Day Ten Monster University: Hal

Hal
Katherine Rochholz
All Rights Reserved

"In life I was the person who could charm and calm anybody.  In death my body was used to scare the animals away from the fields.  My soul was restless.  I mean I was murdered and the murderer put me up in a field as a scarecrow. Shower burlap bags to my body; stuffed them straw. I was murdered by a jealous man. After all I had it all. Town respect. A lovely wife. Three strapping sons and a princess of a daughter. And I had a silver tongue. I could get anybody to do anything I pleased. So yes, my soul was restless. So I made a deal.  I have to have the brain, face, heart and livers of five people during a year.  I tend to eat all five at once.  Less heat for our detective to deal with.  Can say traveling killer.  I look for my victims in the classes I am a TA for; after all they trust me.  They come to me.  I don’t even have to do the work.”
 
    Hal was sitting in his office when the door opened.  “Hey guys!” Hal greeted the group of kids.  “Ready with your questions?”
    "Of course Hal!" One of them laughed. "I swear we wouldn't be passing this class if it wasn't for you!"
    "No Jake, that isn't right. You are all bright kids who got into college. You all can do anything you put your minds too."  Hal stated as he went up to the board. "Now let's start off by summing up the lectures last week and we can go from there. Now there were many reasons behind the actions of the United States and the Pacific Front of World War II ..." Hal started.
    Hal loved history and loved teaching it more. Teaching allowed one to show not only an unbiased view of events; but if it was worded correctly and presented a certain way to the students, they would start to take on the teacher's views as well. It allowed the teacher to spread their beliefs as well as educate the society of what happened. And if the people didn't know the past they were doomed to make the same mistakes in the future. After all Hal had learned from his mistakes and has grown in his many years on this Earth. It was really a pity these five wouldn't get their chance to warp the minds of innocents. But Hal was more afraid of no existence or hell than he was upset about the loss of the lives of five teenagers starting their further education. He finished his review and smiled as the kids left. He dropped his smile as the door closed and raised a hand to his face. The magic making him look human could only fool humans. He always felt the burlap that was now his skin. He closed his eyes at the pain. No matter how much time had past he mourned his mortal life. He kept watch over his descendants. Made sure they never ran afoul of monsters. Made sure Bo put out they were protected. But he never met them face to face. How he wished he could. He shook his head. He had things prep. Mainly his basement.
    Hal got home that night and went right to his basement. He looked up when Gabriel came in. "Gabriel or John?"
    "It's me. Gabriel."  He stated as he sat down on the bench. "Thought I would come and see if you needed help."
    "Bored?"
    "Partly. Partly is that busy work keeps John at bay."
    "Oh is John unsettled?"
    "Yeah. Someone tried to pick a fight with me."
    "Oh about what?"
    "I was helping someone with chemistry and his boyfriend didn't like it."  Gabriel smirked. "The jock was hiding their relationship; and when he saw me helping him he got jealous and came up and tried to pick a fight."
    "Well I am sure you friend informed him you were straighter than an arrow."
    "Nope. He was using me for not only chemistry help but to get his boyfriend to make their relationship public."  He picked up the scalpel that Hal just finished sharpening. "What day should we expect the screaming?"
    "Soon. My anniversary of being undead is coming up and I have to kill, remove the organs and eat them by midnight that day. I was thinking this weekend. I will dump the bodies right outside of town. That Ewan can say it was traveling killer. That night I will take them out to celebrate then you all can say you picked me up at the bar and when they leave I will grab them."
    "Sounds like a plan." Gabriel stated and grabbed another scalpel to sharpen.
    Hal nodded his thanks as he sharpened his knife.
    The weekend came and after review Hal smiled. "You all approved on the last test! I think we should celebrate! My treat!" Hal smiled. After all what was a few hundred when tonight was the last night of their lives.
    They were all excited and they first went to dinner at the local bar and grill before moving to the bar. The six of them were laughing and talking and debating the age old question: 'Who was the bigger monster? Hitler or Stalin?'
    "Hey Hitler may have convinced a generation to commit genocide but Stalin killed his own people!" Hal exclaimed. "No matter who big of monster Hitler was you have got to say he was a hellva politician!"
    "Stalin killed anybody who he thought was out to get him. Hitler targeted the Jews and anybody who wasn't a Hitler baby!" Jess yelled.
    "Exactly!" Hal exclaimed. "They both were horrible but Stalin killed based upon his paranoia; Hitler targeted specific groups! Making Stalin a bigger monster because he was unpredictable! Hell, Stalin killed his own blood!"
    The debate lasted through dinner and into the bar. Once at the bar Hal fed them shots and mixed drinks and they danced and let their hair down. Hal almost felt bad for them. Almost. Hal made sure that Jo knew to charge him for all five of them. He said his goodbyes and left the bar. He then laid in wait for them to leave.
    Hal dropped all his spells. He wanted them to fear him. He waited and at two in the morning they came stumbling out. He pulled up in a taxi minivan and they all stumbled in spitting out the addresses to the dorms. Hal locked the doors with a smirk. He then drove to his place.
    Jake finally noticed. "Hey dude! This is the wrong way!"
    Hal turned his head around. "No it isn't." He rasped out.
    The girls screamed and the men froze. But before they could do anything Hal pressed a button on the dash and released a paralyzing nerve gas. Once he got to his house he dragged each one into his basement and strapped them down in the surgical tables. He hummed as he prepped them.
    They started to wake up. They tried to scream. Hal gave a straw filled smile. "I used to allow my victims to feel all the pain I inflicted upon them. But then I started to hunt those in college. Got to know them. Got to care a bit. I have paralyzed you all but you will be alive as I remove your face, your liver, your heart, your brain... I then will cook them all up and eat them. Giving me my power; allowing me to be immortal. You see for as much as I care for you all... I fear nonexistence or hell more."  Hal explained as he held up a knife. "If it is any consolation I debated not killing you all."  He then plunged the knife into Josh's chest and slashed down opening him up and pulled his chest apart. He picked up the scalpel and carefully cut out the heart. He did it to all five of them before he carefully removed their faces, livers, and brains. He left the bodies to drain of blood down the drain as he moved to the kitchen and cooked the organs. He made a stew with the hearts, wraps with the faces, the brains he made sloppy joes and the livers he made liver and onions. He sat down and eat every bite. He was so full after he wanted to sleep. But he couldn't until he dumped the bodies. He moved to the basement and dragged the bodies back to the van. Once he had them all in he drove to a farm field right outside of town and dumped them. He then drove to the local sandpits and dumped the van. He jumped into the car waiting. Thank God for the monster community. It made all this so much easier. He went home and after a quick hose down of the basement passed out for the weekend and let the power of their restless souls fill his body and grant him another year of undead life.