I don’t know why I’m being told to do this. I’ve never actually written in a diary before, or written anything about my personal life for that matter. It seems stupid. But, here I am, withering in this cell. So, here it goes.

My day started off perfectly fine. I woke up, fed my dog, ate breakfast, all that stuff. I started on the finishing touches on the lecture I was going to teach tomorrow. The lesson was on the history of poison, ironically enough.

Something wasn’t quite clicking for the ending. It didn’t seem…real enough. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I didn’t have time to decode it—I was late for the gym.

I started my way to the gym when I bumped into someone on the street. It was a man wearing all black.

“Watch where you’re going, dude!” He looked real shady, carrying a bag that sounded of crinkling plastic.

I noticed that he dropped one of these small bags on the ground. I picked it up and handed it to him.

“Maybe secure your bag next time.”

The guy looked between myself and the bag. “You won’t tell nobody you saw this, okay?”

“Depends. What is it?”

He looked scared. “Nothing, dude. Just some stuff.”

“If it’s just stuff,” I said as I leaned in, “then why the fear?”

“Fine, it’s ILLEGAL stuff, happy?”

What I was missing in my lecture finally came to me. “Hey, could I actually keep this?”

He barked out a laugh. “If you can pay for it, sure.”

“I think my silence will be enough payment.”

He looked away, contemplating whether to trust me. His sense must of won out, because he left without a word.

“The missing piece,” I whispered to myself as I shook the bag. I pocketed it as I found my way to a bar. The gym would have to wait.

I was surprised when I saw that many people at a bar in broad daylight. Mostly men, but they weren’t what I was looking for. Instead, I found a woman by herself.

I slid up beside her. “Hey.”

She must’ve already had a few drinks, because she her messy hair whipped in front of her face as she turned to me. “Why hello there, pretty boy.”

I leaned in and pointed at a random lady. “You see her?”

Her hair flicked my nose as she searched.

With her back turned, I dumped some of the contents from the bag into her drink. It dissolved quickly.

“Oh, you just missed her.” I gave an innocent shrug as she took a swig from her drink.

We continued talking, but in a matter of minutes, she was dead on the ground.

I was the first to cry for help. One of the bartenders called the ambulance, but they pronounced her dead on sight.

A lot happened between then and now, but it’s all a blur. Someone saw me, and I was quickly a suspect. I didn’t bother denying it—so, they through me in jail.

What was the missing piece, you may be asking. It was the thudding of my heart as I slipped in the poison. The excitement as I saw her fall to the ground. The thrill of the kill, if you may think so.

I finally had my lecture complete, but I would not be the one to teach it. What a shame.