J Randell and Felix
Metric were both successful authors of the dark
and disturbing, but they developed a rivalry which was to lead to the
demise of one and the imprisonment of the other. Their titles always topped the
best seller lists, with sales at the high end and sometimes stratospheric. For
their agents and publishers there was nothing not to like, especially when a
little competition created positive publicity.
It was only when Felix
Metric tweeted that much of his life was spent staring at a blank screen, that
their rivalry moved up a level. J
Randell could not resist the opportunity to respond with some mischievous mockery.
Incensed, Metric set a challenge that he knew his fellow author would
eventually struggle to complete.
They had a year, he said,
to see who could successfully publish more stories in the short form, either
published or submission approved for publication. The forfeit for the loser
would be a substantial financial donation to a charity of the winning author’s
choice. Moderated by their agents, on the first day of the New Year, the
starting gun for their write-off began.
At the first quarter, J
Randell was able to prove he had taken a lead of four stories to one. Metric,
well known for his sanguine demeanour, knew time was on his side, predicting J
Randell (notorious for his mood fluctuations), would struggle to compete come
the mid-way stage.
Six months in, they were
neck and neck, but J Randell faced a dilemma all authors fear:
Creative block.
Now normally this crisis
could be overcome, given time, reflection and therapy. But the one thing J
Randell did not have was time. He needed stories, fast and furious, and took a dangerous step from imagination to
reality, to fill the creative hole.
His agent noticed the
marked change in J Randell’s writing. There was a harshness, a coarse realism
which punctuated each new story he produced. It was as if, his agent remarked: ‘the
stories were true.’ But J Randell was on
one, locked in creative mode, in the zone and not to be disturbed on any
account.
However, come the third
quarter it seemed Felix Metric had taken an unassailable lead, and by the final
quarter nothing was heard from J Randell until a few days before New Year’s Eve.
It appeared he was seeking a magnanimous ending, when he arranged with Metric
and their agents, to attend dinner at his home on the top of the hill.
Unfortunately, this
is where J Randell was to demonstrate how far he had departed from sanity, how
far he had become absorbed in his own distorted reality. After Metric was crowned
the undisputed winner, J Randell announced he had a great story to read, to
round off a year of literary achievement. As they listened to his tale, he laid
bare how he had committed the crimes in the stories he had told. Then, to their
horror, the final scene revealed the poisoning of the food and wine at their
celebratory dinner, to complete J Randell’s schadenfreude.