It's all because of Daisie's father, he's the cause this, and he's the cause of her death.

"Daddy no!"

Out of nowhere a small child, the age of a kindergarten come out from the closet and run to Boris. The innocent little girl stands in front of my handgun and tries to protect the man behind her with her tiny body. A daughter? This degenerate has a daughter.

"Sasha! I say no matter what happens, don't come out."

"He's hurting you, Daddy! I can't watch anymore, and I don't want to hide while you are getting hurt."

I push the muzzle of the silent pistol against her tiny forehead while my face is devoid of any emotions. She closes her eyes, tears dripping down from her closed eyelids, and her legs shaking in fear while her short arms stretch out beside her. Boris grabs his daughter, pulling her into a hug, and tries to shield her from me.

"Please, let my daughter go. She just a kid." He begs at me.

"Daisie was just a kid. I was just a kid..."

"I know what I did—and I know what I say won't make any difference, but please, don't be like me! Let her go."

Two versions of Daisie appear behind the man, one is the disfigured version of her that promote fear and terror, and another is the innocent, and beautiful version of her.

The pure Daisie say in sadden voice. "You left a trail of bodies behind you in seek of revenge."

The fear-inducing Daisie say in a growly animal-like voice. "You kill and kill and didn't stop killing! No matter how many choices you have!"

"You were doing this for me, but I don't want any of this." The pure Daisie say.

"This was not about us! This was about you, satisfying your own rage!" The terrifying version of Daisie accuses me.

"The choice you make!"                                                              "The choice you have chosen."

"Was made by your own free will."

They both say the same thing, the choices... I pick them all. I walk down this path out of rage that my mind can't identify and out of my free will. I know the consequences of my action, I fully realize what I did by taking all of their life and yet... I didn't stop.

Anger.

Hatred.

Betrayal.

Grief.

Sympathy.

Fear.

Am I sane? Because if I recognize... feel those feelings, will I choose a different path?

I look at both of them. The Horrifying Daisie let out an evil smile while the pure Daisie looks at me with sadden and disappoint smile.

"Kill both of them!"                                                                                                             "Let them go."

 

"In the end, it's my choices," I mumble to myself.

 

"Please... let her go." The man begs me.

"Don't hurt my daddy. Please!" The girl whimpers.

I didn't realize it before, but I can see the droplets of water pattering the glass window and the sound of thunder echo from far away.

POP!

A single bullet casing bounce on the wooden floor then it stops and rolls to until it meets with a puddle of red liquid. Flash of lighting from the thundercloud reflects itself on the body of thick liquid that spread oo the floor and into the tiny crevice.

Everything is my choice.

*

Far away from the city, in a quiet neighborhood.

The rain is pattering on the tile roof as the strong wind sways the trees, and the thunder shakes the glass pane of every window in the area. Two bright headlights appear in the distance and make its way to a familiar house. The old cab park in front of the house then a drunken man come out from the cab and make his way to the house.

The cab drives away as he body sways from left to right while holding a glass bottle. He manages to walk toward his door and open it. When he opens the door, he surprises to find a single table lamp is on and a young man sitting in his recliner looking at the picture of his family.

"Hello, Mr. Pierre."

"Andre, what are you doing here... so late?"

"Daisie... would pick you."

"What do you mean?"

"If Daisie is given a choice between me and you. She would pick you, that shows how much she loves you. I love your daughter... I was in love with her after she confesses to me or perhaps, I'm already in love with her even before she admits it. She has strong feelings for me, for a long time, and I didn't realize it until that prom night."

"We were going to become more than friends."

"I even see us getting married in the future and having kids."

"A beautiful future indeed." I gaze at the dirty carpet and imagine in my mind what I said.

"I still don't understand what you mean."

"I know the truth, Mr. Pierre." I place back the picture on the end table and face it down.

"When you said that it was your fault, you really meant it. It wasn't just self-blaming for drinking or gambling. It was you admitting to selling Daisie to the Russian mob to pay for your debt."

His shocking face tells it all, it is the truth, he did do it.

"Andre... I-I sorr—"

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

I empty out all of the twelve rounds from my handgun into his body, Mr. Pierre falls to the floor and start bleeding out all over the floor. It was a quick death, I want to make him feel the pain, but I couldn't do it because of Daisie. I stand up from the recliner and walk to the backdoor. When I enter the backyard, someone stops me, I turn my head to the side and see a man aiming a gun at me with a cop badge on his belt.

"Stop! In the name of the law."

"Raise both of your hands in the air!"

I raise both hands in the air, following his order. A flash of lightning reveals a bit of his face, a man with an Asian feature, and looks somehow familiar as if I have met him before.

"It was you that leave a trail of dead bodies in the city."

"Am I getting arrest by you?"

He didn't answer but asks a question toward me. "Why did you do it?"

"Revenge, I guess."

"No, I know why you did it, my partner was the head detective on your case. The kidnapping girl case, it a mess, the corruption in police force, and the politics involved. The case cost my partner life. The Russian mob boss kills him when my partner found out who did it."

"However that is not the point, what I'm asking you is why did you save her? You could leave her in the burning warehouse?"

"Jin Ae..."

"My name is Detective Son Ho Ae. Nice to meet you... Mr. Nobody or should I call you, Andre Adams."

"You're her dad..."

"I am... Now answer my question, why did you do it?"

"The Ran Mitake keychain, she had the same one like her."

"You save her because of a keychain?"

"Yeah, one thing that I did right is saving her. Daisie would be proud of me if she can find in herself to forgive for what I did."

"She was a victim of my action, I try to reveal the truth of your case, but when they find out, they took my kid, and force me into silence. I couldn't tell anyone or save her myself because of the risk of her getting hurt." The detective's eyes show his frustration, his regret, and his failure as a father.

"I couldn't save her, and I was on the verge of losing her, but you save her when I can't, all because of a keychain."

"How is she?"

"Getting better."

"So are you going to arrest me?"

He stares at me for a quite amount of time. "I'm a firm believer of an eye for an eye." He holsters his gun with a smile on his face.

My gaze set on him as my shoulders relax. "Can I ask you something, how did you find me?"

"I follow your trail, the mountain bike you left behind."

"Mountain bike? That couldn't be it."

"So the mountain bike is yours, I didn't know that actually because I was guessing. It's my daughter descriptions of you, the one who helps me identify you. You also left a lot of physical evidence behind, but don't worry I will take care of it."

"You are letting me go after what I did? I kill those people."

"You save my daughter. I'm willing to turn a blind eye for that."

"Besides, the easy part is letting you go, but the hard part is us trying to live our life after what we did."

My sight downcast to the ground. "A prison of guilt..."

"The father I know what he did, his debt to Russian mob is enormous, they were going to kill him if he doesn't pay. Still, is it necessary to kill the girl father?"

"I don't know, and I don't care." I start walking into the dark forest while rain soaks my clothing as I leave the detective behind to deal with my mess. I can feel the detective eyes on me as I walk away.

*

A week has gone.

The blazing hot sun rest upon the top of my head as I remove the roof covering and try to fix the leak in the structure. I haven't been able to sleep peacefully after what I did, my brain still having trouble recognizing any emotion, but I try to live.

To move on.

The News cover non-stop about the accident or the killing that happens in the city, but after a week it has begun to simmer down, people move on, and life continues like normal. I still keep my job at the gas station, and my mom didn't know a single thing about what I did. An anticlimactic ending to what has happened so far, I guess real life doesn't have an absolute ending, and time keeps moving no matter what happens.

I pull out the nail one by one using the back side of the hammer and wipe away the sweat on my forehead.

"Be careful, my little Bumbee!" My mom shouts from below.

"I am careful, mom. You didn't need to remind me every single second!" I peek down to where she is.

"How could I not?! You are on the roof, and you might fall. Why can't we call the roof guy again?!"

"Because it costs money to pay the guy to fix our roof beside we need the money." I can hear my mom groaning of worry from below while I pull out another nail.

"Don't worry, it an easy quick job! I'll be done in a matter of second."

I look below and didn't believe what I see.

"Dad?!"

My mom turns around and covers her mouth with her hands in disbelief when she sees her husband on the lawn. A man with a kind face, look familiar to me but has quite a good-looking beard on his face. His eyes stare into my mom trying to find forgiveness.

He takes a couple of steps closer to my mom. Out of nowhere, she slaps him on the cheek and quickly hugs him. She cries out her pain and sadness of missing him dearly. After she gathers herself, my mom let go of him and take a step back with a happy smile and teary eyes.

"Hey, son! It has been a long time."

"It is." I let out a smile on my face without me noticing it.

"Mom, take dad inside. I will come down in a second!" My mom did what I ask, and I watch both of them enters the house.

I stand up on the roof after I find my footing and walk toward the edge of the roof where the ladder is leaning. Out of nowhere, I feel a hand push me from behind, and I lose my footing. I slip and fall then feel my whole body roll down the roof and out of the edge.

I'm falling.

Then.

Everything went to black as I feel a sharp rock break into the back of my skull.

I feel cold as the warmth begins to leave my body while my sight blur.

I remember this feeling before.

The feeling of death.

'They say you shouldn't fear death, but how could I not? When death is pain. When death is the unknown.'

 

-END OF ARC 1-

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