I was lying around at the park yesterday, half asleep, and an interesting idea for short story drifted into my mind. It’s set around a main protagonist, a young classical pianist who is setting the music world on fire with his playing. With every performance he receives rave reviews from the critics for his passion and technique. Except for one critic in New York who condemns him as a hack. The years go by and this character continues to rack up acclaim and awards, being loved by all… except for that one critic who sneeringly dismisses him. The lead character finds himself wondering, “who is this guy?” Whenever he visits New York, the pianist spends several nights parked outside the critic’s apartment, watching the man typing away at his desk.

Still more time passes — the pianist enters middle age. He gears up for a great performance in New York, playing some particularly emotional and technically demanding pieces. After the performance, he feels like he’s achieved a new high. The next day, the reviews come in, and everyone loves it… except you know who. That night, the pianist slips into the building of the critic and knocks on his door. When the man opens the door, he berates him. “Why do you hate me?” The pianist demands. The man refuses to answer. The confrontation turns violent, and soon the pianist is chasing the critic across the rooftop of the building. They assault one another and the critic is soon hanging off the ledge. Many stories below is a fenced off kennel of dogs who look up at the hanging man and bark. The critic smiles at the pianist and says, “You ask why I hated your playing? I don’t have an answer. I merely saw you the first time you performed and could tell everyone would rave about you. So I decided to be the one lone voice of opposition.”

The critic releases his hold on the ledge, and falls into the kennel below. The dogs attack, and the pianist can hear the horrible screams as the man is rendered alive by furious canines.

Six months later, the pianist schedules another prominent performance after a period of no activity. In front of the gathered fans and critics, he works his way through a famous piano piece. As he gears up to a particularly difficult section, he finds he can no longer hear the music in his head. All he can hear are the barking dogs and screams of the critic as he was consumed. The pianist flubs the section and stops playing. He can feel the eyes of the astonished audience upon him. He stands up, and realizes he’s not wearing any pants. Suddenly the cover of the keys of the piano slams down, crushing his penis which is caught because he wasn’t wearing any pants. “Shit, Fuck, Cunt!!!” he screams.

That’s basically it.