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Shorts
Saint Lucifer
By Nick
24 August 2008
This was originally the first chapter of a longer, uncompleted piece - I would very much liked to hear what people think of it and whether the idea is worth continuing.

So, as always, comments and crits appreciated.

*Beware: naughty words contained within**

    I admit it, I’m not a nice person.  I have some very abominable thoughts running through my mind at most times but at the moment I'm in a strange place.  For all of the anger and violence that I'd like to let loose in this world, I never have. 

    My criminal record only has a few public disorders and a GBH (Grievous bodily harm) on it.  Even then I only spent 6 months in prison.  It's  pathetic,  I should have spent at least 2 years inside for the GBH but the courts let the victim down again.  

    My mind is in a state of constant flux.  I know what I would like to do to people and sometimes small animals but then this tiny voice tucked up in a corner of my head tells me how wrong it would be and reminds me of the guilt I always feel after such actions.  

    Basically I’ve narrowed the problem down to the fact I’m just an evil person but as some sort of bizarre joke I've been given a conscience.  Let me tell you it isn’t fuckin easy being me, I thought for a while this juxtaposition would tear me apart but then one day everything just click into place and my life suddenly made sense.

    Unfortunately it was the proverbial revelation that changed my life.  It was just 2 events happening only minutes apart that made me see the light.  I was heading back to work one morning when I decided to stop off and get some cigarettes from the local shops.  As I parked my car I was surprised to find myself thinking what a run down depressing shithole this place had become.  I'd been to this shop and its surrounding buildings hundreds of times but I’d never noticed the degradation before.

    As my mind was wandering I noticed some new graffiti on the buildings.  It was the usual colourful crap that teenagers think is cool and credible but 2 words stuck out compared to the rest of the stuff.  Painted in blood red were the words 'Saint Lucifer', and on the 'U' of Lucifer there were horns and a smiley face.  I wasn’t really sure what it was referring to or what it meant but I thought it was vaguely cool.

    I headed for the shop not really thinking about the graffiti and to my slight surprise there was a kid in the shop.  That may not sound unusual to you but children just didn’t hang about there.  I quickly realised he was with his dad, and my God was his dad just fitting for this place.  He looked like a professional bum and had the smell to legitimise his fashion sense.  I wondered what his kid must of thought of him, but hey it was none of my business.  

    The dad was buying his kid some sweets and telling him to get anything he wanted.  Maybe this guy wasn’t that bad after all.  Once the kid had his sweets he turned to the man and said “Thanks for the sweets mister but I'd better get back to my house as my dad is waiting for me” and with that he ran out of the shop.  In that instant I realised what the situation was.  This guy was a paedophile.  I was so sure of it I nearly slash his throat right there in the shop but I restrained myself.

    While I was suppressing my rage I realised what 'Saint Lucifer' meant.  Saint Lucifer was me.  It all made sense.  I had the violent capacity to do what needed to be done to the deviants in our society and it really was for the best.  Some people may disagree and that’s fine but who knows how many children I've protected by stopping that monster.  I quickly bought my cigarettes and left the shop.  I spotted the dirty hobo and followed him.  To my surprise this guy actually had a house, so after taking a note of where he lived, I went back to my car and vowed to pay him a visit after work.  

    During the course of the day  I realised I couldn't kill him without being certain of what he was.  This, of course, didn’t take long.  It only took a few days of watching him for it to become obvious that he was indeed a predator of small boys.  The last straw was when I heard him entice a youngster into his flat with the promise that he could play with his Playstation and have some Cider.  

    Before the kid got to his flat I intervened, I told the kid to go home and told this bum to get into his flat.  Stupidly he didn't run or beg, he just complied.  Once inside it was all over for him.  Lets just say before he died he knew what it felt like to be at the mercy of someone bigger than him and to realise that I was the justice his victims never received.

    I'm now in my current position of being an outlaw, a vigilante or some variation of the two.  The cops are looking for the killer of a known paedophile but I'm pretty sure they aren't looking very hard.  The media are having a field day and the general public think the perverted bastard got what he deserved.  I've now made it my mission in life to do what the government refuses to do, some social cleansing.

Murders, rapists, paedophiles – I know who you are and I'm coming for you.

Reviews

Written by Phil (7001 comments posted) 24th August 2008
Good idea for a story - had one similar myself but couldn't make it work - at least, not yet. 
 
Read a little like a 'talking head.' All the MC's thoughts and no dialogue.  
 
I think this has legs - perhaps needs a little humour dotted about the piece and certainly some dialogue. 
 
I'd like to see more. 
 
Phil

Written by Fledermaus (3506 comments posted) 24th August 2008
Interesting story, but the main character remained an unsympathetic psychopath. Was it your intention that his clues were too unclear or was his victim indeed a criminal himself? If so, I think it should have been clearer; Yet probably your intention was to show what a lunatic the main character was rather than questioning the ethics of evil killing evil. 
It's interesting that your character himself knows he belongs in prison and is upset with the court for not putting him there longer. It's one of those issues that puzzle me about European law systems: If a psychopathic killer is let out of jail and kills again, then is the next victim's death not the fault of those who set him free? It's strange that especially nations that shout about human rights allow murderers and rapists to go free and do it again. 

Written by Asferthecat (859 comments posted) 24th August 2008
It is certainly possible to write a book where the main character is a psycho. However, the purpose of such a book should be to bring in as much horror as possible. (re American Psycho). 
You have glossed over what happened to the paedophile. Unless you are able to write graphic horror, I wouldn't attempt the project.

Written by mia_ms_kim (1057 comments posted) 25th August 2008
I found this interesting, Nick. It engaged me from beginning to the end. I liked the MC's self-analysis. Since the market is flooded with crime novels that features sociopathic characters (at least that's the impression I get), I wonder what you can do to make your writing stand apart from others. Hmmm...  
 
Mia :roll

Written by Lizzy (838 comments posted) 25th August 2008
An interesting idea and it did keep me reading. How had you thought of proceeding with this. If its the first chapter are you giving too much away to begin with? 
Lizzy

Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3590 comments posted) 25th August 2008
You certainly kept me reading. It was pacy and built well. 
As mia says crime stories do feature a lot of these psychopathic characters and they can become clichéd. I think giving your character some self awareness mixed with a masochistic tendency to want to be punished will help to make him a more original character. I think you should make more of it. Having set it up in the beginning you then seem to forget it and he comes across as yer average pshcho. I think you have the makings of a really good complex character which would engage the reader and give it the stand apart quality mia mentions. 
cheers 
jane

Written by Nick (163 comments posted) 25th August 2008
Everyone - thanks for taking the time to review. 
 
Phil - I agree it needs more dialogue and the original 'first chapter' had a bit but I cut it for the short to, well umm, keep it short. 
 
Maus - don't get me started on the whole prisoners screaming about their human rights thing - and thanks for the crit. 
 
AFC - It's been a few years since I last read 'American Psycho' but have no fear I have already written the torture/death scene' but left it out here as I was mainly wanting to see if people thought the idea was any good. 
 
Mia - This is the first character that I have cre
and I'll continue...
Written by Nick (163 comments posted) 25th August 2008
Mia - This is the first character that I have created that I know what to do with and have several ideas that would hopefully make him stand out from your average psychopath - anyway glad you enjoyed. 
 
Lizzy - I pretty sure I know what direction i want to take with this story but I felt it was necessary to give more away than would be in the 'first chapter' as I wanted to know what people thought. 
 
BBS - Is there such a thing as an 'average psycho' - Mmm that's another topic of discussion all together. thanks for the comments and your right he does become a bit 'average' but as I've said this was just a short to see what people thought. 
 
Anyway thanks again for the comments - I might just have to seriously consider expanding this. 
 
Nick

Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3590 comments posted) 25th August 2008
That's a fair point, I suppose.

Written by TwistedTales (548 comments posted) 25th August 2008
Breezed through it like others. Fantastic pace...I'd like to see a bit more tension. Maybe it was only my weird mind at play but I thought at the end the MC would realize that the man was not a pedophile and was just someone who had lost a son and was just hanging out with kids to drive away his sadness or something.  
 
And as Jane and Mia have said, you sort of forgot that he did have a conscience and maybe it wakes up when he realizes what he's done, or that even if the victim was a pedophile, had a family of his own. And if you go to see, he's not really a psychopath, just someone who feels justice needs to be served (There's a character in one of Chekhov's story called Sergeant Prishibeyev (story title is same) - now this guy does come across as a lunatic (ex-army man who feels it is upon him to mend the things that are wrong in the society), but he is portrayed with such playfulness that it is endearing.) I guess what i'm trying to say is he could come across as a complete psycho, but at the same time, as innocent and as complex as some one with a Multiple personality disorder. You know what I mean?  
 
Regards, 
TT

Written by Nick (163 comments posted) 26th August 2008
Thanks for the review TT and yes I know what you mean. I also liked your suggestion about the guy not being a child abuser - never thought of that one. 
 
Mmm I may have to read Chekhov's story - sounds interesting. 
 
Nick

Written by Emmuttmax (203 comments posted) 28th August 2008
Nick, I think this has possibilities as a book-length story. If this piece is to be chapter one, it needs a lot of work. It glosses over too many relevant details that would serve to set a foundation. As it stands, it moves to fast from who is laughing at the "system" to the same guy deciding to becoming a serial killer. There are no details about his life except that he is violent and was in prison. The turning-point event with the St. Lucifer graffiti just didn't ring true. 
 
As with most of your stuff, this could benefit from a close reading for punctuation, especially looking for where a comma is needed. (Hint: in this story, when the "but" is followed by a complete sentence, insert a comma before the but. 
 
Nice concept.

Written by Nick (163 comments posted) 28th August 2008
Mike - Thanks for taking the time to review. As I've said this is sort of a bastardized version of what would be the first chapter. I have taken a lot away to keep it short but also added a few details just to see what people thought about the general idea.  
 
Also point taken about the graffiti - I wasn't overly happy about this bit either, but so far I've not come up with a better way to introduce it. 
 
As for the punctuation - well your right - I suck at it and need to improve. I'm currently looking at a few writing courses, so hopefully this help. 
 
Anyway thanks again. 
 
Nick
Praise
Written by ReflectingGod (30 comments posted) 28th August 2008
I liked this very much indeed. 
I love the torn mind, mostly bad with a hint of goodness. 
The end was fitting.

Written by Nick (163 comments posted) 29th August 2008
Thanks for the review RG. Glad you enjoyed it. I am currently working on the full first chapter so I'll maybe have it finished sometime soon. 
 
Nick
liked it
Written by kevinrobson73 (434 comments posted) 29th November 2008
think it was a little stilted to start with 
but once it got moving it was powerful and flowed well 
agree with other crits nad observations 
i don't think you're that far from a very worthwhile piece 
can run as a novel

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