anyway. Where had it all gone wrong? I
kicked at a mushroom in frustration.

My thoughts were interrupted by a noise over to my right somewhere. It
sounded like an elephant trying to get through a hedgerow. I cast
around and found a stout stick to defend myself. It was probably some
teenage thug who thought I was worth robbing. Well I'd show him! I
stood in the shadow of a tree, waiting for the scum to approach. It was
five minutes before I realised that he wasn't going to. I walked away
from the tree a little bit and heard another noise, over to my left
this time. This noise was different, circular, repetitive. I stepped
carefully in that direction, being scrupulous about where I placed my
feet so as not to break any twigs. Finally I was on one side of a bush
and the noise was on the other. I strained my ears to try and work out
what it was. Then I heard a low moan and a short laugh of pleasure.
Peering through the bushes I saw the most disgusting sight I had ever
seen.

The teenage boy was no more than 15 and the girl was probably even
younger. They both had their jeans around their ankles and were
fornicating urgently on the leaves before me. Right out in public! And
neither of them old enough to smoke let alone have sex. How dare they?
Did they have no morals at all? Did their mothers know they were out? I
just sat there staring for a few seconds, my anger building up inside
me. Young hooligans! Disgusting scum! How dare they! How dare they! How
dare they! Finally I could control myself no more.

I let out a yell and sprang through the bushes, stick raised. The boy
cried out in surprise and turned towards me impudently. How dare he
look at me whilst he was committing that sinful act! I swung my stick
in a short arc and clubbed the boy round the head with it. He fell
backwards off the girl, blood pouring from the gash in his scalp. The
girl screamed and turned her body to face me.

"P..P..Please!" She gasped. "Please.."

The impudent whore! She was offering herself to me right there in the
woods. Brazen! Lying there with her lower half-exposed and asking me to
take her! HUSSY! I'd show her!

I swung the stick again and she was silent. They both lay there before
me, legs akimbo and everything on display for all the world to see.
Disgusting. The girl was unconscious, breathing raggedly through her
broken nose. The boy was dead. No loss there. One less thug for the
world to look out for. But maybe he wasn't dead. Maybe he was just
shamming. I studied his chest. He didn't seem to be breathing, but it
was best to be sure. I kicked him in his exposed testicles as hard as I
could. There was no reaction. Good. I turned my attention back to the
girl. The French whore was still breathing. I raised my stick to finish
her off. I saw to my dismay that the stick was broken - I'd have to use
something else. I looked around but there was nothing suitable. Damn.
How was I going to do it? I had to cleanse the world somehow. In
desperation I knelt beside her and began to scoop up handfuls of earth
and stuff them down her throat. The girl gagged in reflex and woke up
suddenly. I had to hold her down with one hand and force the soil down
her throat with the other. She wriggled and squirmed beneath me, still
trying to tempt me and buy her freedom. French whore. I punched her in
the stomach and continued my task.

It took about 5 minutes before I was satisfied that she was dead, but
finally she turned blue and ceased struggling. I sat back, exhausted
and drained. I smiled tiredly. In getting rid of the teenagers I'd also
managed to exorcise some of the anger that I still felt about Harriman
calling me a child killer, and I was feeling pretty good. All I had to
do now was get rid of the bodies and then I could go home and start my
new jigsaw. I thought that I might even risk stopping at the newsagent
on the way home and buying a newspaper. With any luck it would say that
Marvin had been found safe and well, and that his family was overjoyed
to see him. That would be nice. I didn't like to think of his parents
missing him - he looked like such a sweet boy. So innocent and
chubby.

I dragged the bodies one at a time up to the disused-well at the
northern edge of the woods. It was dark now and still hammering down
with rain so I didn't bump in to anyone, which was lucky for me I
guess. I threw the corpses down on top of the yob I'd got rid of the
Friday before. I smiled again as I kicked some earth in on top of them,
just to be sure. I didn't want a fox smelling the meat and digging them
up. Then I had another thought. It would be better if I didn't bring
Straub here as well - I didn't know how deep the well was and I didn't
want to fill it to the brim. Still, it wouldn't be a problem finding
somewhere else. There were plenty of disused mineshafts about for
starters.

It stopped raining on the way home. It didn't peter out, it just
stopped suddenly, like a tap being turned off. Suddenly I was cold -
something I hadn't noticed while the water was still coming down.
Perhaps I'd wait until morning to get rid of Straub after all. The
mineshafts would still be there. I walked past Marvin's house again on
the way home and felt a momentary pang of sympathy for the policeman
standing there shivering. He must be freezing, poor lad. Still, there
was nothing I could do about it. I turned the corner into my own road
and put the policeman out of my mind. It was time for a hot bath and my
jigsaw. Then I saw my house and stopped dead.