The killer thumb.
(424 words)
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On the island of Ridiculum Locus, was born the legend of King Octo Digitorum and his thumb. He was a very famous king for one reason and one reason only, he only had eight fingers. Now, legend says that the reason for this strange phenomenon is that the king was simply mad, and after seeing that there were things on his hands that did not look like the other four, he ordered his executioner to chop them off. It was a very strange time on the island of Ridiculum Locus, for when the king when went to see his subjects and saw that they also had those strange looking things on their hands, and being the kind and caring king that he was, albeit slightly mad, he ordered that the royal guards bring forth anyone with these strange things growing from their hands and have them removed at once. Terror filled the island as hundreds of people lost their thumbs to the knifes of the executioners. That is until the day the king realized that the very people who were cutting the thumbs off of his subjects also had thumbs. It was a very confusing time.
When the king was on his death bed, he ordered that he be buried with his fathers ten rings that were designed to cover one's entire finger. But alas his lack of thumbs made it impossible for him to wear them all. This was not good.
A couple of days after the kings death, a plague swept the land. It was called Interfectorem Thumb. In the darkness of night, it was said that the village people could hear someone knocking on their door,but when they went to open it, there would be no one but a bloodied thumb on their door step. The next morning they would be found dead, an engraving of the kings crest craved into their torso. The villagers have come to the conclusion that the only plausible explanation for all this is the group Pollex Osores, whom wholeheartedly agreed with the king and his abhorrence for thumbs, who randomly picked a victim, warned him of his approaching death, and then carved the mark of their deceased king upon their cooling corpses.
We fear the thumb, but in some ways, we respect the thumb, and if you look at your hand right now....you will see the thumb waiting patiently for its chance to strike.
You have been warned, you do not know the back of your hand as well as it knows you....
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-Jessica Baker-
