In Today's News

"Photographer has been working to assemble body..."

"Are you crazy?! Have you lost your mind?!" She screamed and dug shaky fingers into her scalp, her eyes wide with fear. He simply watched her, and felt her react. He knew he shouldn't have shown her. He knew she would respond this way, but he showed her anyway. Now, he's paying for it.

"This doesn't even make sense! How could you even think that this is okay?!"

He stayed silent. No response. He just let her freak out.

It started with the camera she gave him for his birthday ten years ago. He immediately fell in love with photography, taking his camera with him everywhere, snapping shots of every thing and everyone. He woke with the sun one morning for a photo shoot by his father's old fishing spot. Everything happened as normal - the drive there, following the trail and shooting shots at every step, then returning home - until he was reviewing the photos the next day. A beautiful shot of a waterfall, under closer inspection, contained a sinister object. On one of the rocks protruding from the river, there rested a hand. A human hand.

He didn't know what pulled him back, but immediately after seeing the photograph he returned to the river to find the hand precisely where it had been captured the day before. Careful not to harm it, he picked it up, taking it home with him to place in a jar above his desk. That incident began the strange obsession with human bodies, and after he started, he couldn't stop.

"911 may not find you"

Based also on the tale of Sweeney Todd

Try this new salon, they said, it'll be fun! Adelaide rolled her eyes, encompassed in her thoughts as she traversed one lane roads. "How did I even get to the middle of nowhere? And how the hell do I get out?!" Exasperated as she was, she continued following the directions to whatever desolate place her friend had recommended. Ha, some friend! she scoffed as she turned on to yet another dirt road.

Another fifteen minutes down the road, a lizard slithered across her path. Look at that! Another living organism! The first one in miles. Yet she hadn't spotted any houses or stores. Her phone alerted her that she had no service and that her intended destination was up ahead before it died, leaving her to fend for herself. Sure enough, she began to spot buildings scattered about, then down the road a bit more was the barber shop. She parked in a patch of gravel and sighed, taking note that the nearest establishment was just a speck in the distance.

Well, here goes nothing, she thought as she stepped out of the car into the static heat, taking hesitant steps up the rotting wooden stairs. The door squeaked as she pushed it open into a vacant room which only held two dusty chairs and a hopelessness that made Adelaide want to turn around and run right back out the door.

Then, she blinked and a young girl was in front of her. She had a frail frame and hair almost as pale as her porcelain skin. She smiled with soft pink lips as she approached. "Welcome, my name is Johanna."

"Addie," the traveler forced a smile.  "My friend recommended this place, so I thought I might come check it out."

Johanna reached up and stroked the visitor's hair, studying her features. "So beautiful. It's a shame."

Confusion struck Adelaide as the girl played with her hair, but she didn't speak.

Johanna met her eyes and whispered, "If you hurry, she won't see you. Leave while you have the chance."

But she didn't have a chance. With her usual perfect timing, the barber entered the room. "Trying to run off my customers, Jo?" she said with a sly smile. Unlike the first girl, she brought a dark feeling to the room. Dark hair, dark eyes, deep ruby lips, and a black dress that whispered secrets with the creaky wooden floor. The only thing that related them was their near white skin.

Johanna let her hands fall to her side and her head fell with it, a somber expression on her face. The other girl stepped forward, reaching a hand out to her customer.

"I'm Imogene. Imogene Todd. Are you ready for a trim?"