By Reason of Insanity

He sat in the room, handcuffs on his hands, in a chair, waiting for the people. They said the men would be with him shortly, but it seemed to take a lifetime.1

Poor man was so jittery and so scared. There were small, scattered cuts on his frail, thin body and his hair was greasy, messy, and chunks have been torn out.2

Finally the door clicked and two men quietly came in. The first one sat down. "Alright, bud," he said, "listen, we're going to have to cooperate together, okay? If you do what we tell you, we can work this out. Now, tell me, does this man look familiar to you?"3

He pulled out a sketch of a snarling, crazed face, the poor man covered his eyes. "It's okay, it's just a drawing, could you tell us if he's a friend of yours?"4

"I see that face every night," the man whispered.5

The first man raised his eyebrows and glanced over at the second man, his arms crossed and sitting in the corner, smoking a cigarette. He mouthed 'put it out' and pointed to the no smoking sign. The second man smashed it with his foot and pulled out another one, placing it behind his ear for later. The first man turned back to the man, "So, he's close to you, right? You see him often?"6

"I wish he'd go away," the handcuffed man said softly.7

"So you know-"8

"Of course he knows, Ryans," The second man interrupted, "He's a freak just like the madman."9

The handcuffed man was crying. "Charlie. Hey, Charlie, look at me, here." Detective Ryans said. 10

Charlie sniffed, he curled up on the chair and started mumbling to himself. The two detectives looked at each other.11

"Alright, boy, you tell us everything you know, right now, unless you want to rot in jail."12

"Johnson," Ryan's mumbled, "be careful with him."13

"The man ain't gonna tell us anything if we just pussyfoot around, we need to add some force, for God's sake."14

"Well, the poor man needs some help, who knows what he's been through."15

Johnson slammed his palm on the table, "We're with the FBI, Ryans, not freaking school counselors! Let me take the chair."16

Ryan's shrugged and stood up. Johnson took the chair across the table from Charlie.17

"Listen good, okay? You better start spilling every little detail you know about this freak," he raised the police sketch, "you better get your story straight and you're going to testify against him. Got that? If you don't screw with us we might just keep you from the Big House. You following me?" Charlie nodded. "Get your jaw flappin', bub." He looked down at the handcuffs bounding him, then at Johnson, he glanced over at Ryans. He let out a shudder and breathed in.18

Charlie and Earl were friends since grade school. They were going to college for engineering. They scavenged up the money to rent a compact house on the outskirts of town with a big backyard and no close neighbors. They liked this place for large parties, loud music, and plenty of booze with no cop interruptions. They were at the top of their game, and graduation was coming before they knew it.19

Charlie was kind of a nerd. He worked hard, had only a few close friends, wasn't much of a sporty person, and liked to be alone once in a while. He was tall and his ribs showed. Rumor got around that he had worms. He had almost no fat, but no muscle, either. Because he wasn't that strong and didn't have much endurance, he was quite peaceful and didn't try to get into any trouble.20

Earl was different. He was the best player on the football team, but he was very aggressive and cause a lot of injuries, none of which he was sorry for. He was taken off because he was too much of a threat, and he was, secretly he was taking steroids. Charlie knew this, but never told because that would only cause trouble with Earl. Besides, someone would probably find out sooner or later.21

Earl also slept with many women on the campus, he was into breaking the rules and being the bad boy. The girls went crazy for that. Charlie knew when he was banished from the house something was up, he never told. But confronted the girls afterward. That only got him a punch in the gut by Earl. So hard it made him toss up lunch. But Charlie was still Earl's friend. Hopefully he'd catch onto Charlie's success and change.22

Along with that, Earl smoke and drank too much. He did illegal drugs, too. Charlie tried to stay away from them so he didn't get any evidence on him. But then again, there were no cops around the house, and Earl made Charlie belong.23

One day, trouble came along. Earl was secretly dating Mallory and was planning to get with her that night. Charlie was in the kitchen when they came into the house, kissing aggressively. That's when Mallory's other boyfriend, Josh, the captain of the basketball team, came barging in. He was infuriated and Earl challenged him to a fight. 24

They fought like lions, no rules and no limit to the pain they caused the other. Neither dared to forfeit, but they were causing unbearable damage. Out of no where, Earl grabbed a large knife from the knife holder and sliced Josh's neck. He fell backward onto the ground, crimson, thick blood came from a fountain of is severed artery. Hes head hung on by a slightly thick piece of skin in the back of his neck. Charlie, unnoticed, threw up.25

Mallory was screaming. She dashed for the exit, grabbing her cell phone. Fast from the steroids, Earl ran and grabbed her. She kicked and shrieked with fright, holding onto the door handle for, literally, dear life. She pleaded rapidly and loudly as Earl carried her up the stairs by her waist. He set her down on the ground and sat on her back. She screamed as he grabbed her head and pulled it forcefully to the side. The loud crack ran straight through Charlie's bones like a mighty rushing wind. He recoiled and shuddered.26

Setting the dead body on the ground, Earl looked around at the tragic mess in the kitchen. He looked over at his friend. "Stop crying, Charlie." He said. Charlie was curled up in a little ball, bawling his eyes out and covered in sick. Earl's white muscle shirt was covered in red and his arms pulsed. The madman run his fingers through his thick hair, "I am so stoned right now," He admitted.27

After Charlie got calmed down, he got up, realizing he pissed himself in his nervous breakdown. "There are two dead bodies in our house," Charlie shivered, "You killed them, Earl, they're dead. What are we gonna do?"28

"There's only one way to get rid of dead bodies without leaving a trace, Charlie. C'mon and help me drag them out to the back."29

They got some tarps and wrapped up the bodies. It wasn't as bad, then, but Charlie still had to wrap a bandanna around his mouth to keep from gagging.30

Out in the back, Earl got the hatchet they used for cutting wood. He unwrapped the tarp holding Josh and raised it over his head. Striking down, he severed Josh's head completely. Blood flowed from the tarp out onto the lawn, where it soaked into the dirt. Earl continued hacking up his body, carefully dismembering the limbs and the parts. After he was done, he put the meat in one large bucket, bones, hair, and clothes in another, and rinsed the tarp deeply with the hose. He did the same with Mallory and Charlie watched it all. He flinched with every strike of the small ax.31

Finally, Earl went into the shed and got some gasoline and matches. He dumped the clothing, bones, and hair, tinted red, into the fire-pit and let two books of matches into a roaring fire. Charlie felt his stomach churn; a repulsive stench filled the air, it smelled like rotting bodies, vomit, and tobacco smoke all together. Charlie had to run into the house and breathe the fresh air there. He went out into the back and cried. Poor Mallory, he thought, Poor Josh, oh my God, this cannot be happening. Earl is a maniac!32

Finally, the clothing and hair was reduced to ash, but some bones still remained in tact. Earl cursed and instructed Charlie to take them and grind them twice or three times if necessary into the small wood chipper while he cleaned the blood from the kitchen. Charlie obeyed, and them stirred the remains in with the ashes. He was tired and very upset and sick as they worked at 2 in the morning, trying to purify the land of any evidence Josh and Mallory were ever there.33

After Charlie thought it was all over, he sighed and went back into the house. Earl stood at the kitchen with a ready tray in his hands. "Charlie," he said, "are you hungry?"34

On the tray was meat. A boatload of meat. Charlie screamed; he knew where it was from.35

"Charlie, you gotta help me with this, there is two bodies worth here, it is every single gram of meat."36

"No! No! I can't do it! I can't eat my classmates!"37

Earl grabbed Charlie and shook him. "You're my friend, Charlie, friends help each other. Pretend it's steak, you like steak, don't you? I cooked it just like that with plenty of garlic."38

Charlie kept crying out, "No!" Earl finally grabbed him and set him in the chair. He grabbed a hunk of meat in his hand. Charlie thrashed around and cried out as Earl grabbed his chin with the other hand. He force fed a piece of Mallory to Charlie, shoving his fingers in his mouth to get him to eat the whole thing. He clamped his hand over his friends mouth and pinched his nose. "Come on, chew, that's good. Swallow it." Charlie shook his head, "Swallow the damn stuff!" The murder victim's flesh slid down his long throat. Earl released Charlie and he coughed and gagged. "Wasn't that bad, now, was it? Come on, eat."39

With tears in his eyes, Charlie grabbed a hunk, he stared at it, then looked at Earl, "I can't do it, just put it in the freezer for God's sake."40

Earl grabbed him, "Listen, Charlie, there can't be any left overs, ever piece has to be eaten tonight. If you aren't going to help me eat them, then you aren't part of the murder. If you didn't help, I can't trust you. If you don't do this, I'm gonna kill you and hack you up and eat you, too. Now start shovelin'!"41

Charlie tried to hold it down as he closed his eyes and ripped at the flesh. He felt hot tears on his face and he watched Earl, quickly wolfing down the flesh with no expression. His blood felt cold as he continued to eat, seeing the roasted pile still to come. 42

When they finished the last piece, Charlie felt like his stomach would burst. He slowly crawled to bed and cried himself to sleep that night. The gory, tragic images playing over and over into his head.43

After that, people started wondering where the most popular kids in school were. "Didn't you hear?" Earl said, lighting a cigarette, "Mallory got a bun in her oven. Josh got her pregnant, they ran off together."44

People believed and Mallory and Josh soon became nothing but a gossipy memory and the energy in Earl and Charlie.45

About three days later, Earl didn't feel good. Everything he ate, he soon hurled up, "Are you having withdrawals?" Asked Charlie, knowing that Earl hadn't been taking any drugs lately.46

"I don't know, everything I eat, its like my body won't take it." His dark eyes sparkled, "Hey Charlie, come with me to the car."47

They drove down 15 minutes into a more coutry part of the city and they stopped at a run down park. A lone girl, about 8, was sitting on the tire swing, no one was around except her. They parked in the grass and Earl got out of the car and ran up to the girl, "There you are! We've been looking all over for you. Your parents got in an accident. They're at the hospital. I'm an undercover cop and I was sent to get you. We kept looking in regular places, but you weren't there. Quickly, we need to get you to the hospital, they really need to see you." The girl gasped and took hold of Earl's hand. He ran with her up to the car and she climbed in between them. He winked at Charlie, who tried to hide back the tears.48

At the house. Charlie sat upstairs. Turning up Guns n Roses so he couldn't hear the girl's screams. Earl came up around 2 hours later, he had changed his clothes and burned the ones that were stained with blood. "The young ones taste better." He said simply.49

Charlie nodded, "How long are you going to do this?"50

"Whenever I get sick, whenever I crave it."51

This went on for six months, Earl had trouble and skipped a lot of school for being so sick. He had to make sure that he didn't eat people frequently, so that it didn't become an epidemic. Still, he consumed almost 30 people. Usually kids, some hookers here and there, it was easier to get them to the house, and they weren't missed much.52

Earl was insane, he was uncontrollable, and Charlie was stuck in the middle of it all. After a while Earl got lazy and made Charlie do the work, since he was so ill from the cravings. It disturbed Charlie beyond prepare. The deaths of these people. They never even saw it coming, and yet, because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, they had to die so that Earl could rid himself of the nagging pain his body gave as punishment for not feeding it what it wanted.53

Earl wasn't the same after he became a part time cannibal. Not only did he grow weaker and he turned pale and became skin and bone, his temper got out of whack. One minute he would be cheerful and the next he would be on the verge of tears. His anger management issues got more violent and more frequent. Charlie was running out of excuses for the professors that saw his cuts and bruises. A couple times he needed to get stitches and even broke his arm once. Earl also started talking to himself and drew farther and farther away from his formal social life. It was like it wasn't Earl reminding Charlie he would kill him if he ever told, it was like he was a totally different person.54

"Hey, Charlie," Earl said, "I want you to know I appreciate what you've been doing for me. It takes a good friend to help me out, since my body isn't like other people's. People think it's a sin, but we eat other animals all the time. I'm just trying to survive. I feel like you're the only person who understands that. Thank you."55

Earl wrapped his arms around Charlie, who blinked in surprise. Earl was never one to be affectionate, but Charlie still put his arm around him. "Hey Earl?"56

"Yeah?"57

"You'd never, you know, eat me, would you?"58

He let go of the hug and shook his head with a smile, "Never, I'd never harm my best friend." Charlie felt the fairly new stitches line on his arm, "Besides, there are people I would get more meat off of than you." He squeezed Charlie's sticking ribs. "Also, there's a body, a teenage boy, brown hair blue eyes, he's in the freezer, you knew I was starting to store them there, right. Well, I need you to cut him up for me."59

"I thought you only ate them freshly dead."60

"You know, I have to start saving them, I'm paranoid people are catching on. We're kidnapping all over the state now, you know. I have to take every precaution to make sure we don't get caught. Come on, I'm hungry." Earl chuckled and said in a groany voice, "feed me, Seamore!"61

Charlie giggled nervously and lead Earl down into the low quality basement. He opened the freezer lid and let the frothy smoke out. Peering inside the deep container, all he saw was some frozen dinners, a lot of Popsicles, cookie dough, and some frozen strawberries. There was nobody. No body.62

"Oh my God, do you think he escaped?" Charlie asked, looking around. "We lock the cellar, don't we? Is there a window down here?"63

"I'm hungry, Charlie."64

"I know, but-" Charlie turned around and saw Earl, he had a crazy look in his eye, above him he held the hatchet he no longer used for cutting wood. Charlie screamed in fright and dodged it. Earl missed his head but it cut diagonally into Charlie's leg. He fell to the ground, crying out in pain. Earl grabbed his leg and pulled his best friend near him. He ripped the torn denim away from the leg, exposing the wound farther from the jeans. Red, thick liquid seeped from the wound as Charlie moaned in pain. Earl ran his fingers along the wound and even a little inside it. He shoved his blood-stained fingers into him mouth. Moaning at the delicious taste. "Earl! No! Stop!" But, raising the hatchet, he decided his friend would be his next meal.65

Charlie dodged it again, it completely missed him this time. He tackled his friend. Earl was much weaker now since he stopped his drugs and became addicted to human flesh. They wrestled, trying to take control of the hatchet. Finally, seeing he couldn't overcome Earl, Charlie made a break for it. Slamming and locking the cellar door in his friend's face. He ran and realized the keys to the car were on the counter. He ran back to the door to get them, but turned back outside when he saw the cellar door was splitting. Earl was going to escape and eat him. 66

Dashing as far as his long legs could carry him, he assumed Earl had gotten out and was trying to find him. He hid behind a tree and held his breath, he could hear Earl's footprints. They came closer. Looking down, he saw that his leg was bleeding badly, the trail of blood gave away his hiding spot. When Earl came too close, he turned West and ran, Earl rushed to the car and followed him on the dirt road, looking at the thin trail of crimson liquid in the golden headlights. But he came to a spot in the road where a puddle of blood lay, but no trail resumed. Charlie had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around his leg to cover his tracks. Earl continued on until he reached a fork in the road. He took the turn leading into town. He knew that Charlie would go into the town he knew and would receive help. It was worth a try to get Charlie before Charlie got him.67

But Charlie, using reverse phsycology, went the road that lead into the country, he knew Earl would assume he went into town, and he fell perfectly into his trap. Charlie knew he would reach a town sometime, but after a couple miles along, he collapsed of exhaustion and blood loss.68

He was found later in the ditch and was taken to a hospital. He told the police that Earl had tried to kill him, but no one could find Earl, he was gone without a trace. He was, indeed, an almost flawless killer. After Charlie got healed up, he immediately moved as far away as possible, he changed his last name and dyed his hair. He did anything to keep Earl from catching him again.69

Ryans and Johnson looked at each other when they heard this tale from Charlie's perspective. "So, he ate over 30 people?" Ryans asked. Charlie nodded.70

"God," snarled Johnson, "These are some phsycos we're dealing with."71

"I'm not guilty!" cried Charlie, standing up, "Innocent by reason of insanity!"72

"Calm down, Charlie, just calm down," Ryans said comfortingly.73

"Don't freak out on us, bub, or we'll have some nice men in white coats come in here and put you in a straight jacket. You got that?" Johnsone snarled.74

"Johnson, shut your trap, he has every right to be scared. And put your cigarette out." Ryans said. Johnson stomped it out. Ryans turned to Charlie, shaking in his seat. "Now, don't worry, we're putting you on leniency, if you help us put him behind bars, we'll let you off, okay?" Charlie cried and nodded. "And it isn't your fault, anyway, you just didn't want to die. Now, could you tell us where you lived before Earl was on a lamb?"75

"California, about 3 hours away from San Francisco."76

Ryans and Johnson looked at each other, confused. "This is Boston, Charlie, it's on the other side of the country, I don't think he could have went that far, since you see him, are you sure he's from San Francisco? Where is he now?"77

"Inside my mind."78

Ryans stared at him, "...What?!"79

"Pardon the language," Johnson said, "But what the hell are you talking about?"80

"His voice is inside my mind. I don't know how, but I hear him. He knows where I am, he knows what I'm doing, he knows my inner, deepest thoughts. He's everywhere," Charlie whispered, "Late at night, I hear his voice. I try to make him stop but he won't." He was crying and shaking.
"Well," Ryan's looked around, "What does he tell you."
Charlie was crying buckets of tears, "He doesn't really say much. He just calls my name all night long. 'Charlie... Charlie... Charlie...'" His words got drowned in his tears. No body talked for a while, they just listened to Charlie's sobbing.81

"So, Charlie, we just want to say thanks for coming out. You're a really significant witness in this case. When we finally get this creep behind bars, we'll bring some justice to the families that lost someone to him."82

Ryans patted him on the shoulder. Johnson swatted his hand away, "Don't touch him." He grabbed his coat, lit up his third cigarette and they left.83

"Well, the boss had to leave us with the case of a cannibalistic weirdo and some freaky schizophrenic dude who used to be his friend. Yeah, my kid'll really want to hear about this one." Johnson said, pouring himself some coffee. "Want some?"84

"Yeah," said Ryans, taking the pot of coffee, "we don't really learn about this back at the academy, do we?" He chuckled.85

Johnson didn't laugh at the joke, "I think we better get the Whack Shack involved, though."86

"Huh?"87

"The Funny Farm. This dude just ain't right in the head. It's better we get him some medicine and away from all this, and away from pointy things."88

"I disagree," stated Ryans, "I mean, he was force-fed a person he knew, he saw these people die. He had to kill them to keep himself alive."89

"He's criminally insane."90

"No he's not, he was forced to do it."91

"Listen, Ryans," Johnson said, taking a drag of his cigarette, "if you take sympathy on every killer, we aren't gonna get these freaks of the street."92

"But," Ryans contradicted, "Charlie isn't the guy we're looking for."93

"Ha!" said Johnson, taking another drag. "If he ain't on Death Row or serving life, he's at least got 25 years with his name on it. Leniency doesn't get you that far, does it?"94

"You just said you wanted him in the Insane Asylum."95

"I don't really care, he just need to be locked up, for everyone's protection."96

Before Ryans could reply, Charlie's muffled cries could be heard from the room. "Get, out, of, my, head!" He cried. Johnson pointed his cigarette in that direction and raised his eyebrows. "Well, he's been through a lot," Ryans sipped his coffee, "You'd probably be a little messed up too if you went through that."97

"You seem like you wanna help him, well, we can. We should just put him in there, it'll keep him from hurting anybody, especially himself." Johnson put out his cigarette and Ryan looked, concerned, down the hall of the observation room where Charlie was waiting.98

"Did we leave anything in there that he could use to hurt himself?"99

"I don't know," Johnson shrugged, "Did-did the sketch packet have a pencil on it?"100

The two detectives looked at each other and ran down the hall. Charlie was crying, the orange #2 stabbed into his wrist. Blood squirted out of the wound. He stabbed his arm again. He shouted out, "Get out of me! Stay away from me, Earl!"101

"Hold him down! Hold him down!" Ryans yelled, grabbing Charlie's arm. Charlie sobbed as the two men held him still. Ryans gently pulled out the pencil out of his arm and tossed it into the garbage. "Get some bandage, now!"102

Charlie screamed and had a fit as Ryans pulled the white bandage over his wrist. "No! It won't help! He still knows! He can still smell the blood!"103

"Hold still," Ryans grunted.104

"What the hell was that for, you freak?" Johnson yelled.105

"He shares the pain," Charlie sobbed like the mock turtle, "it'll make him go away, but he still knows where I am because he can smell me! I don't know what to do!"106

Ryans struggled with him, grabbing his two arms and smeared with red. "Get a warrant, you're right, Johnson, he's gotta be locked up."107

"No! Please! I don't want to go to jail!" Charlie sobbed as the detective dragged him out of the room.108

"It's not jail, it's a safe place so you don't get hurt." Ryans said.109

"By the looks of it you're going to be there for a long time."110

"You don't understand!" Charlie cried, "Nothing will stop him! I'm never safe! Don't let me die in prison!"111

Earl's voice rang in his head, "You're trapped, you can't run. I'm going to find you, Charlie. I'm coming to Boston." Charlie could do nothing but sob and scream, his cries lost to his insane nonsense. "Go ahead and scream, it awakens my appetite."112

Around a month later, Charlie, persay, 'escaped' from the asylum.