The Shadow

She could feel it. Call it instincts, all it experience, call it woman's intuition. But she knew that someone was following her. Having had to perform some emergency shopping at the pharmacy for her sick baby, the road back to her house lies silent, with only the streetlights for company.

Remembering the cases of theft and assault near the area, Natalia clenched her purse tighter to her stomach, and quickened her pace back home. After a few minutes, she could almost hear the footsteps of whoever was following her. She started to run towards the direction of her house, as quickly as she could, while taking care not to let go of her purse.

"Screaming won't help", she thought to herself. It would only attract more undesirables that could be lurking in the area.

However, just as she was about to reach her street, she felt her foot trip on a crack on the road. Before she could curse her luck, she fell flat on the ground. Before she got up, she managed to turn around, and saw a figure dashing closer towards her. Cursing her own bad luck, she braced herself for the inevitable.

But nothing came. Instead, she heard a scream come from behind her. As she quickly stood up and turned around, she saw a patch of darkness at the street, where no street lamps shone. From there, she could hear the sound of punches. She saw the shadowy figure of the thief, who seemed to be fighting...someone, but she couldn't see who.

"Where are you?! Come out! Come out and fight like a man!"

The thief couldn't see who it was he was fighting with. All he knew was that the attacks came from all angles, and he couldn't feel his attacks land on anything.

With one more well-placed hit (and with the sound of a cracked bone) , the thief was brought to his knees. He cried out in pain.

"Please! No more! I'm sorry! I won't do it ever again!"

"You tell your all of your friends. Never touch that woman again. Ever. Unless they want to die a horribly. And trust me, I know horrible."

"Y-yes! Yes! Anything you say!"

Natalia suddenly felt a shiver down her spine. The voice of the person attacking the thief...it sounded all too familiar. Once the thief ran away, she approached the spot where he was. However, she couldn't find anyone there anymore.

While she was looking, she suddenly felt someone behind her. But she did not feel afraid. She was all too familiar with this presence.

"Natalia..."

She couldn't believe it. It was him! Right as she was about to turn around...

"STOP, NATALIA!"

She stopped in her tracks. She was shocked.

"Please, Natalia. You can't turn around. If you do, I have to leave."

"Dan? Is that you? It's you, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Why, Dan? Why can't I turn around? You've been missing for the past few weeks! I was so worried! Our daughter, she's..."

"Sick, I know. Natalia, I want you to listen closely to me. I can't be with you right now. Some things have...happened. I've...been changed, transformed against my will. I can't face you the way I am right now. I can't even go out normally anymore."

"What?! That doesn't make any sense! But I..."

"Natalia! Please, listen. I don't have much time.  I know things are hard right now. Trust me, I know. But you have to believe me when I say that I'm trying my best to rectify this situation. I will fix it. I will meet you and our beautiful daughter again. But until then...I will be watching over you. Protecting. Guarding. You won't see me, but I will always be watching."

"No, Dan..please don't go....don't leave me again."

"Sorry, Natalia. I have to go...but I will always be nearby. I will be your shadow."

Crying, Natalia finally turned around, but there was no one there. Not anymore.

You've changed

"You've changed."

"Well, it HAS been a couple of years."

"No, I mean, REALLY changed."

"Yeah, well, you too."

"Erm...you look...different."

"Oh yeah I get that a lot."

"You almost look like you've...transformed."

"Been on a new slimming program lately."

"I didn't mean it that way. It's not just the outer appearance..."

"I've also been feeling more confident lately. That might be what you're referring to?"

"No...you're..more....devilish?"

"Ahh, that."

"I mean, the horns, the tail..."

"The red skin?"

"Yeah."

"I got an offer to become a Demon, and I took it."

"Okayyy....that explains a lot."

"Feeling better?"

"Nah, not really. I mean, you DID just destroy an entire village full of innocents, which also includes my wife and children."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that. Didn't know you're staying here now."

"But you did wipe out my mother-in-law too. She was always nagging me on how to treat my wife."

"So we good?"

"Yeah."

"Shall we continue then?"

"Where was I?"

"You were about to try plunging your sword at me."

"Oh, that. Yeap, let's continue. Here I come!"

The greatest comedy of all

He glanced at his phone. It was already 1.45pm. John was late. Again. Even though he was reading the newpaper to bide his time, it's annoying to always have to wait for John. Especially when the coffeeshop staff always gives these weird stares. But then again, it might be due to him having sat there for more than 20 minutes and not having ordered anything.

"Hey Mike!"

"Finally", Mike muttered under his breath.

As John took his seat across Mike, he noticed the cold stare that he was getting. He was about to ask what is it all about, but then he remembered that Mike has gastric, but still had to wait for him to get started. Meekly, he said,

"Sorry I'm late, man. The jam was terrible."

Mike stared at John, but then realized that John looked genuinely sorry. He gave a sigh, and assured John that he wasn't angry. After all, how could he be angry at him, who has been his friend since primary school?

John's face instantly lit up and gave the happiest smile you could imagine. They ordered their food, and both of them was wolfed down their food with incredible speed when it arrived. Now the staff was giving them stares for a whole other reason.

"What's in the movies now, Mike? Feel like catching one?"

"Hmm...not much here. What kind of movies do you wanna watch?"

"Erm...comedies, I suppose? These are some gloomy days."

Mike adjusted his spectacles, and looked at John. That was not the face of someone who has had a gloomy day in his life. But he knew that John was incredible at hiding his feelings. He scanned through the movie screening times in the papers, which was surprisingly more effective than using the phone, as the paper showed screening times for multiple cinemas at once.

"There's not much in terms of comedies. Ah wait! There might be...oh no, nope. My mistake."

"Is there one?"

"Yes, but...it's the kind you hate. You know, the slapstick kind."

"Oh no, not that kind."

John groaned. Mike knew he hates slapstick comedy. On hindsight, it might have been better if he had just said that there's no comedies showing. For he knew that John would start on his speech.

"You know, I just don't get it. How can people think of slapstick as a kind of comedy? It's just people falling left and right, and exaggerating everything."

"Well...", Mike tried to salvage the situation.

"Some people like it, I guess. They don't have to think as much. They just...shut off their brains."

"Yeah, that might be so, but sometimes, it just feels dumb."

Mike whipped out his phone, and furiously typed in something.

"According to Wikipedia, something can be considered a comedy as long as it makes people laugh. As long as people laugh, then it's considered comedy, I guess."

John still had that look in his eye. Mike knew it wasn't over. He quickly took a sip of his coffee before John started again.

"If that's comedy, then how about works like The Divine Comedy? I don't think going to Hell is considered funny."

"It might be...for some."

John raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, think about it, John. We're living here, in this world. And this world, it's a cruel one. It's not the most forgiving one, to be sure. So we gotta do what we can to survive, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So while we're trying our hardest to survive, we tend to do...mistakes. Sometimes we hurt people. Sometimes we do bad decisions."

"Okay..." John could see that Mike's face had taken a serious tone.

"Don't you think it's funny, then, that even when we're doing all this, we're being judged? That our actions that we do to continue living are being judged? And that we might be punished after we die?"

John was silent.

"I think it's laughable, John. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how to make sense of all these afterlife stuff. I know it can't be proven, but it can't be disproved as well. So...I just laugh it off."

Both of them went silent. The mood of the entire table went into a sombre tone.

"John...what do you think about life?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think there's any meaning to it? What are we here for?"

"Erm..I don't know, Mike. I just try to live the best I can."

"What if...there's no meaning? What if we're just here...because we are? What if all those people who are looking, seeking for the meaning of life, the ones going on their spiritual journeys and such, are just wasting their time and effort?"

"Then...the joke's on them."

Both of them sniggered.

"Life..the greatest comedy of them all."

The nameless soldier

I can feel my time coming, dear diary. But I have no regrets. I've lived a long and fulfilled life, with a great family all around me. However, I can't go to my grave with this secret. This secret, that I'm going to tell you, and only you. Perhaps one day one of my family members will find this, and they will learn of it as well. Though by that time I'll be long gone from this world. This is the story about him, the time we spent together in that dreaded battlefield. This is about the nameless soldier.

I still remember that time, when I was still a young journalist. I got sent to the front of the battlefields to cover the war efforts of the Allied forces. They were locked in a struggle against the Japanese army. As I was transported to a relatively 'safe area', I still saw my fair share of combat, and the horrors that war brings. But this isn't about that. This is about him. That man that I met during my first week in the outpost.

As I was still acclimatizing to life on the front lines, I got to know most of the soldiers stationed at that outpost. However, one day when I was walking along an area where an intense firefight took place the day before, I saw someone. Another man, someone I didn't know, was travelling along the area, though the way he moved was...different. Despite dressed as an Allied soldier, he didn't move like one. He moved with a carefree manner, almost with a spring in his step. Almost as if he was happy to be there.

When I got back to the outpost, I asked the other soldiers about him. They snickered among themselves, and told me that "it'd be better if I asked him myself". After getting the directions to his bunk, I decided to approach this man. In his bunk, he seemed as if he was meditating.

"Erm...hi there. Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

He had a look of surprise in his face, but slowly he smiled at me.

"Ah! I saw you in the battlefield earlier! You must be that reporter, right?"

He extended a handshake, which I gladly obliged.

"Yeah, but...how did you know?"

"I know almost everyone here. So when I saw an unknown face, I knew it must be someone from the outside."

He looked young, almost as young as I was (I was around 23 that year). But the most surprising thing was...he looked calm and composed. Most of the soldiers that I saw almost always looked tense. I can't blame them, they live in constant danger, and have to deal with attacks almost everyday. How this man was so calm on the other hand, was a complete mystery.

"If you don't mind me asking...what were you doing out there? And the way you moved, it was different from the others..."

"Aah, don't mind me. I just like to revisit scenes of battles. It reminds me of who I am, and where I come from."

"What do you mean by that?"

Right then, a senior office came into the bunk, and called out to him. He had to go to battle soon, and the troop was heading out. The Axis troops were approaching.

"I'll talk to you later, Mr Reporter", he said with a smile.

"Aren't you afraid of dying out there?"

"It's not my time yet."

I was puzzled by his statement, but I couldn't do anything as he had to go fight. Later that night, I heard that his troop had returned, and there were no casualties. I sighed a breath of relief, and decided that I would find out more about him tomorrow. The next day, as I was approaching him, one of his squad mates stopped me.

He warned me that I should stay away from that man, that the man is some sort of 'freak'. I shrugged off those words, and entered his bunk. His face lighted up as he saw me.

"Mr Reporter! Glad to see you again!"

"Please, just call me Dave. Now, if you don't mind, shall we continue our conversation from yesterday? What was that about who you are and where you come from?"

"Oh, yes, yes! I was found by the army. I have no idea who I am, or where I came from."

I was stunned by what he said. But soon enough I retained my cool, and continued the conversation. It seems that he was the victim of a bombing raid, and was found by the Allied army while wandering around, injured. He has no idea about his name, or where he comes from. The only thing that he knows is war and the battlefield.

His walk around the warzone was his way of paying respects to the army, and to remember the day the army found him.

"So how does the other people communicate with you? They HAVE to call you something."

"Oh, they just gave me a random name, X. I do like it though. It sounds like a code name," he said with a childish grin.

Now, my dear diary, this is where things take a turn for the unusual. Right at that moment, I heard a crowd outside his bunk. As I turned around, I saw a gathering of soldiers, all right outside the entrance. X was not shocked in the least.

"Oh, is it that time again? Please, do come in, one by one. Mr Dave, you can stay here if you like."

Just then, the first soldier came in. X touched his forehead, and then told him that "he'll be fine." For the next soldier, he told him to "remember to carry your flask". I wanted to know what was happening, but I knew that nothing would come from staying in that bunk. I walked out, and asked one of the soldiers in line about the whole commotion.

"You didn't know? X is psychic!"

"Nonsense! What do you mean, psychic?

"It's true! X can predict and tell you if you'll be in danger of death. If he detects something, he will tell them to take extra care towards something, usually the thing that can cause his death."

Seeing my sceptical face, the other soldiers defended his 'ability'.

"X saved my life once! He told me to keep my dogtags in my breast pocket, and they saved me from a stray bullet!"

"Yeah, he told me to avoid bringing any grenades, and later that day, a ditch where I was passing caught fire, no thanks to the gunpowder in the air. If I had grenades at my waist, I would've exploded right there and then!"

I couldn't believe their words. It must've been just some superstition, or coincidence, right? I decided to approach his commanding officer about this, he must know something.

His commanding officer was a stern man, and was also dismissive of X's 'psychic abilities'. He told me,

"To be honest, I don't know if it's true or not. I personally don't believe in any of those things, but the soldiers swear by X's abilities to predict these stuff."

"You're not going to stop this?"

"Stop it? For what? What X is doing right now is helping to boost the morales of our troops. And in this hell of a war, we need all the morale we can get."

I understood his point. This war was a long one, and more and more troops are feeling tensed and depressed by the day. Whether or not X was psychic wasn't really a concern to him, as long as he can keep the morale of the troops up.

I continued in my day-to-day activities, covering the war efforts, while still chatting with X. He seemed really glad to see me everytime. I guess it's not easy to be known as a 'death psychic'. You don't really get much friends. One day, X came up to me.

"Dave, I have had a terrible premonition!"

"What? What is it, X?"

"Dave, you must not go out into the field tomorrow."

"Why not? Will I die?"

"Yes, and it is a most horrific death, Dave. I do not wish for you to get that kind of fate. Please promise me, stay away!"

As I mulled over his words, the unmistakeable swishing sound of helicopter blades broke my concentration. They approached me, and I could feel a certain sense of nervousness as they did so.

"Mr Dave, war journalist I presume?"

"Y-yes, that's me. What could be the matter?"

"We're here to get you out of here. Your assignment here has been cancelled. This area's about to become a hot zone, not fit for a journalist to be around."

As it didn't sound like I had much of a choice, I got into their helicopter and left with them. As we were taking off, I saw X running towards us, and waving at us from below. Now that I think back, for some reason, it felt as if I was his only friend there, and that he was lonely. But...nothing could be done anymore.

The next day, I was shocked beyond belief. The outpost I was in had been the target of an Axis air strike. X was right. Had I stayed there, I would've been blowed up to pieces. I felt a sense of dread. Would I have died if the helicopter had not came for me?

I shook off those assumptions. Nothing could be done anymore. The only thing that I can do is to hope that they survived, and did well in their lives. After that, I did not hear anything about X anymore. Was he alive? Was he dead? What was his real name, and where was he from? Was his ability real?

I couldn't find out anything from official records about the war. It's already pretty hard to explain about an unknown person being drafted, what more a person with no name.

And that marks the end of my account, diary. Until today, I still ponder about X sometimes. Perhaps I might meet up with him on the other side, and we would share our stories.

The Name Stealer

At the lobby, the man walked quickly. Dressed smartly in a navy blue suit, leather shoes, and holding a metal briefcase, he walked with an air of importance and pride around him. Even among all of the professional-looking people in the lobby, he really stood out among all of them.

In a rush as he walked, he glanced down at his watch when he bumped into something.

"Oh, sorry about that," he muttered. After regaining his composure, he looked up towards the person he just bumped into.

A teenager, around 18 years of age, stood there, his hands holding a clipboard with some papers on top. Sensing this chance, the teen spoke up.

"No worries, sir. Would you like to take part in this survey though? It shouldn't take 5 minutes of your time."

Usually, the man wouldn't bother with these things. However, he felt a bit guilty over the bump, so he decided to oblige the teen. Gesturing towards the teen to give him the clipboard, the man took out his pen from the breast pocket of his suit.

As he filled up the survey, the teen took a peek at the form.

"Mr...Alistair, is it? Alistair Morgan?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"That's..quite the unique name, Mr Alistair."

Alistair paused, and looked up at the teen. With a grin, he said,

"Yeah, I'm pretty proud of it actually. The Morgan family has always had unique names, and we always raise up distinguished individuals."

"So...you wouldn't mind if I...take it, do you?"

Alistair felt a chill down his spine. Suddenly, the teen's eyes were cold. Emotionless. As if he was not human. He looked around, but he could not see anyone in the lobby, that was full of people just a second ago. He tried to run, but his legs froze.

From the teenager's body, something similar to tentacles appeared. But Alistair could not take a good look at it, he could only grasp the shape of them. The tentacles appeared to be as dark as night itself.

They reached out to Alistair, surrounding him. They changed shapes, and started expanding, eventually forming a huge sphere with Alistair in its centre. With a snap of the finger from the teenager, the sphere shrunk, compressing itself until it reached the shape of a small cube.

He flicked his finger, and the tentacles brought the cube to the teenager. Slowly, his body absorbed the cube, and a sphere formed around him as well. It shrunk slowly, forming the shape of a man.

The darkness seeped away from the teenager, who now had a new appearance. He took a look around. He was still in the lobby, with people moving in and out in a hurry. No one had even noticed that the teenager was gone.

"Mr Alistair! There you are!"

He turned around, and saw a woman rushing towards him.

"You're going to be late for the meeting! Please get into the car."

As he was being led towards the Mercedes-Benz parked outside, he turned around to look at the lady, and asked.

"What's your name again?"

Nope, not dead yet

Just wanna announce, I ain't dead just yet. Just lazy. Very very lazy. Urghhhh

Requiem

At the streets, there was chaos. Nothing but chaos. People were going wild, attacking each other. They had a deranged look in their eyes, as if they were nothing more than wild animals. Fires rage across the streets, shops and buildings set ablaze by the people. The riot police could not do much against these people, as there were too many of them.

Far off on the roof of a building, stood a man, sharply dressed in a suit. He was not participating in the chaos. But he had these strange hand movements. Almost as if he was guiding something, he moved his arms swiftly in the air, with rapid yet smooth movements. A certain distance behind him, an old man lied unconscious, tied to the chimney of the building. Wearing an oversized lab coat, the old man slowly regained his consciousness. The first thing he noticed was the smell of smoke in the air. When his vision became clear, he saw the glow of the fire below, and smoke that was rising up from all around. Then his vision focused on the man in the suit.

"You! Who are you?! What's happening here?"

The other man did not stop his hand movements, but merely turned his head around to address the old man.

"Aah, doctor! You're finally awake! So glad you could join us!"

"You...you're...Joseph? What's going on here? What's happening?"

"Hush now. I'm conducting."

"Conducting? Conducting...what? Why are there screams in the air? Why is there so much smoke?"

"It's a requiem, doctor. A requiem that I'm conducting for these poor souls."

The doctor could not bear it anymore. Struggling against the rope, he inched towards the side of the building to see what was going on. When he saw how people was acting, he was utterly shocked.

"What's going on here?! Why are these people fighting against each other?! And what do you mean you're conducting? You....you did this?"

As the doctor spoke, the man did some final gestures with his hands, and as he finished, there was an explosion in the horizon, as if he planned everything right down to the exact detail. He turned around, and walked slowly towards the professor.

"Doctor...I told you. I'm conducting a requiem."

"What...what do you mean?"

"These people...they have lost so much. They were so stressed. They were overwhelmed, by work, by their relationships, by their finances. Then they came to you. After all, you're renowned for your studies on stress, aren't you?" Joseph smiled innocently when he said there. The doctor, however, felt a shiver down his spine from that smile. There was a certain...malice to it.

"But you couldn't help them. You couldn't solve their stress. Of course, how could you? Their lives were messed up beyond measure."

Joseph walked towards the edge of the building, looking down at the chaos below.

"Affairs! Bribery! Corruption! Cronyism! There was no way you could have solved these problems. But they didn't care, did they? All they wanted was a way to be rid of all that nasty stress pent up in their lives. So I gave it to them, doctor. What you couldn't give them, I could!"

He gestured animatedly as he spoke. The doctor looked a Joseph, first with eyes of hatred, but then it turned into pity. He remembered Joseph. He was one of the doctor's first patients in regards to stress. But he could never solve it. Why it happened, what caused it. He could never figure it out. And now it was too late for him. Joseph turned back towards the doctor.

"Aw, come now doctor. I can see it in your eyes, you know. There's no need to pity me. I know perfectly well what I'm doing. I am a sufferer of chronic stress myself. I never knew what I was doing in my life. All my pessimism, worry, negativity about life, caused me much more pain than anyone could ever imagine. But now I'm free. I know what I have to do in life. I must guide these poor lost souls so that they don't end up like I did.

I gave them a way out, you know. A way to get rid of those stress. I told them, 'let it out! There's no need for you to hold back on this world, this world that has mistreated you for so long. This world that has caused you so much stress'. And look at what is happening now."

Joseph had a certain look of glee in his face as he watched the chaos down below.

"That's why I played the requiem, doctor. It was a farewell to their stressed up lives. Now, they will live free of stress, forever!"

The M Wars pt.2

Took us a week to finally get our leaves accepted by the top brass. Stating that it was a 'family trip', we prepared to look for our old professor. Didn't take us long to find him. His house had the highest fence in the neighbourhood, with barbed wire on top to boot.

We rang the intercom at the entrance.

BZZZZTTTT!

No response.

BZZZZT! BZZZZZT! BZZZZZTTTTTTT!!!

We could hear some shouting coming from within the house. Which was astounding, given the thickness of the walls. Guess the old man never changes. His voice came over the intercom.

"What? Who is it? If it's you brats again, I swear I'll...."

"Professor, it's me, Donald."

There was a pause.

"Alice is here too."

"Heya professor!"

More silence. Then a soft voice came from the intercom.

"I'll be right there."

Suddenly, the thick wooden door of his house opened. The man that appeared almost couldn't be recognized. He was already thin before, but now he's almost like a stick. His clothes were sagging off of him, and the cap that he wore was a bit too small for his bald head.

But I saw a sight that I thought I would never see in my life. He was smiling, with a smile that I never saw before in all the times I was under his care.

There was an almost awkward silence as he approached us and opened the gate. Then Alice decided to break it by rushing over to him and giving him a hug.

"Professor! How are you? You've lost so much weight you know!"

"Yes, my dear, I haven't exactly been eating well. You seem to be doing well enough though."

Then he looked at me.

"What are you standing there for, my boy? Come in, come in!"

The two of us went into the house, and was led into the pantry area. Stanton served us some tea, then sat down with us.

"Ooooh my, how many years has it been? Are you two still with the Research Centre?"

We could see that he frowned a bit the moment he mentioned the place.

"Yes, we are, and actually...that's kind of related to why we're here today."

"But I've been out of the field for so long, I don't think I can help you much here."

"Actually, Donald and I feels that you're the ONLY person who can help us on this."

Stanton adjusted his glasses, and looked at us with an incredibly familiar expression. This was the face of the researcher we knew. It's as if the kind grandpa behavior earlier was just a ruse.

"Mirror-men. You researched this, didn't you?"

"What of it? No one believed me. I was even kicked out of the Centre for this."

"I believe I saw them, professor."

He stood up, and slammed his hands on the table.

"What did you just say? Say it again!"

"I think I saw it, professor. But we need your confirmation on what exactly is a mirror-man to know further."

"How sure are you that you saw it?"

"We're very sure, professor. Here's a camera recording of Donald's encounter with one."

As he watched the recording, first his face was wide with disbelief. However, it soon turned into a smile, and then an unexpected laugh.

"Finally! Proof of my theory!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stanton dragged out his whiteboard from within his storeroom. How he manages to store one inside his house, I'll never know. But then again, his house is ridiculously huge.

He got to work explaining the mirror-men to us.

He drew two black lines on the whiteboard.

"Imagine that these are parallel dimensions."

"Alright, simple enough."

"It gets more difficult from here. Try to imagine that in these parallel dimensions, we are doing the exact same thing. Everyday when we wake up, what we do, where we go. Exactly the same between us and our...other selves in this other dimension."

"Hence the name mirror-men?"

"No. Please keep quiet unless you want me to toss this marker at your face like I did in class."

Alice giggled.

"The main reason they are called mirror-men is because of...well, mirrors. What we see in those mirrors, isn't ourselves. It's them. It's our other self. Doing the same thing as us, at the exact same time, with the exact same behavior and results. We think the mirror shows our reflection, but it isn't. It's another version of us."

"Wait wait wait. You can throw a marker at me if you want, but I have to ask this. So all along, all of those mirrors in our house, in all households around the world, are showing our other selves from a different dimension? But that's...just not possible! It goes against what a mirror actually is!"

"Well, what IS a mirror? When was it created? Its history goes back so far long, there's no way to know for sure. Who was it that originally said that mirrors are only objects that shows our reflections? Come on, boy, you work at the Fringe Science Centre! Your job is to question the possibility of things!"

It almost felt as if I was back in class. But he was right. There are no possibilities in my line of work. Seeing that I've already calmed down, he continued.

"Here comes the worrying part. There is only one reason why your other self is doing something different than you. The sync between our dimensions are wrong."

"Sync?"

"That's the only word I can use to describe it. It's what ensures that our two dimensions are perfectly parallel, that both us and our other self is doing the exact same thing at the same time. Now it's getting out of sync."

I kept silent as I tried to digest his words.

"How often are these sightings?"

"I first saw it around 4 months ago. Then it happened again 2 months ago. Then a month after that. Last time I saw it was last week."

Stanton paced around the room, mumbling to himself. Then he looked at me.

"The sightings are becoming more and more frequent. The sync is getting worse. Quick, there's no time! We have to head back to the Centre and come up with a way to stop it from happening!"

"Stop what, exactly?"

"What do you think will happen when the sync comes completely off? Everyone would notice. Chaos will happen on the streets. Even now, I believe that there are countless people around the world seeing this, but is regarded as crazy people. And then there's the risk of invasion."

"Invasion?"

"Yes, by our other selves. You see, I believe that this sync also acts as some sort of barrier. Otherwise, the moment we touch the mirror, we'd touch our other selves. Makes sense that there must be something stopping us from doing so, correct? Hence there has to be a barrier of sorts. But with the weakening of the sync, this barrier will also be weakened, and I fear that it would be completely broken soon."

"Okay, one last question, before we go."

"What? We have no time for more idle chatter."

"This is really important to me, professor, I have to know this."

Realizing the seriousness in my eyes, Stanton nodded.

"Go on then."

"Why me? Why can't Alice see it? Why can't other people see it?"

"When were you born, Donald?"

"1980, why?"

"Where?"

"England. Why are you asking this?"

"England, England. 1980...were your parents near the town of Flixborough?"

"Why yes, how did you know that?"

"There was an explosion at a chemical plant there at 1974. I believe that your parents must have inhaled some of the chemical gases, and that caused you to be unnaturally sensitive to your other self. This caused the differences."

"But how did you know about that explosion in that town, professor?"

"Well, Alice...I was originally from that town."

"Wait, so you....!"

"Yes, Donald, I can see it too. How else would I have known about this enough to research about it in the first place? Now let's get into the car."

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It was a long drive back to the Centre. Due to some of the health problems the professor had gotten due to his age, we had to make multiple stops. A two-day journey became a week-long affair.

Finally, we were back at the Centre. The moment we entered, a lot of the staff gasped at the sight of us. Actually, it wasn't really us, but more on Stanton. Everyone knew about Stanton, his findings basically catapulted the Centre to fame.

A guard came forward, seemingly about to drag him back out like what happened so many years ago. I stepped up front, ready to somehow defend the old professor. Suddenly, the guard stopped right in front of me.

"Professor Stanton, Donald, and Alice. The chief wants to meet you."

We looked at each other, and nodded. While it was weird that he wants to talk to us on his own accord, it saved us the time to schedule a meeting with him. This was as good a time as any to talk to the chief about it.

As we entered, the chief looked stern, starting at his computer screen.

"Stanton. Never thought I'd see you again."

He turned his chair around and looked at us.

"You've lost weight, old man."

"Still standing, kid."

"Hmph. Enough chatter, come look at this."

On his screen were countless reports and documents. It made even my eyes cringe a bit.

"These are all reports of people seeing...things in the mirror. According to the reports, their reflections are not doing what they are doing. I remember you researched about 'mirror-men' before, right?"

"Yes, before you scrapped the damn thing and dragged me out like a piece of trash. AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR THIS CENTRE!"

Stanton's voice boomed across the room. Alice approached him and comforted him down. He can't afford to have outbursts like this every time, not with his current condition.

"...I'm sorry about that I did. I was younger then, naive. I didn't believe in what you said."

"Well, how about now?"

"I have to. My wife...she says she's seeing this as well."

We all sat down, and discussed about the incidents.

"How often are these sightings?"

"They came in about 2 week ago. Things would be quiet for a couple of days, then reports came in again. Now they're coming in almost every day."

As if suddenly realizing something, Stanton stood up when he heard that.

"We're too late. It's starting. We're too late!"

"What's too late?"

He turned and looked at me.

"The sync! It's already broken! As the sightings become more and more often, it meant that the sync is getting weaker and weaker, reducing the delay it took for a sighting. And now that it's happening everyday..."

"It would mean that the delay could be hours or even minutes by now."

"And the barrier is...broken."

We all were silent. The ringing of the chief's mobile phone broke the silence.

"Samantha? What's happening? Did you see it again?"

As he heard his wife's voice from the other side, the chief dropped the phone onto the floor.

"Samantha...she's saying that...that a hand reached out from beyond the mirror."

"The invasion...has started."

The M Wars pt. 1

We are at war. Not with any foreign countries. Not with any alien invaders. But with ourselves. My name is Donald, and this is how it all began...

We were heading over to research lab B, giddy over the results that we had to show. Suddenly, we heard a scream coming from down the hallway. 2 of our security guards were forcefully dragging someone along the hall.

"They're coming! I'm telling you!"

As the guards passed, I caught a glimpse of the man being forcefully showed the exit. It was Professor Stanton. A lanky man, his lab coat always seemed a bt too large for him. Never thought it could be used to drag him around though. With the muscles on those security guards, they had no problem dragging him around.

Stanton saw me, and looked me in the eye.

"Please, you have to believe me! I know they're coming. If we don't stop them now, it'll be too late!"

I didn't respond to him. In fact, I didn't know HOW to respond to him. This was a man who was always known to be always calm, and calculating. He was the pride and joy of our Fringe Science Research Facility. What could have caused him to end up like this?

Anyway, we put it behind us, and mainly forgot about him. Until recently.

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"Aaarrghhh!!!"

A let out a scream unknowingly. Alice rushed towards me from our bedroom. Even though I was having difficulty breathing, and had cold sweat, I assured her that everything was alright. After all, how could I tell her what I saw? She'd just say that I was seeing things.

After a while, I went back to bed. Alice was already sound asleep. I combed away her red hair, planted a kiss on her forehead, and went to sleep.

I didn't experience that...'sighting' again. Until two months later.

This time, it was much more clear. I knew, I had to tell Alice about it this time.

After dinner, I sat her down at the couch in our living room, telling her that 'we need to talk'. She had this look of concern on her face. Too much TV taught her that whenever married couples mention 'we need to talk', it's something really really bad.

I took a deep breath.

"Honey, recently I've been seeing..."

Before I could finish, Alice stood up and blurted,

"Please please please don't tell me you're seeing someone else."

I placed my hands on her shoulders, and looked her right in the eye.

"Honey, I love you, and I married you. Trust me, I'm not having an affair. Now, please take a seat."

Alice breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back down. Her face, which previously was so full of frowns that her freckles seemed almost invisible now seems as if a huge burden were lifted off her chest. I started again.

"As I was saying...recently I've been seeing...things."

"Things?"

"Yes, things. I can't quite describe it. You remember that night two months ago when I screamed in the bathroom?"

"Yeah? Was it because of this 'thing' that you saw?"

"It was. And what I'm about to tell you now might sound ridiculous, but I want you to hear me out."

She leaned forward, and held my hand.

"Baby, we're scientists. Fringe scientists, to be exact. What is there that I won't believe?"

"Alright...here goes. In the bathroom, I saw that my reflection...it wasn't doing what I was doing."

The moment she heard that, she couldn't help but let out a snicker.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I fumbled my way into the bathroom. As a result of that conversion with Alice a month ago, I now have to wear those portable mini-cameras on my forehead wherever I go to the toilet.

"This is to prove what you said", she says.

She seems to be having more fun seeing me trying to put that damn thing on than in proving anything.

"But, if this is the only way to prove what I said to her, then so be it." I gave myself a pep-talk, and went to brush my teeth.

As I was finishing, I placed my toothbrush at the side of the sink, as I normally do. But before I proceeded to wash my face (those cameras are water-proof, apparently), I took a peek at the mirror. The camera recorded undeniable proof that what I said was true, that it wasn't just my imagination.

In the reflection, I saw myself, wearing the exact same camera on the forehead. However, he still had the toothbrush in his mouth.

I ran out of the bathroom, yelling for Alice.

"I got it! I got the proof that you wanted!"

Whatever funny comeback that she had disappeared from her mind when she viewed the footage. She could clearly see me putting down the toothbrush, only to see the other 'me' with the toothbrush still in his mouth.

She looked at me with the most serious expression I've ever seen in years.

"Baby, we have to investigate this."

"Investigate?"

"I think that based on the work that we do, there's gotta be SOMETHING that talks about this."

And so, the next day, we went to work as usual. However, during our break hour, we went into the data archives instead, looking for whatever could point us towards the cause of this phenomenon. The archives were vast. Sure, everything was stored within computers and databases, but it was hard to even begin our search.

We searched for whatever was related to 'mirrors'. The results came to anything from spirits haunting the mirror, to our future reflected in the mirror, but none of them matched what I saw. Finally, I found something that could be related.

"Honey, over here! Come look at this!"

She rushed over to my computer as fast as possible.

"Parallel dimensions?"

"Yes, look at what it says here. 'People from parallel dimensions can live exact same lives, but with very minute differences'."

"But it never says anything about actually seeing those people in the mirror, now did it?"

"I think it's as good a place to start as any."

As I read further into the document with Alice, I came upon a link.

"Huh, what's this? 'The Mirror Men'?"

I tried clicking on it. It returned with a glaring red error stating that the record is no longer available.

"Deleted? But we never delete anything, not even junk about spider-ducks!"

"Hey! Spider-ducks might be real!"

I gave Alice a quick hard stare. She gave an awkward smile, and focused back on the screen.

"Wait...here, under the link. Chief researcher...Professor Stanton?"

We looked at each other, both of us puzzled. Of course we remembered him. He was our lecturer. We also remembered him being dragged out of the lab, kicking and screaming. I sighed. With a few clicks on the computer, I managed to find out where the professor stays. Guess it's time we the good professor a visit.

The Office

The man stood proudly in front of two automatic glass doors.

"My friends! Welcome! I'm sure that you are all very, very excited to check this place out, but before we do so, let me just talk a bit about this company here."

As he spoke, he paced about, and made a lot of animated hand gestures. For a man in his 30s who was dressed sharply in a business suit, it's as if he was a kid explaining how his new toy is the best one around.

"That's enough about me. Now, shall we proceed?"

As he ushered them into the building, the crowd slowly entered. One of the guests took notice of his nametag, which wrote 'Stan'.

"This here, ladies and gentlemen, is our beautiful receptionist Lily!"

He waved towards a blond woman in her early 20s, talking to someone on the phone. Hearing Stan mentioning her, she looked up and waved towards us and flashed a sweet smile.

"Sorry, we're always getting calls, so she's a bit tied up. She's really sweet though. Now, as you probably know, this is where most of our guests wait, while the proper representative comes and meets up with them. However, seeing as you are all my very own special guests, we shall proceed immediately."

Stan then led the group of people past the receptionist's area, and into what appears to be an office. The area was packed with desks, each with their own computers and stacks of papers. The faces of the employees could barely be seen, what with all of the stuff on their desks. Their voices, though, were a whole different matter.

"Hey! Where's the form I gave you just now? Is it processed yet?!"

"Quit shouting at me about that! I'm working on it!"

"Would you two ladies please shut the hell up?! I'm trying to work here!"

Men were shouting at each other across the entire floor. However, the moment one of them saw Stan approach, he shouted,

"The Boss is here!"

Instantly, there was silence across the floor. Stan turned around to face his guests, and explained,

"Do excuse the noise. Things can get very chaotic, with the amount of work that we have to do day in an out."

He then turned towards his employees.

"Keep up the good work, guys! You guys are my soldiers out in the field. You are my eyes,  my ears, my arms."

The instant he said that, everyone could see a look of pride swelling up within each and every one of the employees. Suddenly, another employee approached from a small room at the side, holding a stack of papers.

"Hey! Which asshole asked for this stack of forms? Wait a minute, why all the silence?"

As he realized that Stan was in the office, there was a look of fear in his face. Stan pointed at him,

"You! What's your name?"

"I-I-It's Lee, sir."

"Lee!"

His voice echoed throughout the silent office.

"You're doing a great job! Keep it up! Folks, you better keep up, otherwise Lee here will be grabbing Employee of the Month! Now, back to work, people!"

The employees sat back down almost immediately, and the next second, the shouting started again. Stan looks at his group of guests, smiles, and shrugs his shoulders.

He then proceeded to an elevator, and the group followed suit.

"This here, ladies and gentleman, is the express elevator. Goes straight to my office! You need a keycard for this, of course. This little guy here."

He fished out a black card from his pocket, and pressed it against a device attached to the wall next to the elevator.

DING! That familiar sound signalled the arrival of the elevator. Before he got in, Stan checked his wristwatch.

"Oh my! Is it that late already? We better hurry then! Please, ladies and gentleman, this way! This elevator can hold all of us!"

He pressed the highest floor available, the 7th floor. However, instead of going up, the elevator started moving in the opposite direction.

Sensing the confusion among his guests, Stan started to explain.

"As probably heard during my introduction, this company is very unique. Instead of expanding upwards, it goes downwards. The good thing is, we can all avoid the glare of that dang sun. The bad thing is, less ventilation."

The elevator descended slowly. The glaring lack of the standard elevator tunes made the silence all the more obvious. Then, a sudden sound within the elevator breaks the silence.

"Boss! Boss, you there?"

The PA system within the elevator boomed with the sound of a man, who sounded like he was trying to contact Stan. Acknowledging this, Stan headed to the panel of the elevator, held the comm button, and responded.

"Lucas! Where are you? I wanted to introduce you to these fine folks I'm guiding here!"

"Sorry boss! I had some things to do outside, and just came back! Good news though, we might have new people coming in soon!"

"Alright, great to hear that! I'll be seeing you in the 6.30 meeting later then."

As communication with Lucas ended, Stan once again broke the silence.

"Lucas is kind of like my right-hand man. He's our lead headhunter, and also does a lot of other stuff on the side," Stan said with a proud smile on his face.

DING DONG!

The elevator has reached its destination, the 7th floor. Without wasting a moment, Stan brought them over to his office.

"And here, my friends, is my private office. Let's talk business, shall we?"

He pointed at a middle-aged lady within the group.

"Shall we start with you?"

Nervously, she approached his desk, and took a seat.

"Hi...I'm Lucille. R-Recently, I realized that my husband is having an affair. I-I want to get back at that fox!"

She broke into tears. Comforting her, Stan provided her with a handkerchief, and spoke softly to her to take her time, and explain further.

"You have to understand that this is a one-time transaction. It's not something that we can do multiple times, you see? The payment can only be done once. So, I need you to calm down, and tell me slowly what exactly is it that you ask for."

On his desk, there was a nameplate, bearing his official position :

'Stan, CEO of Hell".

Villain Analysis : Electro - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

For my first post villain analysis, I'm going to talk about the villain Electro, from the movie "The Amazing Spider-Man 2".


SPOILERS AHEAD!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The man is not amused

Origins (and Transformation)

In the movie, Electro, just like his comic-book counterpart, was originally called Max Dillon. But the similarities more or less end at the name. Okay, maybe their job is similar as well. In the movie, Max is an electrical engineer working for Oscorp And life isn't great for him. He is ignored by the entire company (he regards himself as a 'nobody'). He designs a power grid that would enable Oscorp to provide clean power to the entire city, but no credit was given to him.

And then he gets saved by Spider-Man, who tells him that he is the eyes and ears for the superhero. This starts a sort of obsession towards the arachnid, as one of the few people (or maybe even the first) person to need him. As a result, he collects all news regarding Spider-Man and clips them to the wall at his home. He even talks to himself, imitating Spidey talking to him, celebrating his birthday with him.

His career as a super-villain starts when he gets sent to fix a power fault in a bioengineering lab. Due to the fact that it was already after office hours, no one was available to shut off the power, making it a very risky procedure. Predictably, he gets electrocuted, and is sent tumbling down into a pool full of modified electric eels.

The result? An electric man.

Powers and abilities

Electro starts out being unable to control his powers properly. His whole body is constantly sending out a stream of electricity, electrocuting anything near him. He also requires electricity to fuel his abilities. But as he becomes more experienced, his powers become more deadly

Electric bolt

The standard attack, Electro is able to send out a stream of focused electricity onto his target. Although at first he is unable to control it, he eventually becomes able to choose between outright frying a person, or sending just enough electricity to stop his heart.

Defibrillator

With the ability to stop a man's heart comes the ability to, well, revive him. Considering that standard defibrillator devices uses a jolt of electricity to jump-start the heart, Electro shows that he is able to do so as well in one scene.

Electric Armor

With his body constantly sending out a stream of electricity, anyone or anything coming into contact with Electro would receive an electric shock. This made the job of fighting him tough on Spider-Man, as the shocks ruined his web shooters.

Pure Electricity/Power

Now, this is what makes Electro truly deadly. As Electro became more desperate, he discovered the ability to transform his body into pure electricity. This means that he is able to disappear and reappear at will, as well as travel along power lines. He can also attack while re-appearing as well, making him a deadly foe

Possible Immortality

Although he is bested in the film, I personally feel that since he has now become pure electricity (or energy), he can never be killed. He might have been dispersed, but as science dictates, energy can never be destroyed. So don't count him out yet.

Motivations

As I mentioned above, Max is an incredibly lonely man, up to the point that anyone paying attention to him is regarded immediately as a friend (or in the case of Spider-Man, an object of obsession). When he first transformed, he wandered into the middle of Times Square, and after causing a disturbance, all of the gigantic electronic screens on the side of buildings were focused on him. For the first time in his life, he was being noticed.

However, due to him being a possible danger to the people, he was attacked by both Spider-Man and the police (although the police started it first). This made the people cheer for Spider-Man instead, and Electro lost the attention he so craved. As a result, a grudge on Spider-Man was born.

Later in the film, Harry Osborn, in a desperate attempt, frees Electro while stating that he needed him. This statement of being needed made Electro spring into action, and help Harry. By the end of the film, he took over the power grid of the city, with the intention of being the subject of the people's attention, and worship, since everyone needs electricity.

Appearance

Fortunately, for this movie, they decided to proceed along with the version from the Ultimate universe Spider-Man. (Actually, the entire Amazing Spider-Man franchise is based on the Ultimate universe of Marvel Comics). As a result, he is a being of pure energy, much like his Ultimate Universe counterpart :

This makes him much easier to take seriously than the Electro from the original Spider-Man comics :

Lord of the Dance!

Overall

All in all, I rather like this villain. His origin and backstory is relatable (no power crazy world rulers here). His powers are also rather intriguing, and leaves space for him to be possibly expanded upon.

Villain rating : 8/10

New Section! Villain Analysis!

Today, I'm starting up a new section in this blog, called 'Villain Analysis'. Now, when watching movies, I've always been more fascinated by the villains than the heroes. Something about them just...attracts me more than most heroes.

Throughout my analysis, I will be touching on their :

* Origins (and transformation if any)
* Powers and abilities
* Motivations
* Appearance

and it would end with a 'Villain Rating'. Hope you guys enjoy :D

What lies within the monster?

The team of heroes panted. The fatigue was getting to them. The trek to the lair entrance wasn't easy. And the master of the lair is no pushover either.

A hulking beast, it had the horns of a rhino, but the strength of a gorilla. Claws as sharp as a lion's, fangs as sharp as a shark's. Skin as tough as stone, unbreakable through normal attacks.

The Lancer was getting tired. His ragtag team of heroes, including the Archer, Magician, Priest and Warrior were being pushed back. The battle was tough, and it didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon.

The Warrior jumped high into the air, and striked at the Beast from above. Unfortunately, the Beast shrugged off the attack, and instead focused its attention to the Archer, who was pelting it with various enchanted arrows.

It slammed its gigantic fist against the ledge where the Archer stood, and obliterated that part of the ledge. Other parts of the ledge slowly crumbled as well, due to the instability of the land after the strike. The Beast seemingly smirked, as it thought of how the Archer must have been crushed.

However, it soon saw that the Archer was hiding behind the Warrior's greatshield, with a spell circle underneath his feet. The Magician had used a teleportation spell just in time to transport him there. Angry that it had been fooled, the beast let out a thunderous roar.

Right when things were looking bleak, Lancer saw a shadow appearing from the dust cloud that was once the ledge. Moving with agility and grace, the shadow moved across the battlefield, heading towards where his team were. He frowned, as he now had to be cautious of both this shadow and the Beast.

Before he knew it, however, the shadow changed directions, and dashed towards the Beast instead. Startled, the Beast who had been focusing its attention on Lancer's team tried to trample on the shadow. Suddenly, a figure jumped up towards it, skillfully avoiding the Beast's leg.

The moment the Lancer saw the figure, a huge smile appeared on his face. The figure was actually the Hunter! His most trusted member of the team, as well as his life partner, no one could ask for a better backup than her.

Avoiding the leg, she threw something at the Beast. It coiled around its body, attempting to restrict the movement of the Beast. The Hunter jumped up, and threw a few more in different angles, heavily restricting the movement of the Beast. These were the metal chains that she had inherited from her chieftain, the chains that never broke no matter how strong its target.

She signalled towards her husband, Lancer. Understanding that now was the best moment to strike, he glanced towards the Priest, who had been chanting a spell. Seeing that it was ready, Lancer raised his spear up into the sky. With a blinding flash of light, a bolt of lightning struck down onto the Lancer. But instead of striking him, it cackled and reverberated within the spear.

Now that his spear has been enchanted with the power of the Gods themselves, the Lancer rushed forward to strike. He jumped, and landed right on the Warrior's greatshield. With a push using all his might, the Warrior launched the Lancer up into the sky, using his greatshield as a platform.

The lancer, now high up in the sky, was at a prime position to strike. Utilizing all the strength he had left in his body, he struck at the Beast. With his spear, he slashed the beast, from its shoulder all the way down its body. The moment the attack was done, his hand let go of the spear, and he fainted while still in the air. Swiftly, the Hunter caught him and brought him to land.

The Beast moaned loudly, its body in pain. The lightning that was contained within the spear pierced its stone skin, and it suffered a heavy wound. It was about to fall onto the ground.

BUT!

With a loud THUMP, it solidified its footing with its right foot. It stood up straight, broke the chains, and gave out a loud and powerful roar. The ground shook, and the trees waved. The band of heroes were at their wits' end. Fearing the worst, they braced themselves for the imminent attack.

Right when everything looked bleak, a cry to stop could be heard from behind them. Curious, they all turned around, and saw a frail woman running in their direction. However, she became slower and slower, and almost fell. The Magician rushed over to assist her. She knew this woman well. It was her sister-in-law, a songstress.

The Songstress stood back up, and walked towards the Beast. Sensing no threat, the Beast stood there and stared intently at this woman. The Lancer and Hunter tried to stop the Songstress, but was warned not to do so by the Magician.

At that moment, the Songstress began singing. Her voice was gentle and soft, almost like a summer breeze. It gave them all a sense of calm, even the Beast. Slowly but surely, she approached the Beast. As if acknowledging her, it lowered its head towards her. She then hugged its face, and assured it that everything was alright.

"It's not your fault, dear brother."

Hearing this, it jerked back its head, causing the Songstress to lose her footing. The Lancer quickly ran in front and grabbed her back to safety. The Beast roared once again, but this time it was different. It was not a simple roar of beasts. This time, it was full of pain and anguish. The heroes almost could not believe their eyes : tears were flowing down the eyes of the Beast. It then covered its face with its massive hands, almost as if in shame.

The Beast roared a few more times. As it roared, the sound gradually changed into that of a sobbing sound. Its size started to shrink. Its skin started to change from stone-like to something more human. Slowly, gradually, it started to change into another form. The Songstress and the Magician approached the Beast.

Finally, its true form was revealed : a man, nothing more than a man. The Songstress hugged him, and the Magician went in for a kiss. Finally, finally after all this fighting and travelling, she had found her husband who went missing. The man hugged both of them tightly, apologizing repeatedly for everything that has happened.

The man had been possessed, by the demons within him. Gradually, they turned him into something that was less and less human. A month ago, he started verbally abusing his sister and wife. He lost his job, and turned to alcohol. Finally, the last straw came when he hit his sister for nagging at him too much. His sister, being a frail woman from birth, was heavily injured.

Finally coming to his senses, the man realized what he had done. He knew what he had become : a monster. He ran out of the house, and wandered off into a far off land, where the demons eventually took advantage of his guilt and anger, and turned him into the Beast. However, the forgiveness of his sister had broke him free from his curse, and allowed him to walk the earth as a man once more.

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So, my dear readers. The story has come to an end. Now, it is my firm belief that we all have some form of evil, some demons within us. However, we must always find ways to fight it, to resist its influence, lest we end up like that poor man. Lest we turn into a monster. I myself am still struggling with them, but its a fight that I have no intention of losing. I hope you will join this fight with me, and perhaps, just perhaps, we could make this world a slightly better place.

The Evil Within

BZZZZT!!!

The electric buzzer rang as the heavy metal door was opened for me. I took a deep breath. In front of me, was a corridor, surrounded by the cells of hundreds, if not thousands of the worst criminals in the country. Slowly, I walked into the corridor. Although there were two guards escorting me, I still felt cautious. After all, you never know what could happen in this kind of place.

"So Doc, what brings you to this kind of place? Doesn't exactly look like you're here to visit one of these scumbags."

One of the guards that was escorting me suddenly spoke to me. I turned to look at him. A man whose age have probably surpassed 40, he seems like he's actually excited to be escorting me. I guess that there isn't much going on around this place.

"I'm just here to have some interviews. Our Centre of Psychoanalysis feels that if we can get a grasp of how criminals think, we might be able to help the police in their investigations."

"Wow, that sounds like some incredible stuff, doc! So in the future, we might be able to reduce the amount of crimes?"

"I can't say for sure, but we sure hope to do so. Anyway, where are we heading?"

"Oh, just the Warden's office. You gotta meet up with him first before you can do anything here, y'know".

------------------------------------------------15 minutes later ------------------------------------------

Well, the meeting with the Warden went about as well as water mixes with oil. I guess I can't blame him. He's had to deal with these prisoners his whole life, and it doesn't help that he thinks that their scum that cannot be saved. To him, my visit here is a waste of time and money. No matter, he's not the one that is funding it anyway.

As I sat on the bench outside of the Warden's office, George walked up to me from the corridor. Turns out he volunteered to be my guide throughout the visit. Guess he needs the excitement.

"So, who are you gonna be interviewing?"

I shuffle through my files, and looked at the profile I was given.

"Hmm...one Mr Max Campbell."

"Aaaah good ol' Max. He's over at B-wing. Come on, we have quite some ground to cover."

As we walked, I overheard some of the prisoners talking amongst themselves.

"Hey, have you heard? There's a new guy in town. Real piece of work, that one."

"No, not really. Why? What'd he do?"

I couldn't hear the rest of it, so I asked George about it. He shook his head as he told me,

"They're talking about Mitch Stanson. That man is a monster. Killed 10 innocent people, possibly more. About a quarter of the missing people in the state has his signature written all over it, but we don't have anything on him."

George sighed.

"And they're moving him here now. I guess the other prisons didn't want to take such a dangerous man in. He looks more like a lion than a man."

Right as we were talking, I overheard a commotion coming in from the front. A huge man was being escorted by 5 or 6 guards. They were walking very cautiously, shouting at whoever was in front of them to make way. As our paths was about to cross, I felt a shiver down my spine, and I couldn't move. George tapped me on the shoulder.

"Yeah, he does that to people. Pure intimidation. But you'll get used to it soon enough."

I slowly regained my composure, and continued walking with George. While walking, again I heard people talking about Mitch Stanson. I guess when a guy with that high of a profile comes, tongues start to wag.

"You know which cell he's gonna be in?"

"Surprisingly, not solitary. I heard from one of the guards that he's gonna be in D-4."

"Shit, Max's cell?"

"Yeah...poor guy."

I was intrigued. So the guy I was supposed to be interviewing is gonna be the cellmate of this notorious killer? Things might get rough.

----------------------------------------------------20 minutes later------------------------------------------

I stepped into the room prepared for my interviews. 2 armed guards, closed-circuit cameras, and to top it all off, I'm separated from the prisoner via  a 2-inch reinforced glass. We just have phones and a desk on each side to let us talk.

The man on the other side of the glass seems oddly calm. He greeted me with a smile, and eagerly picked up his phone. I then picked up mine.

"Good morning, doctor."

"Good morning, Mr. Max. I trust you know why I'm here?"

"Yeah, to talk about why I did it, right? I'm afraid it's going to be a rather long story, though. You up for it?"

"At this point, I'm up for anything."

He chuckled, and started telling his story. He told me about how he was always ignored by his peers, even family. No matter what he did, no one paid any attention to him, it was like he was invisible. 

"So, when my supervisor at office just asked me to stay back while he treated the rest of our team to lunch, I couldn't take it anymore. I took the nearest letter opener, and stabbed him with all my strength. It wasn't until moments later that I realized what I had done.

Thinking back, I guess you could say that I was lashing out at the world for ignoring me. Well, they saw me for a while when I was in the news. But now, they've forgotten me again. The only attention I'm getting now is that I'm the cellmate of 'Lion King' Mitch.

I guess things don't change that easily."

Max stared down at the desk with a remorseful look at his face. I felt sorry for the guy. I wanted to say something to make him feel better. But before I could say anything, I remembered what my senior told me before,

"Never get personally involved in any of the cases. That would come back to bite your ass."

I ended our call, and went back to my place. I wanted to avoid thinking about the interview. I went straight to bed.

-----------------------------------------------------1 week later------------------------------------------

It's now been a week since I started on my assignment in Raven Penitentiary. Max has been a...rather unexpected subject. The people at the Centre wanted to start at someone mild, someone who isn't as hardened as the others. Well, Max fits the bill just fine. 

Over the course of our interviews, I found out that he's really quite a nice guy. We even joked and talked about sports, and especially about food. Max said that if he ever got into the kitchen section, he could make food 10 times better than the current ones. I jokingly said that if he ever got into the kitchen, prepare my favorites, bacon and sausages.

He even got along with George. The three of us would sit down and have a nice chat together at the cafeteria from time to time. Max once asked George if it was possible for him to move cells. Apparently Mitch was a bit too much to bear. He would regularly threaten Max, and tell him horror stories of his crimes. George wanted to help, but it just wasn't up to him to decide that.




I continued with the interviews with Max. Eventually, it kind of blurred into informal conversation, and even just chatting between the two of us. He might have commited a murder, but he's someone that I would consider as a friend.

--------------------------------------------------1 week later------------------------------------------

It's finally the end of my term here. George was kinda sad that I had to leave. He's lonely here, he says. No real friends around. All the guards just minds their own business. As a kind of farewell gift, he somehow managed to convince the Warden to have a special meal thrown for the entire prison.

All of the prisoners were to eat ham and eggs for that lunch. It was a real treat for the prisoners, who survived on some rather meager meals during their stay. It was also great publicity for the Warden, whose reputation was starting to take a fall due to reports about poor living conditions for the prisoners.

I saw Max helping out in the kitchen, with a smile on his face. I guess he just wanted a place to belong.All of us lined up to get our food. Mitch half-threatened Max to give him double the portion. Terrified, Max just went along.

When it was my turn, Max surprised me by giving me bacon and sausage instead.

"I snuck these in with the help of some of the kitchen guys," he said with a grin.

I ate with George and the Warden as we talked about my interviews. Strangely, the Warden was eating ham and eggs as well. Guess he wanted to show that he's equal with the prisoners to the reporters. Bunch of bullshit.

"So I was turning back on the driveway right-"

George stopped talking halfway. He clenched his stomach. His face turned pale.

"George! What's going on?!"

He collapsed onto the floor, along with the Warden. I rushed over to his side. He was foaming from the mouth. He convulsed and shook violently. Terrified, I rushed out of the office to look for help. Cold sweat was rushing from my brows.

When I reached the prison cafeteria, what I saw shocked me. The entire cafeteria was filled with prisoners who were convulsing on the floor. I went as quick as I could down the stairs towards them. Never have I cursed my lack of speed when going down stairs before.

All of them had the same symptoms as George and the Warden. I saw Mitch trying to get up, but was having difficulties. I ran over to his side, and tried to help him up, but he knocked my hand away.

"T...he...twerp..."

He pointed towards the main cafeteria doors. Of course! I could get help outside! There has to be SOMEONE that can help. And maybe I can get some reception too. I ignored his warning of a 'twerp', and dashed towards the main door. I flungh them open with all my strength.

Outside, as if waiting for me, stood...Max. He flashed a grin, and spoke calmly.

"Good day, doctor! How was your lunch?"

I went towards him, and grabbed hold of him.

"Max! Max! Things are going crazy in there! People are dying, Max! We have to get help!"

"Help? You want to ask for help?!"

He slapped my hand away.

"Go ahead! Go ask for help! But know this! By the time they arrive, the people in this entire complex will be dead!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was this the same man? The remorseful man who secretly gave me bacon and sausages?

Max grinned. His eyes were full of malice. He raised his hands up in the air, and stared into the sky.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? My plan, after all this time of waiting, finally came to fruition! You have no idea how hard I had to beg the guards to bring in some rat poison. It was even harder to convince the kitchen guys to let me in. But when I managed to get in, the rest was easy...so easy."

"But...why am I alive?"

Max shook his head slowly.

"You don't get it, do you? I SPARED you! I purposely gave you different food, so that you wouldn't eat the poison. It was in the ham, if you want to know. Kinda easy to disguise it was some sort of spice."

"But why? Why me?!"

"So that you can spread the word!"

I was taken aback by what he said.

"Yes, spread this across the world! I want the world to know about me. Me! Max Campbell! Me! Mr Nobody! I, not 'Lion King', not anybody else, managed to kill everyone in the prison! Me! Little old me!"

At that point, I finally understood. This was his way of getting what he wanted the most : attention. The world would go crazy over this piece of news. They might even give him some book or movie deals. He would get all the publicity he could ever get in his entire life.

-----------------------------------------------1 month later------------------------------------------

It's been a month since the incident at Raven Penitentiary. I took a long leave after I came back. The police got hold of Max. Well, he wanted them to. As he predicted, by the time help arrived, it was too late for everyone in the prison. Mitch died especially painfully, due to the double dosage of poison. In my report to the Centre, I told them that all the interviews in the world would not help us understand them better.

They asked me why. This is what I said to them :

"No matter how well you think you know someone. No matter how good they appear on the outside. There is no one out there on Earth, nor are there any methods available, that can accurately measure the evil within a person."

Hi

So...hi. I must admit, it's been quite a while since I blogged. I used to have one, but it got lost in the passage of time. So, I'm gonna start a new one here, mostly for ramblings (which might be marginally better than talking to myself), and stories. Yes, stories.

Enjoy your visit :)