Sebastian
I honestly don’t know what to say to him. I managed to completely fuck his entire life up with a simple folk tale. He probably doesn’t even want to listen to my excuse anyways, but hey, that’s the price of business. There’s always a moments within your work where you have the opportunity to move up by sabotaging your fellow coworkers. I would honestly say this certain situation is no different. His future plans and aspirations have now been halted or crushed within a short amount of time. I don’t even know if he had any, but if he did, I was the one to make sure it would never come true. Guilt is a conniving little bastard if not taken care of quickly. All I could do now is to give him any explanation he might need. Well, at least the ones I know about.
“Sorry.” That was the best thing I could say at this point. “Sorry for getting you into all this mess. I’ll do anything to make this as comfortable for you as possible.”
“I don’t want your apology, just answers and explanations.”
That was an expected response from him, always straight forward and devoid of any kind of bullshit. I wish I had that gift, but I’m stuck with this forced smile on my face for now. It’ rough to hide your true self for so long.
“Well…let me explain how I came into contact with Mr. Plague” Even while I’m looking down into my drink, I noticed a big swig of his before I could start on my story. I don’t know if it’s to numb himself of the upcoming mess or to refrain from knocking me out. But my money’s on the latter. “Okay, I met him about 5 years ago. I just got back to my place after a long case study of a local shooting at a gas station. It turned out to be yet another gang related activity, but I digress. I remember opening my front door to my apartment and seeing two glowing pale moon dots idly floating in the hallway in front of me. It looked as though it was reflecting some kind of light, like a pair of glasses…but there were no source of that anywhere. My whole place was pitched black.”
“Was it…a person?” Don said nervously.
“…Yeah, it was. I slowly reached for my lap nearest to me. The moment before I could pull the switch, I noticed an equally bright and glowing grimace emerge. This, paired with the floating dots, clearly gave me a disturbing picture of a face for whoever the hell was in my place. I could tell it was definitely a person lying in wait for me. A man came to be when I finally pulled the switch.”
Don clinched his beer steadily. I never knew him to be scared of a tale, but then again this is real. He might go home tonight and all of what I’m saying could happen to him. Although. I’m not too worried though. Even in the tensest situations I’ve never seen him lose face. Everyone reveres him for his stone cold attitude towards any dangerous circumstance he is put through. If only they knew the magnitude of trouble he’s going to face now. I would totally understand if he loses his mind.
I took a sip from my practically-untouched beer before continuing. “Well, what I saw next was surely out of the ordinary. There stood an average height man in a slimmed down black suit, while under it was a bright red tie. It also wore a wide brimmed fedora with an equally red lining across it. The whole attire screamed Mob-Boss to me. Now the one thing that made me dumbfounded even to this day was its skin. It was completely black and denied any reflection of the lamp light. There was no way of distinguishing any structure or features on its face because of how dark it looked. It all so slightly blended into the shadows down the hallway behind it. But one thing stood out even more… its face. Even with all of the tension and confusion circling in the air, it never changed its stance and facial expression. Hands were tucked behind its back while supporting an ominous smile to warrant anyone’s senses of immediate danger.”
The duration of his drinking has widened as this story goes on. “What did it want?” He said.
“Me.”
“You? It wanted you?”
“Yeah and I wasn’t sure why. After some moments of tremendous fear, it finally spoke to me.”
Hello good friend. Pardon my intrusion into your lovely home, but this is of urgent matters. First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Coronus. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.
Don’s head slightly turned away from me. He had extreme doubt and confusion on his face and I can’t blame him. “This guy sounds like a deranged homeless man that busted in your house.” I could understand his suspicion because I thought the same thing. I just wished it were true.
“I’m serious Don. This is a true and all too real situation I got into.”
“Yeah…after what happened to me, I could damn near believe just about anything right now. Well…what happened next?”
“I reached for my gun.”
“…Quick on the draw I see.”
“It was a mistake man…a terrible mistake. When I took aim, I noticed my index finger went completely numb. I looked at my hand and saw that it was melting. My hand…was fucking melting. I don’t know why or how, but it was melting.”
“…What the hell…”
“Same here Don. I couldn’t process it at all. I looked back up and saw it still smiling at me. It never changed face or its stance. The complete control and certainty it had over the situation has been all too real. I knew it was behind the reason for my hand. It continued its introduction…not without pointing out my questionable choice first.”
Now that was an ignorant thing of you to do. I surely hope you aren’t greeting other guest like this in your home. Let’s not make any more sporadic and hasty moves, or else your head will be next. Now, with all that nonsense out the way, let me explain why I’m here. A client of mine has sent me to recruit you. He’s a persuasive fellow and has paid me a good sum of money to do this job. Actually, this isn’t what I normally do anyways…recruitment? Pfft, he really knows how to keep someone on their toes.
“I had no Idea who he was talking about but it sure didn’t make the situation any better for me. I thought to myself, if there were any more people like him wandering around, who else is being coerced that I know of.”
“So that’s how they get people? Twisting arms here and there?”
“Yeah.”
“Let me guess…they did the same to you in order to get to me?”
“…Yeah.”
“…Mother fuckers. Alright, you don’t need to tell me anymore…I think I finally get the picture now.” A good thing about him being a detective is that he can figure out any puzzle of a situation with only so few information. He’s an extremely talented individual and at times I wish to be like him, but that light of a hopeless outlook only diminishes as the rest of my time goes by. I don’t know how to tell him that I have a set amount of time left. If he heard the rest of the story he would flip his shit and do something he shouldn’t the next time he meets Mr. Plague. Yeah…I’d rather see him live through all this. “Sebastian, we can’t be another one of their statistic. We have to do something. At least fight back!”
“No. You don’t understand. I’ve met more of their affiliates and they go far and beyond when it comes to power. There are some that can make you fall in an endless black void for all eternity. There’s one that can kill you and put you in that loop for however long it wants. Some can cause mass explosions with the flick of their hand, while another’s can transfer your mind into inanimate objects. You saw Sam? You saw her behind that mirror, right?” He paused. It definitely struck a chord and knocked him back to his senses. “Right…now you get it. The people you’ll soon meet, tower over you and your understanding. Don’t be stupid and do what I tried to do.”
“…I can’t believe this. We’re fucked, huh? No hope? No way out? We just roll over and let them walk over us without fighting back?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what it means.”
He looked into his jug and took the biggest and longest drink I’ve seen someone do. The beer was finished before I knew it. The clunk sound he made when slamming the hard glass back on the battered wood definitely caused a moment of silence in the pub. There weren’t that many people in here anyways, but the atmosphere certainly shifted. It was my cue to leave him alone. I stood up from my stool and reached in my pocket for our beers and any future rounds he wants. I threw whatever I had left in my wallet on the table and gave Don a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. He didn’t raise his head one inch and I didn’t expect him to. I essentially fucked his whole life up and I knew to give him space. I already respect his tendency of remaining reclusive and quiet, but now I know I won’t be seeing him for a good minute. I completely regret bringing him into this shit-storm, but the other option would’ve been way worse if I hadn’t done it.
I turned and walked towards the door. I gave one last look at the general area and accidentally noticed similarities between him and tony. Both of their heads were down. Both of their drinks were empty. Both their facial expression said one thing only; my life is over. As optimistic as I try to be, I know that isn’t far from the truth.
I’m sorry Don…
Comments (0)
See all