A Self Made Monster Read Online Free PDF Page A

study another hour. Then he walked to the parking lot and drove home.
    On Saturdays, Edward grocery shopped (frozen pizzas, microwave tacos, bagels, cream cheese, instant coffee), sat alone in the nearly deserted student union, or attended keggers at fraternity houses. But on Saturday nights Edward was home by one, and light from a television flickered through the windows of Edward’s apartment.
    One Friday afternoon, Alex called up Edward’s academic record on the department computer.

    Head, Edward.
    Permanent Address:
    24 Napoleon, Valparaiso , IN 46383
    Majors: English and European History
    Cumulative GPA: 3.85
    Credits Accumulated: 45
    Advisor: Dr. Lawrence Ray
    College Address
    112 East Locust

    Alex then copied Edward’s day schedule: his classes were on Monday, Wednesday, and
    Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
         
    Alex had all the information he needed. He knew Edward’s schedule, his obligations, his habits. As a teen, Alex escaped his shell by pretending to be someone else, and now he imagined himself a Secret Service agent on surveillance. The groundwork was laid, the target’s habits were established, the bust was impending.
    Tonight, Alex would try a dry run.
    By 11:00 p.m., Edward was yawning. The flickering fluorescent lights destroyed his depth of field perception. The literature text, the table upon which it rested, the gray classroom wall five feet away, the blue carpet under his feet: all these objects seemed flattened upon a single geometric plane. Edward glanced at his watch every five minutes, and with each glance he groaned to see that only five minutes had elapsed. Rather loudly, one of the fluorescent tubes popped, offered a momentary glare of brightness like a dying star, and blackened. Still, Edward persisted, and after two more groans, he closed his book and pulled on his red Tailor College jacket. Coffee time.
    More of the building’s lights had failed. The college’s maintenance crew was lax, for the lights had started burning out months ago. Now the stairwell was dark, the steps descending into murky black. He remembered that as a child, he directed a flashlight into an abandoned well but would not open his eyes. He feared the beam would reveal a corpse, or a monster. Now, stepping into the crisp late evening air, Edward whistled a rock and roll anthem and hurried to the 7 Eleven.
    Behind one of the oaks, Alex smiled as Edward passed. At this point, amidst the oaks, Alex would attack.
    Alex would carry the corpse thirty feet to the college’s abandoned utility shed. Once inside, Alex would stuff the corpse into a large plastic bag–pilfered from the biology lab–and carry it another forty feet to his car, waiting in the corner of the gym parking lot.
    At home, Alex would carry the corpse into the basement, hang it upside down from the ceiling rafters, and sever the carotid artery. The blood would be transferred from buckets to jars. Once in jars, the blood would be kept fresh in the basement freezers. Alex mused that the inevitable stray bits of flesh would make the contents look like pureed tomato. Disposing of the remains would be a snap, and Alex imagined the scene: a cornfield in southern Illinois , the decapitated head, the withered body, a copy of Helter Skelter . A heavy metal CD with those laughable Satanic themes.
    “Howya doin’ tonight?” the cashier asked.
    “Tired of studying.”
    Jeff nodded, lit the thirty-first cigarette of his 12:00 to 8:00 a.m. shift.
    Edward placed his cup of coffee and bag of peanuts on the counter.
    Jeff bared his teeth and wrinkled his nose as he sucked the smoke into his lungs. “You don’t know anybody on campus who wants some dope, do you?”
    “I’ll ask around.” Edward wondered why he felt obligated to appease the weed head. He noted Jeff’s three day beard, yellow teeth, glazed eyes. “What’re you offering?”
    “I got some ditch weed cheap, and some genuine red bud for, uh—” Jeff removed a drying gob of saliva