I track him
Through the woods
Down the path
Into the house.
(It’s not his house – it used to be hers.)
He wears
Sheepskin, sometimes
Or old lady’s clothes
Proudly, like a suit
It is what he wears to go to work.
The blood is already
On the floor
Feathers from the mattress
Like he’s been slaughtering
Chickens.
(It wasn’t chickens)
Axe blade
In the air, glinting in the sunlight,
Like starfire, like salvation,
Maybe he flinches like the mangy, cowardly animal he is
Wearing a bloodstained dress
Or maybe he takes it like the man he –
– isn’t. Head on the ground
Stomach cleaved like fruit
Body parts spill out, mangled
My prize.
I’ll skin him.
(Maybe make a cloak.)
Katie Gray is an author of science fiction and fantasy based in Scotland. She has a masters in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh. Her work has appeared in Freak Circus, Microtext 3, an anthology from Medusa’s Laugh Press, and in Shoreline of Infinity, Scotland’s dedicated sci-fi magazine. Her short story 3.8 Missions was reprinted in Best of British Science Fiction 2017.