Her Story

She always loved playing with knives, especially when she was a boy; he was so skinny and weak, his first knife became a security blanket of sorts. The first few years Tung was homeless; he always needed a knife. A homeless child can be an easy target. Now that she had fully changed, the affinity was still there.

After the transition, Thao often concealed a blade or two in her skimpy outfits. When she first started crossdressing, she liked to think of her knives as another thing to tuck away when meeting someone new. But that night it became another instrument of reciprocity. A tool to help her exact revenge on the type of men she loved but hated.

They were in his car (Brandon, some random dude she met at The Syndication), parked in the concrete channel known as the Los Angeles River. He thought he was so cool, bringing her down here, not knowing that he had been fucking a tranny all night. Thao surprised him with her secrets; figuratively and literally. After revealing her assigned gender, she pulled out the switchblade she had concealed in a pouch in her short dress (no one ever would have seen it). Thao thrusted upward into his abdomen, ensuring a puncture of the major organs, and twisted. This released dopamine into her brain and gave her a rush. She loved the feeling that accompanied violence, having grown accustomed to it when he was a hardcore gangster for the Vietnamese Boyz, and when she transitioned and started killing.

Thao was originally born Tung Dao, the youngest of five, with all his siblings having been born in Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Min City). They always thought of him as the spoiled American child, especially his older brothers, Quyen and Chinh. They loved to torture him, holding him down and putting duct tape on his genitals. They laughed after ripping it off violently. Tung always associated pain with sex because of this, never forming healthy relationships as a child; meanwhile, a rage built in him. He let it fester as an adolescent. Eventually, he joined one of the biggest gangs in Torrance, VBZ (designating the Vietnamese Boyz). In the late nineties, they were so deadly that Fox 11 news did a special on them. Tung showed up in some footage with a green bandana covering his face. His parents saw and knew it was him. When he got home, Tung’s mom had a TV antenna in her hand while dad pulled his belt off his pants in a swift ninja move. They beat him until he ran away with only the clothes (and fresh welts) on his back.

Running away from home at fourteen can be dangerous. Tung had a very thin frame. As he struggled with crime and poverty, he eventually realized that he could turn tricks in Long Beach for a lot of money. Tung had no real sexual inclination, but becoming a gay prostitute, then starting to cross-dress, gave Tung a sense of purpose, and it subsided his violent tendencies. They were buried under a new identity, giving Tung/Thao a way to escape the past. No longer would he continue living on the streets and running with the Boyz. He soon found a world that accepted him and gave him shelter, as Tung lived with several transgender women that helped with the transition. Tung became Thao (after a trip to Thailand) and further immersed herself in the community. By the time she was twenty-one years old the violent tendencies had subsided almost completely. But not entirely.

Now she sat in the passenger seat of Brandon’s SUV, thinking back on how the urge to kill resurfaced from time to time. The first time she killed was a potential John that made an insulting comment about her chin. This upset Thao as she was unable to afford this part of the surgery—the surgeon kept insisting on this aspect as everyone sees the chin first. The prick asked for a discount because of her “manly” jawbone. Thao pulled out a pocket-knife and tried to cut his throat. He did not die as quickly as they do in the movies, bleeding all over the hotel room floor. She watched as it took about fifteen minutes for him to choke on his own blood. Tonight’s kill was so much more precise, and clean. Thao barely got any blood on her petit outfit.

The body-count rose as she practiced her craft. Thao kept a tally in a little notebook that she titled “Her Story”. It was filled with ambiguous details: initials of her victims, color of clothes, personal items lifted. She did not want to make it too obvious; most killers make that mistake by taking trophies and writing journals. She was smarter than that. She knew they could only find evidence linked to Tung and therefore any police involved would be looking for a male. Her new identity came with the proper forged documents to complete the transition. Brandon was her twenty-fourth death. She was a confident killer now.

Robbery was another way to throw off the police. Cops were likely to let a case grow cold when it was linked to robbery. The lack of pattern and monetary motive allowed for this. While most kills were random, there had been three men that she killed for personal reasons. These three were the only ones that followed any sort of pattern. She had sex with them, convinced them to drive her somewhere isolated, then revealed her birth gender and stabbed them in the abdomen. All the others she had taken precautions to not leave DNA or fingerprints behind. She often met them at clubs or on the track, in different cities. They would proposition her and then she trick-rolled them before they knew what was happening. Her method of killing varied as well, using guns, ligatures, and even poison.

She knew the big mistakes of previous killers that she studied so often. Bundy was too regimented, Ramirez never changed his shoes, BTK taunted the police until they linked his letters to a computer used by Rader. These silly men were amateurs. Thao knew that if she wanted to remain free, she had to avoid these mistakes and disconnect from these crimes. The three she did follow a pattern with were assholes. Pompous men who knew only confidence and arrogance. She reasoned that these men would likely have few friends and family to miss them as they seemed to shy away from close relationships. These men were like her brothers, whom she stalked on occasion. Quyen and Chinh lived their lives at a distance from everyone else, preferring their own company. Thao felt a sense of pride in being the one to make these scoundrels squirm after fucking a transexual. This intensified the thrill of the kill.

That night, the urge came to her with an intensity she had not felt in a long time. She felt the need to do violence to someone. Not just anyone; she would kill a real douchebag. Someone deserving of her malicious attention. She knew a great place where the gaudiest of assholes liked to hang out. A place where she could find the victim she wanted to find. A place where the drinks flowed while predators waited for their chance to pounce. Women lined up outside in their short dresses even when it was freezing, and men tipped the bouncers to jump the line and look important. Thao went to such a place with a friend to buy coke from the bartender. It was a lounge called The Syndication. Thao actually knew one of the bouncers there from her time at Taft prison, before her trip to Thailand; she knew she would be safe as he would likely keep his mouth shut about someone who blew him for favors while locked up. The Syndication was a perfect hunting ground, with its crowded dance floor and strong drinks, and she did not need to be there for long. She saw the asshole named Brandon acting the part. He noticed her and his fate was sealed.

Thao hopped down from the tall vehicle and felt the cold water on her feet. She bent down to clean her hands in the “river”. The concrete channel was a few inches deep with rainwater that recently swelled the synthetic waterway. She watched as the blood washed off her hands and the knife and it would make its way to the ocean. After killing a man, she often was hungry. It was about three in the morning. She took out her phone and looked for nearby coffee shops that would be open. Tranquility filled her as she found one within walking distance, if only she knew how to get out of the wash.

TITLE: Her Story

GENRE: Crime

AGE RANGE: 21+

WORD COUNT: 1470

AUTHOR: Timothy Severtson

GOOD FIT: A diverse publication company like Trident Media Group would be a perfect channel for a writer like Timothy Severtson. His eclectic style is on display in this piece as the criminal he is writing about has many dimensions. This story is part of his Fallen Angels series that follows seven Angelinos living (and in some cases dying) in the Downtown LA area during one night in December of 2016. The stories make use of visual metaphors, tragic storylines, and a diverse cast of characters that reflect the cosmopolitan city that the author has grown up and worked in for his entire life.

HOOK: The first paragraph shows the duality of the main character’s life. It shows that we are not dealing with a simple man or woman, but a person who has redefined identity in two ways: one way through sex, and the other through violence. Like most of Mr. Severtson’s stories, the first paragraph is key to drawing in the readers and taking them on a journey through dark themes such as murder, drug addiction, and other sinful behaviors.

SYNOPSIS: Tung/Thao reflects on life after killing a man who just found out that he has been having sexual relations with a trans woman.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Adults with a dark sense of humor and a taste for the macabre. This is not a story to be taken lightly, but it is a story that makes you laugh and consider your own mortality.

BIO: Timothy Severtson grew up in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of the city of Angels (Los Angeles). Like his stories, he has had a diverse narrative throughout his life, with many different jobs and recreational activities. His main influences include but are not limited to the following: Charles Bukowski, James Elroy, Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe, and Hunter Thompson. Recently, Tim has earned his BA in History from CSU Dominguez Hills and is currently working on his MA in Special Education. His senior paper on the Marital Culture of Colonial America was chosen to be published in volume 8 (upcoming) of The Toro Historical Review for the school’s History department.

PLATFORM: Timothy Severtson has been published in the above-mentioned Toro Historical Review, also receiving Editor’s Mentions and Winner on a few challenges on The Prose (please see profile for other works).

EDUCATION: BA in History at CSU Dominguez Hills in Carson CA; working on MA in Special Education at same school and Student Teaching for Los Angeles Unified School District at Green Design STEAM Academy.

EXPERIENCE: Timothy Severtson has been writing casually for most of his life. He started creative writing in High School as a member of the Speech and Debate Team at James Monroe Law and Government Magnet in North Hills CA.

PERSONALITY/WRITING STYLE: Tim is a simplistic man with a positive outlook on life (although his writing can be grim and transgressive). His friends all know him as a jester of sorts, always attempting to make them laugh even at depressing situations. His writing style has a more serious tone but still contains shades of his humor even in the dark tone of such settings as “Her Story”. He has been influenced by many of the macabre authors of the past.

LIKES/HOBBIES: Tim enjoys reading, writing casually, listening to music, homebrewing beer, cooking and barbequing, watching sports like football and ice hockey, and spending time with his wife, friends, and family.

HOMETOWN: Mission Hills CA.

AGE: 40.