Daniel Alexander
Joe spends many days and nights hiding under his covers, his head tenting the blankets around him, while a flashlight illuminates his naked body, the razor in his hand. He carves slices in his penis until blood fills his hands, oftentimes staining his sheets until he starts putting newspaper underneath him. His father beats him with a belt, with a wrench, and once strangles him with his mother's nylons. His mother screams at him and beats the dog.
After a while Joe no longer feels the pain of his cuts. He, too, beats the dog. When he is seventeen, he beats up his girlfriend in school. As she cries, he laughs. He is expelled. His is beaten almost to death by his father before he is kicked out of the house. The door closes. Joe laughs. Then he cries. He never sees them again.
For the summer he lives under a bridge and in the woods of his small town. In the fall he hitchhikes to the ocean where he lives on the beach and in the hills. He works at the Humane Society for a time where part of his job is to euthanize the animals, then cremate them. He enjoys his job. Sometimes the animals disappear before they are euthanized.
Joe rents a trailer in the hills, a good half mile from any of his neighbors. At first they drop by and bring him cookies or a little whisky. They've stopped coming by now. Joe sits for long periods of time watching the sun set into the ocean although he can't hear it from up here.
When he gets bored he goes to the promenade where he sits on a bench and watches the women go by. If they talk to him he tells them to fuck off, please. He spends a lot of time reading medical textbooks. He gets fired from the Humane Society.
After two months of being out of work, he is offered a job with Planet Organica dishing up food in the food court. He starts getting high a lot. When he does coke for the first time, he beats up his boss. They both laugh about it the next day, although his boss doesn't share drugs with him anymore. Joe starts spending most of his paycheck on coke which he does alone in his trailer.
When he wants companionship, he buys a dog. Two months later he buries the same dog, a golden retriever.
Now when he is bored he begins to follow a blonde-haired woman who shops at the street market every Saturday at 10:00 am. He has followed her to her house, to her work and on dates with her boyfriend. Joe doesn't like the boyfriend.
One night he goes to her house. She is alone. He waits until she falls asleep before he climbs in her window. This is not the first time he has been in her house.
She wakes to find Joe on top of her. Her voice lingers briefly in the air. Tears run down her face. The warm cotton of her nightgown tears easily. He feels the curves of her hips, the layer of fat that separates skin from bones. She struggles. His fist crushes her cheekbone. She lies quietly, now. He enters her gently, but cannot finish. He unsheathes his steel blade and begins to carve her flesh. Satisfied, he bathes his hands in her blood. He strokes his erection, his hands lubricated with blood, the intensity grows, until the release he longs for comes, his orgasm merging with her blood.
After a while Joe no longer feels the pain of his cuts. He, too, beats the dog. When he is seventeen, he beats up his girlfriend in school. As she cries, he laughs. He is expelled. His is beaten almost to death by his father before he is kicked out of the house. The door closes. Joe laughs. Then he cries. He never sees them again.
For the summer he lives under a bridge and in the woods of his small town. In the fall he hitchhikes to the ocean where he lives on the beach and in the hills. He works at the Humane Society for a time where part of his job is to euthanize the animals, then cremate them. He enjoys his job. Sometimes the animals disappear before they are euthanized.
Joe rents a trailer in the hills, a good half mile from any of his neighbors. At first they drop by and bring him cookies or a little whisky. They've stopped coming by now. Joe sits for long periods of time watching the sun set into the ocean although he can't hear it from up here.
When he gets bored he goes to the promenade where he sits on a bench and watches the women go by. If they talk to him he tells them to fuck off, please. He spends a lot of time reading medical textbooks. He gets fired from the Humane Society.
After two months of being out of work, he is offered a job with Planet Organica dishing up food in the food court. He starts getting high a lot. When he does coke for the first time, he beats up his boss. They both laugh about it the next day, although his boss doesn't share drugs with him anymore. Joe starts spending most of his paycheck on coke which he does alone in his trailer.
When he wants companionship, he buys a dog. Two months later he buries the same dog, a golden retriever.
Now when he is bored he begins to follow a blonde-haired woman who shops at the street market every Saturday at 10:00 am. He has followed her to her house, to her work and on dates with her boyfriend. Joe doesn't like the boyfriend.
One night he goes to her house. She is alone. He waits until she falls asleep before he climbs in her window. This is not the first time he has been in her house.
She wakes to find Joe on top of her. Her voice lingers briefly in the air. Tears run down her face. The warm cotton of her nightgown tears easily. He feels the curves of her hips, the layer of fat that separates skin from bones. She struggles. His fist crushes her cheekbone. She lies quietly, now. He enters her gently, but cannot finish. He unsheathes his steel blade and begins to carve her flesh. Satisfied, he bathes his hands in her blood. He strokes his erection, his hands lubricated with blood, the intensity grows, until the release he longs for comes, his orgasm merging with her blood.
Daniel Alexander makes a decent living as a medical examiner in an unnamed town in an unnamed state - he likes his privacy. Most of his writing is graphic and violent, yet has some sense of feminine masculinity that is not often seen in any genre. He hopes that someday his fiction is used in a graphic novel and "Joe" becomes the Batman of the graphic scene.
copyright 2007 Fear Knocks