Catching up
by Harbinger of Death

HoD looked at his watch. Oh dear! Half past the sickle, and still so many Debs to kill! He decided to hurry it up. Due to that rotten earthquake, and his bosses breathing down his neck about other matters, he’d had less time for elaborate murder than he’d wanted. Ah well. A few quick and creative deaths would have to suffice.

Tyrus Heart was putting on her jewelry in the morning before she went out. Now that so many people were dead, she found that borrowing their jewelry was a snap. It’d be back before they returned, and there was no one to give her any grief about it in the meantime. Of course she’d never say it out loud, but she rather liked the peace and quiet lately.

One of the 8 rings she was trying on fell from her grasp and rolled along the floor and under the bed. Nuts! This was a big rock, and its previous--er, permanent owner would have fits if it weren’t in perfect condition when she got back. TH peered underneath and couldn’t see it. She felt around to see if she could locate it by touch, but could not. She took another look and saw something glimmering in the far corner where all the dust bunnies were. Oh no! She’d have to clean the heck out of that ring.

But she could not reach that corner, as hard as she tried. Funny...she was sure she’d been able to do it before. And the space under there seemed darker, and the box springs seemed more heavy-duty than she remembered. No matter. TH squeezed under the bed, crawling back to the corner where the mysterious glimmer still beckoned her. And then.....THOP! Her head came rolling out from under the bed. The ring was covered in dust bunnies and blood.

Antares washed her dishes, frowning. She’d been afraid to use any electrical appliances of any kind lately besides what she needed to survive, considering all the not-so-mysterious deaths. It was a pain to wash them by hand, especially with the habit she had of not rinsing them off. The oatmeal residue was like rock now.

Suddenly everything went black. Dang! The lamp had gotten knocked over. Probably one of the pets running loose. With the owners dead, there were animals all over the place. It was annoying.

She thought she heard something in the dark, but refused to be afraid, refused to make a peep. She wasn’t going to let herself show any fear whatsoever. Antares bumped her way over to the lamp and reached for the plug.

But as she went to put it back into the wall, her finger got stuck in with the prongs, and her hands were still wet from the dishwater. ZZZZZZT! Her hair stood on end and her body twitched and jerked as the voltage seared through her. She lay fried on the floor and went to the afterlife with dishpan hands.

Wild Kat was cutting out paper dolls of ghosts to hang up in her window. She loved decorating for Halloween. She’d just finished stringing pumpkin lights, and after the paper dolls, she planned to string cobwebs all over.

She wondered if and when she would be killed, and how. When she died, could she take the paper dolls with her? Surely they could use some decorations on the Other Side. Maybe when she got there, she could make some brain and heart jello. She had the molds. They were really gross-looking when she used milk to make them filmy and flesh-colored.

The phone rang, and Kat struggled to put all the paper aside to get to it. “Hello?” she asked, but darn it, they’d hung up already. Shoot, she missed them. Oh well. She sat back down and started to cut again. The phone rang again, and this time she jumped up to answer in time.

But she tripped over her feet in her hurrying, and she obviously hadn’t listened to her mother when she said never to run with scissors. She fell upon them, and the blades plunged through her eye and into her brain. No one ever answered the ringing telephone.