EPILOGUE

Quantum theory tells us that there are an infinite number of realities in which every possibility is played out. Every decision is both made and not made. Every action taken and not taken. Every single moment of every single day both happens and does not happen.

Of course, not every decision has the power to change the world. Picking tea over coffee one morning or eating a chocolate bar rather than a sticky bun is unlikely, although not impossible, to change the course of your life. Therefore, each and every reality will have a near-infinite number of others that are, to the casual observer, indistinguishable from it. Even in these near-identical realities, however, a single moment can radically alter the life of an individual and set them on as very different path.

So it was, therefore, that the afternoon after the piglets had been slaughtered, while their remains were being boiled down along with the left-overs of the previous night’s roast chicken which had once been a cute three year old named Anna, to make a strew for that night’s dinner, a near-infinite number of Melissas was helping a near-infinite number of Sams clean up a near-infinite number of barns.

In every such reality, Melissa’s eye fell upon the axe that had been used to behead Anna and Sophie and to remove the hands and feet of Becca who had been decapitated with a knife while in the throws of orgasm. She looked at the razor-sharp edge of the heavy metal head and a wave of curiosity came over her, wondering how it would feel striking her own delicate neck and chopping off her pretty head. It was then that her phone, in the pocket of the hoodie that she had hung on the edge of the work-bench, began to ring and, in accordance with quantum theory, she both heard it and did not hear it. Each of these eventualities had myriad consequences in myriad universes but we shall only follow two.

Universe D – The phone continued to ring, unnoticed in her pocket until the call was diverted to voice-mail. Whoever was calling could choose to leave a message or simply hang up and try again later. Sam followed his daughter’s eyeline and saw that she was looking in fascination at the axe.

“Want to try it?” He asked. For a moment, Melissa was horrified, although strangely fascinated, thinking that her dad was suggesting letting him cut off her head but she realised her mistake when he followed it up with, “I was about your age, I guess, when your Grandpa started training me! After all, if you’re going to take over from me one day, you’re going to need to know how to do the job!”

“Sure!” Melissa grinned, taking hold of the axe handle and wiggling it a little to free the head from where it had embedded itself in the chopping block. It was heavier than she expected but it felt good in her hands – made her feel powerful somehow. She lifted it high above her head as she had watched her father do that morning and imagined a little girl, naked with her hands tied behind her back, kneeling before her with her head on the block and her neck exposed to the merciless blade. The teen could not help licking her lips as she pictured the scene in her mind’s eye then she brought the axe down fast, embedding it in the block once more.

“Wow!” She grinned. “The was quite a rush! Wish I could practice on a real piglet!”

“Well,” Sam chuckled, thinking back to the phone call he had received just after lunch, “you may get your chance! And sooner than you think!” All thoughts of volunteering her own meat were pushed from Melissa’s mind. For the first time in her young life she saw her future clearly – she was going to follow the family business but instead of silly pigs, sheep and cows she was going to specialise in that most common yet also most exotic of meats.

Universe L – Sam, noticing the way his daughter was eyeing the axe, opened his mouth to comment but she raised her hand to silence him and dug in the pocket of her hoodie for her phone. It was her best from Emily, calling to discuss the sleepover planned for the next weekend. Not wanting to chat in front of her dad, Melissa went outside to take the call but not before giving the axe one last, slightly longing look.

Although she was not ready to acknowledge it yet, a seed had been planted. A seed that would grow into an obsession. An obsession that could only end one way!