I Promise (Septiplier Story)

3 - Mark's Epiphany

After a long day of hanging out with Jack on-line, and than working for nine hours, Mark decided it was time for some relaxation. He made himself some popcorn, got a bottle of water and hit the couch. Some of his viewers, and a couple friends had suggested a new movie that had just come out on Netflix and he wanted to see what all the hype was about. After getting comfortable on the sofa, he quickly found the movie and read the summary about it.

It was called Aquarius, a thriller with suspense. It was about a P.I. named John Merdock whose investigating a string of, what the police are calling, random murders, but he believes them to be the work of a serial killer.

Deciding it might be worth a go, Mark settles in for the next few hours. As the movie begins and it's made clear who the main characters are, Mark realizes that the actor playing John Merdock looks a lot like Jack. Same body structure, intense blue eyes, even the hair falls on his face in the same manner. At first he finds this amusing as he can now pretend that it's Jack playing the part of the driven investigator, but as the story progresses, Mark regrets his decision when it takes a turn for the worst. During one scene, John/Jack is trying to find clues to the death of a young woman, only to be confronted with his own fear of rejection by a love interest. A side story of how John is in love with a beautiful Korean woman, and their budding relationship. Something that helped Mark relate John to Jack even more. But soon John realizes that his would-be girlfriend is in danger, as he pieces together that she's the next target. The clues are also making him believe that the killer is not something of this world, but more demon in origin. Which means, he won't be able to get any help from the police, he'll have to take down the killer himself.

Mark was sitting forward, popcorn forgotten, watching intently as the story unfolded before him.

John, who now in his mind eye, was Jack, one of his best friends, was running down a dark street, during the middle of the night, as a man, larger, taller and darker than any other man seen alive, with red eyes, and a hideous laugh, chased after him. He runs into an abandon building, one that looked old and decrepit and like it should have been torn down over a decade ago. Crumbling red brick walls covered in graffiti, broken glass windows, iron and steel showing in random places, like left over stairwells, and gates. He was looking for a way to get away from his pursuer, but had taken a wrong turn, leaving him cornered. The dark foreboding man caught up with him, having jumped down from a great hight, which startled John, and also causing Mark to jump in his seat.

"No where left to run John ... no more places for you to hide". The demon says in a deep smooth voice.

John pulls his pistol out from the holster on his side and fires a few rounds into the dark man, but they don't cause any damage or even slow him down as he slowly strides towards him.

"Why'd you do it? Kill those women, cheap thrills?" John demands angrily still holding the pistol up in defense.

"Why to get your attention John, why else". The demon stops a mere six feet away from him, with a hideous smile on his face. This answer makes John even more angry, the thought of all those women violently murdered just to get to him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you," John demands. "Haven't you ever heard of using a phone?"

The demon laughs, now reaching his hands up, his fingers longer than what should be even possible for a human, and narrowed down to a sharp spike like ends.

"You can't make someone realize their fears over a phone call John, they need to experience it first hand, ... they need to ... feel it" and just then the demon reaches out and swipes at him.

John was able to duck and roll out of the way, but not before getting sliced across his hand, making him loose his grip on his gun. He tries to jump for it, but the demon slashes out again and pins John to the floor by puncturing his right calf with his long spike of a finger.

John yells in pain, and rolls as best as he can to his right side, to kick at the spike with his left foot, breaking it off. This sends the demon back in pain, and John is able to pull his leg off the spike, which is still embedded in the floor. He gets to his gun, and tries to fire a shot off, but misses completely. Then without warning the demon has John by the neck, and has pulled him up off the ground, holding him in mid-air. He then carries John over to the side of the building, and pushes him up against the rail, as if about to throw him over. All the while, John is trying desperately to pull the long spiked fingers away from his throat, but is unable to budge them.

"Face your fears John," the demon hissed, his face far to close to John's for the man's liking. "Or they will consume you," he said and opened his mouth abnormally wide, showing multiple rows of sharp teeth.

The demon was gaining height, now standing close to eleven feet tall, and was about to close his hideous mouth over John's head, when there was a sudden noise, and bright flash of light. In an instant, the demon disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, and John dropped to the ground, winching in pain from the hole in his leg.

He looked up to find the detective, Ed Moony, whom he had been working with at the precinct, standing a few feet off, holding a sawed off shot gun up in defense, and a bag of rock salt sitting on the floor a few feet away.

Mark let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, and thanked the movie gods that John/Jack hadn't been killed.

He finished the movie, where in the end, the demon was defeated, John faced his fears and won, and got the girl, but Mark was still rattled by the imagery of seeing John almost killed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make the main character look like the original actor again, the image of Jack, fighting for his life, was burned into his mind.

Deciding a hot shower was in order, Mark went about the rest of his nightly ritual, and as he lay in bed, holding his second pillow close to his chest, the movie kept replaying it self in his mind's eye. The scene where the investigator almost died played out more than the rest, quickly mingling with the image of Jack, hanging lifeless in the clutches of the spider's web. Eventually though, the scene turned into just thoughts of Jack, and a series of what-if scenarios.

What-if Jack, his Jack, really did die? What-if they had never met? Or that they didn't get along and become the friends that they are now. What-if Jack had never liked him, and they became rivals. What-if they grew old together, like grumpy old men, and made fun of life like a couple of geezers in an old-folks home? What-if ... What-if he fell in love with Jack, but Jack never felt the same way back? What-if he did? What-if they fell in love and became lovers? What-if something happened before they got to explore any kind of real relationship?

These and so many more what-ifs played through Mark's mind, and each time, he'd let the answer, the emotions, penetrate the wall he had built around his heart. Feeling them as if they were real. By the end, when his heart and mind could no longer take it, he cried into his pillow. The very idea of loosing Jack, of not having him in his life, one way or another, just killed a piece of him. He knew he could go on in a life without Jack, but he also knew, he wouldn't want to. There'd be very little reason left too, he would be the shell of a man that simply existed but wasn't really alive.

Eventually he cried himself to sleep, no more than a few hours before the sun was to rise for the next day. The day that he and Jack were both due to leave for PAX.