“Don’t Try to Solve Serious Matters in the Middle of the Night” – Philip K. Dick

A Monster.

By all accounts, the eldest son of the Silverlake family was a certified, genuine, unquestionable monster. This was the unfiltered opinion of Marcus Toiracsi, the current head of the immensely wealthy and powerful Toiracsi family.

Unlike their peer, the Silverlake family that specialized in commerce, the Toiracsi family specialized in war, especially the ones that can never see the light of day. He had connections at all levels of society, from those that sleep in the run-down corners of the roads to those that sleep on the high-rises, towering over the largest cities in the world. His family’s reputation in the underworld of society was so renown that just hearing a whisper of their name publicly was a guarantee someone, or perhaps an entire family, was about to disappear.

As the current head of this family, Marcus Toiracsi was involved in his own share of shady dealings, never backing down against the other party. Some would describe him as unflinching, others, an idiot that knows no fear, or infamously as, “The Untouchable”. However, behind the scenes, away from the prying eyes of society, beneath the unconquerable visage, such a man was, for six years now, continued to be haunted by the day that the eldest son of the Silverlake family would be released from his cage.

It was around 6 years ago that Marcus became acquainted with that monster, at a party the Silverlake family threw to introduce their son to society.

In the world, the name “Silverlake” is associated with power, a type of power different from ones that the Toiracsi commanded. In sheer fighting prowess, the Toiracsi were unmatched. In comparison, none could match the Silverlake family in their ability to scheme behind the scenes, to bring down their enemies before anyone can see it coming. It is precisely this ability of the current Silverlake family head that they were applauded publicly as, the “Miracle Traders” while derided privately, by their many enemies as, “The Puppeteers”.

Marcus Toiracsi was neither afraid of the Silverlake nor dumb enough to confront them head-on, regardless of how much money he was offered. As far as Marcus was concern, confronting the Silverlake directly was the same as committing mutually assured destruction for both parties. However, 6 years ago, this all changed.

Initially, upon receiving an invitation by the Silverlake to attend their son’s introductory party, Marcus thought nothing of it. It was just a party for a child, a performance by any powerful family in society. Out of respect, Marcus had no intention of rejecting the invitation, simply marking “Yes” on the invitation, handing it to his butler to return the letter to the Silverlake, and cleared his schedule for that day.

On the day of the party, Marcus arrived at the Silverlake mansion. He saw the current head of the Silverlake family, Jacob, standing outside their door, personally greeting every guest that came amicably with a smile, a duty that Marcus felt should have been left to their butler. While normal guests would fall prey to that smile, Marcus, and anyone of sufficient status, knew better. Publicly, Jacob was a philanthropist, donating his vast fortunes to various charitable causes. Privately, Jacob was a decisive and cruel person, willing to cut down anyone he considered his enemy without a second thought. This was not an exaggeration. Marcus knew this for a fact. The Silverlake family fortune was exchanged for a mountain of corpses in the shadow. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Marcus made his way up the steps to the house’s entrance.

Seeing Marcus approached, Jacob looked at him with a gentle smile, not the one he often used with guests and clients but one he reserved for those he truly acknowledged. Jacob extended his hand to Marcus and Marcus returned the gesture.

“It’s good to see you. I’m truly honored you could come”, Jacob said.

“Thank you for the invite. It’s a privilege to be here”, Marcus replied.

“How’s your family doing?” Jacob asked.

“The wife is on vacation right now with my kid. They’re probably relaxing on the beach at an island somewhere right now,” Marcus replied, smiling scornfully.

As he exchanged greeting, he could hear several guests in the background beginning to whisper.

“Who is he?” Some said.

“I’m surprised the Silverlake family head is taking the initiative to greet him,” others remarked.

For Marcus, this was normal. The Toiracsi family, although powerful, only existed in the darkness of the world. It made it easy to operate. While their family name might inspire nervousness and fear, not many people had the opportunity to meet Marcus face-to-face, for better or worse.

“I won’t keep you Jacob,” Marcus said. “It seems other guests are arriving. I’ll just help myself in.”

“Thanks Marcus. I’ll see you inside when I finish making my round.”

Nodding his head, Marcus excused himself and went inside the building. He made his way into the reception room and started to mingle amongst the guests, enjoying the drinks being served while waiting for the event to start.

After about an hour, once all the guests were gathered inside the large dining hall, Jacob made his way onto the stage.

“Hello,” Jacob started speaking. “Thank you everyone for coming to my son’s introductory party. It’s an honor for our family that everyone here was able to come. I hope you’ll be able to enjoy yourself tonight. We prepared some of the finest foods and drinks in the region. Anyway, without further ado, please let me introduce my son who just came of age this year, Janus.”

After a quick introduction, Jacob motioned for his son to make his way onto the stage.

For his part, Marcus continued to enjoy the wine that Jacob prepared for the party. This type of event was commonplace to him. His intention was to show up and represent his family at this gathering, nothing more. His plan was to see the eldest son of the Silverlake, introduce himself to the boy, and excuse himself to go home. However, that plan went awry the moment Janus took the stage.

Immediately, as soon as Marcus lay eye on Janus, his back broke out in sweat. He immediately felt a sense of impending danger, as if the maw of a gigantic invisible beast was slowly closing around him. He could feel the teeth penetrating his skin as his body paralyzed in fear, unable to run away. Others would simply dismiss this as their personal paranoia, but Marcus knew better.

Living in the dark side of society for so long, his sense of danger was more finely tune than anyone else here. Marcus did not understand why he felt such a sense of fear from this young boy, but one thing was clear; Marcus knew, instinctively, that the boy was dangerous.

After all the introductions were over, Marcus watched as Jacob led his son down from the stage and toward a family standing nearby with their daughter. Though he did not recognize which family the other party was from, he knew that they possessed, at the very minimum, status equal to both him and Jacob, given how Jacob was behaving.

Marcus watched as Jacob nudged his son toward a little girl and introduced the two of them to one another. Then, he watched as the parents of the two kids guided them to the middle of the hall as music began to play and Janus and the girl began their waltz, a tradition passed down amongst high-ranking families.

Through this entire sequence of event, Marcus kept his eyes trained on Janus, desperately trying to understand why he felt such a sense of dread originating from such a young child. From what he saw, the child was a quick learner, that much is a given. The clumsy waltz he exhibited at the start of the dance was slowly erased as he moved through the dance floor with his partner. However, this was within Marcus’ expectation. This was Jacob’s son after all. If he could not do at least this much, he would not be fit to inherit the mantle of the Silverlake family.

Lost in his own thought, Marcus did not notice that the song had ended until Jacob was standing in front of him with Janus at his side.

“Marcus,” Jacob said. “Once again, it’s nice to see you here”

Shaken from his thought, Marcus straightened himself and replied. “It’s not a problem. How long have we known each other? If I couldn’t do this much it’d be a bit embarrassing.”

Jacob chuckled. “Let me introduce you to my son,” Jacob said as he urged his son forward. “Come Janus, say hi to dad’s friend.”

Upon his father’s urging, Janus stepped forward, his eyes looking directly at Marcus.

“Nice to meet you Janus. I’m your dad’s friend Marcus,” Marcus greeted him, “I have a son about your age. I hope you’ll get along with him in the future as well.”

After the greeting, Marcus extended his hand toward the young boy as a formal gesture of friendship. The young Janus nodded his head and extended his hand toward Marcus’ as well. However, the moment their hands touched, Marcus’ mind shook. The fear that he felt before as he watched Janus on that stage came back fiercer than before. The beast maw that he felt then was replaced by a more vivid image of a grim reaper floating in front of him, its scythe already making its way through his neck. Terrified, Marcus yanked his hand back to the surprise look of both Jacob and Janus.

Unsure of what just happened, Marcus looked up at Jacob for any confirmation that it was not just his imagination. However, Jacob’s face only had a slight surprise expression before returning to its normal countenance.

“What is this child?” Marcus wondered to himself. “It’s impossible for someone like Jacob not to notice there’s something wrong here. Is he just pretending not to notice or is he just genuinely not aware?”

Trying to remedy the situation, Marcus simply patted the boy’s head before replying, “I must’ve had a little too much to drink.”

“It’s still early Marcus. You should be careful.” Jacob replied with his usual smile. “Try not to drink too much or Emily won’t be too happy after she return from her vacation.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Marcus answered. “I’m painfully aware of it.”

“Anyway, I’ll have to return to my duty of entertaining our other guests for today. I’ll see you around”

“Sure. I’m probably going to head home soon as well. There are still things that I need to get done”

“Work is not easy, is it?”

“Never is…”

“Don’t push yourself Marcus. Take care of your health.”

“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry. I know where my limits are.”

“If you need help arranging a ride home, please talk to my butler. It’s not a problem”

“Thank Jacob. Alright, get back to your guests, they’re starting to look rather impatience.”

“See you around.”

“Same to you.”

After making his way back out of the house, Marcus called for his driver to take him home. Sinking into the backseat of his car as his driver drove away from the Silverlake’s mansion, Marcus could feel the tension melting from his body.

He looked at his hand and to his surprise, they were still sweaty and trembling from that brief encounter with Janus, the fear of that moment never really left.

“What was that boy…,” Marcus whispered to himself.

As his car made its way back to his manor, Marcus continued to replay the event of that night repeatedly in his head, unsure what to make of it all. He knew that he needed to do something, but he was unsure what. For now, Marcus settled on just observing the eldest son of the Silverlake family. After returning to his home, he called his butler and instructed him to enroll his own son, Isaiah, into the same school as Janus as an observer for the next six years.

Every day from that night, Marcus continued to instruct Isaiah in private to report anything and everything about Janus to him and only him. He did not want this matter to leak outside to anyone. For years, he continued to observe and listen to the reports that Isaiah sent back and planned his next move.

Slowly, the fear that Marcus felt toward Janus on that day was turning into a conviction, an obsession. Marcus knew that he needed to exterminate Janus by any means necessary, as soon as possible. After a few years, Marcus no longer cared about triggering a war with the Silverlake family, he only wanted to get rid of Janus, to remove the danger before it has a chance to grow. Slowly, his plan started to take shape. June 18th on graduation day was his one and only chance to make this assassination a success, when everyone’s guard was at their lowest, focused on celebrating their children's graduation.

He purchased vacation tickets for his wife, his son, and everyone that matter to him to ensure they were out of harm's way once the assassination begin. He suspected that his son understood his motive but, since Isaiah never questioned him on it, he decided to let things rest where they may. He trained a private squad of soldiers in private, solely for the purpose of ensuring the success of this plan. He purchased weapons via channels known only to him and hid them away from sight. Then the night before June 18th, Marcus spent hours in the dark, poring over every detail of his plans to ensure there was no possible room for error. Once the sun broke through the cloud, Marcus sat back in his chair and waited.

At precisely 10:00 A.M. Marcus’ phone rang. Picking up the phone, he asked, “Is everything in place?”

“Yes. Everything is moving as you expected.”

“I guess this is goodbye.”

“Yes. I’ll take care of the family after you’re gone.” The voice simply said and hung up.

Sighing, Marcus stood up, walked over to his private cabinet, and took out a bottle of whiskey that he reserved only for special occasions. He poured himself a small drink and sat back down into his chair, looking out the window as he enjoyed the slight burning sensation from the whiskey traveling down his throat.

After some time has passed, without looking back, Marcus said out loud, “it’s too late to stop me.”

From behind him, a voice belonging to a young girl replied, “I’m not here for that reason.”

“I see.”

“You fully understand the consequences of what you’re about to do?”

“Yes. I watched that boy for 6 years. I tried everything I could to suppress the fear I feel toward him. However,” Marcus’ voice trembled as he raised his hand, “no matter what I do, my hand won’t stop trembling in fear of him. He’s not normal. At this point, I hesitate to even call him human.”

“I see. It seems you’ve steeled your resolve.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry, on my name as the Matriarch of the Arbitrator, I will ensure the safety of your family until your son can inherit the Toiracsi family safely.”

“I appreciate it. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. I’m simply acting according to the pacts made by our ancestors.”

“Still, thank you. Hearing your assurances take a lot of weight off my chest” Marcus said, downing the last of his favorite bottle of whiskey. “It should be done around now.”

“So, it would seem.”

A few minutes after his announcement, a simple message appeared on Marcus’ phone.

“It is done.”

Smiling, Marcus put his phone down and leaned back against his chair as the scythe of the grim reaper cut through his throat.

On this day, Marcus Toiracsi, the current patriarch of the Toiracsi family, breathe his last as he passed on with a smile on his face.

The girl, after finishing her job, stood by Marcus’ side, ensuring that he’s no longer breathing as she closed his eyes.

“You gave your life to end his…,” She lamented. “Was this the only way Marcus?”

Making her way out of the room, she looked one last time at the smiling face of Marcus slumped over in his chair and whispered before disappearing, “If only it was that easy.”