Psycho

Unit 3

"Good morning." Phil said, sitting on the sofa as well.

Dan didn't reply.

"Good morning." Phil repeated, looking at Dan.

Dan slowly turned his head to Phil, still not saying a word. His gaze was as empty as three hours ago and his eyes were still red from crying so much earlier and being sleep deprived.

"Dan? What's wrong? Are you high or something?"

Dan shook his head from left to right.

"You're still very pale." Phil claimed. "Did you sleep last night?"

"Not at all..." Dan murmured.

"Wow, that food poisoning got you good. You probably don't feel like eating but you still have to. Have you eaten anything?"

Dan denied again. Phil proposed Dan to cook him something, but Dan's stomach was still so shaken and tightened that he refused, still staring into the emptiness.

"Alright, then." Phil accepted. "Just tell me if you change your mind. You look poorly, mate."

Dan had a cold, sharp laugh. "Poor Phil," he thought, "I can't believe he still suspects the food poisoning."

"I think... I think I'll just try to get some rest." Dan mumbled.

"Good idea." Phil agreed as Dan weakly got up and walked back to his bedroom.

Dan sat in the middle of his bed. He continued staring at the wall. On the outside, he just looked plain sick. But inside, he was more alive than ever. He sat there and thought. More and more he thought about it, maybe it wasn't that wrong after all. When he killed Agana, he felt this feeling inside of him, like... like a hand pushing him to go further. Like he had achieved something.

At this moment, Dan knew. Guiltiness had been defeated by amusement. Evil had won over Good.

He didn't care anymore. It was now clear; killing wasn't "bad" like everyone said it was. There was something else to this sin; a different side.

Dan knew his mind was willing to show him the other side. He could prove the world that there was another side.

"My thoughts aren't bad after all..." Dan whispered, demented. "They're perfectly normal... I'm just the only one who finally understands the true meaning behind them. God is my only judge, after all."

Dan gloomily smiled.

"I'm going to change the world..." he continued, evilness prowling in his veins. "I'm going to show everyone that life isn't just about being restricted. It's about being alive, and having the power over life and death! I can do whatever the hell I want! There are no laws to stop me. I am revolution!"

All his life, his mind had been preparing him for the big day. The reveal, the day Dan would understand the true meaning of this. Killing Agana wasn't an accident, it was the beginning. The beginning of the game, of the pattern.

Dan burst into a demonic laughter. The only thing he had to do before taking action was to know the pattern. Then, he could start the rumble.

He grabbed his head with both hands and closed his eyes tightly. He tried to remember any details that could've slipped between his fingers that might be helpful. He revisited every brutal daydream and finally clapped his hands together in front of his face.

"Sixteen..." he murmured. "Or I said 'sixteen', or I saw the number sixteen written somewhere in the daydream. But what could it stand for?"

Dan mused harder. 16. What could it mean? His first victim was Agana. She told Dan her name meant 'blood'.

"Blood as in the first I spilled." Dan said.

His head rose swiftly.

"That's it!" He exclaimed. "It's a code. Agana was my first victim. Agana starts with an 'A', which is the first letter of the alphabet. The English alphabet contains 26 letters, but here, only sixteen of them are important. I'd suspect the 16 first letters to be the target since the first to be deleted was A. It can't be a skip-a-letter-each-time pattern because then only 13 letters would remain, not 16."

Dan paused. He longingly looked at the wall in front of him, a glimmer of insanity shimmering in his brown eyes.

"I have to eliminate 16 people, each of them bearing a name starting with whatever letter is next to be executed on the pattern. From the 1st, to 16th letter of the alphabet."

Dan laid his head down on his pillow. He closed his eyes to rest but his lips couldn't help but stretch into a devilish grin.