Dr. Eric Vanes woke up in the middle of the night from a dead sleep to a strange sound in his home.
Music.
One of his jazz albums was playing from downstairs.
Groggily - his mind tried to make sense of it.
!!!
Suddenly his eyes shot open & he jerked out of bed with a shock.
'INTRUDER. There's someone in my house!'
Heart pounding in his chest, he fumbles at his nightstand for his 45. Caliber Revolver.
It was an antique pearl handled revolver from the 1920's, with masterful engravings done on it.
But Dr. Vanes was in no right mind to contemplate the beautiful craftsmanship of his gun. With shaky fingers, he loaded the revolver with the hollow point rounds he kept next to it.
With slow steps, he tiptoes around his bed to his door.
Trying to open the old oak door as quietly as possible, he fails - as it still makes a soft creak. To the doctors ears, it sounded like a marching band announcing his presence to the intruders.
Wearing only his white briefs and knee-socks, the old doctor of sixty-four years of age snuck down his hallway.
Looking down his hall, he could see that there was a light on downstairs. He had definitely shut off all the lights before he went to bed for the night.
Trying to calm his breathing, the doctor slowly crept down to his stairs.
Hiding behind the railing, the old man peered down the stairs.
Nothing.
No movement. No noise, besides the smooth Jazz meandering out of his record player.
Putting a hand on the guard rail, the old doctor descended each stair, trying desperately to avoid any creaky step.
Finally he arrived at the bottom - without making any noise.
Straining his eyes in the darkness of his foyer, the old man looks all around the room. Nothing. It was empty.
But there was a light coming from his living room, where he kept his record player...
The old doctor tried to rationalize it. 'Maybe I had turned my record player on and just forgot about it... Or - or maybe I was sleepwalking and turned it on. Weirder things have happened right?'
But the old man knew he was lying to himself.
The old man knew deep in his soul that there was someone in his house. He couldn't say how he knew, but he knew. He knew the same way a person knows someone is staring at them when they are not looking, or the way you knew when there would be a rainstorm on a sunny day. There was a tingling up his spine, and a feeling of wrongness in the air.
This was HIS house, and he knew when there was something amiss with it.
Steeling himself, the doctor sneaks the last few yards to his living room.
The lyrics to his jazz record become audible:
~I love you, yes I do, I love you~
~If you break my heart I'll die~
~So be sure it's true when you say "I love you"~
~It's a sin to tell a lie~
Peeking around the corner, the old doctor looks into his living room.
And his fears are confirmed as he sees a stranger sitting in his recliner chair, with his back towards him.
Doctor Vanes cocks the hammer back on his pistol and yells out at the intruder
"Freeze!!! Hands in the Air!"
The intruder doesn't move from the doctors chair.
"I-I said get your hands in the goddamn air! "
The stranger still doesn't move.
A rich baritone voice comes from the stranger, still facing away.
"How can I put my hands up, when you told me to freeze?" The stranger's voice sounded calm & amused. Mocking.
"J-just get your damn hands in the air, and turn around slowly! I'm armed! I have a gun and I will shoot you if I need to!"
Doctor Vanes practically screams out.
"Oookay" replies the stranger.
Slowly, the stranger's hands rise above his head - they were empty, and he gets up from the recliner. Stepping to the side, the man slowly turns to face the doctor, hands still in the air.
The doctor finally gets a look at his home intruder: A younger man, around 27. Maybe 30? With pale skin that looked like it didn't see enough sunlight, and somewhat long short-hair on his head that partially covered one eye & looked like it hadn't seen a brush in months. The stranger was tall, standing about a head taller than the doctor. He was wearing a stylish black peacoat & jeans, it was difficult to see if he was armed or not.
"Now, the police are on their way..." the doctor lied while stepping aside from the doorway, unblocking the criminals exit "Just get the hell outta my home right now"
The doctor was unnerved by this young man. 'He's too damn calm when a gun was pointed at his face. And his eyes... He looks directly into my eyes with a stare like a corpse'
The stranger doesn't move, just smirks back at the old man.
"Doctor. Eric. Vanes." The old man pales when he hears his name. This was no robber.
"I've been thinking about meeting you for a long time now"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"T-this is your last chance! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW!" The doctor screams out, terrified.
The stranger reaches for his pocket, and that was the last straw.
*BANG*
*BANG* *BANG*
The doctor unloads three 45 caliber rounds into the Intruders chest, and...
Nothing.
The stranger didn't even react as he was getting shot.
"Relax Doc, I was just grabbin a cigarette "
The strangers words sounded amused, but his eyes were dead. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out -
The Doctor does not wait to see what the stranger will pull from his jacket. With shaky hands he unloads the last three rounds directly at the creep's forehead.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Impossibly, the bullets ricochet off the strangers head. One of them shatters the glass of his television.
"Oww, you almost hurt my feelings there Doc. That's no way to treat a guest " The stranger said while grinning, as if he hadn't just been shot in the head by a bullet that should have blown the top part of his skull off.
"i-Impossible, this isnt happening..." The doctor's rational mind denied it.
All of a sudden, the stranger's body blurred, and disappeared - leaving no trace as if he were an apparition.
Looking left - then to the right, the stranger was nowhere to be found. As if he never existed in the first place.
"Ha.. hehahaHAHHAHA! I must be going crazy... This must be what schizophrenia feels like..." The doctor laughs manically
*Sigh*
Exhaling a deep breath, the doctor just feels relief the stranger was gone...
"Oh you're not crazy" The doctor hears an inch away from his right ear.
'!!!'
The old man practically jumped out of his skin.
He tries to run away, but a long-fingered hand clamps down on his left shoulder, holding him in place.
He slowly looks towards the voice without moving his head, and sees the strangers face grinning right next to his own.
He felt a surge of adrenaline as his heart pounded and he tried to squirm away. It was no use, the stranger's hand was like a vice - firmly rooting the old man in place. Frantically the old doctor started to smack at the strangers hand with the revolver in his grip.
The stranger grabbed the old doctor's wrist with his free hand.
"That is a very nice gun Doc. We wouldn't want to damage it now would we."
Slowly the stranger started to squeeze the doctors wrist with his vice-like grip.
Stronger. Stronger, until the bones of his wrists were creaking. Then the stranger suddenly increased his crushing grip - *CRACK* -
"AaARGH!" with a cry of pain as both his radius & ulna were snapped like twigs, the old doctor dropped the gun - only for the stranger to quickly snatch it out of the air with the hand that broke his wrist.
"Ughhh- ahh" The old man groaned from his shattered bones.
"That looked like it hurt. I think you should sit down and catch your breath old man" The stranger said with false concern while leading the old doctor to his couch, then shoving him down on it.
The stranger then shoved all of the items off the doctors coffee table and sat down on it, directly in front of the doctor.
"Now, I think it's time for a chat"
Setting the gun down on the table next to him, the stranger then reaches into his coat pocket to pull out a silver antique cigarette case and an old Zippo lighter with a pin-up painted on it. Popping open the cigarette case, reaches in and grabs a cig between his fingers with a practiced motion. Putting it between the lips of his long - thin face, he flicks open the lighter with a *click* and lights up his cigarette with cupped hands.
He holds out the case to the doctor "Cigarette Doc?" He offers.
"Please! Just don't hurt me - What do you WANT from me?! MONEY!? I-ill give you money, just leave me be!" The Doctor begs frantically, knowing he couldn't fight the stranger. His strength was inhuman...
"You're right, better to avoid these things. Afterall, cigarettes Kill" The stranger exhaled smoke into the old man's face while ignoring his begging.
"I dont want your money Dr. Vanes... My name is Daniel Strong." The stranger's smirk finally left his face while he stared at Dr. Vanes with a blank mask.
The gears working in the doctor's mind - the confusion evident in his face.
"You don't recognize the name? Maybe this will help, my father's name was John Strong - he was a patient of yours"
Recognition finally reached the doctor's face.
"Ah good, you remember. You botched my father's heart surgery just so you could make your golf game on time."
The old man feels pure dread now. This was the family of one of his patients.
"T-that was just an accident! they happen in surgery a-all the time! What happened to your father was a tragedy, but im not perfect! Doctors make mistakes!"
"Now - Now doctor ... Dont you know its a sin to tell a lie?" The stranger - Daniel said through clenched teeth.
For a moment, it looked like the young mans pupils were glowing a fiery light.
The doctor shook his head, and the lights were gone...
"You see, my mother had hired a private investigator to look into you Dr. Eric - Can I call you Eric? Doctor feels soo impersonal."
Daniel continued "Anyway, my mother had you investigated, and it turns out you have a history of malpractice & bribery. You botched at least 14 different surgeries in your career at Sacred Heart. At least 14 other families you destroyed... You were the son of the hospital's Chief of Medicine. Your father was friends with the local judges & sheriff. What couldn't be covered up was bribed for by daddy. None of the charges against you ever stuck."
"Thats because they were all bullshit! I was a great surgeon! those bastards just wanted to ruin my reputation!" The doctor said angrily while standing up - finally finding his spine again.
"SIT. THE. FUCK. DOWN. NOW" Daniel commanded in a low voice filled with barely contained malice.
The old man didn't imagine it before, the strangers eyes were now glowing as if there was a fire behind them.
The old man sits back down, and the inhuman man's eyes stop glowing, fading back to their normal washed out grey color.
"My mother killed herself after the investigation went nowhere. Overdosed on pills. Without obvious evidence, the cops just blew us off... We didn't have enough money for a forensic accountant, or a good lawyer on top of the private investigator and my fathers funeral costs. But I suspect that that's what you counted on all those times you fucked up"
The old man sinks into his couch, the reality of his situation finally dawning on him.
"I was just a kid, but I never truly forgot about you. I kept the files the P.I. gave us, and every now and then I would look through them and think about finding you." Daniel said while taking a big long draw from his cigarette.
"You know why I didn't until now? I was afraid of the consequences." He gives a bitter laugh "Heh. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in jail just for killing a worthless old man like you" He gestures with the cigarette, ashing on the floor.
"But you know what? I am not afraid of consequences anymore..."
The younger man puts his cigarette out on the coffee table, and stands up.
"w-Wait! Please don't kill me! I-I have a family! A son just like you!" The doctor begged.
"My father had a family too. You know, when my father died, it broke my heart." The monster in human form said while moving up close to the old man, eyes aglow with fiery orange light.
"I think it's only fair that I break your heart too"
Daniel grabbed the collar-bone of the old man while holding his right hand in the air, flattening his hand as if he were about to karate chop the old doctor.
"WAIT! DO-" The demon in front of the doctor pressed the tip of his hand into the old man's abdomen, slowly increasing pressure.
"PLEASE STO- The monster does not stop. Putting more pressure, more pressure, more pressure - until finally the inhuman man's hand is shoved through the old doctors chest.
*Bleogh* The old man pukes blood & bile over the monster's arm.
Staring directly into Dr. Eric's eyes the entire time, face a mask of rage, Daniel shoves his forearm deeper into the chest cavity - his hand finally found what it was looking for.
Dr. Eric Vanes stares into the orange glowing eyes of his murderer, going into shock. He feels the most peculiar sensation of pressure as his heart is grabbed by a human hand for the first - and last time.
Then Daniel crushes it in his hand.
Tearing his arm out of the chest cavity of the now dead doctor. Daniel sits back down on the coffee table and lights up another cigarette. Arm dripping with blood.
He sits there a long time, just letting the ciggy burn down to the filter. Staring with cold eyes at the lifeless body of Dr. Eric.
He picks up the antique pearl handled revolver.
"This is pretty nice Doc... I think I'll keep it as a Memento Mori. You don't mind do ya?"
The dead body just stares.
Hearing sirens in the distance, the cops are finally arriving. One of the neighbors must have called them after hearing the gunshots Daniel thought.
Levitating into the air, Daniel crashes through the wall as if it were made of paper machè and fly's into the night.
The record player now making music for a corpse...