In an alley way in southern Harlem a man lies on his side twitching, shivering with cold. Even to him it goes unnoticed. He is lost in his dreams, shadowy figures, and hallucinations. Purple dots capture his awakening vision. Suddenly he sits up, his own smell of acrid urine, alcohol, sweat, and feces ignored. He hides them with a leather duster torn and dirties itself but cleaner than anything else he has. Oblivious to himself he wanders down the alley to find the overly busy streets and side streets.
Entering a market he sees the food he couldn’t afford and the liquor he can steal. Sliding his way past the bottles of various drinks he snatches a Jack Daniels and places it in the enormous pockets of the duster. Buying merely a pack of cigarettes he escapes being suspicious. Walking out into the street sitting in one of the hidden corners staring out drinking his Jack Daniels and smoking his cigarettes, later his thirst quenched and his cravings gone he walks sloppily along. He sees a woman. In his mind he sees something completely different that what is right in front of him. His mind twists her image, creating her. Suddenly he hears a jumble of voices coaxing him into talking, yelling at him, making him become something. Her lips moving, “Go away you creep,” a reedy voice belts out. He only hears what he wants to hear. Thinking it was an invitation, he pursues her. She turns down a side street to her mothers’ apartment. He follows sloshing through the trash and water that pools around the gutters which stink of urine. She runs to a hidden door, he stomps his way up the steps. Small squeaks of terror escape her. He takes them as if she was in delight. Moving on her, he ravages her. She fight’s, no sounds able to issue from her covered mouth; Covered by a heavy hand roughly forced against her.
She kicks out; he ignores his stinging side and continues placing his elbow into the grove of her neck. Not removing it, continuously she tries to pull his arm away. Yet in the end cannot. Over powered by him she kicks for a precious breath of air. Yet is denied, held back by his restraining body. Finally the fight going out of her, twitching, a spasm every few seconds with the last jolts of life; she is dead. He hears the voices again, dragging her body against the cement; in which it returned by scraping her arms, legs, torso, neck, face, to hell. He pulls her through the murky gutter water. Finally to his apartment; this has flies, maggots, and all sorts of creatures living off the carnage. He drops her heavily on the sofa.
Which is hardly more than a cloth covered piece of wood, also at which is probably infested with wood mites, and termites. Her legs out at odd angles revealing her, he watches her. His mind twisting her bluish pale face purple neck and non existent breathing, making him think she is posed for him. Waiting for him, he drifts closer to her. No sound possible to issue forth from her purple lips. He doesn’t see her. He sees nothing but what his mind tells him to. Before he sleeps in his own filth, he drinks the last of his Jack Daniels, as the next morning wakes so does he. He drags her body into the bedroom which already crowded. She is another stinking corpse to be feasted upon by maggots and other flesh eating insects, all unnoticed by him. He slumps down against a dirtied wall staring out across the blood stained carpet to the TV which is a flash of fuzz. A broadcaster announces, “27 women have gone missing since August of last year, police are in the process of searching for a white male approximately 25-45 average height, heavy build. Believed to be Carl Everson considered violent and possibly armed.” No hearing a damned word of the over informed, improvised speech of the announcer Carl sleeps.