The Pawn

  ‘Kill him! Spill his guts!’ the shadow seems to say.

  A flash of silver, a sudden jerk; the splattering of guts. A cry: a lush and lustful bitter-sweet cry. Music to his ears, how nostalgic! The body: the last of the lot, now limp and lifeless slumps against a sea of filth and blood seeping into the pores of the mossy-green walls. A smile plays across his face as he wipes the grime off his tainted lips savoring his glory.

  ‘Yes, yes! Feel the hatred coursing through your veins, Feel it, embrace it and become one with it’

  How was he able to kill them? Surely with all the gunshots fired at him, he would have died. It’s a miracle, really. Is this perhaps, the power within the deal? Is he perhaps, a sole guardian to wipe out these scums off the surface of this very Earth? Whatever it is, it feels great! The killing; oh, the power! The joy of glorious vengeance. Ha! The world needs a ruler. A ruler! Yes, he will be their ruler! They will serve him. To make this world a better place, it deserves no freedom.

  He stares at the limped corpses with eyes jet-black like that of black pearl. ‘This is my destiny!’ He thinks to himself. ‘Blood! Blood for all! I will wipe out the city’s taint and tear it down brick by brick. I will,  and I will rebuild the city off its rubble.’ The shadow; the silhouette silently staring, silently observing his every move…a scoff, then maniacal laughter…

  ‘Who’s there?’ His shrill cries echoing across the hollow brick walls.

  ‘Nobody, I’m merely jussst a figment of your imagination,’ a voice slithers into his head.

  ‘Your sssource of anger is rather amusssing, I might sssay…’

  ‘Go away, whoever you are leave me be.’ he says, steadying his composure.

  ‘Ah, yesss I’m afraid not. None can do…’ it whispers, tendrils of dark smoke curling up his limps.

  ‘And why is that? Who are you?’

  Nobody…jussst a figment of your imagination, you ssswore an oath. It liesss with you till the lassst of your eternal breath,’ the voice chuckles.

  ‘So you will be here to help me?’ he asks, cautiously.

  ‘No, just a sssilent watcher…’ it hisses back.

  ‘Then what use are you to me?!’ anger flooding his mind.

  ‘Nothing, you are merely a pawn, sssomething I created out of boredom…’

  ‘I…do not understand.’

  ‘In time you ssshall…for ultimately, you will losses…’

  Laughing at his pathetic beliefs, almost intolerable; the shadow, merely pulling at his leg… Sirens. More sirens. The police flock the compound like stealth panthers, trailing their weapons on him. He stands erect, smiling from ear to ear with a blade in his hand. Such hopeless hypocrites, he thinks to himself.

  A flash of blur as he makes a dash for his life. He hears gunshots firing followed by a jolting pain. He slams onto the ground, helpless with the knife clattering out of his hand. He floor is a sickly shade of crimson red. ‘Just end it already,’ he thinks to himself. Life is so cruel. Just free him…free me already…free me…free me…darkness.

  I wake up to a glare of florescent lights. Where am I…I do not recall. Leaning back – a white wall; I am in a cell. I am…I am…I am nothing. Okay, that sure is depressing. Stretching my legs, I feel an ache; I had been shot after all – a flesh wound that has been clumsily patched. The whole space reeks of sweat and urine. Scanning my surroundings, I see wooden splinters, carmine stained sheets, blood prints staining the walls, broken glasses scattering the ground, and…a recorder. There is a video recorder hidden within the cracks of the splintered bed.