MONSTER

“What is going on?” the concern on the man’s face was masterfully masked by a façade of dismay and surprise at the blond man’s reaction to his words. Which was shared among the few people around him, given how he had just screamed out of nothing and tripped over the stairs. But William Marnus’ thoughts were not directed at the well-being of Lorenz.

“Did I lose control? Is something wrong with my face?” the red-haired man adjusted his glasses as he launched some surreptitious glance at the people around him. No, that wasn’t the case. All of them were looking at the shouting young man, not at him. He even exchanged a look of concern for the young man with another employee of the facility. Everything was fine.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with me. Not on the outside at least. Is it something concerning the real William Marnus?” his thoughts ran at extraordinary speed as he offered a helping hand to the young man. The other one though seemed to refuse the help, and instead got up on his own. He mumbled some improvised excused and retreated hastily.

“I know the sight of fear and that man is visibly afraid of something. Or someone. Which evidently appears to be Mr. Marnus. But then why approach him? Or did he seriously mistake him for someone else? Improbable, after all he approached by speaking his very name out loud. Furthermore, even if he did mistake him for someone else, that reaction was excessive. No, he was afraid – terrified – of something else…”

As Lorenz turned rapidly at the first available corner, not before throwing a last gelid look at the man still standing on the stairs, the carrot-haired man’s thoughts finally caught up to the situation.

“He was afraid of Me. The real Me.”

For a split second the man lost his composure, his face deformed by a twisted and ominous grin, his eyes widened beyond necessity and his teeth showing excessively. The innate talent for dissimulation and his cold-bloodedness quickly gained back control of the body, returning his face to the unevocative puffy expression of William Marnus. That same William Marnus who, filled with an excitement that he hadn’t felt in weeks, started walking rapidly towards the corner. That same corner where Lorenz had turned a minute or so ago.

…

LORENZ

“I am a complete Idiot”.

Lorenz was still freaking out, moving speedily through the turns and streets of the city while turning repeatedly back to see whether “William Marnus” was behind him. He wasn’t, luckily, which allowed the young man to regain the calm necessary to finally ponder on his actions.

“I can’t think of a single way I could have acted more suspiciously…and right in front of the offices of Division X! I didn’t even have the common sense to find a proper excuse. A leg pain? The wrong person?? After I called him by name???”

He kept chastising himself, as if there were two of him and one was imparting a strict and disappointed lesson to the other. Too bad it was just a way to discharge some stress, and both the chastiser and the chastised were himself. And he had most certainly made a swift series of bad decisions and dangerous actions. At this point he would usually have the strength of mind to realise the uselessness of this charade and focus on his next moves, rather than ruminating senselessly upon what was already done. But he was in his worst state of mind, hardly faithful to the rational and logic person which he considered himself to be.

“But how the hell could I keep calm after seeing what I saw…” his minds reviewed those memories that he had just seen, sending a horrified shiver through his spine. “Those scenes…those…actions…they were straight out of a horror movie…except that they were not movie scenes but f***ing memories! And…and…”.

He stopped in the middle of the street, leaned down and threw up violently. Those weren’t just scenes of horrifying crimes and gruesome atrocities. Those were memories lived in first person. “…as the perpetrator”. Another retch grabbed his stomach, his content pouring out once more among the disgusted looks of people passing by.

Indeed, the street he was walking in was quite crowded. There wasn’t any intentionality in this, he was just running away from that Monster. Perhaps subconsciously he had sought comfort in the crowd. That swirling chaos of thoughts helped him suffocate those repelling memories, clogging his brain enough to just barely be able to perceive his own thoughts, let alone remember those monstruous experiences. Or so he thought.

« So you must be one of the other Players, am I right? »

Lorenz stopped. His whole body shivered in fear, instinctively, as that voice emerged powerfully from the cloud of thoughts all around him. Why was it so clear and crips? Was it because it was a message directed specifically to him? No, that wasn’t it. It was his brain. His amygdala, the centre of fear, automatically driving the entirety of his attention to that now familiar voice. Its voice. Not the outer voice of William Marnus, no. The inner voice of the Monster.

“You…you can hear thoughts…but how…?”

His face turned left and right in a frantic and desperate effort to locate the Monster. But if he had read its memories correctly, which he most definitely did, then it wouldn’t be easy at all to spot it in the crowd. And it could also read minds like he could?

« It looks like I was right…you really can read minds…how amusing »

A nefarious laugh erupted within the mind of the Monster. At this point Lorenz ability to react appropriately was overcome by a subconscious urge to understand what was going on. His body froze, as his mind attempted to explain the events occurring.

“He didn’t answer my question. Was it intentional? Are you hearing or not??”.

He was losing his cool. The other, meanwhile, seemed to be entertained by the whole situation.

« Look at you, moving your head around like a little scared mouse…shouldn’t you know by now that you can’t find me like this? »

Moving his head?

“Of course, how could I be this stupid!” Lorenz’ body finally started responding, quickly resuming his hastened walk. But it was a futile effort. The Monster said “look at you”. It wasn’t reading his minds, it was looking at him and gauging his reactions! He had just given away his secret so easily. The young man’s mind was now in total disarray, now jogging through the crowd as he attempted to escape that deadly lock he felt he had fallen into. He didn’t even stop to consider the futility of running from someone that sees you but who you can’t seem to see. The voice grew closer.

« You are really amusing me. In fact, as a token of my appreciation, let me offer you a gift. I will tell you where I am…I am…on your right! »

As soon as those thoughts originated in the Monster’s mind, Lorenz turned to his right. A distinguished woman, fairly tall with tanned skin and pearly blue eyes was standing on his right. She was dressed formally, so that with her ponytail of black hair and high heels she could have easily been one of the dozens of businesswomen and lawyers sprawling through the streets. As her fleshy lips curved into a gentle smile, a single thought from her mind matched her very same words.

« Boo! » « Boo! »

Lorenz’ eyes widened in surprise. A sharp pain. A warm feeling. He looked down.

A knife was sticking out of his abdomen.