Fuckin' Alive
Short Story (fiction)| Three Women Looking To Kill
The Trio
“We should do it. Kill him.” Isa said her big doe eyes squinting as if to punctuate the thought.
“Yeah yeah we can. But who and why?” Janice nods enthusiastically as she asks the question.
“Don’t you just get sick of the bullshit I mean? The bills, the anxiety, the mistreatment. I wish I was like not dealing with it, you know what I mean?” Tina looked past the two girls like they weren’t even there as she chews on her bottom lip rolling the flesh like it could ease her anxiety.
“Yeah yea… I mean duh, but like I also really like being alive. Well actually, hmmm idk now that I think about it”
“That’s why I was saying we should kill him!” Isa interjects.
“Girl, him who!? You really starting to piss me off now—“ Tina snaps.
“Oh, yes yes… right, Alive.” Isa says.
“Alive?” Janice and Tina both say sharing confused glances.
“Yeah guys, I—just saying if you hate being Alive so much we should kill him.”
“Um… girl, how you know it’s a him?”
“Well, only a guy can fuck you like that am I right?”
The trio nods enthusiastically and mutter in agreement.
“So… are we doing it or….?” Isa asks.
“Hell fucking yea. Let’s kill that fucker.”
They climb into the car. Isa takes the passenger seat. Tina stretches across the back seat, and Janice peels out of the parking spot. The trio drives slowly through the streets. Every now and then Tina pops her head up and asks them what’s taking so long.
“We’ll know. We’ll know. Trust me,” Isa states. Janice nods in agreement.
It’s after 10 pm. They’d been driving for two hours. They found themselves close to a park.
“Slow down Janice. I— I think it’s him.”
The car sloths its way close to the guy seated on the bench. He is portly, face round and red, clothes a little too tight. He has a thick head of hair that is in sharp contrast to his clothes. It looks like he spent several hours shaping the swoops in his hair. It gleams under the harsh light of the street lamp.
“Hey Mister!” Isa yells startling him. He pushes his glasses up, a nervous habit.
“Can we ask you a question we are a little lost?” Isa continues.
“Lost?” he mutters, but it is too low for them to hear him.
“We can’t hear you, man. Speak up or come closer… Please,” she tacks on to ensure he knows she has some manners.
He has always hated loud conversation. He could not remember the last time he raised his voice. He struggles to get his ass off the bench and makes his way to the car. Tina slips from the back seat and out the door facing away from him. The car idles.
He approaches, and a large grin breaks out across Isa’s face. She whispers to Janice. “It’s him, Jay!! It’s him.”
Tina sneaks around as he closes the distance between the bench and Isa. He leans in, and Isa takes note of the softness of his cheeks, the beads of perspiration on his forehead, and the way he tries to avoid eye contact like a weak little pussy. He smells like lotus blossoms, baby powder, and anxiety, a lighter scent than what she’d expect from a man of his demeanor. She expected him to reek of sour sweat, so it unsettled her a little, the softness of his cheeks and the powdery ripeness of his anxiety.
“Good evening, where are you trying to go?” he asks and she has to lean in to catch the words tumbling out of his mouth like sands of time.
“Oh, right right right. We were trying to find our way to um to—“
“We trying to get to Trouvés, the new Michelin star restaurant. You wouldn’t know it would you?” Tina jumps in.
“Ah, of course, Trouvés is a delightful spot but you ladies are so far from there. Is your reservation soon? I could call and well you know not to brag or shame you all, or you know…, but I am close friends with three of the chefs and well the owner is somewhat of a relative… I wouldn’t want you all to miss out—“ he strings the sentences together with the same softness of his scent. It kind of pisses Isa off again, his baby powder tenderness.
Tina slaps him over the head with a sock full of pennies once, twice, and then his massive body leans into the concrete for a kiss. The last thing he registers is the scent of copper and the wind whooshing past him; a whale diving into concrete waters.
Alive
When he finally wakes up the first thing he feels is the hardness of the floor beneath him. He then registers the coarse rope around his ankles and wrists. It was quite dehumanizing to be trussed up like this. He felt rage, shame, and worry wash through him each emotion a larger wave than the last. He did not expect three young women to be up to this when they approached him. He went to speak but found his throat was so dry. He tried swallowing, but even his spit was dust and he wondered if it was the side effect of some drug they gave him or just the nerves, the fear, the fuckedupness of it all making his mouth a wasteland.
The ropes meant he had nothing to do but stare at the ceiling. It didn’t take long before he heard them.
The three shift between cackling, hooting, and rehashing details of the event. He can smell the ashy earthen scent of marijuana from his resting spot on the floor.
“—but I’m close friends with one of the chefssss,” one of them mocks his earlier statement, and the group breaks out into cackles again.
“What a stupid fuck!” another one of them barks out between chortles.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. Did you see the way his ass went down when Tina hit him with dem pennies?” another says. “Tina girl, remind me to sign your ass up for shotput or baseball club or something.”
“HER STRONG ASS,” more laughter fills the air, and someone coughs and coughs.
“Oh shit, I think he’s up.”
The three enter the room, and he gets a chance to really look at them.
The one who was in the passenger’s seat had a spliff dangling from her plump, bright pink lips. The other one is shorter by a head and looks too young to be here. Her hair is a black mass of nervous energy. The last one must’ve been Tina, the one who whacked him. She has green eyes and angry eyebrows. Together they look like rage and beauty; he just couldn’t fathom why they’d want him of all people.
“So you’re finally up huh?” Isa says, taking the spliff out of her mouth to sneer. “We almost thought we killed you even though that’s kind of the point. We wanted to talk first. Make sure it’s you and all that jazz.”
“Wait, I thought you knew it was him?” the driver asks.
“Girl!” Tina says.
The three began to bicker, ignoring him again. He cleared the dust from his mouth.
“What!” The three yelled and turned their gaze down at him.
He wishes he could melt into the floor. He wishes he could rewind and stay home today. He needed to clean the fridge and could’ve been deep into his novel. Anything would’ve been better than the coarse rope around his arms and legs. This is not how he pictured being with three women in a basement would be… not that he’d ever admit he had pictured a similar scenario once or twice during self-pleasure. His cheeks became tomatoes at the thought.
“I-I’m sorry ladies. I don’t, I don’t think I’m whoever it is you think. I, my name is—“
“Irrelevant, that’s what,” Isa says. “Aint, you fucking Alive?”
“Well I mean yes technically I am Alive… and well I—”
“Alright, then you’re exactly who we were looking for,” She says again after taking another pull from her spliff. She passes it to Tina.
“What the fuck is your problem mister don’t you see the shitty place you have us in? I mean, like metaphorically, but also like actually the vibe has just been off lately, you know?” the short one says.
“Omg Janice, heavy much? Meta phor rically?” Isa says chopping up the last word with a dash of annoyance. She rolls her eyes and stoops to meet him.
Up close, her pink lips were as distracting as her saucer-wide eyes. He catches icicles there anytime he looks at her. She stares at him as if searching for some answer to a question only he knows. He continues to avoid holding her gaze. The other two stand behind her, taking turns pulling in smoke and exhaling. From this angle, it looks like smoke is coming out of Isa when one of them exhales.
“Well, you heard him. He’s Alive. We should fucking kill him. Yeah?” Isa says still trying to pin his eyes down long enough to dig around his head and his spirit.
“I meannn, yes, but what are we gonna do with the body? Also how?”
“What kind of stupid fuck question. Girl everyone knows you have to do it with a knife bullets don’t work,” Isa snaps.
“Who is every one that knows this?” Tina responds. “You keep saying everyone knows things that one billion percent is not an everyone knows type of thing. You just making this shit up?”
“One billion percent Tina?”
“Girl, don’t start with me.”
The three start bickering again.
“ENOUGH YEA!” Isa screeches “I have the knife, we have the guy, we all gotta do it together or it won’t work,”she pulls a knife from her purse, which matches the soft blue of her crop top.
“Is this an everyone-knows type of thing again?” Tina asks.
“Tina you wanna go outside and fight? Cuz I’m about sick of your shit today,” Isa states pointing the knife at Tina.
“You bitches need to fucking focus. Focus!” Janice says stepping between the two. “Why are y’all even going back and forth? He’s the enemy.”
“I’m not. I was just trying to help you all find your way,” he says.
“And how’d that turn out for you since you know so fucking much?” Tina says closing the distance between them and giving him a quick kick in the belly. He gasps from the sudden violence and tears pool in his eyes.
“Are you… are you about to cry?” Isa asks. Janice giggles.
“Oh shit, he really ‘bout to cry. He weeps!”
“What a fucking pussy.” Tina spits on the ground before him. “Can’t give directions and can’t take a swift kick to the gut either. Useless.”
“Let’s get this shit over with. I got work and I can’t spend all night playing games with this fool.” Isa says
“Wait, but you never told us what happens when we kill him,” Janice interjected.
“He dies that's what. Now stop asking me stupid shit and come closer. You too Tina.”
On any other day, he would be glad to have three women towering above him like this. He would take time to enjoy the definition of their legs, the soft skin between the edge of their crop tops and the waistband of their too-short shorts, the curve of their breasts, even the dainty beauty of their fingers wrapped around the knife. It filled him with shame that he enjoyed the position he was in. The more he tried not to think about the way their fingers curled around the knife, the more heat rose in him, and he could feel the blood rushing even as his death approached. Perhaps he had nothing to live for anyway. Perhaps there were worse things than being stabbed to death by three hot young women.
“Girl, I think he got a boner!” Tina shrieks.
“What a freak,” Janice says right before Isa kicks him again in disgust. He tries to find the words to explain, but he can only turn his head to the side to avoid looking any of them in the eye.
“Ready?” Isa asks
“Wait, what if we keep him and make him treat us better?” Janice asks.
“You think Alive will do what we say?” Tina says.
“I mean why not? If it’s that or death… then maybe,” Janice replies.
“Shut the fuck up we are not keeping this red-faced fucker with a hard-on breathing,” Isa states.
“I don’t wanna die I’ll do whatever, please. Please,” he pleads with more vigor than anything he has said since getting off the bench. They raise the knife together as he locks eyes with Isa holding her gaze. She flinches.
“Wait, maybe, maybe we can keep him instead you know. Maybe it’s worth giving him a chance to act fucking right.”
“Yes, yes a chance.” Janice and Tina nod in agreement.
“It’s a lucky day,” Tina pokes him with the front of her shoe.
“It is,” Isa says stooping down and tracing the sharp edge of the knife from the corner of his left eye to his oral commissure.
“Thank you,” he whispers tears streaming down his face.
“Mmhmm,” Isa says catching a teardrop on the knife and bringing it close to her face. “We should bottle his tears they could be good for a spell or two. Or we could sell it later if he completely fails us.”
“Girl, you know damn well you ain’t no witch and you don’t know no spells,” Tina says.
“Tina take my dick out your mouth you been hating all day I’m so sick of it.”
“Here we go again,” Janice says as she brings the spliff to her mouth again. “Hey boner boy, you want to live help me stop these two from bickering every five seconds how about that.”
She doesn’t wait for an answer. She turns and follows the sound of Tina and Isa bickering in the other room. They turn on the music and go back to their hoots and cackles. On the floor, he is muttering a prayer of thanks and a prayer of salvation. He knows the answers he just needs them to listen. He just needs some time. He knows the answer he just needs to find the words.
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Hope you all enjoyed this one. I admit I’ll probably revisit this one. I feel like there’s more there.
TELL ME:
Would you keep him alive (hahahahaha)? What was your favorite part of the story? Did the dialogue sound natural? Believable? Which character was your most favorite and why? Least favorite and why?
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Omg. I need more. 😫 sooo good!!! You inspired to write some horror fiction too. I've been kicking around an idea for a few years now, only recently wondering if it belongs on substack. You've opened the door and im gonna dance thru it. Thank you!!!
Also I'm gonna be glued for the next ones. I kinda liked the pathetic guy the most lol. I want to know what his history is!
this was a ride. I'm curious to know Alive's fate