Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Slide Down the Slippery Slope

“Well, haven’t you fucked the monkey on this one?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? It wasn’t my fault. I was forced into it. I only wanted to talk to her, really, I did. I never meant to, to…”

“What, stab her sixty-seven times? Bullshit! Don’t lie to me. You know it makes me sick when you do it. Like you somehow expect me to believe you when you don’t even try to sound convincing.”

“SHUT UP! Y-Y-You know I didn’t want to do it. You know the bitch forced my hand. FUCK! I can’t even believe I’m sitting here trying to talk my way out of this, with you!”

“That’s because you know you’ve fucked up, and there’s no way out. It’s a goddamn mess. You’re a mess. Everything’s been a mess, always has been since you first saw her.”

“B-B-Bullshit! Don’t make out you didn’t have a role in all this. Don’t make out you’re Mr. Innocent,” he yells, looking across the room towards him. “You know it wasn’t always like this. I-I-I knew if I could just make this work, it’d fix everything I’d done wrong, and maybe then she’d forgive me,” he says as he stares at the dark, red, sticky, wet blood while it drips from his hands.

“Maybe your first mistake was killing her? Actually, that was your second mistake. Your first mistake was coming here to try and talk to her, or did you always have only one intention?”

“Kelly was in the way of everything, twisting Fiona’s thoughts and making it look like I was the one causing problems. Making it look like I was the bad guy when it was her all the time.”

“It’s going to be pretty hard proving it now. I mean, look at what you just did. I don’t want to be sour about it all—I know the work you put into this—but fuck, you went postal on that bitch. Off-the-wall postal! So do you really think there’s anywhere else left to go but down from here?”

“We could bury the body?”

“Hey, take a step back there, Hannibal Lecter. What makes you think I want to be your Clarice?”

“Seriously? What the fuck sort of analogy is that? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to say Will instead of Clarice?”

“I’m a purist. I prefer Clarice to Will. The TV show went too far, fucking with our conceptions of their relationship. Fuller twisted the fuck out of what I loved about the original books and movies. Anyway, who doesn’t love Anthony Hopkins?”

“You’re crazy. The movies? The Lambs was great, I’ll say that, but seriously, Hannibal and Red Dragon? They ruined the series. Recasting was the first fuck-up, and then terrible storytelling the second. Fuller gave the world a whole new coat of paint, made it vibrant, intense. It was next-level stuff. I can’t believe you’d prefer the shit movie series. The TV show was almost like real life compared to them.”

“I can see how you would say that. Looking at your handiwork here, I’d almost think you were auditioning for the new season.”

“Fuck you. Who asked you to come along and offer your opinions anyway?”

“It’s not like I could’ve stayed at home or anything, genius.”

“Yeah, okay, valid point. But for the sake of argument, can you just agree with me from time to time?”

“Don’t think I can do that. I mean, why would they call me a conscience if I didn’t offer criticism of what you’ve done or are about to do?”