The Double-Edged Sword [Story-Time]

The (kind of) tragic true(ish) story of a young(ish) woman who gave into her darker(ish) side...(ish)...

It's sad when you see someone so young give into the darker side of their nature. And no story is more tragic than that of a young woman named Sammy.

She was an ordinary girl from a small Dorset town who had high hopes and aspiration of going to a far off uni to study psychology and try to help those with mental problems to come to grips with their condition. But at a much cheaper hourly rate.

She loved her family, she loved her friends. Most of the time. And she had much fun with both of them. Going on numerous holidays to the North of Wales and, sometimes, even as far as the city of angels, Los Angeles. 

She liked to tell stories of her many adventures in the form of a diary as well as illustrate them through the divisive Facebook application, 'Bitstrips'. Here she could be whoever she wanted to be. Whether that be a young woman having normal adventures with her friends, or a quirky character who managed to somehow download an app that could concuss her friends one by one.

One day, one of her closest friends (we'll call him Joshua), also went onto bitstrips and they made wonderful characters. Some in which included various misadventures that were reminiscent of an episode of Doctor Who. In a number of single frame strips, the pair got captured by a robot knight and was put in a torture chamber until Joshua could figure a way out before being invaded by a red hot poker held by a disgruntled medieval dwarf. (You know, as is usual with medieval torture chambers. It's there in the history books if you look hard enough). 

But one day, it was all too much to bear. The comics got stranger and stranger until, eventually, Joshua made a joke about Sammy being a psychopath. Sammy, being of a somewhat sarcastic nature, laughed off the jibe. As it was the kind of remark that Joshua, and most of her other friends, would often make in some kind of jest when they were together in reality.

The joke lasted most of the night in some way shape or form and fun was had by many. Including Sammy. Who acted offended but really wasn't. She was happy to join in the fun even if it was at some cost to her dignity. Actually, I'm not sure if it went that far but I'm allowed a little artistic license with the story*.

As night turned to day, the joke remained lodged in Sammy's brain for days afterwards. And that was when it happened. Her psyche started to trick her and she fell victim to her own deeply buried passion. Her deeply buried passion...FOR MURDER AND ALL THINGS PSYCHOPATHIC. (Except what Norman Bates did in Psycho. That's just freaking weird. She'd never go that far...yet...)

Sammy wrestled day and night for a week trying to ignore her deep feelings for psychopathy and tried to bury the urges further than they were before. But the spark was there. The fire lit. And it was more out of control than Katie Hopkins' Twitter comments. (That woman is such a *censored*)

But ignoring her feelings only made them worse. They started to manifest themselves in everything she did on social media. But most of all, her bitstrips. First, in subtle ways, but soon the changes she was going through became more visible to the rest of the world. Her bitstrips got more and more violent and evidently disturbing. Some were made by friends continuing the joke. But some, like the picture with Joshua in the fire and Joshua being taken away by armed thugs while Sammy counts her precious moolah, started to show just how dark Sammy's dark side truly was...

By this point, the only thing holding her back from actually killing someone were the essays she was receiving on a constant basis from her, perhaps omniscient, university lecturers. Perhaps they saw a hidden danger and decided to pacify it? (Although I don't know her course that well. So it was likely just admin).

But this temporary pacification would not stop Sammy from posting disturbing Bitstrips. Some people laughed it off, believing it to be a joke. But little did they know that, as she read the comments of their ill-fated misconceptions to her true purpose, she was manically laughing. Plotting who would be first on her to-do list. Acting them out and amending her plans via Bitstrips. People thought it was entertainment. If they only knew it was real...

First on her list was her friend, Tabby. Someone who lived within a 45 minute train ride of Sammy and adored her with every fibre of her being**. The picture went up of Sammy making a witty parody of the popular Stephen King/Stanley Kubrick film 'The Shining' and, for the most part, Tabby found it funny. She falsely believed it was entertainment. Silly Tabby. Little did she know the truth of what was about to befall her. Because, like in the picture, Sammy had an axe to grind...

Next on her list was her friend Julia. A friend who had recently moved to university and did nothing but support Sammy when she could and often make her laugh with various comments involving curry and rabbits. But nothing could stop Sammy's maniacal side now. She was unstoppable. Again, like Katie Hopkins' Twitter. 

The warning of Julia's place on the list, may look sweet, but it's the eyes. The eyes give everything away. She had dangerous plans for poor Julia. It was only a matter of time before Sammy's fantasies would become truth. And poor Julia, sweet little Julia, who attended board game club and went rambling*** with other uni students, would be on the receiving end of Sammy's new found horror show.

Next on her list would be a total stranger. For no reason other than to put the fear of *insert deity here* into the man who made all this bloodshed and stuff possible. Her true target. Joshua. She'd be sure to make sure Joshua would find the body, but not suspect that Sammy had finally given into temptation. Because she didn't want him to suspect a thing when she finally visited him.

Soon, she visited the young man who taunted her about becoming a psychopath and started to put her plan into motion. A body was found in the lift of Joshua's flat block. Sammy did her best to revive the victim but, she was unsuccessful. Joshua, although slightly surprised, brought it. He didn't suspect a thing. Sammy's plan was working...

Finally, months of planning on Sammy's part was about to pay off. She would finally kill the man who first called her a psychopath and let the idea fester in her head for months. The man who awakened what was deep within her all along. The father of the newly created personality that Sammy had now adopted. And he had no idea what was coming.

It's ironic that Joshua's death should happen last. Because, it was always a kind of a double-edged sword. Because, if you tell someone something often enough, they start to believe it. Joshua jokingly called Sammy a psychopath once too often. And she'd snapped. And how fitting it was that Sammy was now about to exercise her beliefs on the man who instigated them in the first place. He was always the intended victim. She just needed the practice first. She'd often fantasized of ways to kill her old friend Joshua. But the moment was much sweeter than any plan she'd concocted in her head.

Finally, in the middle of the night, as they shared a bed (because Joshua's room was way too small and neither could agree on who should sleep on the floor), she looked on him sweetly. Before remembering why she was in Winchester in the first place. And, without hesitation, she committed her final act as a psychopath. Joshua didn't even know what was happening...

THE END

*This is stretching the truth a little. I've used a LOT of artistic license with this story.

**As many as one can spare for an old friend.

***I'm not actually sure what 'rambling' is. I thought it was part of a song by Led Zeppelin but hey, I've been known to be wrong. If someone (preferably Julia) could fill me in I'd be very grateful.

Note from the writer

I should probably point out that this is a satire. None of this has actually happened. Yet. But it's based on a little joke between my friend Sammy and I. I can't even remember how it started but it's one of those close friend jokes that often comes up. I call her a psychopath and she joins in with those who remind me that I'm losing my hair. So it's all good.

But story-time is over. Jokes aside, there is a moral to this post. 

In the story, I said that "if you tell someone something often enough, they start to believe it". This is very true. If you call someone something, or tell them that they are something, for long enough, they will start to believe it. And in some cases, they become it because that's what they've been taught to believe by those around it. 

If you tell someone they're worthless and constantly remind them as such, they'll start to believe it themselves big time. If you tell someone who's got ginger hair that they have no soul or aren't human (as is sadly commonly said) then they'll start to believe it.

Even though I'm not bullying Sammy when I call her a psychopath, I'm still worried that one day she'll snap and actually murder in my sleep like she does in the story. But we're friends. And we both know it's a joke because, as you can see from many of the pictures, she's joined in with it and has, in many instances, re-started the joke. But  many others do not see things as a joke so easily. Sometimes it goes beyond a joke and becomes something serious. Something MUCH more serious.

As someone who has been bullied many times in my life, I know how it feels to be ridiculed for something as, sadly, so many others do. And I can't believe that bullying is still a problem in the 21st Century. I'm sure that the people who read this blog are stand-up people but there are still people out there in the big bad world who continue to think it's funny to try and belittle someone for the stupidest of reasons.

Bullying is not acceptable. It never has been and it never will be. 

And, who knows, maybe one day the people who have been subjected to it might just snap...


Also, in order to make what I've written more balanced, these are two of my favourite pictures of Sammy and I together in order to show you that she's not really a psycho in real life. And, just like all my friends, I'm not sure what I'd do without her...

Come back tomorrow for Part Two of my brand new political/sci-fi story 'Ducks By The Lake'.