FicWad

The camera clicks on with a whir, the night vision giving the dark room form, a table is highlighted in an electronic green along with a single chair, the rest of the room is empty and a staticy black. The room looks unused, but it’s hard to see much in the darkness.

The camera wobbles and for a moment the room switches out of focus, the table sinking into the background in a fuzzy haze before the camera stills again a few seconds later. There is now a face present on the screen, the hollow eyes are a result of the night vision but the smile is wide and crazed against the pale green of the man’s skin. He chews on his lip for a moment just staring into the camera lens with black eyes, then moves his hand up to cup the camera as he speaks.

“It’s okay now” he says then lets go of the camera to tuck a strand of his hair behind his right ear “It’s okay now” he repeats.

There’s another short silence, this one interrupted by movement outside of the room; shouting and banging, it’s loud but the sound has been muffled by the room’s walls. The man on the screen doesn’t appear to hear the commotion outside; he taps his head and nods.

“I said it would be, I always knew” he chews on his lip some more then pushes his tongue out into his cheek “he didn’t believe me” he nods again.

The man stares at the camera, saying nothing and his Adam’s apple becomes visible when he swallows, rising and falling in his throat. He chews on his lip and sniffs the air like a dog, only looking away from the camera for a second “We’re all okay now, though” he says.

The man moves away from the camera and over to the table, more of him is visible now. He’s around five ft. and slim, sloping shoulders and small hips, his hair is long and curling around the collar of his jacket. He appears to be talking still but his tone is hushed so no words are picked up by the camera’s microphone. The man lifts an object from off the table and studies it with intent for a few moments, considering the weight in his palm, his back faces the camera.

There’s no movement for a minute and the camera looses focus again the picture only clearing again when the man turns around. He moves back towards the camera again and it is now revealed that the object in his hand is a gun, the man in smiling still.

“Frankie, Frankie, Frankie” He says then looks at the floor, there’s the sound of boots on concrete outside of the room and more muffled shouting “It’s okay, baby” he says.

He ducks out of view for a moment and his voice is barely audible off camera but he appears to be humming as he continues to move off screen.

Seconds later he returns into view, he is holding another man in his arms bridal style, the man is not conscious and his head lolls back; there is the impression of a tattoo on the man’s neck but his face is covered by hair. There is no sign of the gun at this stage.

The first man looks down onto the second as he speaks now “It’s okay, Frankie shh now”. The second man, presumably Frankie does not respond but this does not stop the former from going on “sleep tight, baby shh now”

He cradles Frankie for two minutes before moving out of view of the camera, when he returns Frankie is gone. The man has the gun in his hand again now and the crazed smile is back. For three minutes he stares at the camera, looking down the lens with hollow eyes when he speaks again his voice is hushed “They said we couldn’t, scared Frankie” he blinks four times before continuing “but it’s okay now” he says then lifts the gun to his head.

He closes his eyes and pulls the trigger, knocking the camera as he falls to the floor; the image is distorted.


Sometimes, in ma brian, this kind of thing happens- we can either chose to ignore or embrace it or you can burn me at the steak if you really must