Dave and the Sociopath

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The Sociopath looked over at Dave sitting in the vacant surgeon's chair and thought back with the pride of a job well done.

Its mental assault on the creature, who he refused to call 'wife' any longer, began this morning when his wife was attending her church and involved all his electronic and, er, more recently acquired skills. The first task was to hijack the public-address system the pastor was using to preach to the congregation. It was a simple sound file of Jane's easily recognisable voice. A compilation of several of her impassioned speeches interspersed with some of her lover's voice. Suddenly booming from the speakers was,

"Yes, I admit it. I had sex with a man other than you the night before our wedding, but I had no idea he fathered one of our children... I swear to god it was a one off and I haven't been with him since."

After a short pause, her lover's voice continued.

"Yeah, a couple of days before your first anniversary, she rang me wanting to get together again the afternoon of your anniversary. Jane and I spent all afternoon fucking. She said it was so hot the previous year when she got to fuck two guys in twenty-four hours that she wanted a repeat. We've done it every year since then. Just once a year, mind you. She jokingly calls it her once a year, three-hour sabbatical. Now, she just texts me the one word, 'sabbatical' and I text her back where and when. She told me the whole thing is very erotic. She's super turned on when she's with me because of the anticipation of doing you straight afterwards. Then she's super turned on with you because of the memories of me that day."

Both inputs then began repeating themselves in a loop.

He didn't see it, of course, but could well imagine the stares of the other members of the congregation. Members who had a dim view of infidelity and an extremely dim view of taking the lord's name in vain. All he knew was that within a minute of the interruption, Jane sprinted from the hall to her car. He wondered where she would go. Not home to the obvious source of the broadcast. The Sociopath followed in his stolen car, wearing his disposable coveralls, hair net, and protective gloves.

Luckily, she sped to one of the places of refuge the Sociopath had predicted. Her widowed father's house. The screech of tyres brought the old man to his front door. The Sociopath waited until father and daughter hugged before pressing play on the second tape. The one that broadcast from a speaker attached to the chassis of Jane's car.

"Yes, I admit it. I had sex with a man other than you the night before our wedding... I swear on my mother's grave it was just the once and I've been faithful to you ever since."

This was followed by the now familiar,

"Yeah, a couple of days before your first anniversary, she rang me wanting to get together again the afternoon of your anniversary. Jane and I spent all afternoon fucking. She said it was so hot the previous year when she got to fuck two guys in twenty-four hours that she wanted a repeat..."

Recounting the rest would be a waste of time, as by this stage, Jane had thrown up her hands in horror and was sprinting away from what should have been a safe haven. The Sociopath couldn't read her father's expression from that distance. Dave would have felt much empathy for the old man, but Dave wasn't there. The Sociopath didn't have a clue what empathy was. He was focused on the job in hand, technically it was quite difficult.

Jane was sitting in her car with her fingers in her ears. The Sociopath's fingers flew over the laptop to turn on the stereo system he'd secreted in the dashboard of Jane's car. He turned the volume up remotely. It would take half an hour, or the complete destruction of the dashboard, to find the speaker. The quickest way to get peace would have been to disable the iPads and amplifiers in the spare wheel well, but you'd have to know about them first.

Jane started the engine and roared off through her father's quiet neighbourhood. The external speaker was broadcasting a different message than the internal one. The former was blaring to the world that the driver of the car cheated on her fiancé the night before the wedding and continued to do so afterwards.

The internal soundtrack was aimed at Jane's very soul. It was a compilation of her denials of continued infidelity over the last three weeks, interspersed with commentary from her lover. Commentary that ended abruptly with a gunshot and then silence. Even if Jane's conscience could handle her long-term betrayal, the implication that her actions had turned her husband into a killer and led to her lover's death, would be devastating.

Of course, that relied on her lover's fear causing him not to contact her in the last week. Dave's research indicated the lover had up and disappeared, leaving no trace of his whereabouts, even to his wife.

Jane made two blocks, before she came up with the idea of using the car's stereo system to drown out both speakers. Unfortunately, the Sociopath had thought of that a week before. A third soundtrack began. Following, the Sociopath could see Jane's head snapping from side to side as she passed pedestrians. The stolen car followed her as she took the quickest route to the highway.

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Both Dave's and the Sociopath's reverie was interrupted by the return of Doctor Simms.

"Terribly sorry, Mr. Brown, but the donor donated all their organs, so recipients are turning up from all over the place. It's going to be a busy couple of days."

"That's fine, Doc. I think we were almost finished here anyway. I'd like to go and see my boys soon, but I have a request first."

"Yes, what is it?"

"I'd like to personally thank the donor."

"Hmmm, yes, that request isn't unusual. We normally allow that, but usually before the process has gone this far."

"It is very important to me, Doc."

"Okay, I'll just clear it with admin."

At that, Dr. Simms picked up the phone and spoke for about two minutes.

"That's fine, Mr. Brown. I'll take you there now. I suggest we be quick; they'll be putting the first of your sons under in about half an hour."

With that they strode to the surgical suite. On the way, Dave's phone rang. He answered and listened for a moment.

"Yes, Officer, I assume you're calling to tell me to go to the hospital. I already heard and am here now. Thank you and goodbye."

Once at their destination, Dr. Simms outfitted the visitor in a gown and mask, explaining while he did, that organ removal had already started, but the surgical team were taking a break. He went on to caution him not to approach too closely as he wasn't sterile. He honoured the request for a few minutes alone and waited outside the door, looking to see that the strange man didn't faint, despite the body having been left partially draped. Not many people outside a hospital can stand to see a semi dissected cadaver so the surgical team had disguised their handiwork as best they could.

Both eyes were shut, and the doctor knew this was because they had been removed already for corneal transplant. A sheet covered the chest area to hide the fact the heart and lungs had already been harvested. In fact, about the only internal organs left awaiting removal were the liver and pancreas. The phone call had confirmed that skin and bone marrow removal hadn't yet begun which is why Dave was able to see the hand and forearm closest to him.

To the Sociopath she looked asleep and more at peace than she'd been for weeks. He wasn't sure he was happy about that.

Dr. Simms was watching the silent tableau through the glass when a frantic hospital administrator came through the outer doors.

"Don't let him in there. It's his wife!"

The good doctor looked through the glass at a man that must have known by now who he was looking at. He'd certainly had plenty of time to faint from the disturbing sight.

"You know, I don't think that will be a problem. He is by far the coldest man I've ever met."

Inside the room, the Sociopath was talking to what remained of Dave's wife.

"Dave wants to thank you for jumping out of your car on the highway and getting hit. He would have felt bad if I'd had to run you down. He was very disappointed that you refused to donate one of your kidneys to either of your sons. I'm certainly not sorry for tricking you into signing the organ donor form in the guise of something for your sons' treatment. Dave also wants to thank you for the donation of a quick, easy separation, with all the family's assets going to him.

I'm a little sorry, but only for Dave's sake, that I had to kill you. You were a good wife and mother most of the time, but I couldn't stand to see you treat such a good man with absolute contempt once a year for each of your thirteen years together. So, in balance, goodbye, bitch and may your god forgive you for what you did."

At that, point the Sociopath took his leave so that Dave could say his goodbyes.

"Goodbye, Jane. I'm sorry for my friend's behaviour, but after I found out what you did, well, I just wasn't strong enough to oppose him. The final straw was you refusing to give either of our children a chance of a normal life. That, if nothing else, was unforgivable. When I saw them sitting in that room, tied to those dialysis machines, I just snapped and gave him carte blanche. I promise to raise them with the core values that I believe, and you appeared to believe, 364 days a year. It doesn't matter that Paul isn't really mine, I will treat him exactly the same as Simon. Don't worry, I'll never tell him what really happened; that way he can preserve the cherished memory he has of you. I wish I could have done the same. I will tell them they have your kidneys, though. It may give them some comfort that they'll always carry around a part of you. I'll look after your Dad as well."

Dave was crying as he exited the room to go and comfort his sons. Dr. Simms was relieved he was finally showing some human emotion.

Epilogue

Jane's lover's wife visited Dave several days later. She told him her husband had confessed the story to her and then run. She felt she and her children needed some sort of relationship with her soon-to-be ex and wanted to know when it would be safe for him to reappear. Dave assured her he was no longer a threat.

Dave delayed the funeral of Jane until Simon and Paul were well enough to leave the hospital. They were robust boys and the close genetic match of their mother's kidneys maximised the chances of complete success. Dave's mother and Jane's father took the children, leaving Dave alone by the graveside.

Or so they thought.

"Get in that fucking hole!"

"No way. I'm not sharing eternity with that slut."

"Don't you dare call my wife and the mother of my children a slut."

"I'm sorry, Dave. Why can't I hang around for a while, I could be useful."

"I want nothing more to do with you, you're an animal. So, jump in that hole or go somewhere else, I don't care. Just stay away from me, all right?"

Dave looked into the forlorn face of the Sociopath and felt his soft heart weaken. He put his hand on the other's shoulder.

"Look, I'm really grateful for what you did, okay? It's just that I can't have you around for the next phase, all right? The boys need the loving, supportive me, not you. Plus, you'll only get in the way when I start dating again. You just don't have the right skill set."

"Okay, Dave. Thanks for letting me out. It's been very liberating."

They stared at each other uncomfortably for a few seconds, then shook hands. Dave turned away, to be the best father he could possibly be and, who knows, maybe a loving husband again someday.

The End

Many of my stories portray a good man being pushed over the edge to behave out of character. Comments on previous stories have shown me I've been too subtle in the past. So, with this one I've tried to be less ambiguous. At the risk of copping the usual, "If you have to explain the story afterwards, it wasn't very good", which, frankly, is getting very boring, I have to cater for a whole range of readers, therefore there are times I feel the need to explain. Past comments have proven to me that readers span a wide variety of intelligence and perception, each bringing their own personal history and/or baggage to a story.

Dave and the Sociopath share a body but are two separate mental entities. It happens.

For anyone that's interested, I have Type O negative blood. I'd just made the universal donor's register when the local Red Cross announced that because I'd lived in the UK for 11 months in the 90's, I could be carrying BSE—Mad Cow's Disease—so couldn't donate. What a load of crap. Mooooohahahaha.

The composite Dave character is based on a driller I worked with last summer. He was a brilliant driller, but the reports from his workmates were disturbing. They told me he had an imaginary dog and an imaginary offsider. I didn't believe them until I drove up to his workplace one day and he was outside the cab of his machine, berating someone for drilling a hole 300mm away from the point painted on the ground.

He and I were the only people in the quarry.

A week later, he stopped in at my office to hand in his paperwork before heading off for the weekend. As he left my office he was talking to someone I couldn't see. I watched him walk around his truck and hold the passenger door open, as if for a lady to get in. He shut the door after saying quite clearly, "You're welcome." I was glad he had a date for the weekend.

The world is full of really interesting people.

If that wasn't funny enough, here goes. An aboriginal station (ranch) hand seeks out the white owner of the sheep station.

"Hey boss, I've got a question for you."

"Yes, what is it."

"I'm black right, and my wife is black as well. She just had a baby and it's white. Can you explain how that happened?"

The station owner immediately becomes nervous and after much throat clearing, begins to reply.

"Look over there. What do you see? 10,000 white sheep. Now look over there. 500 white rams. Most of the lambs born are white as well, but every now and then you get a black one. Nature is like that."

The station hand ruminates on this for a couple of minutes before speaking again.

"I'll make you a deal, boss. I'll leave your sheep alone if you leave my wife alone."