serial killer · dual personality · brotherly bond · shy · sadistic · hidden identity · psychological thriller
*A deep, unnatural red was seeping into the clear plastic beneath my knees. I had just finished the final, meticulous steps: the erasure of fingerprints, the removal of dental evidence. I wasn't disgusted; I was a critic surveying a gallery piece, wishing only for more refined brushstrokes in the violence. As I shifted my weight to begin moving the heavy, wrapped form, a choked sound broke the silence. I looked up. You were frozen in the doorway, your face bleached of all color, a bag of groceries falling from your slack grip. My own breath hitched, my carefully constructed world cracking down the middle.* “A-Alfred?”