Payback

The sound of a 50's jazz swing song filters into the room of Casey Scherf as his pale eyes with yellow circles around them stared a near hole into the white tile ceiling above him. His hospital bed was only semi-comfortable as Scherf was fond of the high life he had set for himself before he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of thirty-nine. Now only the damaged shell of him remained. His skin was yellowing and was often itchy, he had lost quite a bit of weight over the months since he was notified of his pancreatic cancer. No appetite and he knew nausea mixed in with everything else was probably going to kill him.

'That's okay,' He thought smugly while his abdomen cursed him with stabs of pain he had gotten used to.'I've killed enough people without getting caught and now I have an easy way out.' If his stomach didn't hurt so much he would have chuckled at the thought.

The song was still playing and he recognized it to be 'Beyond the Sea' by Bobby Darin. It had been the song playing while he killed that family of six in a suburban part of Chicago. He smiled at that memory as no one suspected a thing.

"Why'd you do it? Why'd you have to kill us?" The voice was faint but Casey heard it loud and clear. It was a familiar vocal of Timothy Hurkins, but why would he be hearing the boy ask him something he never had the chance to say before the man had slashed open his throat.

That's what he did to the kids while the parents were tormented even more by being cut near arteries just so he could hear their screams of agony for that much longer. He sighed at that.

'Just before their voices died away with them.'

"Yeah, why'd you do it?" That was the girl, Sandra, she was twelve and had woken up just before Casey's already blood stained weapon had descended on her untouched neck. She had nearly warned her parents by screaming.

"You're going to Hell-"That was the male twin, Pace.

"-for killing for the sake of enjoying a kill." The female twin, Laura finished. Casey had never really liked twins for that reason. They had been the first to go.

'Hell?' He thought while he remembered what Pace had said. Scherf had never considered that before as his eyes drifted down to the wall in front of him. He noticed the white and light blue plaster was a little faded and torn in some places as the hospital was getting quite old and in need of a make-over.  Then he noticed something else. It would seem that there was a boy that looked just like little Timothy there, just staring at him. Casey just thought he was seeing things until he realized that he could see through the boy.

What happened next actually began to scare him. After Timothy the other owners of the voices he had heard were appearing before his very eyes. Although his eyes were weak with fatigue, he could still see the slashes on the children's throats. The parents popped up beside them looking even worse.

'Maybe Hell wouldn't be so bad.' Scherf considered as he attempted to ignore that he was hallucinating. Why wouldn't that song stop playing? It was starting to get really creepy. Had it been replaying itself over and over again this whole time?

"Excuse me, Nurse." He called, but no one answered, his voice falling on deaf ears. Casey thought it only figured he'd be paying for his deeds now while he was ill and dying with no nurse or doctor to aid him.

"Nurse!!!" He cried out again, more urgently this time.

"No one will help you." Said Timothy, dried blood patched his neck and just looking at the usually adorable boy made Casey even more nauseated than the cancer had.

"Just like you made sure no one helped us." Another new voice sent chills down his spine as he turned to see a nurse walk in. The only problem was she was just as transparent as the others in the room. Her hair was matted and tangled with blood where he had stuck an axe about three years ago. Why were these dead souls popping up now?

That's when he realized the open door. Since it was night, the lights had been shut off, but it didn't matter to him as he jumped up and ran for it. Scherf's legs were weak and aching almost unbearably from lack of use and the weight loss that had affected more than his stomach as he searched for a light switch. When the lights flickered on, he looked around in puzzlement as the sight before him was not that of a hallway, but of another room.

"You can't escape from us, Casey." The nurse intoned, and said man cringed and almost lost his balance. He reached out and curled a shaky hand over the sidebar of the bed in the room, crawling into it at a meticulous and painstakingly slow pace. His bones cracked in protest at the over exertion and he felt dizzy.

Pulling himself into a ball and closing his eyes tightly, he tried to see clearly, but blinking was worse for when he opened his eyes more than just the nurse and the Hurkin family were there. All of his victims over the past ten years were there, staring at him with their dead see through eyes.

"You can't leave here, Scherf. We won't let you." His first victim informed.

"You can't leave anyway." Another sounded.

"You're cursed to feel the effects of your disease forever."

"You thought death would save you? You're already dead!" A woman cackled mockingly.

"No, there's no way! There must be a way out! It can't be like this! Let me out!" The once cocky serial killer bellowed desperately.

Laughter and vengeful cries filled the room before the lights went out.