The Secret Life of Mr. Reed “That’ll be $12.49,” the elderly man said softly. The young, female customer slid $12.50
across the counter and gathered up her cigarettes and magazines. “Put the penny in
the jar, Mr. Reed,” she replied with a smile. She was an attractive girl, straight
blond hair falling gently over her rounded shoulders. Her body was thin, but not too much.
Her face reminded Mr. Reed of someone he used to know from his youth, Mr. Reed bowed his head to the young woman and dropped the penny in a small, glass jar next to the register. It was about half full. “Thank you, dear.” The woman smiled again and headed towards the door. Mr. Reed continued to watch her and smile as she exited. “Howard, you’re staring,” a voice said from next to him. He turned to look at his wife. She was getting on in years as well, and it wasn’t treating her too kind. She weighed close to two hundred pounds; her round face lined with wrinkles. A thinning, gray mat of hair topped it off. Despite all of this, she had a smile that was infectious to everyone she encountered. People were constantly commenting on how nice and friendly she was. Of course, people said that about Mr. Reed as well. He was a few years older than Martha, his wife, but he didn’t look it. Sure, he was going bald and a few liver spots were starting to show on his skin, but other than that he looked pretty good for a man his age. “Now Martha, you know I only have eyes for you.” Martha blushed slightly, glancing around the store to see if anyone noticed. After assuring herself that no one was around, she leaned over and gave Howard a kiss on the cheek. “You’re too kind, dear.” She started busying herself with some items behind the counter, and Howard went to place a few things on the shelves. As he stocked some canned goods, Mr. Reed’s mind kept straying back to the young woman who had just been in his store. She had been in numerous times, but not enough that he’d consider her a regular yet. She seemed real nice. She reminded him of another woman who used to shop here once in a while. For the next few hours, Mr. and Mrs. Reed kept themselves busy slowly stocking shelves and tidying up the store. A few customers came and went, but hardly even enough to be noticed. Mr. Reed walked over to the counter where his wife was dusting off the register. “I’m going to go work on the ammunition inventory,” He said to her. “Now? We’re still open, dear. What if it gets busy?” Mr. Reed allowed a small smile. “I don’t think we need to worry about that too much.” Three customers in the store at the same time was a rare thing for Reed’s. “I’ll just be a couple of hours.” Mrs. Reed frowned slightly. “I wish you’d let me help you with that. You wouldn’t have to spend so much time with it.” “I’ve told you a thousand times, dear, I don’t want you to have anything to do with that kind of stuff. If we didn’t need the money it brought in, I wouldn’t have it here at all.” Mrs. Reed was still frowning, but it had changed slightly. Mr. Reed knew that change meant she was done arguing. After over forty years of marriage, you learn a few things about each other. “I know, I know. If you need anything, just let me know.” “I will. Just knock if you need me.” Howard kissed her gently on the cheek and retreated through the curtain that led to the storeroom. Even though Reed’s General Store carried a large variety of products, the main storeroom was rather small. Items just didn’t move off the shelf that fast in Barston, Illinois. In the back left corner of the storeroom there was a large wooden door with a sturdy padlock on it. Mr. Reed shuffled over to the door, fumbling with a large key ring. After a few seconds he found the one he was searching for and inserted it into the lock. The padlock dropped open with a loud click. Mr. Reed pulled the door open, slipped inside and closed it behind him. Once inside, he threw two large bolt locks on the door. He tugged a few times just to make sure it was locked. After this, he turned on the light. This room was even smaller than the other, but the product in here moved a lot quicker. The walls were filled with shelf after shelf of ammunition. In one corner there was a small desk with a disheveled pile of papers on top of it. Mr. Reed had to order a new supply of bullets and shells almost each week. Like it or not, this was what kept him and his wife in business. Howard walked past the desk, to the middle of the back wall. He had told his wife he was going to be working on the inventory, but that wasn’t quite true. He had other things in mind. Reaching towards the shelf in front of him, Mr. Reed grabbed the edge of one of the supports and pulled towards him. A three-foot wide section of the shelf swung open into the room. All the boxes on the shelf were empty, and the other side was hanging from hinges. He stepped through the hidden door and pulled this one shut behind him as well. Before turning on the light, he made sure the three locks were secure. Positive that no one could get in, he reached up and pulled the string on the overhead bulb. The light barely reached the four walls of the room, but it didn’t matter. Mr. Reed knew the contents of this room better than any other part of the store. This room also had shelves lining all four walls, but the contents of these shelves were dramatically different from anything else in the store. The shelves were filled with jars containing a light green liquid of some sort. In each jar was a part of the human body. One shelf was all hands, another all feet, another all penises. Eyeballs, hearts, nipples and tongues floated in glass jars on all sides of Mr. Reed. A string stretched from one side of the room to the other was decorated with ears, hanging like Christmas ornaments. Mr. Reed walked slowly around the room, admiring the collection he had preserved here. Just the sight of them made him feel calm, confident, in control. He finished examining his various trophies, and focused his attention on the middle of the room for the first time. As happy as his collection made him, this was the best part. Strapped to a surgical table in the middle of the room was a naked young woman, perhaps twenty-five years of age. Leather straps bound her arms above her head. Her ankles were similarly constrained in a spread eagle position. A red rubber ball on another leather strap was forced in her mouth acting as a gag. As Mr. Reed moved closer to the table, the woman made the first signs of life. Her eyes opened sluggishly, and she feebly struggled against the restraints. Even if she had been in peak physical condition it would have been useless, and she was no where near that anymore.This particular specimen had been here for over a week. Mr. Reed did feed her intravenously occasionally, but she was still badly malnourished and dehydrated. That was the least of her worries at this point. Lacerations covered her body. They were deep, but also had the look of near surgical care to them. One of her hands was missing, the stump cauterized and bandaged. Both of her nipples and three toes were also gone. All wounds had been treated before they became serious. Mr. Reed didn’t want her to die too soon. The drugs he had given her the day before were beginning to wear off, and she began to make muffled cries of pain and fear. Mr. Reed closed his eyes, absorbing the sound in the otherwise silent room. This, too, soothed him. This room also had a small desk in the corner, but instead of papers and invoices covering it, it held a wide variety of surgical tools and knives. Mr. Reed approached the table and let his fingers run over the tools in an almost sensual manner. After a moments consideration he picked out a small, very sharp scalpel. He walked over to the woman again and laid the scalpel on her stomach. Her struggles increased slightly at this. Mr. Reed always enjoyed letting his specimens know what instrument he would be playing that night. Slowly, methodically, Mr. Reed removed each article of his clothing, folding it up neatly and placing it on the desktop. Once he was completely naked, he moved in front of the girl. He stood between her spread legs, soaking in the view before him. It was pure beauty. He let his fingers slide across her body, much in the same way he had slid them over the surgical tools. Her skin was beginning to dry out slightly, but it still felt electric to his touch. Gently, he picked up the scalpel. As gently as he had run his finger over her, he did the same with the scalpel. He applied just enough pressure to break the skin. Tiny rivers of blood criss-crossed her torso. He brought the scalpel down between her legs and made a small circle around her vagina. Then he made a shallow, short cut directly above her clitoris. Blood always made the best lubrication. His wrinkled penis slowly began to fill with blood. At his age he no longer could achieve a full erection, but enough of one to get the job done. He shifted his weight up onto the captive girl, entering her as well he could. As with most of what he did, Mr. Reed slowly and rhythmically rocked back and forth inside of her. She had begun to struggle again when he first entered her, but his weight on her soon exhausted that effort. Mr. Reed stood up onto the floor, his penis still inside of her. He leaned over the body to look into her eyes. She clamped them shut, still rebellious after everything that had happened. No matter, Mr. Reed had other things in mind. He caressed her hair with his left hand, holding the scalpel in his right. He pulled her hair back hard to the left, exposing the right side of her face. Ever so gently, he touched the blade to her ear, barely drawing blood. He relished the sight of that single droplet of blood for a moment, his erection becoming slightly harder as he did so. Then he dug the blade deeply down the side of her head, cutting the ear off as cleanly as possible. Blood flowed down the side of her head and onto the floor. The woman’s entire body spasmed as Mr. Reed severed her ear, her eyes shooting back open. Mr. Reed grew more and more excited as the blood pumped harder out of the side of her head. He positioned himself back on top of the girl and began to thrust more quickly. In her current state of agony, the woman’s eyes remained wide open in pain and terror. Mr. Reed stared down into them as his pumping began more vigorous. He slid the scalpel up and down the side of her body, more careless now about how deeply it cut. Soon his hand was slick with her blood. After a few more moments, a sensation of intense pressure started to grow in Mr. Reed. He was almost there. As his body spasmed and ejaculated into her blood soaked body, Mr. Reed looked into the woman’s eyes once again. “I love you,” he said in a hoarse whisper as the full force of his orgasm swept him. Without realizing it, the scalpel was fully imbedded in the woman’s stomach. Mr. Reed watched in exhausted fascination as the life slowly slipped from the girl’s eyes. He lay his head down on her mangled chest and breathed deeply. Nearly a minute later, Mr. Reed dismounted. He had gotten a little too excited tonight. He had hoped that this specimen would have lasted for another week at least. It must have been the girl that was in his store earlier. He would have to make her a part of his collection sometime soon. Mr. Reed wiped the scalpel off on a towel
and set it back on the desk next to his clothes. A sink and faucet was located in a
different corner of the room with a small hose attached. Mr. Reed turned on the water and
rinsed the blood off of his body, the pinkish liquid swirling down a drain located in the
floor. After cleaning any trace of her off of himself, he toweled off and then dressed. He
had to get rid of the body, but that would have to wait. His wife would get curious if he
spent too much more time checking the ammunition inventory. Just as Mr. Reed had finally decided to go turn the sign over to CLOSED, the bell above the door jingled as someone entered the store. It was a young man, in his late teens, that Mr. Reed had never seen before. “Can I help you?” Mr. Reed asked in his usual polite manner. The man looked around a little and approached the counter. He looked nervous. “Yeah, well, I need to get…something.” Mr. Reed chuckled in his quiet way. “Perhaps if I knew what ‘something’ was, I could tell you if we carry it.” The boy glanced around the store nervously again, seeming to make sure no one else was around. “I need, you know, prophylactics.” One eyebrow raised on Mr. Reed’s face. “Condoms, you mean?” The boy nodded quickly. “Yeah. Do you have any?” Mr. Reed smiled. “Of course we do. Why don’t you come around the counter here and decide what exactly you want.” The man hesitated for a second, but Mr. Reed’s kindly face persuaded him quickly. He walked around the counter, looking down where Mr. Reed had motioned. As he stooped to look at the selection of condoms, Mr. Reed produced a syringe from his coat pocket. Without a sound, he reached forward and injected the clear liquid into the boy’s upper arm. The boy stood up with a jerk, spinning towards Mr. Reed to see what had happened. “What the fu-“ he got out before slumping down to the floor. Mr. Reed walked calmly over to the door, bolted the latch and flipped the sign over to CLOSED. Then he went back behind the counter and stood over the form of the unconscious boy. Yes, he would make a fine specimen. August 1999 HofP |