First published back in October of 2014, ‘Natasha’ was a short story written by J.R. Hayes (the vocalist to US grindcore outfit Pig Destroyer) which was included within the inlay booklet for the band’s third studio album ‘Terrifyer’.
DLS Synopsis:
Natasha wakes from another crushingly vivid nightmare. Or was it really a nightmare? Sometimes it was difficult to tell when it involved him. Stacy had been such an important person in her life when she was sixteen. She remembers how they’d kissed in the playground, rolling on Ecstasy and tripping on LSD.
Her father had taken an instant dislike to Stacy. His long crow black hair that matched hers at the time. Back then Stacy hadn’t been taking his medication. He said it made him feel like a zombie. His erratic mood swings making him hard to predict. Natasha was convinced that was the real reason why they’d ended up moving to Germany. Her father’s promotion a mere convenience to the true motivation.
But now she was back. And Stacy had reached out to her. Made contact after all these years. He wanted to see her. To meet in that very same playground. But Natasha could sense something was different. The milky skinned boy she’d once loved had changed. His body was covered in wounds and scars. On his left shoulder an open hole that looked raw. As if a chunk had been ripped from his flesh. And as she stared at her once lover, she saw a fat spider of brilliant blue crawling out from the gaping wound.
Stacy had clearly changed. And so had she…
DLS Review:
Okay, so anyone who’s given Pig Destroyer a listen, or indeed read some of vocalist J.R. Hayes’ lyrics, will no doubt be expecting a bit of a fucked-up read here. And that’s pretty much exactly what you get. This short piece of flash fiction kicks off with one messed-up nightmare sequence that sets the overall flavour and nerve-slicing tempo of the story perfectly.
From here our ‘protagonist’ Natasha tells her story, laying down the backbone of her lost love and the reasoning for their forced separation. The whole setting at this stage feels very Poppy Z Brite, with the young lovers dressed in gothic drab whilst wallowing in a seductive haze of drugs and bittersweet love for each other.
Jump forward and the two are once again meeting up for the first time. The backdrop is painted with a cold winter chill, the air bitter and sodden. It’s oppressive and intimidating. Before anything happens you know this isn’t going to end well. But it’s when Hayes starts bringing the nightmarish visions into reality that the real horror hits you. And it’s like a tonne of fucking bricks crashing down upon your skull.
The end result is still incredibly gothic and Brite-esque. It’s brutal and horrific, entirely devoid of any warmth or goodness. Indeed, the vampiristic undertones are given a grittier edge than you’ll usually find in vampire-like fiction. And the ending is about as dark as they come.
The short runs for a total of 6 pages.
© DLS Reviews
