Jacked Up

by Latrexa Nova

To anyone warring with that part of them that’s simultaneously attracted to and terrified of clowns.

Maybe he’ll be less creepy once the makeup comes off.

Pee’s not the only thing that comes out. Tears do too—out from my eyes, obviously, not my pee hole. What a feeling, to be leaking at both ends.

💀

It’s funny how when people die you grow so much more connected to the things you hated but they loved.

Nana told me once she won it in a card game. Said she felt like that guy in the Devil Went Down to Georgia, playing against some macho, egotistical hot shot who thought he could read anyone who came his way.

The clown on the box catches my eye, almost like a flirtation. A low, disquieting tone builds in my head. A pulse—mine? It’s so strange, but the longer we lock eyes, it’s almost as if the clown is threatening he wouldn’t be the one in handcuffs, knowing full well what they’re for. I laugh it off, look away quickly.

“Of course, sir, I’ll go ahead and do that,” I say, tapping away at my keyboard. I am not, in fact, doing anything.

Would be more fun with his tongue ripped out.

“I’m an American,” I joke in a gruff voice, “This is the land of the free!” He tilts his head. “If you say so. How free are you truly when you’re beholden to work for people you hate, when you’re forced to live in squalor, when you don’t even have time to pursue the things you care about?”

“This is torment,” he groans, “listening to your moans, your panting, the sounds of you.” “I can stop,” I giggle. “No,” he growls. “Your sounds are mine. I won them.”

The accent is killing me. Do people actually fall for this shit?

Good to know ancient clockmakers trapped in Jack-in-the-boxes are into Murderfolk.

And really, I mean, if I really think about it, what has not murdering people gotten me?

“A perfect match. Everything I could hope for.” She is beauty. She is divine. Everything around me is so bright after centuries of darkness. I can barely make out her features. What guides me is instinct— And lust.

That box has ruined me forever. Where once was a beautifully crafted penis now sits the springy coils of my imprisonment.

“Cry all you want, beloved,” I tell her, kissing away the droplets. “I will kiss them all away.”

“Stay,” she whispers. Am I a dog? I bite back the growl forming in my throat, annoyed that it only serves to prove the point further.

“My name, dear sweet Melody, is Jack,” I tell her. She laughs. “Okay, really?” “I am the original Jack-in-the-box.”

At the base of the shaft sits a thickly lined knot that spirals to a taper, ridged bumps scattered across the top until the crown.

“Give up, Melody. Stop fighting. The world is so full of wickedness and evil. What good are your morals when my cock is inside you?”

“I’m going to breed you, Melody. You have no choice. My knot won’t let either of us free until we have fucked it away. You’re mine.”

“I lo—” she starts. My hand closes around her throat as I pound into her harder. This is a rutting, not a romance.

“What, you never got fucked so good you started crying?” she asks with a huff, sniffling only seconds later.

“I can’t fucking believe you,” she mutters. “We just—you just fucked me senseless and—you want me to kill again?” I shrug. “Just one more. Enough to restore me to my true form.”

I growl, reaching for the strings that control her. If she won’t choose, I will. One more kill, that’s all I need. Then I can dispose of her like I could any other thrall.

Why does she have to be nice the day I decide to kill her husband?

IS THIS WHY MY LUCK HAS BEEN JACK SHIT MY WHOLE FUCKING LIFE?

“If you know the course of fate, you don’t need luck.” “The course of fate is I’m gonna kick you in the fucking dick, you asshole!” I screech.

“I wanted to give you the world. Eternity. All you had to do was what I said—kill a human sacrifice every now and then. And instead, you kick me in the dick?”

Demons have no souls. No mate. Human words are too small, too fragile—girlfriend, partner, wife. She is my blood. My eternity. My fate. My luck.

“O-kay. Uh. Hm. Well. I guess I have a new family heirloom. Just have to keep it out of the hands of anyone with a gambling addiction this time.”