“Have you seen Kate?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s off with Caleb somewhere. Calm down and have a drink with me.”
He flashed his warm smile and pushed a shot glass into her hand.
“Jason. Are you trying to get me drunk?” Jessica asked laughingly.
An hour and a half later, Jason and Jessica were both drunk. With Jessica’s bladder being far too full, she excused herself to the bathroom. Stumbling and fumbling her way down the hallway of the cruise ship, she found her destination. As she was relieving herself, She heard someone come in; A few soft steady steps and then nothing. She thought it was strange but quickly forgot it.
She was washing her hands in the white marble sink when a man came from behind her and wrapped a thin metal wire around her neck. He gave her no chance to scream.

Tony pulled the wire tighter and tighter, ignoring her attempts at fighting back. He savored the moment. The feeling of the wire breaking through her thin flawless skin, snapping her jugular veins with ease, spewing rich crimson blood onto the sink and the mirror. His blood started to race when he heard the rough crunch of her neck bone. He had locked the door when he came in so he knew he could take his sweet time. He stopped pulling the wire when her head was dangling by the skin on the back of her neck. He gently laid her body down trying not to rip the skin. Turning towards the mirror he wiped his finger along the splat of blood. Turning back towards her, he bent down and carefully wrote the word “payback” on her forehead. Placing his hands on the sides of her heard, he slowly started to pull. He pulled harder and harder until the skin started to give out. Her blood was in the middle of the clotting process. The blood that not even five minutes ago spew out like a red waterfall now was gooey and glutinous. It clung to her head and neck like cheesy pizza departing from the whole. The connection made Tony smile a Cheshire cat grin. Grabbing a fist full of her golden locks, he pulled her head up to be eye level with him. Leaning in slowly, he placed a soft kiss on her cold lips. His vengeance was complete.

On the inside of the bathroom Tony was cleaning up his beautiful art work. The black duffle bag he had stashed when he first came in now was wide open. The bathroom was soon filled with the overwhelming smell of harsh cleaning chemicals.

For his next masterpiece, he needed to lay down a tarp. He hated the clean up and he knew this one would be particularly bad. Pulling her body onto the tarp, Tony stripped her clothes off leaving her in her bra and underwear. Neatly folding the clothes, he put them in a large zip lock bag and put it in the duffle bag. Making sure her limbs were positioned correctly he pulled out his hack saw.


It was a 14 inch stainless steel hack saw that he had bought for the occasion. Having a strong hold on the handle, he started on her wrists. He would need to dismember her body for easy disposal. Taking a tourniquet he tightly ties her arm off at the elbow. Even though she’s dead, he doesn’t want any more blood spill. For a second he almost untied it because the blood does put a certain gleam in his eye. Holding her hand down with his left hand he started to move his right hand back and forth, the saw breaking through the skin, quickly making it to the bone. Feeling the saw hit the bone, he leaned in closer, putting more muscle into his strokes. He was surprised at how similar it was to cutting wood. The sound was almost exactly identical. Concentrating even more he snaps through the bone. Not bothering to cut the skin behind the wrist, he rips the hand off and put it into a small zip lock bag. Moving up from the severed wrist he moves the tourniquet to the shoulder tying it from under her armpit. Taking his hack saw, he starts his process again this time moving faster and harder. He was getting used to the sound and feel of it all. In no time at all, he had cut both arms off; each cut into three pieces. His duffle bag had begun to become full and he wasn’t half way done.

Placing his left hand on her stomach, He started to cut under her thigh bone. He loved the noise of her bones being sawed through but he was running out of time. He moved from there, to under her knee, to her ankles. He did the same for the other leg. Pulling a small tarp from his bag, her put her limbless torso in it. With all of her packaged, he began to clean.

An hour and a half after Jessica had walked into the bathroom, Tony walked out. He was dressed as a janitor and his duffle bag was in the garbage can he was pushing. Pushing the door to the incinerator room open, he walked in locking the door behind him. Tossing his duffle bag in the fiery hell of the machine, he walked away knowing that she would never be found again.

His life had always been hard. His parents worked three jobs and still had no money. He always wanted a sibling but his parents had decided to wait until there was more income. Being poor never stopped them from acting like a family. Their jobs kept them away from home but when they were home, they spent time together. In a week’s time, he got 20 minutes of his father’s time and 30 minutes of his mother’s time.

Then came middle school. He wanted to try out for the football team and wanted his mother to be there when he did. On the way there, she had gotten into a horrific car accident that had almost killed her. She spent months in the hospital and when she did come home she had to be taken care of around the clock because of her paralysis. This meant her father had to stay home and take care of her. Their only source of income was the disability checks. Tony’s relationship with his parents was shrinking by the day. His mother was borderline vegetable and his father blamed him for it.

“She wouldn’t be like this if it wasn’t for you!!” his father would say.

With his home life being unbearable he turned to school for an escape. By this time he was entering his first year of high school and looked forward to his new friends. The surprise he got on his first day and every day until he graduated were not new friends, but tormenting by everyone and anyone. Not even the teachers stood up for him.

But now he had his revenge. It was the 25th high school reunion and the ring master behind his high school torture was now ashes. To his surprise he didn’t feel any better about it. His entire life had been ruined by this girl and now she was dead. Why wasn’t he happy? He only felt worse.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, baby.”
His mother’s words rang through his head. The very same words he forgot about until now. She ruined his life and he ended hers.

“What’s with the change of mood, ugly? You wanted her dead and now she is. Stop being such a pansy.”

“Go away! Look what you did!”



The warm static was coming through the old radio. It was the only thing he was allowed to have in his room. It was the news station, his favorite.

“Today’s the one year anniversary of the death of Jessica Pierce. A daughter, sister and mother, was murdered at the hands of escaped mental patient, Tony Cannti. He was institutionalized for multiple personality disorder and severe homicidal tendencies. He now resides in a high security insane asylum where he will remain for the rest of his life. WYKZ’s heart goes out to Mrs. Pierce’s family.”