COLIN

“Oh, shit!!” Colin yelled as he crashed his car into the ditch in front of his parents house.

Colins parents came running out of the house, screaming and yelling. “COLIN! COLIN!! WHAT HAPPENED?”

Colin got out of the car with a beer bottle in his hand and ‘Devil Man’ by Charles Manson blaring out of his car. He stumbled into the yard and bowed down to his parents. “My apologies. My apologies. Hahahhaha" He laughed as he stumbled and fell onto the grass.

Colins dad ran over to the car, got in and backed the car out of the ditch and into the driveway. ”The undercarriage is probably completely damaged. And YOU. YOU could have been killed. Get in the house now, Colin. You aren’t even old enough to drink.” He scolded as he shook his head and went back into the house.

Colin’s mother looked extremely concerned and went over to her son and held him in her arms. “I love you so much and you break my heart every single time you get drunk and drive. Please just stop. And why are you listening to this filth? Charles Manson disgusts me! He goes against everything we stand for, and you know this Colin. Please come in the house and get cleaned up. I’ll make you some coffee”.

“Goes against everything we stand for?” slurred Colin. “He was the leader of a cult, and aren’t we a cult?!”. He held up his beer, “CHEERS CHARLES” he yelled out. He laughed as he took another sip of his beer.

“NO! HOW DARE YOU. We are mormon. We attend a wonderful church of the Latter Day Saints and we are not a cult.” His mother burst into tears and ran in the house.

Colin felt bad, but he blamed their strict rules on his drinking habits and was tired of going to church, but he never let them know any of this because he didn’t like upsetting his parents. They adopted him from the foster care system when he was 4 and had always taken very good care of him. He never needed or wanted anything. Colin sighed and walked into the house. He heard his parents talking in the kitchen and decided to go into the kitchen to speak to them. “Okay, give it to me” he said as he threw his empty beer bottle in the trash.

“Colin..” His mother said as she dried the tears on her face. “I just love you so much and want the best for you. What are you doing with your life? You failed your first year of college and have to re-do everything all over again. Is that even what you want to do anymore? I support everything you do, but you’re 18, going on 19 now and you have no solid plans”. His mother said, with a concerned tone to her voice.

“Mom, I am going back to college. I’m going to take the same classes this year and I will pass. I was just goofing off all year and partying with people. I messed up. I will do better”.

“But why psychology and criminal justice? Do you want to be a police officer or something?”

C“NO! Absolutely not haha. I’m just interested in these things. I am interested in unsolved crimes and why people kill people. I need to understand them. I’m also interested in learning about cults.

“Oh...why? Because of Charles Manson?” she sarcastically asked.

“Not just him. All cult leaders. They are so powerful, but why?”

“I have no idea, honey. Lets change the subject, though, to you sticking to your word. All a man has is his word.”

Colin nodded and hugged his mom and retired to his room. Glancing at the clock, he realized how late it was. Almost midnight. He had a shower and got in bed. It wasn’t long before he was asleep. When he woke up an hour or so later, he crept out into the hallway to see if his parents were awake. They weren’t. He grabbed his gun, balaclava, and his car keys and ran out to his car. The undercarriage was fine and he laughed to himself as he thought of his dad.. ‘he doesn't know anything about cars’. He smiled, got in his car and drove to the nearest 24 hour gas station. He turned his headlights off and slowly drove into the shadows on the side of the gas station, watching people go in and out. “Man, it’s kind of busy tonight” he mumbled to himself as he turned on his stereo. His Charles Manson tape was still playing and he turned it down as to not draw attention to himself. People were clearing the parking lot and nobody was at the pumps anymore as he saw a lone woman walking into the gas station. He pulled his balaclava down and tucked his gun into the back of his jeans as he walked towards the entrance of the gas station. When the woman walked out, he walked over to her like he knew her. “Hey!! Long time, how you been??” He said with a huge smile on his face.

Scared and not recognizing his voice or knowing who he was, she tried to quickly get to her car, but it was too late.

Colin brandished his gun and motioned for her to walk to his car. She tried to get into her own car, but he walked over and put his gun against her back. She obliged and walked towards his car. “Get in the passenger side and put your seatbelt on now”. She did it. He smirked as he remembered an interview he heard on the radio about Charles Manson. One particular part in general stuck in his mind, and that's when he said ‘People love to be told what to do. Tell them what to do and they will just do it’. He laughed and mumbled to himself “Well, he wasn’t wrong” as he got into the drivers side of the car.

He drove out to the middle of nowhere, down a dirt road, pulled over, got out the car and opened the passenger door to let the girl out. “Stop fucking crying and take your clothes off”. She shook her head. “What did I say? Do as I say now!”. He held up his gun and shot it at the ground near her feet. She quickly stripped down to her underwear. “That’s better. I’m not gonna hurt you. I just like looking at beautiful women”. She nodded with tears streaming down her face. “Why are you crying?! I said I’m not gonna hurt you, but you’re making me want to hurt you. Shut the fuck up”. He held his gun up higher and pointed it at her head. She sobbed even more.

“Please. Don’t. I’m ...I’m pregnant”. She cried.

Colin thought about Charles Manson ordering his followers to murder Sharon Tate, who was also pregnant, and decided to follow suit. He went into the trunk of his car and got out some rope, strangled the girl, got his switchblade out of his pocket and cut her stomach open. Just like what happened to Sharon Tate. He wiped the blood off of his switchblade on her hair, got up, shot her in the head and went back to his car.

Suddenly, he woke up. It was a dream. “That was crazy” he said to himself. “Well, haha. Maybe one day I’ll get the pleasure of doing something like that.”

He looked at himself in the mirror with a sinister smile on his face. He glanced over at his dresser, got up and picked up his balaclava. ”One day”.