Horror | Crime

The Goth Girl & The Cosplayer

A tale of murder, mayhem and metal.

Pastel Goth — Public Domain

It was to be the kind of murder that couldn’t ever be traced back to him. Mike was wearing a full-length superhero costume complete with cap, boots, and full face mask. No one should even come close to picking him out of a lineup of Phantom Eagles.

He stepped into his girlfriend’s room silently. She turned, looked perplexed for a moment, and then he unloaded the pistol into her chest. In death, she could never be unfaithful.

The moment after the shots, he heard the sound of heavy metal being played on full volume. The operatic voice of the lead singer called out, ‘You might die to love a monster’. The words echoed around in his head for a moment.

He wasn’t the monster she was.

The music continued, and suddenly, as if it had been an afterthought, he remembered she had a new roommate. The back bedroom had been rented by some mall goth named Raven who dressed like a freak. Who knew? Murder might turn her on.

Mike turned. He stepped out of the bedroom and into the eyes of Raven and another girl. They both wore black clothes and silver jewelry, which broke up their outlines in the shadowy corridor.

“Sup.” He aimed the gun.

Mike had no idea where he was aiming, but the mere sight of the gun should be enough, he figured.

He figured wrong.

“You loved her to death. It’s actually romantic. I wonder if I killed my boyfriend, would he be happy in his last moments?” Raven opined.

“Then you’d kill yourself too, wouldn’t you?” The other girl chimed in.

They laughed, and there was the twinkle of something metal as they moved. Mike realized too slowly it was the twinkle of pistols and not their rings. In his brightly colored costume, he was an easy target.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A previous short horror story of mine was Final Boy Rock And Roll