Monday February 10
10:00 PM
The solar plexus is a cluster of nerves located just behind the point of the breastbone. It controls breathing. A blow to the solar plexus, such as the one Brent had just received, interferes with breathing-Brent had just had the wind knocked out of him. A blow to the solar plexus is intensely painful, possibly even more so than a blow of the same force to the groin.
Brent tried to inhale, but could only bring in a trickle of air -- his breath making a pathetic two-toned wheeze. He raised his hands to try to protect himself from further assault, but his attacker seized one hand, and spun. Brent felt movement as he was thrown onto the bed next to Julie, his lover, but did not have the experience to understand that he was having judo used against him. As he splashed onto the bed, Brent had the odd thought that the spray of Julie's blood was pretty.
When he had agreed to this vacation with Julie, Brent's biggest fear was that somehow someone would see them together and word would get back to their spouses, or worse, the school board. Julie was Brent's secretary, and their affair could lead to them both being fired. That had seemed like a big worry until Brent had come back to the Bed and breakfast with a bag of bottles of booze. Brent and Julie had been planning on going out, and wanted to start with a good buzz.
Brent had known something was wrong the moment he had entered the room. The room hadn't smelled right, but he couldn't place the smell. Julie was lying on the bed, fully covered, and that didn't seem right either; she should have been getting dressed. He called her name and she didn't respond.
Brent put the bag of booze down and nudged Julie's leg. She didn't move, but a crimson stain formed where he had touched the bedspread. Wordlessly, breathlessly, he pulled the cover back from Julie.
Her body was covered in blood. The bed was covered in blood. Blood was the smell he hadn't been able to place when he had entered the room. But it wasn't the sight of blood that started Brent down the path to mindless screaming; it was the fact that Julie's head was separated from her body by a gap of at least three inches.
Brent's body drew a huge breath, but before he could scream, a strong hand pulled on his shoulder, turning him, and a fist found his solar plexus. His attacker was clad in black latex from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. The only skin visible was around his moth and eyes, giving him the appearance of a warped and sinister minstrel singer.
After he landed on the bed, his assailant's mouth covered his mouth and nose, and there was a new sharp pain in his chest, and then Brent knew no more.