Screaming Bloody Murder

     Months of meticulous and precise practice and implementation I think I've finally figured out a way to capture and kill the killer known as 'Herco'. Now my methods may not have been all that ethical or wise, in that I've become somewhat of a serial killer myself, but it is through this method acting and investigation that I know all of his tendencies and all the clever little quirks that make him tick. You see he likes to toy with victims first, but he is prone to pragmatic and over-the-top speeches straight out of a has-been's acting career. For him it wasn't about the kill, it was about the theatrics and I planned on exploiting this window by baiting him. It was quite difficult to get someone willing to try this but through what I like to call innocuous omission, since lying is such a harsh word, I will have a 'friend' abducted except they have no idea that I'm leading them straight to Herco. The thing is that like Herco I want the show to be perfect and if the person gives any inkling of being a mere set up then the whole thing is screwed up. Let's get going though, tonight's the night and while I'm not particularly proud of the preceding events sometimes you just gotta break a few eggs to get an omelet ya know?
     "And Welcome to!...the theater!" Herco bellows out like a cartoon villain, this guy is such a hack, pardon the phrase. His 'lair' is an old abandoned theater downtown that was vacated in the twenties. He has done some renovations over the years now seeing as it has a full lighting and everything. Herco straps his victims down in the front row while he parades across the stage doing a monologue of how he is helping the theater and people aren't ready for his art yet. I've carefully positioned myself atop the scaffolding where the curtains are hung and awaited the perfect time to launch. It was easy to tell when he began to near the end though, his breaths were shortened and his gestures more grand. With the amount of time all of his prep work took he might as well just kill his victims with boredom, damn near killed me that way tonight but now is not the time for whimsical jokes I'm closing in on the opportunity. However, in a move I didn't prepare for as he went to the side of the stage he pulled hard on the curtain bring down the railing and me with it. I coughed heavily trying to catch my breath, damned shoddy construction, and soon he was towering above me.
     "You really thought you could catch and kill Herco?" he smiled, I never noticed how thick his Russian accent was until I really heard him talk. He then muttered something about me not being ready for his work and thankfully because of research I knew his plan was to mercilessly beat my face in. Herco liked to doll out punishment based on their quality as an "audience" better people got a more artsy finish...others were simply pummeled. So, when he drew an arm back to deliver the blow I rolled back getting to my feet pulling out the knife I had brought, so much for a simple kill. Herco was surprisingly mobile even being slighter larger and a bit older than I he kept up well. Unfortunately our battle turned into a tiring back and forth as we both bobbed and weaved appropriately and I was quickly losing interest. At one point I called a quick stop and tried to call a truce, I was answered with a quick jab to the temple and a even quicker fall to the floor. Well, it was over for me and I awoke a few hours later strapped in with a few new victims and pain in my legs and arms. I looked at my legs and arms, Herco had turned me and the others into marionettes and the tendons were slashed preventing us from moving. However there was no pain, each of us had gotten a pretty good dose of morphine because you can't have your puppets screaming bloody murder during the show after all. It looks like I'm now worthy of the artsy kill after all, which meant the surprisingly strong Herco would dance us around weapons super-glued into our hands reenacting famous death scenes. I get to be Claudius from Hamlet, lucky me.