Jason Mendalez gazed upon the city of San Fransisco, through a large, floor-to-ceiling window, enjoying the breathtaking sight of the city from high above where he stood. He swirled the glass of obscenely expensive red wine he held in one hand. Chateau Lafite 1869, he recalled. Two hundred and thirty grand for a bottle of wine was expensive indeed.

It could be said that Jason Mendalez was an unusual man. In order to understand why, we must first understand why any one does anything. Why anyone would do anything could be split into necessities and wants. Necessities are simple and universal. Food, water and shelter are things all people would want, as high quality as possible.

And then, there are desires. Desires are unique. Everyone has desires, but what exactly they desire depends on their likes and dislikes, their environment and upbringing. However, desires could still be categorized into broad sectors. People play games, they collect things, they travel, they eat. However, the desires of Jason Mendalez did not fit in into any of these categories. In fact, no mentally sound person would ever desire the things Jason Mendalez enjoyed.

“MmmMppHH!!”

“Oh, quiet down, will you? I’m having a break.”

Jason glanced behind him, where tied to four anchors on a wall, laid a skinless man. That’s right, skinless. This unfortunate man had his skin entirely, delicately removed. It was set down on a table, carefully set as to not fold the empty skin that had somehow been removed in one piece. The man screamed in agony once more, but unfortunately, his efforts to call for help were thwarted by the soundproof walls of Jason’s apartment.

“Ah, alright then. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Jason picked up a scalpel from a nearby table of cutting tools and syringes and strode towards the skinless man. This man had the abysmal luck of crossing paths with Jason by accidentally spilling a cup of hot coffee on Jason’s shirt. From then, his fate was sealed as Jason marked him as his next target. Jason had followed the man for weeks, observing every detail of his life, the daily patterns, the relations of this man, in preparation for Jason’s Hunt. For you see, Jason had the peculiar trait of deriving his joy from another man’s suffering.

He loved toying with the lives of others, the euphoric feeling of grasping their fate in his hands. He loved the excitement of his hunt, planning his move on his next victim, ensuring that he committed the perfect crime. He loved hearing the musical melody of their death throes, shivering in joy as they shuddered in their last moments.

He grinned as the man struggled as much as he could, hoping vainly to escape Jason’s reach.

‘Ah, what to do? Shall I dissect his muscles next? Which one? His arm perhaps, which spilled his coffee on my priceless shirt? Or perhaps I shall remove his eye. His terror would be delicious, oh how exciting!’

He gazed upon the man’s body for a moment, before deciding to carefully remove the man’s eye. He was about to insert his scalpel in the man’s eyelid, one hand holding down the man’s increasingly hysterical movements, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.

Jason frowned. ‘A heart attack? Chest pain?’ As far as he knew, he had no such ailments. His chest throbbed with pain once more, hot knives of pain stabbing his heart. ‘My heart? Ah shit, I need to get to the doctor!’ He stumbled towards the telephone to call the ambulance. Jason took another shaky step before his heart seemed to squeeze, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground. He felt his sight slowly fading to black, as pure agony seemed to burn in his chest. ‘No, this can’t be the end! How could I, Jason Mendalez, die from something like this?’

With an unwilling heart, Jason Mendalez, popular millionaire and devious killer, drew his last breath in his safehouse. It was only ten months later that he was discovered, and the uproar caused by the discovery of his many crimes was tremendous.

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Jason slowly opened his eyes. After staring blankly for a few seconds, recollecting his memories, he shot up in shock. ‘Where am I? Did I die?’ He glanced around. Jason stood knee deep in a pool of dark water, its depths impenetrable by the faint red light all around.