Savior

“You came,” he said, as he sat down at the marble table in the quaint little diner. Where I was sitting.

“What is it?” I tried my very hardest to come off as aggressive. Alert. Aggravated.

“You sound upset,” he remarked, much to my displeasure. Of course I was upset. “Don’t be. I’m here because I want you to join me.”

“Join you?” He was trying to get under my skin. Though I desperately didn’t wish he could, my voice betrayed me. His voice was akin to scratchings of a half-erased chalkboard by some roughly cut fingernails. “Are you kidding me? I have no reason to join you.”

“You should be grateful.”

“I should be killing you, this instant.”

“And what good would that do?” I hated myself for admitting that he was right. Not only did I not have the ability to overpower him, I wasn’t a killer. Unlike him.

“Speak for yourself. What good does your killing bring to the world?”

“I simply rid of people that need to be erased from the world.”

“You killed my father.”

“Ergo, he was an evil man.” His audacity took me aback. “Look, I’m giving you a choice.”

“All you gave me was grief.”

“I gave you a chance.”

“You gave me despair.”

“I gave you hope. A hope to change this world for the better. You call me a killer? Your father killed more men than I ever could in a lifetime. With just a few clicks.”

“My father never killed anyone.”

“Then why are you here?” At this point, I was wondering the same question myself. “You must also believe, to some degree, that your father was an evil person. No?”

“I’m here to see if you have any idamn remorse, which clearly, you don’t. I think we’re done here. I’m turning you over to the police.”

“But you’re not going to. You walk away, you become just like the rest of them.” I paused. The rest of them? “You told me, before all this, you didn’t want to be just like the rest of them. Isn’t this what you were talking about?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I dismissed his question. It was true; but wasn’t this –

“Wasn’t it too much of a price to pay; isn’t that what you’re thinking?” He asked. I hated that he knew. I hated that he could read me like a stupid book. I hated myself. “You can’t walk away now, David. You simply can’t.”

“Listen, this, at first, was amusing. It was a game. But it’s not anymore. You moved without my consultation and it -“

“Led to the removal of an evil that otherwise wouldn’t have been removed!” He laughed. Why did he have to laugh? “Don’t you see the hypocrisy? I’m here to act as your personal army. Something you asked for. I don’t think you understand how hilarious this situation is, me practically begging for you to join your cause! Yet at the hour of utmost importance, you wish to walk away?”

“You killed my father!”

“And now he can’t kill any more people!”

“He didn’t kill anyone!”

“Yet he was the CEO of a company that destroyed so many lives! A perfect part of the system! Wasn’t this what you were talking about? What you had always dreamt of? Get over yourself!” His shouting must have also surprised him, because he shrunk back down. He didn’t want to risk being overly exposed to the public, no doubt. “You know what, I think we are done here. Clearly you can’t put your money where your mouth is and follow through on any of the few good ideas you have. You are just like the rest of them; pointing your barrels without a problem but too afraid to pull the trigger.”

At this, out of pure fury, I lunged forward to grab him by his shirt collar. “I am not like the rest of them. I refuse to be.”

“Then pull the fucking trigger, David. Tell me who you want me to kill next.”

“Is there a problem fellas?” A police officer who was chatting with the waitress came by to our table, seeing the commotion. I could’ve told him everything – about how this guy I have by the throat, who I once thought was a friend, killed my father, and was asking me to join him on a ridiculous, pathetic journey to go around killing rich people. But all that came out of my mouth was –

“Sorry, officer. We’ll keep quiet. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll take this outside. Sorry for interrupting your lunch, sir.” I loosened my grip as I slunk back down to my seat.

“It’s perfectly alright. As long as nobody is killing nobody. Just didn’t want blood over this beautiful diner.” Beautiful, my ass. It was old and antique, but it certainly didn’t live up to the standards of beauty people have nowadays. With that, the officer walked back to his seat to continue conversing with the waitress.

“You owe me a bunch,” I commented.

“No, I don’t owe you anything. Everything I am about to do is out of my own volition. It just happens that your will matches up with mine.” He smirked, which made my blood boil. “In fact, I think you owe me a bunch, since I saved you from falling into the hands of your own hypocrisy. I’m your own personal savior. And I’m going to help you change this world.”

“Savior, my ass,” I replied. “You dare kill my father then say that you’re saving me? The only thing you saved me from is making other people in the same position as me orphans!”

“You can’t inflict the pain if you don’t know the pain,” he answered. “That wouldn’t be fair.”

“Yet you kill people. Is it fair that you don’t know death yet you go around inflicting it upon others?”

“Those who have died have no more say in this world, David. They’re already gone. Can’t reverse that fact. But those who continue to live – they do feel and they do have a say. Admit it – you feel relieved that your dad’s gone.”

“What the hell are you going on about?”

“You said it yourself – it’s because of people like your dad you believe more that there should be a bloody revolution. Isn’t it, then, fitting that the revolution would start with the death of your dad, who is one of the more profitable CEOs in the world?”

“He was still my dad, you piece of shit.”

“And at the same time, he was the biggest obstacle that stood between you and the world you wished to create.” He wasn’t lying. We were talking about this just a few weeks ago. But at that moment in time, I had no idea this crazy son of a bitch would actually go through with it. I didn’t know. How could I have known?

I admit to saying that I want this perfect world that I claimed that I could build with just enough, strategically selected bloodshed. But that was all pretend – make-believe. It was all within my imagination to build a perfect world, because the truth was that I didn’t have any actual plans, and I definitely did not have any real intent to kill my own father or kill anyone, in fact. It was group think, an echo chamber – one created by me and a friend who affirmed everything that I said. The ideas became grander, the details blurrier… until I came to that conclusion that the only thing stopping me from actually carrying out the things I’d said was my father. But it was all laid upon the structure of not really thinking things through – I just wanted to impress this friend, who was already impressed with everything I had done.

There was no strategically selected people to assassinate. There was no plan. Just a hollow shell of a plan whose details were unknown and ignored, that had the facade of perfection. Nothing about it should’ve come true. And nothing about it should’ve been acted out.

That brings us to here and now, in this interrogation room, me explaining everything to you. I brought myself in and that guy who used to be my friend to try and tell you that I didn’t want any part in this. And I assure you, everything will be over if you just lock him up.

“Mr. Carter, we’d like to -” Detective Pearson began speaking, before being interrupted by a prompt

“Please, call me David.”

“David, we’d like to go back to something you’d said. Something about an officer?”

“Yes, there was a police officer that almost apprehended – wait. You’re going to have me tried for harboring a criminal, aren’t you?” David got up and brought forward his arms.

“You’re a smart man, David. I can tell,” the detective said, while handcuffing David. He led him out of the interrogation room to a holding cell in the precinct. “But you did let that slip, and unfortunately, while I do think it’s unfair and not right, we still need to have you go through due process and get a just sentence. If it were up to me, David, I’d just let you go; but that’s simply not allowed under the eyes of the law.”

“That’s perfectly understandable; it’s completely on me to not turn that son of a bitch in when I had the chance,” David said, sitting down on the cold cement ground. He looked to his side to see that his friend was sitting in the cell next to his, wearing the silencing mask. Even though the mask covered the entire lower half of the guy’s face, David could swear he was smirking at him. “But as long as you process the killer for who he is.”

“We’ll get right on it, David,” the detective said, walking away. He closed and locked the soundproof door to the room containing the holding cells. After making sure the door was properly secure, the detective took heavy steps to his office, then dropped into his seat. “Justice my ass,” he muttered.

After about three minutes of the detective typing up the summary of the interview and things of note about David, one of the officers came in.

“Sir,” the officer said. “The security footage should be in your inbox.”

“Thank you, Connor,” the detective said. The officer began to leave, then a thought came into the detective’s head. “Connor!”

“Yes, sir?” Officer Tist replied. “What is it?”

“Do you happen to know who was at the diner? I’m too lazy to look at the footage. It wasn’t you, was it?”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“You looked through the footage. Do you know who was at the diner that approached the two guys we have locked up right now?”

“I don’t understand, sir.”

“In the footage. There should’ve been an officer that approached the two guys while they were talking. Did you recognize the officer, Connor?”

Connor’s face went pale. If ever the detective saw the face of true terror, Connor’s face would’ve been it. Unfortunately, that was the last face the detective ever saw.

“Sir, there was no officer in the diner at the time of their meeting.”

With that, there was an incredible explosion, after which the detective was dead.

---

Afterword.