Tessa looked at him over the top of her dessert menu. Not bad, full head of hair at least; he had a traveling salesman sort of look about him, a little soft around the middle maybe.
Nothing that tying him to her bed for a couple of days couldn’t fix.
He caught her looking at him and tried to stare her down. She won. He swallowed hard and went back to his newspaper, sweat beading on his upper lip.
God, she was in bad shape. She walked around with her hind brain ruling her actions most of the time these days. She was going to have to move on soon, there was beginning to be talk. But she figured she had at least another week in this sleepy little town.
On the bus last night she just couldn’t help herself. When she saw that young stockbroker again, the one who always wore the brown hat that didn’t match his suit; the one who never gave his seat up no matter how pregnant or old the woman, she locked eyes with him as she sashayed up the nearly empty aisle of the downtown bus. She sat next to him, close, her thigh against his. She squirmed in her seat to hitch her skirt just high enough so the black garter belt snap at the top of her stocking peeked out.
She casually slid one pointy red nail down her thigh up and down, up and down. When she could see and feel and smell that she had his full attention she slid her nail over to his thigh, sliding first one then two then four fingers up and down his thigh, the third track leaving marks in the cloth.
He sat rigid, his hands gripping his briefcase between his knees breathing hard and sweating.
Tessa leaned over and breathed a silky question into his ear.
“What’s your name honey?”
“Tom, Tom Anderson.”
“Well, Tom, Tom Anderson, would you like it if I slid my hands inside your clothes?”
“Someone will see……I mean yes, I’d like that….but someone will see.”
“Not if we put your briefcase next to you like this, and pile our coats onto it like this, and put your hat on top like this, now we have a little fort just for ourselves Tom, Tom Anderson……”
Tessa sat back down but this time straddling him and kissed him with her scarlet mouth. She slid a red talon into his mouth and looked hungrily into his eyes. She loosened his tie, unbuttoned his shirt and slid her sharp nails down his chest onto his stomach.
She unbuckled his belt and kissed his neck and ears leaving lipstick trails over his flushed skin.
He ran his hands over her lush body making little happy sounds in the back of his throat. She let him unbutton her blouse and close his hands over her breasts before she plunged her nails into his flesh. She watched his eyes as her nails pierced his body and her now scarlet hand pulled out his liver.
The gurgling sounds stopped after a minute.
Tessa gently placed the liver onto the seat next to her. She wiped her hands on his shirt and pants and then straightened her clothes. She took some butcher’s paper from her purse and lovingly wrapped the organ and secreted it inside the oversize bag.
It was just too bad that the driver and those two old ladies had seen her face. She was fond of this face and didn’t want to replace it just yet. Only the driver had screamed.
Tessa was jolted out of her reverie when the waitress came with more coffee to ask if she had decided.
“I’ll just have some apple pie with ice cream Doris, I had liver and onions for lunch and I’m pretty full.”
Tessa refocused on the man in the back booth. She saw him slip his wedding ring off and put it in a pocket.
_______
©2009 Karen Schindler
Karen Schindler writes even when she’s not writing. A lover of words her whole life she is amazed and awed when she can string sentences together that impact another person. Karen has been or is about to be published in Eclectic Flash, Voxpoetica, WeirdYear and both online and in the print anthology of the 52 Stitches 2010 line up. You can see more of her work at Miscellaneous Yammering.
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Tags: Karen Schindler
January 14th, 2010 at 6:05 am
Gotcha! Very good tale.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Nice, easy pace with such deadly consequences.
Loved the apple pie line! Great one, Karen!
January 14th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Very, very good! The voice is perfect, the pacing just right and the twist is funny/serious wonderful!
There was a time when liver and onions was a favorite meal. Not anymore. Your story didn’t turn me off from it, vegetarianism did
January 14th, 2010 at 8:28 am
“…She walked around with her hind brain ruling her actions most of the time these days.”
She and her unsuspecting victims! There are lovely observations and comedy in this - the wedding ring, the liver and onions, this bit too: “Well, Tom, Tom Anderson…” Gripping funny read - like this a lot!
January 14th, 2010 at 8:32 am
just wicked! didn’t mess around did she? well played at every turn, just the right tease and then - wham!
January 14th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Now I remember why I don’t travel by bus, or talk to strangers! Great lead-in and lovely twist in the ending.
January 14th, 2010 at 9:41 am
I loved the overall feel before the twist in the end, really a great story!
January 14th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Now all she needs is a good chianti! LOL Evil woman, I like her.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Great writing Karen - well-paced, subtle build, creepy and tense. Awesome.
January 14th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
I really appreciate everybody taking the time to stop by and read my piece and leave such wonderful comments.
Thank you!
Karen :0)
January 15th, 2010 at 2:53 am
K: Geez, what timing! I was researching Greyhound bus routes from Ithaca to NYC during the Seventies!
A fab “gotcha”!!!
“…and leave the driving to us!”
J
January 15th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Whoa, that was wicked! I loved her red talons - those are really, really sharp to reach in and pull out the liver. That is a good choice for an organ, no nasty ribs to get in the way, although it sounds like she might enjoy a few bbq ribs at times, too.
Excellent writing! The tension level was perfect, I even got a little nervous. LOVE those jokes and details!
January 15th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
On the city bus! Oh my. Just the right mix of humor and horror, here. I loved the way she mocked him, mocked Tom, Tom Anderson. And he, of course, too clueless to even notice. I also like that she seems to put some thought into who to choose for her victims, two-timing creeps seem preferable, though I do wonder what happened to two old ladies and the bus driver.
~jon
January 16th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
That second paragraph made me laugh out loud; it was such a shock, such a departure from what the first had set up in my mind. Great!
January 16th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
men just say no! I’ve met girls like Tessa on buses in london. Fortunately their diet of fast food and lack of vitamins means their nails snap off so they can’t pull out our livers.
This was a top story.
marc nash
January 16th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
And you thought my hockey sticks were “EWWW”…?!
I guffawed at the “little happy sounds”. Great fun as usual
January 19th, 2010 at 7:40 am
This is so good, Karen. And it inspires me to invent an anti-claw, liver guard for just such occasions. Keep writing these nasty flash tales.
January 24th, 2010 at 9:27 am
I just saw one of those in the Sharper Image catalog Angel.
Thanks again to all who stopped in!
Karen :0)
July 7th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I loved the pacing of the buildup - well done!