Peeler

By Gord Rollo

Randy Baxter is an aspiring chef who dreams of better days ahead. He’s come to work as part of the kitchen staff at Ashbury Creek Asylum, a federally funded institution for the criminally insane. Randy’s not crazy but he does harbor a past filled with psychological issues including the need to cut himself to make the memories of his abusive childhood go away. When he learns about the man they call Peeler, a long term resident at Ashbury who has a severe problem with self-mutilation, all of Randy’s anxieties start to rise to the surface again.

Determined to overcome his inner demons once and for all, he manipulates a face to face meeting with Peeler but as with all things, there’s a price to pay. To see one of the most violent, disturbed men ever to be imprisoned in the maximum security asylum Randy must bring Peeler a small gift. Something no one in their right mind would even think of giving him.

A shiny new razor blade…

Peeler is a novelette at 11K words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashbury Creek Media
• Release date: Nov 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781540197351

Gord Rollo

Gord Rollo was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, but now lives in Ontario, Canada. His short stories and novella-length work have appeared in many professional publications throughout the genre and his novels include: The Jigsaw Man, Crimson, Strange Magic, Valley Of The Scarecrow, The Translators, Only The Thunder Knows, and The Crucifixion Experiments.. His work has been translated into several languages and his titles are currently being adapted for audiobooks. Besides novels, Gord edited the acclaimed evolutionary horror anthology, Unnatural Selection: A Collection of Darwinian Nightmares. He also co-edited Dreaming of Angels, a horror/fantasy anthology created to increase awareness of Down’s syndrome and raise money for research.

Book preview

Peeler

Gord Rollo

Published by Ashbury Creek Media, 2016.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Peeler

A Preview of Strange Magic

Also by Gord Rollo

The Jigsaw Man

Strange Magic

Valley of the Scarecrow

The Translators

Crowley’s Window

The Dark Side of Heaven

Peeler

Gods & Monsters Vol. 1

Time & Space Vol. 2

Flesh & Blood Vol. 3

Copyright © 2016 by Gord Rollo

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance it bears to reality is entirely coincidental.

Published by Ashbury Creek Media

Ontario, Canada

Book & Cover Design by Adam Geen

www.adamgeen.com

PEELER

"Man is only man at the surface. Remove the skin, dissect, and immediately

you come to the machinery of God." -- Anonymous

Western New York, July 1994

What the fuck ya doing, Baxter?

Brian Mitchell, the head chef here at Ashbury Creek (if you could call this dump a kitchen, and this perpetually angry cook a chef) was screaming at Randy again. Mitchell was a big black slob of a man, about 6’2" and easily pushing 300 pounds, aiming for a coronary before his 50th birthday the way he ranted and raved all day. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, as far as Randy Baxter was concerned. Screw him! This was just a shitty job to add to his resume so he could move on to bigger and better kitchens, and he was sick and tired of this fat bastard always breathing down his neck. He needed the paycheck and the experience though, and loud mouth or not, Chef Mitchell was a hell of a cook and could actually teach Randy a thing or two if he’d learn to just chill a little. After all, how good did the food really have to be? They were working in an asylum for the criminally insane for God’s sake.

What’s wrong? Randy asked. It’s roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots. Same bloody plate I’ve been making for two hours now and I haven’t heard any complaints.

It was 7:00 p.m. on Friday night and suppertime at Ashbury Creek Asylum was officially over, but there were always special order meals to be made for the men in the infirmary or the various bad boys on lock down in their cells. Rooms, Randy reminded himself. Rooms… not cells. This wasn’t a prison, but it was close enough, as far as he was concerned. A prison filled with fuckin’ loonies!

Wrong? Do ya know who dat supper’s for?

Sure. It’s for… Randy glanced over at his menu chart, having absolutely no idea. Theodore Dorsey in Badass -10. So what? What makes him so special?

Badass –10 was actually room B-10, the B meaning Basement, but seeing as it was where they housed the most violent of patients, anything with a B designation was affectionately referred to as badass. Hey, if the shoe fit…

Son of a bitch! Ya that stupid, Baxter, or jus pulling my leg? Worked here fer two weeks now and ya never heard of the Peeler?

Peeler? Nope. What’s his deal?

I’m not saying shit. Means nothin’ to either of us. All ya gotta know is ya can’t give Peeler knives and forks and shit.

But they’re only plastic crap. All the other inmates… I mean patients, get the exact same--

Well Peeler doesn’t, so get it into yer thick head. Hell, for six months we only made him protein and veggie shakes, the boss man had his jaws wired shut.

A chill raced down Randy’s spine, a familiar shiver that made him wince and nearly had him reaching to check the old scars on his arms and belly again. They’d long since healed and he liked to think they’d faded away to unnoticeable, but at the moment they were throbbing hotly, getting itchy, and causing him to shake ever so slightly. Maybe it was just in his head. He ignored the cuts, swept all that old shit away and hoped Mitchell hadn’t noticed. Those pathetic days were long behind him and the last thing Randy wanted was a trip down memory lane.

Umm… Couldn’t they just segregate him or something? I mean if he was trying to hurt people I’m sure they--

He was biting hisself, fool. No one else. Wired him so he no hurt hisself anymore, I guess. What do I know?

Seriously? Why would he do that? Randy asked, more curious than he wanted to be, sweat starting to form on his forehead, but trying to appear casual.

"With a name like Peeler, yer guess is good as mine? All I know is he used to be a magician or some such shit. Now he jus crazy, like you and me and everyone else here in dis madhouse. Look… makes no matter, jus cut his food into little chunks and leave it at dat. Some things are best not known, ya hear? No cutlery. No bullshit. Even if ya feeding him cream