Hendrick
They were finally there. The door. The last obstacle. The thing that had cost Hendrick his life time and time again. He stood there, waited for Jim to open up the way for him. Jim would die after opening the door or while getting close to it, and then he would be able to go inside of the room and finish this once and for all.
He was certain that Jim did not care about anything anymore. He would do anything to accomplish his goal, which was to save his stupid friends. Hendrick was okay with that if that meant getting him out of this place. It was finally time to get his real body, his true identity back. It was time to get out of here and show everyone what he had become.
The one. The immortal. The only true god.
Jim got close to touching the door, but then turned around instead. Lightly annoyed, Hendrick asked, “What? Any last words?”
“I think get it now.”
“Hm?”
“I know what game he is playing.”
Jim put his hand down on the doorknob.
But somehow he was still alive. Hendrick’s eyes widened. What? How? That made no fucking sense at all. Was the game trying to trick him once again? Or had he done the right thing and his plan was working, but in an unexpected way?
Well, I don’t care if he is dead or not. As long as the door is open, it won’t matter, he thought.
He saw Jim turn the doorknob, then open the door.
Jim stepped inside.
Hendrick swallowed, then followed Jim. He peaked inside of the room while staying at a safe distance.
---
Jim
As Jim stepped inside of the room, he did not know if he was supposed to be relieved or confused. It was Hendrick’s room – like expected – but almost a little too normal. Everything was like always, everything in its usual place.
Someone was standing close to a window, rays of the sun shining inside of the room with a soft glow. It was Hendrick. As Jim took a few more steps inside of the room, Hendrick noticed him.
“Hello?” Hendrick asked while still facing the window.
“Hi.”
“Oh, hey Jim. What are you doing here this early?”
Jim hesitated for a moment, but then relaxed at Hen’s innocent voice. It was somehow nice to hear him speak like usual again, not like the monster. Jim felt the soft carpet underneath his feet, tapped with one foot on the ground.
“Huh? Oh, just bored, you know. What are you doing? Anything out of the usual out there?”
He is not real as well… but I want to at least talk to him for a moment. To make my assumption more clear.
“It’s dead.”
“What?” Jim asked.
“The butterfly. There used to be a butterfly out here every morning. But now its gone.”
“…”
“Ah, anyways.” Hendrick turned around, one blue eye facing towards Jim. Half of his face was gone, like it had been smashed in with something heavy and blunt. Parts of his blonde hair were reddened by dried blood, the insides of Hendrick’s head clearly visible as he continued speaking like it was nothing.
“You wanna play some video games or something? Still need to claim my title back from ya.”
Jim swallowed. “Uh, maybe later, dude.”
“Everything alright? You seem… distressed.”
“Nah, I’m fine.” Jim asked himself why Hendrick didn’t question his scissor, or anything else about his appearance. He stepped closer to the window, looked out of it. There was the garden, the blue sky, the village they were living in. Jim turned towards Hendrick.
“Hey Hen…”
“Yea.”
“Do you think we are real?”
For the glimpse of a second, the space around Hendrick distorted before going back to normal.
“Bro… are you kidding me? What do you mean?”
“Do you know what he has done to you? What happened to your face?”
“What… are you talking a-” Hendrick jumped back in surprise. The monster had entered the room. Hendrick backed up further, now standing next to Jim. “W-Who is that man, Jim?”
The monster spoke: “We don’t have time for this reunion. Let’s get this over with…”
“No, wait… I need to find out something,” Jim said.
“W-who are you? I-I don’t know you. You shouldn’t be here.” Hendrick was heavily shaking now, his view fixed roughly where the monster was standing. He was looking a little too high, as if he was speaking to the air above the monster. “Please leave my house.”
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The monster tilted its head, said, “Step aside, Jim.” It stepped forward. Hendrick backed off further, moved into a corner. Jim stepped aside.
“Hendrick. How does he look like?”
Hendrick was now shivering even more. He did not turn away as the monster moved towards him. In a broken, shaky voice, he said, “I-It is a creepy man. H-he has long black hair, a b-beard and pale s-skin. H-His eyes are blue and sunk-”
The monster sent Hendrick’s head flying with one clean strike, painting parts of the walls and curtains red. Hendrick’s body went limb, stumbled to its knees before falling to the ground face down. The carpet’s fabric started drinking the blood like a hungry plant.
Jim was now certain.
The monster started chuckling, then laughing. “Yes. Finally! This time, stay dead you little piece of shit.” He turned around, a bright smile on his now even more bloody face. “Well done, Ji-”
Once again, the surroundings started glitching. Reality melted into itself for a moment, then things stabilized again. The sunlight which had earlier illuminated the room was now gone and replaced by darkness.
A second later, the room they had been standing in was gone, and all which was left were the endless bounds of space. Jim realized he was still standing, as if there was something underneath his feet, but he couldn’t spot anything visually solid.
“What is happening?” Jim asked.
“I don’t know. But it won’t matter. It’s not like I can die anyways.”
“We’ll see about that, Sinner.”
“Huh?”
The colours of space had vanished and been replaced by void. There was no house, no school, no nothing. The stars were the only remaining thing, sprinkling the lonely canvas of existence as small, white dots. But then, the stars started to change. They pulsed, even if very faintly, in an increasingly fast pattern. Their light got brighter and dimmer every few seconds. Their size changed.
It was as if reality itself flickered.
And as the stars started moving,
and collected towards a single location,
they left the remaining space shrouded in darkness.
The stars formed a smile across the cosmos.
It beamed down towards the two of them.
The universe laughed.
-----
Stage 3 End
-----
As Jim looked at the gigantic smile which had formed high above, he was at a lack of words. He was fixed in space, unable to even move a single one of his muscles. Reality itself commanded everything it had against him, made him obey the rules of nature, of logic.
The light the smile emitted got brighter, and reality flickered again as he could hear a voice inside of his head.
“Well done. You have reached the end of ‘Sinner’s Game’. The preparations for the ending ceremony will soon be finished. Yet, there are still some things left to be done.”
The smile widened. “A promise has been made.”
The monster grunted, said, “Fuck it, enough of your games. Give me my body back already.”
The smile didn’t move an inch. “Very well.”
As Jim turned his head, he saw the monster’s body change. It went from the appearance of his friend to something else. A man with long black hair and a messy beard now stared at his own hands, blue sunken eyes widened as he beamed. “Yes! Finally.” The voice of the man was deep, contradicting his pale skin like day and night. “Now I will be unstoppable.”
“We shall continue now,” the smile said. “It will soon be time for your case.”
The smile faded,
and reality was enveloped in darkness.
---
Officer Jeff
A gentle flame lightened the room momentarily as Jeff lit up a cigarette. He took a long drag, exhaled, then stared at the ceiling for a moment while leaning back in his office chair. It was dark outside, the digital glowing of his computer screen the only source of light in the room besides a small desk-lamp. Besides the ashtray – which was pretty much overflowing – and a single framed picture, there wasn’t much personal stuff on his desk. There were some files and other work related stuff of course, but he didn’t need them right now since his job was to stay guard.
He took another drag, looked at his screen. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Jeff was around 14 hours into yet another double shift. Well, not that he had anything else to do at home, so he couldn’t really complain about it. He pulled the ashtray closer – next to his keyboard – and flicked his fingers in a swift movement as the cigarette got halved in length.
A sigh escaped his lips. He took a glance at the framed picture, didn’t know if he was supposed to smile or frown. Then, suddenly, his attention was carried away from his past and onto the screen of his computer again. A light had appeared next to one of the names listed. He jolted back into an upright position, rolled his chair closer to the desk.
As he read the name on the screen, he blinked twice. He then read it again. After reading it a third time, he put his cigarette in the ashtray, pulled out his phone. He pressed down some buttons, then the green button.
It took around 5 seconds till the other side picked up, but it felt like minutes had gone by. He clamped the phone between his shoulder and ear, pulled another cigarette out of his pack.
The last one.
“Hey, it’s me Jeff. Sorry for interrupting you this late. I know you are at home already.”
The other side started talking. He lit the cigarette in the meantime.
“Yea. Hmm… no boss, I’m not smoking in the office. Have you checked the C.U.A interface?”
He pulled, silently blew out some smoke.
“Can you do it right now? I bet you will be surprised.”
“…”
“Yea, I know. I will start right away. I have some calls to make and will prepare everything necesarry.”
“…”
“Oh also, a request. I would like to take care of him personally.”
He got up, walked to the off wall. He flipped through some folders in the category ‘E’, held the cigarette between his lips.
“Thank you for your trust, sir.” He pulled out a folder, walked to his desk and put it down.
“Yea, got it. I'll write you an E-mail once everything is finished.”
“…”
“Bye.”
He put the phone away, sat down on his desk again.
“Some more extra hours, huh? Ah, who cares? I make an exception for this one.”
He stared down at the file, read the name once again. An amused snort escaped his nose.
“How long have I been waiting for this day…”
The folder was yellow and packed quite a few pages. The date of the case was three years in the past. On top, under a red stripe which read ‘top secret’, a name was written down.
“Looks like it’s finally time...”
His facial expression hardened.
“Time to pay for what you have done...”
And he opened up the file.
“...Eric Hoffner.”
---