Heart Stealer

“Don’t worry this won’t hurt a bit,” I said softly, “You’ll feel a slight pinch and then it’ll be like a river running through your chest...Maybe.”

The woman struggled and fought against the binds that held her on the metal table. Tears swelled up in her eyes and she started thrusting her chest upward trying to avoid the blade I held just above her skin. I just watched for a bit with the blade in my hands as she fought relentlessly.

“I have all day, “ I said, “You’ll eventually get tired.”

“Why are you doing this?!” she shouted at me.

“Now what kind of question is that?” I asked, “I told you I wanted your heart. What part didn’t you get?”

“I thought you meant to love me!!!” she shouted.

“Never thought about that,” I said tapping the blade against my chin, “I guess the mixup is quite easy to come across. Nonetheless I’m guessing you know now that’s not what I meant.”

She screamed again and fought hard against the leather straps holding her down.

“Look I can either wait until you’re done or I can just cram this thing straight into your chest,” I said, “And with you moving it’s bound to get rather messy.”

Her back thudded against the metal as she stopped moving and looked at me eyes full of sadness.

“Don’t do this,” she sobbed, “Please.”

“Your heart could be the key to everything,” I said, “Why would I ever give up the chance to harvest such a marvel?”

A surge of excitement flowed through me and I shuddered. She, on the other hand, started screaming and struggling again. I just sighed in exasperation and held the knife up above her body. Her screams jumped a pitch and her struggling became more frantic. I looked at her tear streaked face and brought the blade down fast. It struck her chest slamming her down on the table and knocking the wind out of her. A jetstream of air exploded from her mouth and then the scream turned into a mix of groaning and crying out. Blood swelled around the wound surrounding the knife blade. A smirk formed on my lips and I started cutting. Her body would jump or convulse through the process but after I got so far she fell unconscious. Then she died. Even after her breath stopped and her pulse ceased, I continued.

I peeled back the layer of skin over the chest and cast it aside into a trash can. Had to cut away at some pieces of what looked to be fat as I drove my hands into the bloody mass. The rib cage had to broken apart before being able to remove the giant blood harboring organ. The bones took a little force, but snapped like tree branches. After a good bit of things were removed, I reached in and pulled the blood bag out. It no longer beat and I had to cut a few of the arteries to get it free. Once it was out, I set it down on a metal tray sitting beside the table.

Then I took a syringe and inserted the needle into the center of the heart. With a grin I watched as a thick red liquid filled the glass tube. Excitement swelled inside me. This could be the key. Purest of liquids from the center of the soul. What better representation of the soul than the heart? I pulled back the syringe and held the specimen up to examine. Beautiful, I thought. I would synthesize half and then simply drink the other half. For the time being, I had to set it aside and dispose of the girl’s body. I looked back at her corpse lying on the table and felt a small pang of regret. Her face was stained with her own blood and there was a giant hole in her chest but as I looked at her I realized I could have loved her. I shook it off. She was dead, so there was no use in foolish thoughts. The only thing that mattered was her heart. She was the most innocent I could find. She would have to do.

I stuck the syringe in a black box and sealed the lid. The cellular inhibitor built into the box would keep the cells alive for forty eight hours. All I needed was ten. Then I’d have forever. I turned back to her body and walked over to examine her. Her eyes were blank and her arms hung lifelessly off the edges of the table. Such a sweet girl but she died for a worthy cause. I caressed her face and a smirk crept up on my lips. Maybe I didn’t have to dispose of the body I thought. If I remembered correctly, Viktor Frankenstein had given life to the dead. It may have been a story but from my years of work I had come to learn many things. The most important was to try everything. After all... anything was possible.