I... I feel. I feel everything. All human emotions... I feel them. I have let myself succumb to the backfire of my own game. And now...
I am seen.
And I'm back in Vegas.
"Hey move out of the way, asshole!" an angered voice yells, followed by a long honk of a car horn. I look around myself and I see a line of cars hating impatiently behind me.
The humans... they can see me. I am no longer invisible to these humans. I am seen, just as if I'm one of them.
I flick my wrist to go back to the mountain, but oddly, I remain in the busy street. The horns honk even louder now, and a man jumps from his car and starts running up to me. I ball my fists and prepare myself to fight.
"Dude, are you drunk? Do you need help?" the man asks softly.
"No," I spit out quickly. "Why do you ask?"
"Because you're acting like a dumbass right now, standing in the streets doing all these stupid hand gestures. And no offense, but why the fuck do you look like that?!"
"How dare you?!"
"How dare I what? All I'm saying is- oof!" I aim for his heart, ready to stop it, but my hand doesn't even go inside. My hand just lands on his chest, sending him back a couple feet. He stands up straigh, glaring at me.
"You asshole!" the man exclaims as he lunges at me.
The both of us fall to the ground and roll around in the streets. People are rushing out of their cars to come and stop us. The man pins me to the ground and lands two punches to my face. I quickly evade the third punch and headbutt him. He groans and falls to the side for a moment, giving me enough time to pin him down on his stomach.
I straddle his lower back and hold my hands to his neck, keeping him face firsr onto the concrete. Everyone watching is too scared to approach the scene, so I take advantage of this moment and I attack.
Gripping onto his neck, I lift his head up and slam his face into the concrete. He cries out in pain, but I ignore him and lift up his head again, immediately shoving his face back into the concrete. Blood splatters everywhere as I slam his face into the concrete again and again and again. I can hear the beautiful crunches of his breaking nose as I slam him face into the concrete one last time. I hear no more sounds from him, and his body is motionless as I let go of his neck.
I have just killed him.
The people around me are screaming in horror as they all rush over to the man on the ground as I get up and hurry away.
"Hey! STOP THAT PERSON!" someone screeches, pointing in my direction. And I hear fast footsteps approaching me right away.
I break into a sprint and I make a sharp turn into a dark and full alleyway. I quickly flip the top of one of the dumpsters opeand hop in, yanking the top of it closed right after. Footsteps get louder as I hear them run up and down the alleyway. I hold my breath and hold the dumpster doors closed with all of my strength.
"You sure he came down here?" a low voice utters.
"I'm positive!" another voice says.
"Then why the fuck don't I see him?!"
"Maybe he hopped that fence... let's go check the other side."
"Nah, it's useless. The fucker is probably gone by now. Let's go back to the scene and help that man."
The footsteps get quieter as the men exit the alleyway and head back to the scene. I crack the lid open just enough to look around and make sure no one is present. Once I see that it's safe, I haul myself over the top of the dumpster and drop to the cold floor of this alley. I take a few deep breaths and start to walk out of the alley.
I need to go somewhere quiet to get my thoughts straight. I cannot think straight with all of this damn music playing and all of the happy people going on about their lives.
I search my surroundings, and I notice a covenent store open right next to me. Dipping my head down, I hurry inside and head straight towards the front counter. There is a short Caucasian woman standing with a false smile on her face. Short blonde hair, and annoyingly bright blue eyes. Her smile is big, but it fades quickly as I lean on the counter.
"How... may I... help you...?" she asks cautiously, leaning back as I lean forward. I look around and I keep my head down.
"You guys got an um... bathroom or something?" I ask in a raspy voice. She nods a couple times and points over to the corner of the store, over by the fridges.
"R-right over there," she says. As soon as I lean away and turn to the back, I can see the woman yank her arm back and quickly move back, still watching me as I head in the direction she pointed.
Once I get close to the fridge, I see a small signbhanging from the ceiling that reads BATHROOM. I turn in the direction of the arrow and I see three doors.
One door has a man on it. One has a woman. The last one has a man in a wheelchair on it.
I'll do that one to save me the trouble, I think to myself as I shove the last door open. I step inside and I close and lock the door.
There is a big mirror above the sink. I look in it and stare at my reflection. I just see a dark face with pitch black eyes and black lips to match. My face is a pale gray color. My skin is a pale gray color. My nails are black like my eyes.
So this is what the man was asking about? I thought he was mocking me. I just killed him for no reason.
Wait, am I feeling... guilty?! Guilt is never a feeling I never had after killing a person. I have never felt like this about killing anyone before. Why am I feeling like this now?
"Because you're human now," a voice sighs. I see another person appear in my reflection.
"Enoch," I hiss at the reflection. He chuckles and crosses his arms.
"How's it been?" Enoch asks facetiously.
"Shitty," I spit. I turn from the mirror and look him in the eyes. He smirks.
"Good," he remarks in a short breath. "I'm happy to hear that."
"Why are you here?"
"I'm just checking on you to make sure you're suffering. That's all."
"I'm not suffering entirely," I joke coldly. Enoch's smile fades as he unfolds his arms and quirks an eyebrow at me.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, now look who's asking the questions!" I tease with a chuckle.
"Answer my question!" Enoch demands.
"I'm still killing people," I whisper to him in a giddy tone. His eyes narrow at me.
"That's not possible. You're not Death anymore."
"True. But I am human..."
"What's your point?"
"Humans kill each other more than I killed them myself. Since I'm human now, I'm just another potential homicidal maniac."
"But you're not strong enough for that!" Enoch protests. I scoff.
"I beg to differ. Just watch." I mock.
"What do you mean?" He asks. I look at the bathroom door and grin as I hear footsteps approaching.
Knock, knock, knock.
Enoch freezes as someone knocks on the bathroom door. I grin at Enoch's look of utter confusion on his face.
Jessica Bush, seventeen years old. She is supposed to die by a heart attack in thirty-two years, nine months, and seven days from today. But that's about to change.
"You alright in there?" the woman that was at the counter asks. I step up to the door and smile at Enoch as he steps to the side.
"Watch," I whisper to him as I grab the handle of the door and drag it open.
Before the woman has a chance to say anything, I reach out and grab a handful of her short blonde hair, covering her mouth with my free arm. She flings her arms and legs around and claws at my hand that's over her mouth. I pull her into the bathroom and shut the bathroom door and lock it.
Enoch staggers back as I move the hand that's on her mouth to her head. And with one swift motion, I force the woman's head forward and bash her face into the big mirror. She screams as the glass shatters and stabs her in her eyes and mouth and cheeks. I throw her face into the mirror at last seven times before I stop and look at Enoch.
He is staring at me with wide eyes and a slightly gaped mouth. His eyes are fixed on mine, and I stare right back at him.
Without looking away, I pull the bloody woman up by her hair and hold her so that she's facing away from me. I put one arm across her chest, and I clasp my other hand over her small chin. She's spitting blood, and the sticky red substance is coating my gray fingers. Her pleas for mercy and for me to stop mean nothing to me as I continue to keep eye contact with Enoch.
He messed with the wrong person. He made the mistake of fucking with me in my own game. That was where his plan became foolproof. As I have told him so many times in the past as I had searched for him: "Death does not like being cheated."
And I meant it when I told him that. Now he will witness my wrath.
My anger.
My hate.
I jerk the hand that's over her chin backwards toward me, and I embrace the cracking of her neck with a smile as she goes limp. As I let go of her body, she drops to the ground and his the floor with a heavy thud.
And during this whole event, I never broke eye contact with Enoch.
"Now, you're going to be the one to suffer, Enoch," I growl at him as I step over the corpse and towards him.
"How...?"
"You may have taken my powers, but you will never take my purpose. My purpose is to kill. And that's what I plan to do, whether I have my powers or not."
Enoch says nothing. He just stares at me with wide eyes and a look of terror mixed with disbelief. And then, he just disappears. I turn and quickly run out of the store and back to the alleyway.
Crouching behind a stack of cardboard boxes, I smirk to myself as I catch my breath.
Me and Enoch are somewhat tied in my game right now. But not for long. Because I now have the upper hand. He was not prepared for me to make a move like this. I'm going to take advantage of his setback and fire back with as much power as possible.
Because I'm ready to do whatever it takes to make sure my winning streak instills.
I am back in the game.
And I already know my next move that's going to finally win against him.