Black Sun by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 25

From an early age, he was seen as different and judged as such throughout his life, even into his twenties. In school, he had been bullied mercilessly but at some point during his teens, Eli had finally had enough. One day between classes, he was confronted by the most belligerent boy in school, someone who lashed out at the small and weak as an act of cowardice and after slapping him across the face, Eli snapped. The results were shocking, even to those looking on who had seen many fights break out among those who could only wish for manhood. By the time the two were pulled apart, Eli had sustained only a welt on the side of his face. The bully, however, had been carried with a broken jaw, a swollen eye, and several missing teeth. Although the boy had been successfully beaten down, it was Eli who would suffer the repercussions, with a three-day suspension and a lengthy conversation with the school’s guidance counselor. But in spite of this punishment, Eli had been transformed and finding his power, vowed never again to be pushed around, and would gain the upper hand whenever possible, always throwing the first punch. But there was something else, something that surprised him. He enjoyed it, seeing the tears, hearing the crying and as he became more violent, listening to the words 'Stop it! Get off of me!'

His thoughts became more violent as he became obsessed with the idea of hurting others and began hunting down those in school that had taken such pleasure in harassing him. In fact, Eli would skip classes in order to stalk his new prey. With the element of surprise, he’d kick their feet out from under them, watching with a grin as they landed face first on the floor of the hallway. Seeing a pool of blood spread out from beneath their face was something he found arousing. But he wanted more. His rage had found a purpose and soon Eli began to target not just the guilty but the innocent, younger kids and sometimes girls, taking great pleasure in seeing the look of fear on their faces. He had quickly gone from being the victim to victimizer and the school, having had enough, finally expelled him. However, this did not deter him as he sought other hunting grounds and new victims, lives ripe for the taking. But he had to learn to be cautious as there was another player in the game. The Albany police had been keeping a watchful eye on him, even before his expulsion from school, and they fully expected his behavior to escalate into an uncontrolled rampage of mindless violence, perhaps taking a life. But they could do nothing to prevent the inevitable, and would only intervene when a crime had been committed. Any forensic psychiatrist would describe Eli as being highly intelligent, creative and independent as well as displaying a complete lack of empathy, a typical psychopath.