The Headshrinker's Dilemma

Chapter Eight

There was no time to think. Dale had to act. And so, he did. The moment he pressed his hand against the thug’s forehead, he felt it – stronger than ever – the feeling he got when it happened. This time, a sound filled his ears, a whooshing sound, somewhat melodic, thick, hurling like it was moving towards someone, something, fast and hurried. Dale wondered if the sound itself wasn’t death. Right before it happened, an electric charge filled his forearm, wrist and then hand, and then poured from out of his palm. The thug screamed in pain.

Dale’s eyes hadn’t left what was happening with the thug. Although Dale had seen the strange power at work before, he had never really looked at it, like really examined it happen, studied it. This time had been different. Dale could truly say that this time the use of his power had been premeditated and he could literally feel the difference this time around. From the sounds in ear to the sensations through his body, there was something dissimilar to the times he had used the power before. He wondered if the disparate was based on intention and motive, if his emotion and intuition to affect the power.

The thug tried to pull away, but couldn’t. Dale’s hand was like stuck to his forehead and it despite the thug’s determination, although dwindling, there was nothing he could do. Dale’s hand was suctioned onto his forehead and it was pulling the life out of him. The thug began to whiny, whine, whimper while his head slowly began to lose its form.

“Wh – What are you…?” the thug started but the pain took away his ability to speak, and as his head began to cave in, his aptness for speech became less and less.

“Hey…” Dale heard cashier girl’s voice in the distance. “It’s okay… It’s okay…”

He had almost forgotten her, that she was with him, only a few feet away from him. And the other thug. Dale suddenly became more aware of his surroundings and as he did so, he could feel himself losing focus and intention and with that the power began to fade. Dale turned to look at cashier girl. She was next to him, standing with him, her eyes on him. He had expected to see fear, but instead saw understanding and acceptance. Her hands were still tied so she leaned her shoulder against his, she just wanted to be close to him, to touch him. It was nice. But it had also distracted Dale and taken away from his power to shrink heads. He felt his hand fall off the thug. The thug collapsed to the floor.

“Oh my God…” he heard the other thug say from over his shoulder.

Dale turned to him. The other thug stood frozen, close to catatonic but not quite there yet. But everything about him, the languidness of his body, his ashen complexion, and dilated pupils, told them that he was in shock. Dale had the mind to throw his hand on to the other thug’s head. Be merciless. They deserved it. Both of the thugs did. No, all of them did. Even the first one that he had killed. They were killers. f**k it, Dale thought. And he lunged for the other thug, his arm outstretched, his hand reaching.

“No!” cashier girl shouted.

Dale stopped. He held himself back. The other thug caved to the floor, falling to both knees. Tears began to stream down his face and low sobs came from him. The other thug’s chest moved rapidly up and down, heaves and loud whinnies filled the store. The other thug cried violently; it was a sickening sob, like a terribly wounded animal, wrenched through the worse possible pain. But Dale felt no compassion for him. His anger seemed to return and he could feel a surge in his body. Cashier girl had stopped him before but there was something greater stirring inside of him, it was bigger and stronger than her than him; the feeling swelled inside, filling him, it desired desperately to come out, to execute judgement – final judgement. Dale was not a religious person, but he understood much of the feeling. It felt good. Rightness. Righteousness. Dale threw his body forward in a dive, his hand leading the way, palm up. Before cashier girl could say anything or stop him, Dale’s hand smacked against the forehead of the other thug and he fell forward on top of the him.

Tackled. Dale was on top of the thug. This time, it was close to instant: Dale felt the power shoot through him and out of his hands. Next, as a return, he could feel the other thug’s energy, f**k, maybe even life force shoot from him, leave his body. The other thug’s head shrunk fast, he didn’t even have time to plead or respond to the pain. In a matter of seconds, the other thug was dead, his head shrunk and broke off just like his friend’s, the first thug.

Dale rolled off of him. He lied on the ground next to the thug. He breathed a loud sigh of relief, then turned to peer up at cashier girl. She was standing behind him, looming. It was hard to read her eyes, but he feared in looking at her that he had disappointed her. She hadn’t wanted him to do that – to shrink that thug’s head – to kill him. But something came over Dale, he hadn’t felt it before. It was like something was communicating with him, moving him and pushing him, compelling him to mete out judgement. That particular thug deserved to die and Dale didn’t feel any remorse about do it. It was strange.

“Are – Are you okay?” he asked cashier girl.

She didn’t answer. She only turned to look at the thug that was still alive, writhing on the floor, clutching his face and head. The thug’s head was smaller than his body now, oddly shaped, deformed. It was similar to how Felicia’s had been, but more deliberate and definitely more grotesque.

“You should finish him too,” cashier girl said. “Show him some mercy.”

Dale looked at the thug. He had no intentions of showing him mercy. He as a killer. Like his friends, the one he had just executed and the first one who had tried to rob and kill him. Felicia deserved mercy. Not this guy. She was the one that didn’t deserve to have her head shrunk and to be deformed for the rest of her life… But this thug and his friends… Wait. Dale thought about something: the feeling that he had. The righteousness that he felt. When he killed that thug, right before he lunged for him, there was something that had compelled him to act. It felt like a need, like he had to do it. And inwardly, he knew that the thug deserved it. Dale looked over at the guy writhing in pain: he could feel him. He didn’t deserve it. Interesting.

“What is it?” cashier girl asked, seeing Dale’s face.

“They deserved it – all of them,” Dale answered, a sudden revelation dawning on him. “Not him though.”

“What? How? I mean, they obviously sucked at life but –” started cashier girl.

“No – No – No, that’s not it… They all do. That’s – That’s what this is about. This – This is judgement. I can feel it. They all deserved this, but he didn’t.” he continued.

“To have their heads shrunk?” she queried.

Dale paused. She brought up a good point. Why the shrinking of heads? If this was a judgement and he was punishing people who deserved it because they had done something wrong or was just a bad person, then why the shrinking of heads? Not all of it made sense, but Dale was beginning to believe that he had an idea of what some of it meant. He was almost sold on the notion that he had become some kind of executioner – but by whom? And how? There were still a lot of questions that needed to be answered. And the first place to start would be the first person that had been his victim. Felicia.

Suddenly, sirens filled the air. They blared from outside, followed by the sound of screeching tires.

“s**t! Help me get these off, these untied,” he said, referring to his legs still being tied together. “We have to get outta of here.”

Cashier girl hurried over. She began to undo his legs. Dale then undid her hands. Cashier girl looked him. The siren called out to them from outside the store.

“Come on,” Dale said, taking cashier girl’s hand.

They started towards the back, running. The front doors burst open. The police had entered. Their voices boomed through the store, calling out to whomever was in the store. Dale and cashier girl had made it to the back, buying themselves some time. They both were leaning against a wall, their backs flat to it, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“We can’t be here when they find those bodies,” cashier girl said. “Too many people are dead and hurt, on top of all the weird shit.”

“Right,” answered Dale. “But the tapes. And Nancy is still up there – in the video room.”

“Dammit, if we have to get those –”

“Shhh,” Dale put his finger to her lips.

The police were going through the store and at least one of them was getting close to them. Cashier girl nodded and then eased herself off the wall. She led Dale by the hand down a corridor then around a bend. The police were not too far behind. There had to be at least four or five of them. Dale could hear them talking to each other, communicating where to go as they scattered across the store. He heard one radio in that they had found a body – two bodies – one dead and the other (the officer cursed) with a shrunken head?. Cashier girl turned down another corridor. In front of them was a door with a big red EXIT sign on top. This was it, thought Dale. They were going to escape.

“Come on!” she said, pulling him.

They raced down the hall towards the EXIT.

“STOP!!!” a voice called out from behind them.

Cashier girl didn’t look back but Dale could help himself. It was a policeman, his gun drawn. Then another one behind him. Cashier girl kept running, pulling him along. Dale heard two sounds: the door bursting open and then the loud boom of a gun being fired. A second later, they were outside the building. The late night/early morning cold air hit them. They turned to each other. He looked at. She smiled. But there was something off about her smile. Something…

Cashier girl collapsed to the ground. The gunshot. Dale fell to the ground with her. Blood suddenly soaked her clothes. It was her shoulder, no collarbone, Dale couldn’t tell. Dale ripped the collar on her shirt, pulling it to her shoulder. There. They had hit her right in between the collar bone and shoulder, above the chest and a little to the right. She was in shock, the pain and the blood loss no doubt. f**k. He needed to get her to hospital. But the cops would be coming out any minute. f**k. There was nothing he could do. She needed to get to the hospital and there was no way for him to get her there. If he stayed, he would go jail. If he left, she would go to the hospital but she could go to jail. But there was the tapes. They would see the tapes and she would be cleared – she hadn’t done anything wrong. Except fall for him. The thought pained him. He looked at cashier girl one more time. He knew what he had to do. His time was short. He leaned forward and hurriedly kissed her on the lips. She didn’t move. But she was still breathing. Dale made himself stand to his feet. He looked at her one last time and then ran.