The True Side Of Ourselves

It was around 12:30 at night on a dark quiet street. It was a street where traffic barely came by, and houses that paid no attention to the outside world. There was a tall mysterious figure on the horizon with a shawl over his head. He was a tall figure that had a scrawny posture, and looked to be holding a book in his hands clearly wanting to be noticed. It said to meet at the street of Revender at 12:30. This was where he was supposed to get the answers. This was going to solve the problems and fix his life. He checked his pocket to make sure he had his knife by his side just in case the meeting went wrong. As he approached the figure, the person didn’t move even slightly. They just kept looking at their book although as he got closer, there was no book, they just had their hands out in thin air. “Finally we meet” the mysterious person said so quietly and cold that Ayden couldn’t help but feel a tingle in his body from it. “Do I know you?” he asked with false confidence. The mysterious figure turned around to look at him, to expose his face that made Ayden’s face turn pale as a ghost.

3 days before

A normal life for a 22 year old seems impossible with some flaws bound to be exposed. That was not the case for Ayden as he thought he had it made compared to others. He could have tried hard at school, played in school, pleased his parents, and had some stupid girl in his life. Thankfully he wanted to control his destiny and settled for his mediocre life of a few friends, middle class job, and self hobbies. Even his friends didn’t know what his hobbies were outside of his journaling and a few drawings he let them see. Even those drawings were not his best work, just a scary clown drawn at work on a pen. His friend Jacob tried to expose more of his writings and drawings, but he wouldn’t budge. Nobody could understand his masterpieces, not even his own friends and parents. His parents. He couldn’t help but ride faster on his mountain bike on the gravel roads to work. He had to ride faster to block those thoughts. As he was driving manically fast on a gravel road like an idiot, he didn’t see the car behind him sped past him while shouting and hollering at him. He recognized them. It was a group of boys he went to high school with. Jockeys. They thought they owed the town even after high school life and taunted people like Ayden. As they were passing, they swerved to make it seem they were going to hit him to make him lose concentration. It worked as with the speed and the gravel, he flew to the side wrecking his bike, and leaving sores on his arms. They sped off laughing as he stared at them with hatred. A drawing was coming.

“I don’t care if they were trying to kiss you, no excuse for being late unless it’s benefiting me” his boss yelled at Ayden across the desk. Due to his bike incident he was twenty minutes late from work. His boss, Lucas Smith, was a fat bald man in his thirties with a huge facial beard he clearly could not shave. He was a selfish boss and covered up his selfishness when the big time managers came around. He wondered how much more he could take from this job, but money was money. “Yes, boss,” he replied back. His manager sat farther back in his chair pleased to hear the apology with a sick grin on his face. “Good, good, now run along and stock those shelves, and keep me making money!” he hollered out laughing at his own saying only to literally choke on the ending words.

“Dang dude, I’m sorry that all happened” his friend Jacob told him as they were stocking an aisle together. He was friends with Jacob since he was in the third grade and he was always there for him. Although he tried to pry into his privacy a bit, he would stop eventually. “Excuse me” a voice ranged out while he felt a tap to the shoulder. “Yes how can I-”he paused as he didn’t see no one. “Yo Jake, did you see someone in that aisle?” he asked. He knew he felt that touch on his shoulder. “Na dog, only your ugly face!” his friend joked. Strange, he must be tired. As he finished his shift, he couldn't help but still feel conflicted that he felt that touch.

The next day Ayden awoke with a terrible migraine. He awoke to his alarm and set out for another day at work. The house was quiet as it was only him. He was planning on moving out of his parent’s house at the end of the year, but they haven’t been home in over a week. Probably another vacation he thought. Ayden found his sketchbook and looked at his latest masterpiece, perfection. He was then ready to leave for work when he noticed his bike chains were missing from his bike. Great, he thought to himself, not only do I have a migraine and work, but now I have a messed up bike and a long walk. He figured it was those jockeys from school as he would have to track them down eventually.

Detective Zach worked on the scene for over twenty years and he has seen a lot of things. It was a windy morning as he walked up to the tall fence of the industrial plant right outside town. He was called in for an investigation of two murders. He took out his lighter and lit a cigarette as he marched onward to the scene. When he arrived, he stopped in his tracks and his cigarette fell right out of his mouth. Hanging from the fence were two men in their early twenties hanging from their necks with bike chains wrapped around them.

Ayden flopped down on his bed, tired from a day of work. He found his remote and turned on the tv, “And in tonight’s report we have tragic news as two kids in their twenties are found dead by the industrial park hanging from the neck by bike chains” the news lady announced from the screen. He dropped his remote. He knew those two. They were the same ones that made him wreck his bike. He also knew his bike chains were missing. What the hell? Someone was framing him, he grabbed his phone and called Jacob, Ring, Ring, “Hey Jacob I have something- Revender street” a voice ranged out from the other end. It was unclear who the voice was, but he knew it wasn't his friend. “Who is this, do I know you? Well yeah dude, I’m your friend duh” now the familiar sound of his friend called out. “Dude, what the hell was that voice?” he asked. “What voice, are you hearing things? Anyways I know why you called and look I know those two guys put a lot of people through misery, but they didn’t deserve that” his friend exclaimed. Ayden stayed on the phone, but the rest was far away from him. He knew he heard the voice. It was still playing in his mind. He also knew he was getting framed and he would solve it on his own before it got to him.

Lucas Smith finally got inside his one bedroom apartment to wind down on his big brown sofa. The 340 pound man was exhausted from barking orders at his hounds. He dropped down on the sofa and put on some television. He was lucky his favorite show was on: Breaking Bad. He was about to get hooked on his series when he realized his belly was growling. He didn’t want to get up, but he reminded himself he had an extra large pizza waiting on him in the fridge. That quickly got him up to grab his delicious food. He hurried up to the fridge only to realize his damm kitchen light wasn't working. He searched in the dark for his pizza and found it in the fridge. ] As he put it in the microwave, he thought he heard footsteps, but his mind drifted back to the food when he could smell the warm aromas. It was such a hard day at work, he thought to himself, but now he would find himself enduring a reward. As he pulled it out of the microwave, he forgot how hot it was and dropped it on the ground. “No, not my food!” he yelled out. As he bent down to salvage what he could, it was too late to feel the sharp stab of a knife right through the stomach. He dropped down fully to land in his pizza mess and his own blood as the sauce. The last thing Lucas remembered was the pizza he was about to enjoy.

Ayden walked up to his doorstep about to walk in the door when he remembered to check the mail. He walked out to his street where he could see his fellow neighbor, Mr. Jackson watering his yard. Mr. Jackson was African American and a long time neighbor of his parents and always asked them how he was doing. He always watered his yard and particularly one spot with what looked like grave flowers. “Mr. Ayden I have not seen your parents in a long time, where are they hiding boy” the old man hooted out to him across the yards. He gave him an awkward smile and said vacation. “I see your bike is all messed up, no chains, what happened” his neighbor asked. That made him almost drop the mail. He forgot to put his bike inside. Even if he was not the killer, it was still obvious to people to notice a person with a bike with no chains. “I uh got them all twisted in knots” he said dumbly. That was probably not the best defense to say. He hurried up to say he had to go and he heard his neighbor yell out, “Make sure to tell your parents to come see me when they get back! And keep taking those meds from Dr. Clark!” He had to get to the bottom of this fast before he was in trouble.

Jacob sped down the streets of his town over the speed limit on his black motorcycle. His long red hair and sunglasses made him feel tough. He was worried about his friend since their last conversation over the phone. He seemed weird and distant. He hadn't been to the Larksons in over 2 months and he almost forgot where they lived. As he pulled in the driveway he thought it was odd the lights were all off, but their family vehicle was there. He didn't bother texting his friend as he wanted to surprise him. That would cheer him. He walked up to the doorsteps and he noticed Ayden’s bike. Chains were gone. He was about to knock when he saw the door was slightly opened. Alright, he thought, I’ll let myself in then. He got into an awful smell that reeked of rotten food. He turned to the right to make his way to the kitchen table where he saw Ayden’s notebooks and sketchbooks lying out. He listened for noise, and didn’t hear anything.

He assumed Ayden was asleep. Well, before he awoke him, he wanted to sneak peek at what he had been craving to see for eons. He only wished he didn’t as every page he flipped got worse until he made his way to the drawings. It was pictures of death scenes, of the two boys, and one of his manager who was a no show at work today, and ayden’s parents. “What the he-” “I only wish I didn't have to do this to you, but I’m afraid I must not let you tell him the truth yourself” he turned around to see a tall figure with a shawl over their head and a dark black robe. “Oh shit, is this one of those devil cults or something because come on man, I gotta live until I” that was enough talking as the figure leaped at him making those two sprawl all over the kitchen table. He fought for his life only until the figure had his hands around his throat.

Ayden awoke with sadness. He couldn’t remember why. He got up to check his messages and saw he missed a few from his friend. He wanted to come over, but he was asleep and didn’t think of anything. He read a text about his boss being a no show and hoped he left for good. Ayden smiled at that one. He went down to the kitchen and noticed some stains on the ground. He must have spilled something a while ago and forgot to clean it up. He would do it before his parents made it home. As he was grabbing something to drink, he noticed a letter on the table and the message made him spill his drink all over the place, Mr. Ayden? Come to solve all your problems? Mysteries? Need some Answers? Come to Revender street tonight at 12:30. He was confused about a lot of things. He didn’t know what was going on, but the little sense that he could make of it was led down to that street in town.

Detective Zach made it to the house of the Larksons. He received a cue after the friendly neighbor reported their son was acting strange and he had not seen his parents in over 2 months. The biggest clue was the bike outside still, with the bike chains missing. He only wished he was ready for the sight he was about to see inside. When he got inside, it was completely dark. He also smelled rotten flesh. He opened up a closet nearby only for a dead body to fall out. It was a young boy with red hair. He shook the dead body off to see the boy died from strangulation. He moved on to the kitchen and saw two more things. One was a letter written of a location tonight at a certain time. He reported that in. He did some more discovery of the notebooks of the kid only to wish he didn’t. Before he left the house to get ready for the time, he opened up the car door of the family vehicle to see a couple with their throats slashed. The picture led him right to the evidence.

It was 12:30 at night on a dark quiet street when he arrived. It was a street where traffic barely came by, and houses that paid no attention to the outside world. There was a tall mysterious figure on the horizon with a scrawl over his head. He was a tall figure that had a scrawny posture, and looked to be holding a book in his hands clearly wanting to be noticed. This was where he was supposed to get the answers. This was going to solve the problems and fix his life. . He checked his pocket to make sure he had his knife by his side just in case the meeting went wrong. As he approached the figure, the person didn’t move even slightly. They just kept looking at their book although as he got closer, there was no book, they just had their hands out in thin air. “Finally we meet” the mysterious person said so quietly and cold that Ayden couldn’t help but feel a tingle in his body from it. “Do I know you?” he asked with false confidence.

The mysterious figure turned around to look at him, to expose his face that made Ayden’s face turn pale as a ghost. It was himself. He was looking at himself. “No, this can’t be” he stumbled to the ground and looked around where his other self was looming over him. He didn’t even hear the sirens and the detective arrived at the scene. His vision got blurred as the other self loomed over him, “ I did what you couldn’t do, expose the revenge you've been seeking” the voice of himself ringed out all around him. Impossible. He was not the killer. As the enforcement caught up to him, he kept demanding there was someone running away in front of him with a shawl on their face and in a black robe. They didn’t see anything as there was only one person there when they arrived.

Detective Zach took a long deep sigh as he fondled his mustache reading this case. The boy was a troubled spirit having a case of severe personality disorder. It was shown the couple he killed were his foster parents as his original parents were abducted and killed when he was 6 on a beach day, He was then put on medication from a doctor of Dr. Clark to cure the personalities through the years. He saw there was progress until the doctor told the foster parents to take him off the meds as all he needed was all the ones he loved. Damn bastard was wrong. He also noticed the boy went to revender street because his original parents had a house there. Although the kid was ruined for life, Detective Zach did more research into his original’s parents death, it was shown on the records that the two bodies were found dead in an alleyway but they looked to be freshly clean with water sprayed all over them from a garden hose.