The Life and Times of Phil Wii, Part I

Mark glanced at the watch he'd taken off a dead boy two months ago, then looked up at the end of his street. Sure fucking enough, there he was, a slight kid in a McDonald's uniform baby-stepping a straight line across the entrance to the avenue. He picked the last of the chicken out of his teeth with the slender X-acto knife he'd stolen from art class and took off.

He could see the back of the kid's bobbing body as he rounded the corner and began to pick up speed. Putting his his blade in his pocket, next to his straight razor, pliers, and a large, folded Zip-loc baggie, he yawned, keeping his eyes cheetah-like on the boy's slinky form. After several blocks of nondescript, aluminum-sided houses that looked exactly like his own, the boy turned onto the bike path that led directly to the back of their high school. Mark wiped his dry brow as he came within ten feet of the boy.

"Hey."

A small scream escaped from the boy's pale lips as he turned around.

"Where you going?"

"Home." The boy looked down and away as Mark stared into his eyes.

"Do you have to go home right now?"

"Yes."

"What's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Mine too. Do you like animals?"

"Yes."

"Which ones?"

"Umm, I like squirrels and frogs."

"Really? Me too." Mark rocked back and forth on his heels in his Nikes. The boy was not quite Asian, not quite white. His hair was a shiny, stereotypical black, his face a boring oval. But his eyes, from what Mark could see of them, were a deep dark brown, almost coal in color, and weren't quite almond-shaped. For all the good Asian qualities they exhibited, they were fortified with the best of Caucasoid characteristics. Same with the nose - it was no wide, formless bump with two holes; rather, it was a slick sliver of cartilage perfectly bordered at the tip, which was turned up just the slightest. "You know, there's a place in the woods over there where there's a lot of squirrels and frogs."

"Really?" The boy looked up, then straightaway looked back at his black sneakers.

"Yeah. Wanna go see?"

"I have to go home."

"No, you don't. I mean, there's, like, a million squirrels and frogs in this one place back there. It's amazing. You won't believe your eyes."

The boy turned the toe of his sneaker into the asphalt and finally looked up. "Where?"

"This way."

Fifty yards into the woods, Mark stopped and turned to face the boy. "How come you never told me you worked at McDonald's?"

The boy looked away. "I don't know-"

"You know, I fucking hate McDonald's-" And Mark buried his fist into the center of the boy's face, sending the kid onto the leaves and sticks of the woods' floor with a hushed plop!