Just right
A short story by Kenneth Tupper
The feeling is like a craving. It is like something inside, burning through every pore; the restless feeling of need, of dependency. It cries from inside, wanting to come out and devour all flesh that it may encounter. It knows it should not be here. It knows it is in a place where it is not welcome, not even expected. It didn’t want to be here but it just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The feral nature of its craving was what fed the fire inside. The cold winter air could not quench the heat, and the pain was real. As soon as the transformation begins, reality becomes nothing but an afterthought. The much too real pain of this inner flame required that it kill. One kill was enough. The taste of raw flesh, blood still coursing through veins and capillaries, dripping on its hands; it was purifying, satisfying, intensely cathartic. But there would be no redemption without guilt, and any emotion or feeling in its current state would no longer exist when it returned to human form. The pain from the fire that ravaged it was but a minimal cost compared to the agony of knowing it could not survive without the sacrifice it was about to make to save itself, but still, it was just too hot. Too hot. a As Mondays go, Inspector Steeven Bear thought this one was pretty much average, leaning towards mediocre. Nothing really significant had happened over the weekend, so he expected a pretty slow day. Not a great prospect for a workaholic. Slow weekends were one thing; household chores could fill that quite nicely. A slow workday was another thing altogether. Soporific administrative tasks were not his idea of a full schedule. As he was entering the elevator, his BlackBerry had chimed; text message. It was an emergency. This, he knew, because he had configured the application with various sounds in order to filter calls. He didn’t take it just yet. He felt it rude to access his phone in a crowded area, so, in