ANALOGUE by Sara Kachelman

ANALOGUE by Sara Kachelman

I share a face with a famous killer. Before I was nobody. Now women ask to have their pictures made with me. When we stand together I slide my hand down their backs until they quiver. It thrills them. I am a dangerous man!

The killer kills women. He says it is not sexual.

I know him. We stood next to each other in a lineup. I admit he is attractive. We shook hands at the station. “You are good at what you do,” I said. “You are good at what you do,” he replied. Then he winked. I had the extraordinary feeling of watching myself on film.

They released him that day. Lack of evidence. I know I should not like him, but I do. He is a man who does not take himself too seriously.

The killer has a good supply in Amsterdam. He passes a woman in the bike lane after the bars close. He has no preference on how they look. As I said before, it is not about that. Maybe she looks slow or small or kind. He crashes a few meters in front of her and grabs his leg, moaning. Then the woman stops and offers to call an ambulance. When she gets off her bike, the killer jumps her and drags her aside.

He’s a strangler. He is consistent that way.

But women are so stupid, they continue going out at night. They pretend they are smarter than the others before them.

Many died before he was caught. They caught him in a public latrine. People have no respect.

Before the killer was arrested I squatted in a cathedral with other young foreigners. But now, with endorsements, I may be able to afford an apartment of my own.  

I am the most popular disc jockey in town. Dark wave, doom metal, post punk. Many women want to fuck me. I take them to the park at night. I put my hands around their necks. I squeeze until I feel their pulse in my hands. They beg me never to stop.


Sara Kachelman has published fiction in New South, DIAGRAM, Portland Review, and many other journals. She studies prose and bookmaking at the Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland, Oregon, where she is assembling her first chapbook. Contact her at sarakachelman.com.

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