FaceFic

He speaks quietly as he packs in the morning. “I hate going in every day. It’s not just the job; it’s the people as well. Stupidity is rampant, I am stunned some of them got out of school, let alone gained honest employment. After five minutes talking to them, you wonder how long it takes to choke someone to death”. Realising the bag is full he slips a last clip into his pocket. “I think today will be better though”.

The stories said that doors to the Fairy Realm were on the edge of things. Where light met shadow or water met stone you could break through to the Other World. He knew he didn’t belong here. He had dedicated his to life finding an entrance. And he’d done it. He had found the ‘edge’ shining in his hand. His head reeled. Shapes and colours swam together. His heart slowed with loss of pressure. He crossed over at last.

“Her name was Lola she was a showgirl” said the coroner to the corpse “Just my little joke.” He resets the Dictaphone. “The victim, a dancer; name: Lola Montez; age: 23. Cause of death, laceration of the carotid artery, shrapnel it seems,” he notes, obscuring the punctures with a skilfully flawed incision. He didn’t feed often, which was just as well. Inventing new causes of severe blood loss was becoming so tedious.

The creature died in a hail of bullets upon disembarking ship. Records showed course results in piloting and engineering from the dead crew’s training programs. Logs showed an anticipation of ‘returning’ to its ancestral planet. “It hatched in a life support chamber. Warm blooded; humanoid; omnivorous; the AI assumed it was human and raised it.” said the Minister “Maybe if there had been medical training…or a mirror”