The rain thundered on, trampling everything beneath it. Drip, drip, drip, into buckets balanced around the space. The wet comes and goes – fleeting. His eyes stare emptily into the dark, showing no signs of life.

The distant church bells peal, heavy as the water drowning the earth. He perks up, as if woken from a trance – only to be possessed, perhaps by the obsessions of geniuses… or madmen?

His fingers cradle a shiny blade, life breathed into his chest. Shallow, quick breaths. He presses the blade into his skin, crimson droplets of blood blooming like rubies around it. The howl of the storm is muffled by the roar of blood in his ears, as he presses it deeper in, deeper, and deeper still. Adrenaline soared as the pain coursed through his veins, driving his senses to a point. His eyes roll back into his skull as he moans in pleasure, a guttural, animalistic sound. The chimes fade like ghostly whispers, estranged, echoing, haunting. And still the blood leaks.

Drip, drip, drip into darkness of the floor.