Thomas Glavinic - The Camera Killer

The long-haired brother now said, audibly, that he didn’t want to die and he possessed a savings book into which his grandmother had long been making regular payments. If he were released at once, he would let the cameraman have this savings book.

How did he propose to send it? he was asked.

He could, for instance, entrust it to the postal service, replied the anguished boy. The cameraman rejected this offer. Besides, he said, the savings book wasn’t enough. Hadn’t he anything more valuable? The long-haired brother talked of a money box. His parents sometimes put coins in it, and it hadn’t been taken to the bank for months. It occurred to the hog-tied brother that he possessed a similar savings book. He also owned an expensive bicycle, which he would relinquish in the cameraman’s favor. The latter replied that this was insufficient too, and ordered the long-haired brother to climb the tree. The response was a loud, protesting wail.

Heinrich, helping himself to a handful of chips, said, How frightful. That man must be the devil incarnate.

The camera showed the long-haired brother weeping and slobbering in close-up. The camera wobbled. The croaking voice bade the long-haired brother to look at the camera. If he continued to resist, the salting of the hog-tied brother’s abdominal cavity would commence at once. Then it would be the rest of the family’s turn. Reference was also made to the cameraman’s knife.

Accompanied by outraged exclamations from Heinrich, the long-haired brother could be seen starting to climb the tree, still weeping and bawling at the top of his voice. How terrible, said Heinrich. What can be going through the boy’s mind? Is he thinking the same as we would?

I asked what we would be thinking.

It’s awful, he said; they ought to pass laws that could prevent such things.

I asked what he meant but was shushed in reply.

Now that the long-haired brother had taken up his position in the treetop, the cameraman proceeded to question the hog-tied boy. You’re on television, my boy, he said. Kindly tell our viewers what you feel about the fact that your brother is about to jump off a tree.

Boohoo, the boy replied.

This is revolting, said Heinrich. He asked if I would object if he briefly freeze-framed the film because he proposed to get himself another portion of ice cream from the kitchen. Not at all, I said. He inquired if I would like some too. I thanked him but declined. I wasn’t hungry and felt no desire for any ice cream. He retired to the kitchen, to return shortly afterward and deposit his bowl of ice cream on the table. Then he restarted the film.

The interview with the hog-tied boy wasn’t over yet. He made another reference to his savings book. This prompted the cameraman to ask about his grandmother. Did she suffer from diabetes or heart disease, and didn’t they, the two boys, consider it seemly to behave less hysterically? After all, these pictures might be made available to their grandmother and give her a heart attack. The cameraman wanted their grandmother to be able to say that the two boys had handled themselves well. He could picture the old woman sitting in front of the television. She would clasp her hands together and say, It had to be this way, but they both behaved well.

The camera voice called to the long-haired boy up the tree. It was time for him to put on a good show, it said. He should console himself with the thought that, by jumping, he was doing his surviving brother a favor. After all, the family would have far more money available for the hog-tied brother to spend on expensive bicycles and deposit in his savings book. That should surely gratify the occupant of the treetop?

The long-haired brother wept and shook his head.

The cameraman deplored this, saying that envy gets you nowhere in life. He announced that the boy would have to jump in precisely ten minutes. If he obeyed instructions, nothing would happen to anyone else in his family. But if he jumped even one second too late, the hog-tied brother’s abdominal cavity would be slit open and filled with salt and red ants. After that, devastation would be visited on his parents’ farmhouse. His mother would be boiled alive, his father slowly cut to ribbons, etc. His grandmother too would be run to earth, and old women burned nicely.

Heinrich observed that the man behind the camera must be thoroughly sick.

The long-haired brother made no reply, so the cameraman inquired what it felt like, the prospect of dying in eight minutes forty seconds’ time. The boy shouted something unintelligible in a voice rendered hoarse by his previous bawling, yelling, and vomiting. Then he fell silent and stared into space.

Fancy, said Heinrich, he’s on another planet.

The cameraman turned to the hog-tied boy. Was it a nice feeling, owing his life to his own brother’s death? The boy thus addressed denied this. Or would he rather change places with him? he was asked. The boy beneath the tree stopped crying and stared fixedly at the camera. The cameraman repeated that he could save the other boy’s life by taking his place. The hog-tied brother yelled something unintelligible, and more whimpering could be heard from overhead.

Cut. 3:20. The cameraman reiterated all his threats to the long-haired brother in the event that he failed to jump in fifty seconds’ time. One second later, and everyone would meet a terrible end. Screams from up the tree.

Heinrich, who described them as bloodcurdling, felt compelled to wipe his eyes on the back of his hand.

There was still time, the cameraman told the hog-tied boy. He had thirty-five seconds in which to decide to take his brother’s place and dive off the tree headfirst, the way he did into the swimming pool in summer. The boy stared at the camera, weeping but bereft of speech.

Another twenty seconds, said the voice.

A family appeared: father, mother, and two children. The parents were discussing financial investments. Heinrich sighed and said, Here we go again. As before, we were accorded some ten minutes in which to devote ourselves to conversation, or chips and suchlike, before the forest reappeared.

Another twenty seconds, said the voice. Then the hog-tied brother took a step forward and went out of shot. The camera panned down. The boy could be seen clutching the cameraman’s leg and imploring him not to make anyone jump at all. The voice called a warning and started to count: five, four, three, two, one…

We heard a scream but could see only a black screen. The channel had evidently censored this scene as well. The ticker repeated that screening this video was not sensationalism, but a vain attempt to come to terms with an incomprehensible human tragedy. Counselors’ phone numbers were inserted, together with the note to the effect that callers would be charged only a maximum of €0.50 per minute.

The forest reappeared, and we heard the tearful voice of the hog-tied brother. The sound abruptly ceased and the screen went black.

Outside the house, rain was beating down with undiminished intensity.

Heinrich laid the remote control aside. He’d had enough, he said; he didn’t want to see any more. How sick and degenerate the people who watched so-called snuff movies must be.

I pointed out that the third brother’s escape was also bound to be shown and was still to come, so that might cheer him up. Heinrich replied that he would watch it tomorrow; he wanted to check the Internet to see if the killer had been caught or if the police at least had a lead.

“West Styria: Police net tightens. Checks have been run on dozens of people in the course of the hunt for the killer. Little information has emanated from the Ministry of the Interior because of the news blackout, but it is rumored that the killer has not yet left the area or may be a local inhabitant.”