Smiling to himself, he felt satisfied at his nice work of art. Can’t say that it’s perfect but that’s what a first time for. It’s for us to learn. He had made sure to tell the attendants to buy him those pretty Christmas gifts’ wrappers and decorations and all. Now he had put them to good use. “Oh! Before I forget, a message!” He said happily as he remembers what the whole purpose of this Christmas decoration is for in the first place. It was to send a message. He has that huge innocent-like grin on his face and his hands are thrown up in the air happily at the thought of how wonderful will this be.

He ducks his fingertips into the thick red-colored liquid and climbs the chair to reach the last spot for his perfect Christmas treat for everyone. He keeps on smudging the wall with the scarlet letters. It was written; ‘Your fault. You should’ve sent me to prison’.

֍֍֍

~3 months prior~

“Send me to prison, please. In fact, sentence me to death if you must. I pledge guilty,” Yuri said with a pretty innocent smile on his face. His eyes got smaller when he smiles. He looks so innocent. Like a child. But everyone in the courtroom knows that he is a killer. There’s a CCTV recording of his act. And it is shocking them to see someone smiling that innocently after he was accused of murder and admitted to the crime. His answers leave them with the big questions of whether this 17-year-old is sane or not.

“Why did you kill your mother and your uncle, Mr. Vadislav?”

“Why else? She was being unethical with my uncle.”

“Do you think they deserved it?”

“Not really. They could live a better and happier life, I guess.”

“Do you feel any guilty conscience?”

“No.”

“Will you please explain in details as to how you killed them?”

“I strangled them both to death first. And then I cut off their heads with the kitchen knife and posed them on the bed with my mama holding my uncle’s head in her hands and my mama’s head in my uncle’s hands.”

“Is there any reason why you made it that way, Mr. Vadislav?”

“I was bored and that seems to be the most appropriate things to do,”

“So you’re saying you killed them simply because you’re bored?”

“No. I killed them because of their manners. Now when will you stop questioning me? I’m getting bored that I’m starting to imagine myself killing you, Miss Whatever-your-name-is.”

“One final question, do you think you’re mentally sound, Mr. Vadislav?”

“If you’re asking me whether I’m normal or not, yes, I think I’m normal. So you better send me to some prison where I will have lots and lots of fun, thank you.”

֍֍֍

Yuri laughs to himself thinking back on his trial. That was three months ago. Oh! And they thought they were being funny by sending him to a mental institution instead. Now look at what he had to do just to prove to them that he didn’t belong here. He had exhaustingly informed them that he is sane and he was aware of his deeds. His own fucking God damn lawyer insisted to trial him as schizophrenia instead. He wasn’t schizophrenic. No voices in his head telling him what to do. He just killed them because they deserve to die and he was bored.

“Arghhhhh!!!!” A nurse scream haunts the room that belongs to Yuri as she enters it and sees the gruesome view before her.

“Ah, Jennifer, how do you like my Christmas decoration?” Yuri simply asked her like it’s the most normal morning ever.

“Help! Help!!!” She screamed for help, calling other attendants in the institution. It deeply hurts Yuri that his decoration is not being appreciated. And what’s there to ask help for? He’s dead anyway. His best friend for the last three months since he got here, his roommate, is now dead anyway. He had made sure of it.

He had cut him into pieces last night, wrapped him up in the gifts wrappers and he had made sure to tie them up with ribbons. The room is covered in red. Red the blood of his roommate. But Christmas is all about red anyway, right? Like Santa said to his worker in The Guardians movie with the cute Jack Frost in it; “paint it red!” He had painted the room red. And the body parts of his roommate are now under the Christmas tree in his room, looking beautiful like fine pieces of art, and the wall behind it smudged with the message he’s sending. He smiles again, feeling satisfied, as he heard the footsteps of the attendants coming down to his room. This is fun, he thought.

֍֍֍

~A month after: South Vulgar prison~

“Hey CJ, why do you kill?” Yuri asked the man who’s sitting across him from the table in the dining hall of the prison. He turns 18 a day after Christmas and they finally sent him to prison after solitary confinement of a month.

CJ only smiles at him, a twisted smile as he is thinking back on the sound his victims made as they’re dying. “I can’t stop. The sound of the skin being tore open by my knife, the pathetic look on my victim's face, the sight of the blood gushes out and the gurgling sound...,” he explained and closes his eyes, licking his lips, remembering the excitement. “They excite me...,” he said. “Of course at first it was just revenge for me. But later on, it became more than just that. I'm addicted,” he admitted.

Yuri puts a spoon full of porridge into his mouth as he’s listening to him. “Hmm… Your crime was super perfect,” he said with his mouth full of food. He swallows them and continues; “The only thing that got you caught was your diary. I wonder, why the hell did you write a diary anyway? You're supposed to be clever. That is just a stupid thing to do.” It was as if Yuri is bad-mouthing CJ but he has the most innocent look on his face and it’s pretty damn right that he is not. He’s just stating the plain truth. Yuri has little sensitivity to emotions and that makes CJ thinks of him as a good companion. Too much emotion is self-destructing.

CJ snickers a little as he sips the cold water from his cup because Yuri is wrong. “I am being clever, actually. The diary… It was begging to be found. Easier said, I wanted it to be found. That’s why I left it lying on my table wide open,” CJ admitted. He had never told this to anyone before.

Yuri crooks his eyebrows. The boredom that crosses his face before disappeared quickly. “But why?” he asked. He is feeling excited to know of CJ’s answer. Out of all people he had met, CJ is the only one he had not yet found to be plain and boring.

Smiling, CJ answers slowly, stressing on each of his line like he is reading an emotional poem. “Because as I said, I can’t stop. It was revenge at first. Now it’s just an addiction. So you see? This is a better place for me. At least now I won’t take innocent lives...,” he indicated as his eyes look around wildly, enough to tell Yuri that what CJ meant is he now only kills criminals. Inmates… A twisted sublimation for his lethal desire.

Yuri smiles, feeling satisfied at CJ’s answers. He loves the answer. Addiction. What a strong word. “I see...” he nods his head at CJ and continues to eat.

Now it’s his turn, CJ thought. “So Yuri, why do you kill?” He asked.

Yuri stops eating and starts to think. “Hmm? No reason, really...,” he said at first. Was it boredom? He thought. He quickly then shakes the thought off of his head as he found a better reason. “I guess because it’s fun!” he said, grinning widely at his own answer.

“Fun?”

“Yeah... I’ve always felt unhappy with my life, you know. But the first time I strangled someone...,” Yuri remembers the look on his mother’s face as the life leaving her body in the back of his mind. It made him felt like he’s God. “Man... It's just an eye-opener for me... I’ve never felt so happy in my entire life!”

CJ laughs aloud at Yuri and Yuri only smiles at him, feeling amused to see him laugh like that. “You're a twisted son of a bitch,” CJ commented.

Yuri laughs back at the comment. “You too... Well my mom was a bitch anyway. That’s why I killed her. I thought of being merciful though. I meant to chop off her head instead of strangling her. Less pain and she will die quickly. But strangling her was fun, so can’t blame me,” he simply said.

“Interesting...,” CJ spoke his thoughts out loud, smiling charmingly to Yuri, thinking of getting him into bed later as he is excited by the very persona in front of him.

Without warning, Yuri’s eyes suddenly lighten up in delight at a thought. “Hey CJ..., let’s go kill together. What do you say? We got nothing better to do anyway,” he suggested.

CJ smiles at the idea. It’s a brilliant one. “I say why not? You’re an interesting cute thing anyway...,” he complimented Yuri in a flirtatious way and Yuri only blushes at him in response. Yuri has the kind of smile that melts his heart. This is new to him. The excitement, the lust… It’s different than that of the killing kind. This is the sexual kind. One he had never felt before. And he could not completely read what Yuri is thinking just yet. The boy is as unpredictable as a shark. But it’s the danger that he’s been looking for. It’s something that made his heart beats fast. Like finally, after some time, he feels… alive again. This can’t be good, right?