Vile Press proudly presents the second installment in the Horrendous Tales anthology series.
Excerpt from 'One Day' by Kevin Cathy:
Outside, the sun had risen.
Inside my home, I awoke.
Inside my head, I was truly awake.
I finally had an answer to the nagging questions I persisted on asking myself.
The world is rotten.
The questions: “Why do I hate music on the radio? Why do I despise the homeless? Why do I not care about the poor, the needy, the starving kids in Africa…? Am I a horrible and selfish human being? Why are all politicians liars? Why do people spend thousands of dollars on brand name clothes just to fit in with assholes that were unrighteous for judging them for what they wore in the first place? Why do people kill other people for money as if that pocket change would make them free or able to live happier? Why can’t I walk down the street without getting harassed by immature and nasty men? Why is this world so doomed?”
Answer: The world is simply rotten.
Conclusion: Don’t give a s—t?
I couldn’t bear to truly accept my conclusion. I am not that selfish.
The real conclusion, the one I did not want to face was: Do something about it.
And I don’t mean plant a stupid tree or join the Peace Corps.
I need to change the world… truly change the world.
I thought for hours, pacing my apartment back and forth while chain smoking a whole pack of Marlboro Reds.
Then it struck me.
Purge the world of the invalids one by one.
It sounded so gruesome and so exciting. So simple.
If what’s wrong with the world is the majority of people who ruin it, why not just simply cure the world by eliminating those people? When someone has the flu, they take antibiotics to kill the virus. So if the world is being slowly destroyed by ignorant and harmful people, why not kill them? Those people, like viruses, only produce more plagued individuals by the litter, spreading the plague to all parts of the world.
I decided I’d start today with just one individual. I usually get ahead of myself when I have a task on hand. But with this, being as it is so important, I think I will proceed with the necessary tasks in a methodical manner.
Who to begin with?
Who would be the easiest victim? And when I say victim, I mean perpetrator.
A stranger.
There are so many people causing havoc to this world just right outside my doorstep.
I grabbed my sweater and departed my comfort zone.
Outside, the Sacramento summer sun shone brightly into my eyes which made it almost impossible to keep them open. It was then that I realized how long it had been since I had last left my apartment. Ever since the slaughtering of my parents I had not left the building, surviving solely on my inheritance and Chinese food delivery.
A man bumped into me as I attempted to force my eyes to stay open.