A Woman’s Job - Horror Short Story Contest

_{WARNING: HORROR. GORE.}

A Woman’s Job

---

“All Rise.”

The judge strode in and sat down.

“Be seated.”

Charlie sat on the thin wooden bench along with the other Jurors. This was her first time on jury duty. Her hands fiddled with the zip on her coat. A small patch of sweat was building on her t-shirt despite the coldness in the air.

She watched the proceedings, feeling like a child stumbling into an adult conversation. It took all her strength to pay attention to the people wearing cloaks and wigs.

The prosecutor stood and addressed the Judge.

“My Lady.”

The dance of court began.

~~~

It was the eve of her initiation. She was only fifteen years old, the youngest to ever join the order. Her mother had told her stories long before she could take part.

She only had a vague awareness of what was going to happen. Her mind flooded with possibilities. She tried to look out of the car windows but they were tinted black and the sun had already set. The excitement bubbled within her. She played with her hands and tapped her feet as she waited.

One of the elders finally took her out of the car and led her to an old stone house, long designated as derelict. The women of The Order provided a path for her to follow, guiding her inside.

The warmth of a small fire lapped at her. A grunt came from an unconscious figure curled up on the ground next to it.

“It is your naming day, my daughter. Have you decided on a name?”

A woman spoke to her, a woman who was not her actual mother, but for The Order, every woman was a mother to their youngers.

She forced her eyes away from the man on the ground, concentrating on the woman before her.

“I have chosen the name Aurora”

Applause echoed off the crumbling stone walls. Aurora looked through the gaps in the walls to see familiar faces. Some of them spoke her new name in whispers.

“Are you prepared for your first ritual?”

Aurora wanted to laugh at the formality. They made it sound like a religious undertaking; she knew deep down that this had nothing to do with God’s plan.

She nodded. Now was not the time to reveal her true thoughts.

“You have only the hours until sunrise. By then he must be dead. Do you understand your task?”

A flutter of nervousness shot through her. She nodded again, this time with grim determination.

“I understand.”

The man's breathing was slow and soft. Aurora faltered for a moment. She looked at the faces watching her. She was glad they had chosen this location. Ripping through flesh was difficult without a knife, but stones would make the task easier.

~~~

Charlie wriggled in her seat. The cushion she had been given at the beginning wasn't doing much to protect her backside from the numbing effect of the hard wooden bench. The whole court process had so far fascinated her. If only she had ended up with a nicer case to experience.

The gruesome murder of a young man had been the only topic of interest in the country. Every newspaper and broadcast mentioned the trial.

Charlie couldn’t escape from it.

She had images of body parts seared into her mind. The witness’s face had a look of fear that imprinted into Charlie’s psyche.

She wondered how anyone could do that to another human being.

Somebody else stood up to speak. Charlie shook her head, remembering to listen to what was being said.

~~~

Aurora found the sharpest stone she could and knelt down next to the man. She rolled him over and examined his body, remembering the limbs that would be easier to pull apart.

She started small, cutting off his fingers. He woke up, screaming in pain. Aurora found her nerve disintegrating at the sudden jolt into reality. He continued to scream in terror, pleading for her to stop as he violently wriggled to get free from his chains. Aurora refocused her attention to the parts she was taking off. His left hand was free of its attachments.

She would have to work quicker if she wanted him to be silent. She found another stone and began chipping away at the soft tissue at the join between his arm and his torso. Blood sprayed up into her face but she carried on as if it hadn't happened.

The man's shrieks died down as the loss of blood made him drowsy.

With significant force the arm finally tore away; Aurora held it up for her audience. Her feeling of pride soon vanished as the faces revealed nothing. A renewed sense of determination set in.

Knowing the stones might go against her final score, she changed her tactics. She found another limb to work on. At first she used her nails to gauge at the skin, but her hands soon tired. Through trial and error, she found that her teeth were sharper and more efficient.

As she took a breath, blood dripped off her chin. The girl she was a few hours ago was gone, only a primal need to carry on resided with her.

Aurora pulled him apart inch by inch, watching him as he died slowly. She turned to the crowd and smiled revealing bits of his flesh in her teeth.

~~~

The gavel hit the plinth with a resounding crack silencing the argument that has broken out only seconds ago. The judge looked around the room eyeing the people vigilantly.

Charlie checked her heartbeat on her smartwatch, determined to look away from the Judge’s penetrating gaze.

The defense stood up to address the room.

“The facts of the case are clear.”

Charlie knew the facts, they all did, they had been listening to the facts for days now. She had stopped sleeping for fear of nightmares. The witness testimony and the images of the body, or at least what was left of it, remained with her. She had thought herself lucky for not having a photographic memory, but her imagination seemed to take over.

“The witness for the prosecution, Mr. Johnson, has a vendetta against my client because she refused to have sex with him. He has taken it upon himself to disgrace her name publicly with this obvious lie.”

The room filled up with voices again, clamouring to have their thoughts heard.

Charlie looked around at the ruckus, wondering if this was how all court cases proceeded. The Judge’s eye twitched and her lips fused to a thin line. Charlie accepted this was not an ordinary case.

~~~

The last thing Aurora did was snap the man’s neck and stomp on his face for good measure.

She leaned against the wall, the exertion finally taking its toll on her body. The smell of what was left of the body, the blood covering her like a second skin, finally made her gag.

She watched through a mist in her mind as the others came into the room and started to clean up.

“You did well, Aurora.”

A woman whispered in her ear as she helped her onto her feet and away from the decaying house.

~~~

The judge called for silence again. The room was out of control. With resolve she ordered a much-needed break.

Charlie sighed in relief at the chance to stretch her legs and grab some fresh air. She followed the other jurors into their room. A tray with mugs and a plate of biscuits sat waiting for them. Charlie helped herself to some tea and a chocolate digestive, hoping the sugar boost would help.

The others spoke in hushed tones discussing elements that they had made notes of. Charlie didn't feel up to entering the conversations.

After hearing the witness testimony describing the way the body had been torn to shreds by the woman before his eyes, Charlie couldn't look at the defendant without wanting to throw up. There was a good chance the woman was innocent but the crime had been brought up in such detail that she felt certain something had happened to the poor man.

Her cup contained only dregs and she reluctantly put it back on the tray.

They were called back into the court.

She sighed. Her few minutes of peace were up.

~~~

Aurora had trained hard to be a member of her mother's Order. The initiation hadn’t left much lasting damage to her mind. She continued to go to school and eventually go to work as she got older.

The years passed and she understood more about the rituals they went through. She had learnt to seduce a man to follow her, and how to manipulate his desires. She knew how to persuade them into doing as she asked. She also knew how to rip them to shreds at a moments notice. Her clean-ups had gotten smoother and her trademark had slowly developed.

Even though her life seemed to be going great, there was a nagging dissatisfaction. A feeling that grew every time she killed. She wanted something more. She wanted to feel the way she had with the first one. She felt closer to that feeling when she watched the new girls going through the initiation.

Her other kills were becoming boring.

~~~

The judge read out the statement of facts of the case to the jury. Her tone was monotonous while she used the words ‘mangled’, ‘severed’ and ‘disembodied’.

The jury were asked to leave for a final deliberation. It would be up to them to decide the outcome of this case.

Charlie followed her peers into the room. They all took a chair around the table and everyone re-read their own notes before beginning a lengthy discussion.

All the facts had to be considered. Charlie listened to those who were many years her senior talking. She didn't feel she had much to contribute to the conversation. She just wanted everyone to come to an agreement quickly. She wanted to go home.

Her mind swam as the information of the case was passed around the room. She felt nauseous when the images resurfaced and were strewn across the table. The abandoned warehouse was mostly black from dirt, except from one spot that was dried blood. At the beginning of the police investigation, the only evidence of a crime that they found to match Mr. Johnson’s friend was an eyeball.

The photo was enough to make Charlie want to curl into a ball and disappear.

The rest of the man’s body had been scattered in the river and ravaged by the fish. The autopsy was clear that something had happened to him. There was just no concrete evidence linking the woman on trial to the murder.

The final verdict was drawn.

~~~

Aurora’s latest mark was a man called Jacob Ryan. He was out with his best friend, Andrew Johnson, on the night she had chosen to pick him up. She relied on her years of training to be able to deal with him swiftly.

The Order was supposed to be about taking out men that had robbed someone of their life through transgressions.

Aurora hadn’t been following that mandate for some time now. She preferred to choose the pretty ones that had an audience when she abducted them. Knowing people had seen her with them last gave her a rush. Her targets friend would be a perfect bystander.

She wove her way into the quiet bar and caught Jacobs eye. She had been pursuing him for a few weeks now. She provided him with his perfect woman making herself completely irresistible.

Before he could buy her a drink she leaned over and whispered in his ear, making sure to breathe a little to tickle his skin.

“Come with me”

Jacob nodded. Aurora took his hand and trailed him behind her. They were interrupted by his friend, Andrew, having spotted them leaving.

“You should come too”

She spoke impulsively. Her heartbeat raced as she tried to find the easiest solution. The two men followed her as she left the bar.

She handed them drinks with a cheeky grin, rambling about the high alcohol content. They drank without any worries. They climbed into her car before passing out from the drugs.

Aurora had already picked a suitable place, an abandoned warehouse by the river. She had set up some equipment, to make the process easier, and more fun.

By the time they were waking up, she had them both tied up. She deliberated over which instruments she was going to use first.

“What’s going on?”

“Why are you doing this?”

Hysteria filled their voices.

Aurora looked at them with a blank expression. She kept a cool facade even as the exhilaration brimmed within her. Her heart rate peaked as she decided her next words.

“I’m going to kill you now.”

She had only planned to kill Jacob tonight. With an odd satisfaction, she knew she would keep Andrew alive. She would make him watch his best friend being ripped apart.

For the first time in her lengthy career, she was going to keep a witness.

~~~

“Not guilty”

The head juror spoke calmly revealing no emotion.

Charlie wondered how he did it, she was squirming just sitting there watching him speak.

The room jumped into a frenzy as the man’s supporters shouted for a different answer and those that believed her innocence cheered.

The woman found innocent left the court without a backward glance.

Charlie felt a sense of inadequacy, watching the defendant walk away. The woman had kept calm under the scrutiny of the court. Charlie doubted she would have maintained a placid appearance, if her humanity had been called into question.

~~~

Fragmented body parts scattered about the deteriorating warehouse from where they had landed during the crucible. Aurora stood covered from head to toe with blood.

She looked at the one left behind. He trembled at her gaze.

She walked over to him and wiped a bloodied hand across his face. His fear was palpable to her, she drank it in. This was what she had been missing all those other times.

A witness.

~~~

A woman sat in the courtroom watching the proceedings. Her best friend had left after being sentenced not guilty. She sighed in relief. She maintained a constant stare at the witness, waiting for him to turn around and notice her.

The case had been interesting to watch. She had learnt a lot about police procedure and the level of evidence that can be collected from a crime scene. Unfortunately for the police, she was too good at cleaning all traces of her presence.

As the man finally turned to look around the courtroom, his head slumped in defeat, the women tilted forward. He made eye contact with her and his eyes went wide. She smiled at him as his demeanor changed, he was terrified of her and she reveled in it.

Aurora watched as he scrambled to get out of the courtroom, he had made a mistake and now he knew it.

Aurora noticed the unobtrusive woman on the jury watching her, she catalogued the calculating look she was receiving, she felt satisfied with the day's proceedings and now she was thrilled to have marked a new recruit.

A woman’s job is never done.

This is my entry to @dirge’s Halloween Horror Writing Story Contest. Please #critique dirge.

Find out about it here.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

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