Many believe that rebirth is a process of reincarnation, imagining a clear picture of a Phoenix rising from the ashes. But sometimes rebirth is just a click in the head. One person turns into a completely different person. Or maybe this is just madness?
Little Layzie
A large man with an kind expression was closing the gate behind him at the shop where he had worked for over a decade. It was Friday. The other workers had already left for the bar or home, and he turned off all the machines, checked the switchboard room, closed all the doors, and only then got ready to leave. It was Lazie Martinez, the local guy that everyone joked about. His name alone made everyone smile. Layzie. How could his parents name a guy a girl’s name? Maybe they wanted a girl. Or maybe they knew what kind of character their son would have? Either way, they were right on the money with the name. No, he wasn’t lazy. It’s just that Layzie grew up a weak-willed, quiet kid who was always on the sidelines. He was made fun of in high school, college, and now at work. Little Layzie was what they always called him, although no one would call another 220-foot man Little. But he never took offense and only smiled kindly when another joke flew in his direction. Usually, Layzie would go home from work, eat dinner and watch old movies before falling asleep in the empty house. But on Fridays, he wanted something special, so he’d go to the bar. Sitting at a table in a dark corner, he would watch the other customers. Layzie would just sit and watch, drink a soda, and then go home. But this time, he came to the bar for a different reason…
Meeting a girl
When Layzie looked into the bar, there weren’t as many people there as there usually were on a Friday. Most of the men had probably gone home to watch the NHL finals. The bar was only showing soccer, and that was on a small TV. Looking around, the man in glasses noticed a cute girl at a table by the window. He felt confident and… almost approached. But the confidence disappeared very quickly, so Layzie just sat down at a neighboring table and looked at the menu. He sat like that for about 15 minutes, and then he wanted to take a soda, drink it and leave, but there was a surprise. The girl was the first to speak to him:
– Mister, you wanted to ask me something?
– Oh, ahem…uh, me? I wanted to. I mean, no. I mean, why would you think that? – Layzie couldn’t get a couple words together out of surprise.
– Well, I noticed the way you were looking at me, – the girl smiled.
– Oh, no, I couldn’t… I was looking at the menu. Maybe once. I mean, I wasn’t staring at you. It was an accident. I’m sorry! – he was embarrassed and confused, and the girl liked that.
– I was expecting a friend of mine, but she got sick. Probably forgave her ex-boyfriend again, and they are making up on the bed in her bedroom, – the beautiful blonde continued the conversation, – So I’m alone in the bar tonight, just like you. Or are you expecting someone?
– No. I’m not expecting anyone. I was just leaving.
– Oh, that’s too bad. Well, goodbye, then.
Layzie realized this was his chance. It was the first time a girl had ever spoken to him first and seemed so nice. Not one joke in his direction for three minutes. He couldn’t just pick up and leave. Not this time.
– I changed my mind about leaving, – Layzie smiled and walked over to the stranger’s table, – I actually wanted to meet you as soon as I walked into this bar. But …
The pause lengthened, and the girl tried to guess:
– Change your mind?
– Oh, of course not. I just, well, I was shy, – Layzie blushed and when he realized it, blushed even more.
The girl’s smile became even nicer. She held out her hand and said:
– My name is Vanessa. Vanessa Cook. Came to visit my friend a week ago. And you are?
– I’m Layzie Martinez, – the man immediately prepared for jokes about his name, but none came.
– Nice to meet you, Layzie.
– Nice to meet you, too.
They sat and talked about nothing. The man felt like he’d known Vanessa for years. She was as easy and pleasant to talk to as no one else. But there was an uneasy feeling in his gut. He had been preparing… but he wasn’t preparing for this.
Voices
– Excuse me, I have to powder my nose. You and I had a great time, and I wouldn’t mind if you walked me to the bus stop, – Vanessa winked and went to the ladies’ room.
Layzie should have been the happiest man on Earth. But he had those strange voices in his head again. He’d been hearing them for over a year now. They were saying bad things. The voices convinced Layzie that no one wanted him and everyone tolerated him just for jokes. One voice told him to kill himself. Others were telling him to kill someone. He tried not to listen to them, but gradually they became more insistent. Now they wouldn’t shut up either.
– Shut up!!! – Layzie said too loudly and looked around (no one was looking), – I don’t want to do this. No! She’s different. She won’t hurt me. And I won’t hurt her. Can you please stop talking?!
Vanessa came out of the restroom and as she approached the table, she asked:
– Is everything okay? You don’t have a face on you? Did something happen while I was gone?
– No, I’m fine. I just remembered something. I’ve forgotten what it was.
– Well, we can go now, if you don’t mind. I’d like to catch the last bus.
Layzie paid for a light dinner. Then he helped his new acquaintance into his coat, and they left the bar together. In his pocket, the man clutched a syringe tightly….
The triumph of madness
Layzie and Vanessa walked down the dark alley and were silent. It seemed to the girl that something was wrong with her new acquaintance. Maybe he had gotten a phone call with bad news or something else had happened. She didn’t know and was too shy to ask. It didn’t take long to get to the bus stop. That’s when the girl heard Layzie’s restrained cry and a single word, “I’m sorry.” Something pricked her neck and everything became like a blur.
He carried her on his shoulder and cried. Like an executioner who’d been ordered to kill someone close to his family. At the end of the alley was a path that led to Layzie’s house. He made his way there stealthily and quietly, so he was unlikely to be noticed by anyone.
Once down in the basement, he gently lowered the girl to the floor and sat down next to her. She was supposed to pass out for an hour or an hour and a half, so he had time. He was getting ready, after all…
There was a real battle going on in Layzie’s head. He was screaming and crying and hitting himself on the head. He wanted to beat those voices away, but it was impossible. At one point he rushed to the phone and started dialing 9-1-… dropped it. He couldn’t do it. Just like he couldn’t kill himself and end it all. Something finally snapped in his head. A click. And Layzie was gone. The same Layzie who smiled sweetly and didn’t respond to jokes about him. Someone else took the helm. There’s been a REBIRTH. Layzie had been reborn into someone else. And this other Layzie had planned this all along. Now it’s time to execute the plan…
Torture and death
The blonde girl began to slowly come to her senses. The picture was still out of focus, but she could move her arms and legs. The tranquilizer had acted sharply and harshly, so the consequences were severe. It took at least half an hour before Vanessa realized she was in some kind of basement. Her arms and legs were shackled with straps from which chains led in four different directions. This was roughly how people were quartered in the Middle Ages. She wanted to scream “Help!” but only a long, unintelligible cry escaped her chest. The doors opened. Layzie came in. But it wasn’t him anymore. Either he was so skillful at playing the kind and simple guy back at the bar, or he had changed so drastically. At first Vanessa wanted to ask him to let her go, but she realized it was useless. There was a psychopath standing in front of her.
Layzie silently walked to the table next to the restrained victim. Turning on the desk lamp, he showed her what she feared most. The table was littered with dirty sex toys, BDSM paraphernalia and edged weapons. This man was indeed turning out to be a sex maniac and pervert. But how could she not see that? She was a psychologist…well, a child psychologist, but still. Vanessa held her breath and watched the silent psycho. She was very much afraid of pain, and even more afraid of death. Her body shook with fear, but she tried not to show it.
A strange man with glasses approached Vanessa, looked at her naked body (he had cut off her clothes at the very beginning and had already collected them in a plastic bag). He twisted some sort of crank and the chains parted a little more, hurting the girl. That made Layzie smile. It was a devilish smile. He picked up a whip from the table and started spanking Vanessa hard. Not aiming, just wherever it hit. The blows came on her beautiful ass, her small natural breasts, and even between her legs. After each blow the girl cried out and twitched, which hurt her even more. But that only pleased the maniac. He whipped her with a whip, and then took a birch rod in his hands. It would have been better if it had ended with the whip. After each lash, the poor blonde was left with bloody marks on her body. When she nearly passed out, Layzie stopped and went to the table. The choice was a dildo tied to a long stick.
– You better get wet, and as soon as possible, – growled the one who until a couple hours ago had been a kind and shy man named Layzie.
– No, please, not that, – Vanessa begged the maniac to stop, but it didn’t help.
Comfortably nestled between her legs, the bespectacled man began to shove the dildo insistently into the blonde’s vagina. She screamed and tried to squirm, but it hurt even more. As much as it hurt and disgusted her, Vanessa relaxed and then the dildo entered her fully. It slid in and out. Faster and faster. It made the girl moan.
– Yeah, so you’re a whore like the rest of them, – Layzie concluded, – All you want is money and big dicks. I’ve known your kind. They laughed at me. But now they’re all going to pay for it.
He abruptly pulled out a sex toy and placed it against the blonde’s anus. The dildo was already coated with her vaginal lubricant, so it entered her ass better. Realizing that it was useless to scream, Vanessa just accepted what was happening. Soon Layzie got tired of fucking the girl in the ass, and he went to the table, muttering something to himself. This time he had a scalpel in his hands. Vanessa twitched as hard as she could:
– No, please! You don’t have to do this! I didn’t do anything to you. I won’t say anything to anyone. Just let me go, please.
– I’ll think about it, – Layzie said calmly, and ran the scalpel down the girl’s leg.
Blood immediately ran in a small trickle down her leg and began to drip onto the floor. As if studying the wound, he looked at it for a long time, and then made the same incision on the other leg. The maniac was about to move higher… to the blonde’s pussy, but then changed his mind and switched to her arms. As he made a couple more cuts, Vanessa, screaming in pain and shock, passed out. But Layzie didn’t care. He made a small incision, watched, then made another and watched again. He was executing his plan and he was loving it. Everything was going exactly the way he had envisioned it when he was just a voice in that weakling Layzie’s head. Now he was in charge. Thanks to the REBIRTH. He can do whatever he wants and he’ll get away with it. Because he’ll be careful. And who would ever suspect a quiet and sweet man like Layzie of wrongdoing?
With those thoughts in mind, he slashed almost the entire body of the blonde hanging from the chains. The blood on the floor was getting bigger and bigger. It was unlikely she’d come to her senses yet. Time to prepare plastic bags and plenty of disinfectant. As he walked towards the door from the basement, Layzie heard the piercing scream of Vanessa, who still managed to wake up for a moment. It was her last scream. Anyone, even the most violent and freaky person, would have flinched at that scream. But not Layzie. He didn’t even turn around. He just walked away. And when he returned, there was a corpse hanging from the chains, which had to be disposed of carefully and quickly.
Workday
A quiet man with glasses was drinking coffee and eating a bun during his lunch break on Monday. All everyone was talking about was some monster who had chopped up a poor girl and thrown her corpse in a bag off a suicide cliff. Only he hadn’t commented on it in any way, and there was nothing unusual about that. He was being his usual self… secretly watching Rachel – the girl from the dining room. She, too, had once laughed at him….