The Hermit

The door creaks open. Cobwebs break, and dust flies into the air.

"Jimmy, when are you ever going to oil the door," Meghan steps into the dark shack.

"'Cause, no one has da right tuh cum 'cept ya. And ya don' even have the full right. So no point."

"Jimmy, c'mon. Why do you hate everyone?"

"They murdered them. YouTubers. Homeless people. Gazillionares. Teachers. Presidents. Policemen. Firefighters. Mayors. All of them. And I'm the last person here. I'm the last one. So now ask yoself why I hate everyone."

Meghan is silent for a moment. "Well, everyone out there never even touched someone from the old world."

"Yeah? That's what you call it now? The old world? It was the only good world. It had assassins, and robbers, and crime, and corrupt people, but it was better than this world. You have no shame. The only reason I don't fully hate you is because you are kind of against Mohawk."

"Yeah, well the only reason I visit you is that your old. You can't take care of yourself. I'm like your unpaid servant!"

Jimmy is silent. "We called 'em slaves." he pauses. "After it happened, me and my buddies, we change our names. I named myself after a famous YouTuber. MrBeast he was called. Had more than 100 million subs."

Meghan doesn't say anything, her lips pursed in a straight line.

"I subscribed to him ya know. But I was never in any of his challenges. He had awesome challenges. In the desert for 24 hours. Playing Fortnite in the middle of an ocean. Building a lego car, and driving it on the street. He-"

"Just stop it," Meghan interrupts. "You know I hate it when you talk about the old world. So stop it, Jimmy. Just stop it."

Jimmy continues. "-had a bunch of buddies. Like me. Chris, Chandler, Tyler, Jake. It's hard to remember them all though. There isn't YouTube on the new computers. That's why they made new-"

"One, Jimmy, stop, two, they're called Palentines."

"Yeah. Have ever even heard of laptops? No. Because Mohawk keeps information to himself. He hoards it. I'm one of the only ones. Now get out of here. And don't tell anyone. Or I'll kill ya. The Mohawk killing spree taught me how to defend myself. And to defend me, I killed exactly 63 of his minions." Jimmy shudders. "I remember every detail. But I still did it. So I won't hesitate with you. Get out. Scram. Now."

Meghan scrambles out of the room, but Jimmy keeps talking.

"The most popular one was the Orbeez pool. There's no more Orbeez now. But I have one container of a hundred of 'em. But I'm saving 'em. And one day some young kid is gonna' bring Mohawk down." Jimmy pauses for a few moments. 

"I knew him ya know. Mohawk. We were besties. We had our own channel too. Called it C & N. Conner and Noah. Those were our real names, ya know. I was named Noah. He was named Conner. We did videos about contests. Truth or Dare. Drawing. Races. Who could jump the highest. Stuff like that. We had, like, 35 subs. Barely anything, but it was still fun."

Jimmy is quiet now, not speaking. Meghan is in a Halien, which took her to her house.

But in a house, very close to Jimmy's shack, there's a girl. Names Layla. And she has the best chance, of all the people in the world, of taking down Mohawk.

***

8 years later

The shack door opens. It hasn't been opened in eight years. But now, someone is opening it. The door opens. A girl stands in the doorway. Behind her is another girl, and a boy. A dog runs around the other girl's heels.

Jimmy carefully brings himself into a sitting position. He tries to smile but winces and stops.

"We are here for information."

"Ya, I know yo guys are here for info. 'Bout Mohawk, right?"

The girl is suspicious. "How do you know."

"Girly, I knew 'bout Mohawk before yo grandparents had given birth to yo parents."

"So what can you tell us about him."

"He's a tyrant."

The boy looks up from where he was inspecting the stuff on the shelf. "What's a tyrant?"

"A tyrant, my boy, is somebody who suppresses other people, and rises to the highest position of control."

"Oh." The boy goes back to inspecting the shelves.

"What's your name?" The other girl questions. "Mine is Riley."

"Mine is Jimmy."

"No, it's not," the first girl interrupts.

"Then what is it, Layla?"

"It's his fake name."

"No. It's my survival name girly."

"Stop calling me girly!" Layla shoots Jimmy and deathly glare.

"Well, I 'ain't tellin' ya my real name. I don't trust any of ya."

"Then, can you at least tell me more information about Mohawk!"

"I know his weakness."

"Then what is it!"

All the eyes are on me.

"What's ya name son?"

"Luke."

"Well, Luke, I'm gonna give ya the secret, and when you most need it, you can unfold the piece of paper, and see his weakness."

Luke's eyes widen. "Thank you. Thank you very much. This is such an honor. Thank you-"

"But where's the note?" Layla intervenes.

"I'll make it right now." Jimmy grabs apiece of paper, and a pen, and scribbles something down. Then he folds it a bunch and seals it with a piece of scotch tape. He then hands it to Luke. "Good luck. That's all I can give you. Good luck."

***

The battle rages around him. Luke stares at the steadily rising piles of dead bodies.

"Luke, open it!" Layla screams as she darts out of the way of a near-fatal blow.

Luke's hands fumble as he grabs the paper, rips off the tape, and unfolds it. Inside, it says:

To surprise him yell his real name. Conner. It will distract him enough to provide a fatal blow. If you know how to.

Luke stares at it, then stuffs it into his pocket. He runs to behind Mohawk, not close enough to get his attention.

"CONNER!" Luke screams at the top of his lungs. The whole battlefield seems to freeze. MOhawk whips around.

"You!" He snarls, striding toward Luke. "Do you know No-"

Layla strikes. All it takes is a blaster shot from a dead Plut.

Mohawk collapses to the ground, and Layla rushes to Luke.

"What did it say?"

Luke tells her what it said.

"Of course," Layla says, straightening. "Of course it would be Noah. He knew how to do it. Conner would only be able to do it by using other people. I should've realized it before. He loved MrBest. Of course, he would use the name, Jimmy. My time is done here though, now. So tell Noah, I love him. Always have, always will."

Then, Layla smiles. Suddenly she starts to age. She grows taller, then white hairs start popping up. Then her back is crooked. Suddenly, she's a very, very, very old woman. Layla collapses to the ground. "I love you, Noah," she breathes. And then she's dead.

"She's was an Immortal," Destiny breathes. "Layla was a real-life, freakin' Immortal."