The MagusZine Archives

A Trio of Grisly Human Acts

by Louise Bohmer

1

The Deviant With A Heart

He’d always been a bit afraid of sex, but with her all his doubts fell away. She took away the scars of his mother, and all those others who’d broken his fragile heart.

Kissing her lips, he wiped the stickiness from his mouth–an expected pitfall of her cold embrace. His hand slid down her rotting body, taking a thin skim of flesh along with his caress. He supposed he’d have to throw her away soon and get another. The smell was getting unbearable, and the maggots were getting into his hair.

Frank put his head against her shoulder and he sobbed at the thought of his impending loss.

2

A Husband’s Desperation

“This way, she’ll always be with you.”

She threw the bone on the plate and stared at her remaining portion.

“Eat up.” She cast him a scowl and he dropped his eyes, muttering, “Time’s are lean. We couldn’t afford to waste her.”

Sara studied the tiny charred fingers that seemed to reach up for her. What once held a Playtex nursing bottle was now garnished with a bit of parsley and a wedge of lemon.

She gagged and ran from the table, as Walter carved away a piece of white meat for himself.

3

Silent Survival – Detached From Innocence Lost

I see them walking through the naked fingers of birch–trees standing like the gnarled hands of an arthritic man. She is human, abused and lost, and he is something not of an earthly kind. His skin is indigo blue, his eyes a serene yellow.

And when he cries for his companion–when she tells him of the many times the priest cornered her in that darkened confessional as a child, draining her innocence away–he cries tears from black horns that snake from his head. Tears that fall and bloom to blue roses as they touch the snowy blanket of winter, covering their hidden sanctuary within the naked birch.