STIMULUS – The criminal as a hero or anti-hero; the criminal within 21st May, 9:48pm Hatred seared through my body. I looked at the man whose head now lay, detached, on the dewed grass inside the Magician’s tent. My hand quivered, clutching the saw. It was dripping in his blood. His headless body lay, twitching slightly on the ground. I stepped towards his head and looked into the cold, slowly dimming grey eyes. “How do you like that, huh?’ I whispered. 21st May, 10:22pm The damp gravel crushed under my feet as I walked down the dimly lit pathway. I looked down at my trembling hands clutching the weapon; his crimson blood had dried under my nails. What had I become? I was just as bad as him now, maybe even worse. The image of the gleaming, jagged edge ripping through his flesh replayed in my head; his screams haunted my ears. I had to dispose of the saw. I entered my house, trampling through the beer bottles scattered on the floor; the chinking pounded in my head. I found my way to an old chest filled with newspapers. Hurriedly, I grabbed the papers out of the chest and shoved the saw in. One by one I placed the newspapers back into the chest. One by one I covered the crime that would follow behind me for the rest of my life. 23rd May, 6:57am The squeak of my mailbox opening shredded through my eardrums. My eyes were irritated from lack of sleep. My hangover was constant as I attempted to drown the memories in alcohol and takeaway Chinese. I crept outside, weary of passerby’s and retrieved the newspaper. ‘Clown Found Dead’ was splayed across the grey paper. “Bud Carmen, fifty-eight years old, also known as ‘Buddy the Clown was found dead with his head was decapitated and placed onto the spire of a ‘Laughing Clown’ carnival game at ‘Fun Box Carnival on May 21st.” It had finally made the headlines. The whole world will now know what I had done. I fell onto my couch, fitting in to the mold my body made from lying there for so long. I consumed another warm beer, hopin