Authors: S. Pratt
RUINING ANGEL (13 page)
He thought he’d concealed his little obsession - that was until Carolyn Faulkner started sniffing around a month ago and found a pattern with his little escapades. He should thank her really – it was almost as if she had presented herself to him for his first grand scale production.
He knew psychologists would talk about it for years to come, trying to analyze his MO and how an individual had arrived at becoming such a monster of a human being, but he couldn’t have cared less about their musings. His addiction far outweighed the fear of being caught. He knew though that he would have to leave town after tonight; Hobart was becoming too small a town for the likes of Tommy and he already had bigger and better things planned. His bags were packed, ready for the trip to the mainland in the morning; now it just came down to executing his careful planning.
He made sure he arrived to work on time as was his usual ritual –
never early, never late. His choice of profession meant that very little attention was ever actually paid to him. Most people looked down on cleaners and he worked this to his advantage. Head downcast, his eyes always observing.
Tommy had a penchant for tattoos, in particular the blazing inferno he had done around the entirety of his torso, although his plain long sleeved work overalls made sure nobody ever caught a peek. Well, there was the one exception when a hooker had turned the lights back on too soon after servicing him. He wasn’t about to leave any loose ends, despite the fact that many people had similar tattoos.
Tommy had seen to it that she had never made mention of it again with a little bonfire in an old oill drum on the rugged west side of Tasmania’s coastline. Boy she had lit up the sky that night. Just remembering the flames and the smell of her burning body gave him an electric thrill right through his entire core.
His obsession with fire had intensified over the years and he wanted to entertain this thrill by pleasuring himself through masturbation.
It gave him the ultimate high and then release after he had indulged in setting something alight.
Tonight, he would have to maintain control until he was safely away from what was sure to be the crime of the decade. He collected his set of keys from the main office, which allowed him access to the janitor’s room where the products he used to clean the State Cinema were stored.
He ignored the other staff entirely, rolling the cart down to the main lobby and started cleaning the large expanse of glass windows that framed the street outside. Although excited, he kept his outward vibe down to a very low hum. There was, of course, the chance that Carolyn wouldn’t have turned up tonight; he had noted that she rarely left the house she shared with her father. But the guise of sending her complimentary movie tickets had apparently paid off as he observed her rushing through the glass doors he was cleaning.
His eyes followed her as she met with an older woman and they made their way into the cinema farthest down the building.
Tommy checked his watch; five minutes until the movie would start. He figured he had time to waste cleaning the bathrooms first; after all, he wanted the star of his production to be comfortably seated before his show began. As the last of the movie goers filed into the cinema, the front foyer became quiet.
As Tommy exited the bathrooms with his trolley, he noticed the only person left in the foyer was the young girl manning the ticket booth. She was more interested in snapping her chewing gum and playing with her iPhone than what was going on around her.
Tommy strolled nonchalantly down the carpeted hallway of the building that led to cinema number three and glanced around before entering through the big double doors. He pushed in the cleaning trolley and let the doors swing shut behind him before waiting a moment while his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He then grabbed the bottle of vodka he’d stored on the trolley the night before.
The movie was in full swing by now - some romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston which had the ladies fully engrossed in yet another hopeless love story plot. Tommy grabbed a large plastic garbage bag and pretended to pick up rubbish from down the side aisles of the cinema, all the while squirting the highly flammable liquid into the carpet. Boy, this place is going to light up like a New Year’s fireworks display. Walking back towards the rear exit door, he noticed Carolyn, on the upper level of seating, get up from her chair and head for the stairs to come back down towards the exit.
No, no, no! He rushed towards the doors. Not tonight baby.
Tonight you’re mine.
He pulled the doors closed behind him with a thud and quickly locked them with his set of keys and squirted the last of the liquid under the door.
He waited; knowing Carolyn would be on the other end of the door in a matter of seconds gave him a rush like never before. With a sudden thought entering his mind, he quickly pulled out his iPhone and selected the camera app that was already installed on the home screen. He changed the camera view to video and pressed record as he aimed it at the door.
This was even better than he imagined it would be, and now he’d have a little memento so he could keep reliving this moment over and over again. Suddenly, there was a bang on the other side of the door. Even though he was expecting it he almost wet his pants, as the sudden thrill of excitement made the hairs on his arms prickle.
Tommy pressed the volume button on the side of his phone; even though the doors were quite thick, he could still faintly hear the muffled voice of Carolyn on the other side.
‘What the hell?’ she said as she struggled with the door handles in the dark. ‘Hello, hello – is anyone there?’
Tommy bit down on his tongue, suppressing his laughter. No one could hear them down the hall and he wanted to keep it that way.
Carolyn was in a panic, banging on the door, desperate for it to be opened.
By now it was evident that she had alerted some of the other patrons for he could hear more voices on the other side of the door. He knew they couldn’t get out any of the other emergency exits – he’d already locked those tight earlier in the day. He didn’t want anyone making any phone calls so he decided the time had come to light the match.
With the video still rolling, he lit the match stick and held it up so it could be captured in the frame. As he lowered it to the fuel soaked carpet he listened more intently than ever to the screams that were about to be unleashed on the other side of the door. The fire caught instantly although the reaction on the other side seemed delayed; it only added to the satisfaction Tommy was getting out of filming the whole thing.
The screams that followed were blood curdling and desperate as an acrid smoke started pooling under the seal of the doors. Man oh man. This was even better than he had been anticipating.
His hands started to shake with adrenalin and he knew he had to get moving before the fire station had time to react to the smoke alarms that had started to blare. As Tommy ran down the hall of the cinema building, the young girl that was at the front ticket booth was running towards him.
‘What’s going on?’ she yelled.
‘Whole building’s on fire; we have to get out now!’ he yelled, shoving her towards the front glass doors of the building. As they fell out onto the street, Tommy started to inch backwards into the crowd that was gathering on the sidewalk. In the distance, the long wail of the fire truck siren could be heard above the commotion and general traffic noise.
By the time the truck actually arrived, the old building was completely engulfed in flames. The carpet had acted as a catalyst and ensured the flames of the fire had licked the insides of the building within minutes. All that would remain would be the outside shell and an unidentifiable charred mess.
With all the commotion, nobody saw the tall lean frame on the street corner a block away. Although dark circles hooded Tommy’s eyes, they shone with pure excitement. He was still filming - albeit from a distance, but he could still clearly see the flames and smoke on the screen of his iPhone. He knew he was going to enjoy replaying the footage later. As the Department of Police and Emergency Management turned up, Tommy left the scene to find his car. While he was reluctant to leave, he did have a long drive ahead of him to Devonport so he could catch the first ferry out to the mainland in the morning.
As Tommy cruised north on the Midland Highway, he had an urge to fulfill the desire he’d been holding back on for the last few hours.
With darkness upon him, he pulled off the highway near Epping Forest and took a side road that led to the nature reserve. He killed the ignition, turned off his lights, and sat quiet in the still of the night. When he was certain he was completely alone, he pulled out his iPhone and went into the photo gallery where he knew his newly acquired footage would be waiting for him.
With the only light coming from the screen of his phone, he fumbled for his belt buckle and un-zippered his fly. He put his hand down his pants and started to grope himself while he pressed play on the screen. It started immediately, the muffled voice of Carolyn could be heard and then the others joining her. The more he watched and listened, the more aroused he became. By the time he watched himself light the fire he was ready to reach the pinnacle of his excitement. As the loud screams and shouts could be heard from the other side of the door, he groaned in ecstasy as he ejaculated. He leaned back in his car seat, satisfied that he had finally fulfilled a desire that had held him captivated for the last year.
He watched the rest of the video in silence then put it safely away in his bag. He cleaned himself up and then made his way back to the highway and continued on north.
Tommy knew he was addicted to fire – he loved everything about it. The only thing on his mind now was his next ‘hit’. That was the thing with an addict of any sort, they always wanted one better than the last.
This is the end of Burning Obsession’s sample. If you would like to read more, please head to the Amazon store for your copy.
Novels coming 2013
‘Sanctuary of Mine’ by S. Pratt
‘Picturing Perfect’ by Melissa Brown
‘Never Goodbye’ by Kerri Williams
