Kill Me.

The cold thud of metal against concrete sounded out, reverberating off the walls that surrounded him. Beneath his feet lied a man with short, sandy hair and bright blue eyes that were wide in terror. Even as he stood there, looking at the dead man, blood soaked thorough his blue and white dress shirt. His hands, now resting on the cold garage floor, had defensive wounds lining them, a desperate attempt at survival.

The boy looked down and chuckled before picking up the knife in one black gloved hand and gazed down at the weapon. It was too dirty, he realized, a bit disgruntled. With a careless shrug he knelt down to wipe the blade off on the man's already bloody shirt. Then he turned and walked out of the garage.

Waiting for him was a street of corpses, their dead eyes accusing and murderous. Their intent was clear, as they swooped down on him, each in a bloody dress shirt and holding a knife with a black handle.

Callum gasped, sitting up. He could still feel the heat of all those corpses, rushing towards him like they were each a living soul intent on crushing him, and his entire body was drenched in sweat. He wrinkled his nose as he wiped his forehead, hand coming away slick and shinny in the dim moonlight.

He had grown to hate the news lately, with the reports of more stabbings than usual. For some reason he had yet to discern, the cases were starting to give him nightmares, as if it were somehow his fault. Every time Tim McGlow came on, he felt an inexplicable hatred rise up. How dare the man with such a stupid last name leave him unable to sleep? It wasn't even as if he had any connection to the murders. They just plagued his every thought after his eyelids closed.

Unable to think of anything else to do to get his mind off everything, and too angry to just go back to sleep, he got out of bed. His alarm would be going off in an hour anyway so he just turned it off and decided to get a shower.

The bright fluorescent lights of the bathroom burned his eyes but he shrugged it off, turning on the water. It didn't take long for it to be ready, as he wanted a cold shower. It was the only thing that could fully wake him after such dreams. He only hoped they would catch the murderer soon so he could back to his dreamless sleeps. Even his boss had told him he was more of an ass without sleep than usual.

At least the cold water snapped him out of his own thoughts and away from anything but on how icy the water was. He hated the feeling of it but it was enough of a distraction that he was able to get his shower quickly and be dressed and ready for work twice as fast as he usually was.

By the time he would usually be getting up, Callum was already dressed and watching some cartoon on the TV. Cartoons were always a safe bet and they were fun to watch. His favorite was Tom and Jerry, not that he would ever admit that. People would just laugh at him anyway. Its what they all did.

~*~
"Callum," a voice said, entirely too perky for seven in the morning.

"Hey Bryce," he replied, nodding at his boss. "Any appointments for me today?"

"No, all our offices are caught up for once." Callum nodded, unable to hide his surprise. The department he worked for was a publishing unit that had too many slackers who didn't do their job until the last minute, which usually left himself and Bryce playing catch up. He was glad to hear that there wasn't going to be much outside of what should have been his regular job to do.

Unfortunately when he walked in he saw a folder with an unmistakable elegant script across the top. Callum opened the portfolio to see a boy with bright eyes and dark hair smiling up at him, the lighting in the room glinting off a pair of snakebites. One hand was up, waving at the cameraman.

Lee Simms
Up and coming journalist at nearby newspaper, currently an intern. Specializes in unique stories, or low jobs. To be working on murder investigations. Interview sometime in future for assessment as new team member.

He shrugged at the picture and shoved it back into the manila folder. The interview could wait until next week or so but he at least needed to call. Still, if the boy got anywhere near a decent story, both the City Sun and Rock Publishers would happily sign him on. They were short staffed at the newspaper office just as they were at the publishing branch. Callum couldn't help but wonder how the two siblings who owned both had failed so much at running the companies, management wise.

Either way, they did and it fell to him to make the phone calls for it. At least it was better than working for some fast food joint. Who only knew what kind of things was in those diseased places, with all their processed foods. Ignoring the thought, he punched in the number he knew by heart on his phone.

"City Sun newspaper, Melinda speaking. How may I be of assistance?"

"Hello, this is Callum Stone from Rock. I need an interview with one of your interns?"

"Just a moment. I'll transfer you to Mr. Callaghan."

"Thanks," Callum said, sighing. He wished they would just let them call straight down to him. Its not like anyone actually cared enough about Mr. Callaghan to actually harass him about anything.

"Mike Callaghan speaking," a deep voice answered the phone and Callum rolled his eyes. He really didn't like the owner of City Sun.

"This is Callum Stone, with Rock Publishers. You sent us information about a…" He glanced quickly at the name of the intern, "Lee Simms? He's one of your interns there."

"Oh, young Lee, of course. The only spark in this entire dead company. Yes, we were hoping you would consider accepting him as an actual writer. We already have him here doing the basics, the errands and such, but he's got real promise. I was hoping we could arrange for him to be an official Rock-City member."

"Well of course we will have to interview him as we would anyone else but we'll consider it. What days would he be able to come in?"

"How about you give me a list of available times and I'll get back to you. He's out at the moment." Callum bit back a sigh but did as he was asked. The phone call ended with a quick thank you and Callum hanging up before Callaghan the Creeper decided to ask something else. God he hated that man. He was so freaky too. As if Callum really hadn't noticed the way he watched all of the younger employees, guys and girls, as they wandered around the offices.