It's a normal summer day, A cool breeze interrupting the warm midday air. You lay out in the shadow of an ancient oak tree in your backyard, watching the clouds float by and listening to the birds chirp their songs. You've never felt more relaxed as you feel your eyes grow heavy And your eyelids close falling into a peaceful sleep. After what feels like it could only have been minutes you're waking up in your house. Your first thought is how did I end up here, did I coke back inside without realizing it? But things don't seem right, you walk outside and there are no birds chirping, your neighbor's dog isn't barking, and there's no sign of life around you.
You travel to a normally crowded spot in town, and see a small group of people. Walking up to the crowd, you see they are all just as confused as you. Looking at them, you think to yourself that they seem familiar, like you've seen them before. Then it dawns on you, a disturbing revelation if there ever was one. You have seen them all before, on the news, they're all missing people. The news has been covering several missing persons stories all month.
And now you feel it. A sense of dread, if you're here with them, you must be missing too. You start to cry as you think about your family, how they have no idea where you are, or even if you're still alive. A friendly voice calls to you, telling you not to cry, that all will be explained soon enough.
A man walks up to the group and tells you all that you have been brought here to test your limits. The extent of your capablility to handle mental stress and your ability to protect yourself.
As the group starts to whisper amongst itself, he speaks up again, telling you that once you have been tested you will be returned to your normal life. The group breathes a collective sigh of relief. Then you realize you're by yourself, back at your house. You walk outside, and this time you hear the birds and a dog, you see your neighbors in their yards going about their day. You think everything is back to normal, but then realize that nobody is noticing you, they usually tell you good morning, and some ask how you are. But not today, it's like you're invisible.
You try to get their attention, but they don't hear you. They can't see you. You drive to work, and it's the same story there as well, your boss doesn't see you, in fact, there's someone else at your desk. It's seems like you never existed. You start to worry, why is this happening to me?
You walk down the street confused and hurt. Picking up a newspaper, you read the date, the last time you remember seeing the date, it was March 17th. Today's date says April 24th.
You use your phone to search the local news about missing people, and find a story about yourself, you were apparently missing for weeks, then they found your body last week. Buried in a mass grave with six others. All people that went missing last month.
You realize everyone that you knew seems to have completely forgotten about you. And the pain of that reality sets in. You feel like you can't breathe. Like a brick wall is crushing you and you can't take anymore. You walk back to your car and sit in it. Turning to the passenger seat, you see a gun. You didn't put it there, but you start to thank whoever did for giving you a way out of this pain.
You pick up the gun and put the barrel in your mouth, as you are about to pull the trigger, you realize the sky seems different. There is no sun, yet it's bright outside. Things start to jump out at you, subtle differences, the color of your neighbor's dog, the mileage of your car. You pull the gun away from your face as you remember this isn't real, and with that thought, the pain fades.
Now you're back in the group, but it's smaller, there are only four of the seven left, including yourself.
The man speaks again, telling the group that three people failed the test and were sent back. He smiles and says that the next test will be more difficult, but if you pass, you will be counted among some of the best of your kind.
You find yourself in an unfamiliar room, wearing some uniform. You look around and realize you're in a prison, dressed as a guard. Then you hear it, an alarm. The P.A. system announces that three dangerous prisoners have broken out of their cells, and they are to be reacaptured by any means necessary.
As you rush down the hall, you turn a corner and see one of the prisoners beating another guard to death with his own nightstick. You pull yours out and rush toward the man, swinging your weapon at his head. You feel the plastic club connect with the man's head, and feel his skull break under the force of your hit.
The prisoner falls dead on the ground and you look at the guard, but he's already been killed. You keep walking, checking behind you to make sure no one is sneaking up on you. You enter a large room and find another prisoner stabbing a guard's dead body with a knife. You start to sneak toward him with the club in your hand, when he hears you and turns, he runs toward you with the knife and lunges at you, cutting the back of your hand. You drop the nightstick as you grab your bleeding hand and back away.
The man makes another attempt to stab you, but you catch his hand and turn his arm away from you, stabbing him in the neck with the knife in his own hand. You rip a piece of your shirt off and wrap it around your wounded hand, thinking to yourself that this test sure feels real. As you turn you see another inmate walk into the room with a gun from one of the guards. You feel a gun at your side as the man draws down on you. Pulling your gun from the holster, and taking shelter behind a wall, you tell him to drop the gun because you don't want to kill him. He yells that he wants to kill you because you're the only thing between him and his freedom. As he walks toward you, he starts to laugh, saying that after he kills you, he can get out and go home. Deciding that you'd rather make it out alive, you stand up and fire four shots into his torso, dropping him to the ground. You run up to his bleeding body and check for a pulse. Finding a faint pulse, you look into his eyes, he tells you he just wanted to see his children again, as the life fades from his eyes and he draws his last, labored breath. Feeling a heavy wave of pain and remorse washing over your entire being, you stand and walk to the exit.
You find yourself back in the city where you started, face to face with the man that has been speaking to the group.
You look around and see that you are the only one left, the man laughs and congratulates you on being the only one to pass the test. You look at his face, and for a second he looks like you.
Then you find yourself standing in front of a mirror in your house. You walk back outside, and everything is normal, your neighbors are outside, some looking at you, and you hear the sounds of the animals, turning your head, you drop your smile, as you realize the police are surrounding your house. Through the bullhorn, one of the cops tells you to surrender, that they found the bodies buried in your back yard and that it will be easier if you dont put up a fight. You look down and realize that you're covered in blood, and it's not yours. A smile creeps across your face, as you realize that you really are one of the best of your kind, definitely the best serial killer your town has ever seen. You killed six people in one month and you're proud of yourself. You laugh as the police cuff you and throw you in the back of a squad car.
