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KING RAT
Chapter 4

“This is almost too easy for you, you know.” He mumbled under his cloak, he was starting to
sound slightly irritated.
“What did you expect? People are naturally easy to manipulate, it’s only the corrupt ones that
are difficult to fool and those people aren’t eligible for this type of game.” I replied. He said
nothing.
“Just give me the next victim would you?” I said, and he sighed. But then, as he dug through
his coat and pulled out the picture, he chuckled slightly.
“Okay, okay. But first I should tell you that the ules are a little different this time, you have to
get your victim to steal only once, but it has to be something rather large and it has to be from
the person closest to them.”
I shrugged, “Alright. Who’s the victim?”
“I wonder how you’ll handle this one.” He murmured, more to himself than me, as he flicked
the picture at me, I caught it and looked.
It was a woman, about fifty years old or so, and she was hanging from the ceiling. Her neck
encased in a kind of make-shift noose out of a bed sheet. Her face was purple and her legs
dangled in the air, and even though it was only a photograph I could hear the silence in that
room, and smell the rotting flesh. No one would have come to look for her.
I laughed slightly as I handed the picture back to him, he seemed surprised.
“I wouldn’t think you’d laugh, considering who you’re next victim was I would think you’d be
racked with guilt at what you were about to do.” I smiled.


“You underestimate me. Why should I feel guilty about corrupting her anymore than I would
anyone else?”
“Well, she is your mother.” He said, looking at the picture once more before putting it back in
his cloak. I looked at him coldly.
“I don’t have a mother.”

He slapped me hard across the face, and I made a note to myself right before I blanked out
to ask him why the heck he did that. When I opened my eyes I was lying on a hard carpet,
staring up at florescent lights, they burned against my eyes and it reminded me of the lights
when I died.
I felt my fingertips brush over the rough grey carpet and there was a vague smell of mildew in
the air, I blinked and tried to focus my eyes away from the lights, I felt a fat sweaty hand touch
my forehead and I sat up quickly.

“Are you okay Marco?” An older woman with glasses and graying hair looked at me in the
eyes, I smirked at her, she was the owner of the hand no doubt. I looked down at her right hand
and snorted, there was a wedding ring.
Hmmph, how pathetic. It’s no good having a crush on this guy who’s body I’m borrowing,
especially when your married. People are pathetic.
She looked confused at my expression and I smiled at her.
“I’m fine.” I said and her confusion was washed away but there was still a worried frown on
her lips.


I ignored her for a moment and looked around the office, she couldn’t possibly be here.
That’s when I saw her, she sat behind a desk, typing rapidly on her computer.
She was the only one who hadn’t stood up when ‘I’ passed out. She didn’t look away from
her computer, and calmly kept typing even as the whole office was asking me if I was alright.
“Well, work is over now, so you should really get yourself checked out.” The older woman
said, looking at the clock. Then she waved goodbye and grabbed her coat, and the entire office
rushed out the door. My mother and I were the only ones left in the office.
Just as she was standing up I slowly ambled over to her. “Hello.” I said and she looked up at
me for the first time.
It was still startling; every time I saw her I was shocked. It was like looking in a mirror, same
white blond hair, same small lips, same small body, same cold expression. She didn’t even look
much older than me really; she had always looked like she was in her late twenties, even
though she must be as least forty two now.
But her eyes were blue, light blue like the sky, where mine were dark like midnight in a cave.
My father’s eyes.
“Hello.” She replied and turned away, she was escaping, my prey. I had to catch her before it
was too late.
“I feeling like a drink, would you care to join me?” I asked, trying to sound polite. She stopped
and turned to look at me.
“You pay.” She said.

We went to a small bar in the cheapest part of town, not my idea of course; she didn’t believe


in spending a penny more than she had to. Even on luxuries, she was a regular at the dingy
place and the toothless bar tender called her by her first name.
I felt my lips twitch despite myself, so this was where all the money went. I always wondered
why we never had any.
“The usual?” The bartender asked and my mother nodded, after he had brought her, her
drink and carefully place a frilly umbrella and exactly four ice cubes in her glass he turned to
me.
“And you?” I named same random drink; I didn’t have any intention of drinking it. I wasn’t
fond of alcohol, I looked over at my mother, she was on her third drink already and her face
was becoming slightly flushed. I picked up my drink and pretended to take a sip. She was a fool.

“Why did you invite me out to drink?” She finally said and I looked at her, she wasn’t very
drunk only a slight blush on her cheeks and the smell of whiskey on her breath gave any sign
that she had been drinking.
“I want to get to know you better,” I said simply and she smirked.
“Hmmm, really now? A young guy like you?” She looked me up and down for a moment.
“You look acceptable, I’m willing to let you ‘get to know me better’.” The cold look she had in
the office was gone, her real face was shining through now. I felt the strongest urge to vomit,
but resisted.
Looking at her calm, complacent face I felt something build up in the back of my throat and
before I knew it I had started talking.
“I heard you’re daughter died recently,” the words escaped my lips before I could stop them.


She looked at me wearily.
“Ha, some daughter. Hadn’t seen her since she ran away at sixteen, what did it matter to me
whether she lived or died?” She took another sip of her drink.
“What was she like?”It slipped out again and I resisted the urge to cover my mouth to stop
the questions from spilling out.
“Hmmm, that’s a difficult question. All I know is that I hated her.”
“Why?” Again, it happened again.
She gave me a cold look, “She looked like her god damn father,” She squeezed her glass
tightly with her fist, and if it hadn’t been such a thick glass I’m sure it would have broken.
“Really? I was told she looked exactly like you,” She shook her head.
“That’s what you would think at first glance, but she was no child of mine, those friggin’ eyes.
She would look at me sometimes, with her father’s cold eyes, judging me. His sharp dark eyes
on my face, it was like she was put there to torture me. She thought she was so damn smart,
even if she didn’t say anything.” Suddenly she stopped and looked at me over the rim of her
glass.
“I’m glad she ran away, and I’m glad she’s dead. I hope she rots in hell with all the other
demons.” She crossed herself and took another swig of whiskey.
“Hero.” She chuckled, “He wanted to name her Hero, I said no but he insisted. He said, ‘If she
has a great name she will grow up to do great things’. He was a fool. After he had spent all our
money on his mistresses, he took off with one, leaving me in debt with a four year old child and
not a cent to my name.” Then she smiled almost gleefully.
“He got hit by a truck three months after he took off and I thought ‘there is a God’ but turns


out he made his life insurance out to his mistress. I didn’t get a single cent.” I looked at my full
glass and traced the rim with my forefinger, round and round and round, I watched it and
waited. She was talkative when she was drunk, she’d tell me more, I needed to know more
even though I felt like it was bad for my health to listen. What did I care, I already died once.
“Before he left he used to look at me as if he knew everything, as if he had x-ray vision and
could see into my soul. After a while he started to look at me like that all the time, as though he
knew who I was and didn’t like it. He even told me once, when he was drunk, ‘you’re a
disgustingly selfish and childish woman; every day I wonder why I married you’.”
“I was so happy when our daughter ended up looking like me, I thought of it as revenge, but
then she got his eyes. He laughed when they turned dark, said that even after he left he would
still be watching, criticizing. He used to threaten that a lot, that he would leave us and put us in
such a deep debt that we could never get out in a million years. Even though I knew he hated
me, I never really believed him, he loved Hero so I thought he would stay or at least take her
with him if he left. But he didn’t, he left her with me as his replacement. God how I hated her.”

She drank in silence for the rest of the evening and I brought her back to her place, it was the
same as it had always been. Dark and dingy, with only a single mattress on the floor and a
refrigerator in the kitchen, there was a shower and toilet but they weren’t usually operational
so we had to use the neighbors all the time.
I hated this place almost as much as I hated her; I had never thought I would come back.
“Shtay the night witsh me,” She slurred as I dropped her onto the mattress, she started
snoring as soon as her head hit the pillow.


I didn’t want to stay, not at all. But I didn’t know where this body lived and if I stayed it would
give me more chances to persuade her. I didn’t have a choice.
I sighed and sat down on the floor; I grabbed a pillow of the mattress and tried to go to sleep.
But as soon as I closed my eyes I could hear all the sounds, the familiar sounds, the sounds that
still haunted me at night after I ran away.
Cockroaches scurried across the floor, over my legs, down my arms; I didn’t move I didn’t
make a sound. If I moved that would mean they were real, as long as I don’t move I can pretend
they didn’t exist.
But I couldn’t ignore the rats. I heard a squeak and opened my eyes, three inches away from
my nose was the biggest, fattest, ugliest rat I had ever seen in my entire life. It smirked at me
with its small yellow smile, and it’s beady red eyes looked at me condescendingly.
‘King Rat. Who is it? Me or you?’ it asked.
My eyes snapped open and it was morning, it was only a dream, only a dream. I clenched my
hands and wiped away cold sweat from my brow.
In this entire world I feared only two things, cockroaches and rats.

“You’re still here?” She asked the next morning, looking at me as if I was some criminal who
had snuck into her room at night.
“You invited me.” I replied calmly and she shrugged.
“Well whatever, stay as long as you like I guess. As long as you pay your way I don’t care.”
I sneered at her back, ‘pay your way’ obviously meant ‘buy me booze’ but I didn’t say
anything.

“Do you have any friends?” I asked, the challenge was to get her to steal from someone close
to her; the problem was I never remembered her caring for anyone besides herself.
“Hmph, friends? I don’t need such worthless things.” Just as I suspected, I sighed, this was
going to be difficult.
“I’m getting thirsty, go buy me some beer would you?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s ten o’clock in the morning,” I replied, leaning against the wall.
“Well it’s nighttime somewhere.” She replied and I shrugged.
“Sure thing.” And I went and bought her what she wanted.

I stayed with her for a week like this, everyday at all hours I would bring her something to
drink. She was almost constantly drunk and she talked and talked and talked. She told me
everything, the times she had left me alone for days on end, the time she had locked me in the
closet for two days, everything. The more she talked the more I hated her, at night it was all I
could do to keep my hands from wrapping around her throat, or smothering her with the
pillow.
I still had no idea how I was supposed to win this round, it seemed impossible. She doesn’t
care for anyone but herself, what am I supposed to do? Force her to make friends?

“Why do you spend so much time with me?” She asked one night, sitting on my lap, drunk out
of her mind. I avoided looking at her because it made me want to vomit, when she touched me
I felt my skin crawl but I let her because I had to.
“Dunno.” I replied and she reached a hand up to touch my face, I closed my eyes and forced


myself not to slap it away.
“Well I’m glad, I love you Marco.” I felt something light up in my brain, like a light bulb and I smiled.
“Will you marry me?’ I asked and she smiled.
“Yesh.” She slurred.

We went and got the documents the next day, and we were married by two o’clock in the
afternoon. I made sure that she was very drunk so that I wouldn’t have to sleep with her; there
were many things that I could stand but that wasn’t one of them.
From there it was unbelievably easy. I just stopped buying drinks for her. She wasn’t working
anymore, since she was drunk all the time. She had been an alcoholic before but it was nothing
compared to now, she couldn’t last an hour without drinking something.
It started off with her pawning off her clothes, jewelry, the mattress, the fridge. But then she
ran out of things to sell and she begged me. This all happened in a matter of weeks, it was amazing to me how easily she collapsed, and crumbled. I hated he more than ever.
“Please honey, just a little money.” She said, on her knees. She wasn’t beautiful anymore, her
hair had grown thin and greasy and her teeth were starting to rot from the thousand times she
had thrown up. I smiled at her.
“I hate you.” I said and her eyes widened.
“What?”
“You are stupid, selfish, childish and now you’re not even good looking. I don’t want to look at
you anymore.”
“Marco?” She sobbed and grabbed my leg, “Not you too, oh please, don’t leave me!”