Leaving This Differently Than It Was Found

Written in response to: "End your story in a way that leaves the reader with a sense of uncertainty or doubt."

Fiction Mystery Speculative

To find something in a location not known to hold things in its grasp then you notice it is not the same room or the same floor and the sun is rising instead setting.

You reach for the items left on the bed and pick through them slowly, seeing if you can find some clothes to try on and wear. This is not how you imagined your vacation ever being. You had heard rumors of crime and injustice not only walking hand in hand but the best of buddies.

You find a pair of pants that look too short in length and too tight in the waist. You find a shirt that looks like it was washed more times than needed before you look for the tag to see what size it actually is. You disrobe and starting with the pants, notice there is a few bills inside the left pocket. You fish them out of the pocket, seeing that they are about 10 of them, 100s each one.

Then the pants arrive up on your waist, fitting snuggly in your midsection, and are not too tight or short. With the shirt next, pulling it over your head, then slipping your arms in through the sleeves, you feel the shirt slide down to your waist and fit over the pants, with the same comfort and secure fit matching the pants too.

It is with a sigh of relief that you are now looking for shoes and finding a pair of sneakers, you slide them on with the toes of both being blocked by a sharp object. You remove the shoes and find inside the toes area, more money, which now brings the total to around 3000 or so. This gives you a feeling of accomplishment. You smile but retract with the idea of your lower lip is split and the upper lip is not much better.

You then are looking for a matching jacket to go with the pants and shirt found at first search. You know this may get you killed yet you are not easily scared. You had a serious tail on you as you seem to be a person of interest. This is not either good or bad. It just keeps you on your toes as you are wondering where they disappeared off to, after you got lost losing them when you were running up the fire escape stairway.

It is evident that you are being followed and stalked possibly. There are more than one parties after you for many reasons behind their evil vile grins, with the same type of sunglasses, being worn at night. They draw their weapons, they make you feel paranoid and scared, afraid and will never let you alone only after they either kill you or they kidnap you and extract what all they think you know, or they find on you.

This has been going on for so long that you are not sure whether it is still a deadly game of cat and mouse or someone pulling strings and playing devious head games. You are not amused nor are you wanting to laugh at their childish antics. It is becoming apparent that you are the target with a huge bull's eye in the middle of your back, attached to your spinal column.

The tricks that are being played as they catch up with you are no different than when you were still rolling, ducking, dodging and firing at the enemy. The enemy has taking on a false persona of being friendly, the villain is now the hero or the one who captures others for pure spite. The bully is now the one protecting and you are mistaken for the bad guy, with simple former good guy tendencies, if you are lucky enough to have a way to show them.

When you are looking for firearms and ammo, you stop short of seeing in the bathroom, lying in a crumpled mess, the reason behind why no one has answered you when you called out. The blood spatter and bullet holes tell a tale of overkill and a bloody mess that spans from the one wall to the other wall over near the toilet.

Then as you find a small case that has a broken lock on it, you search for a way to open it, but the case has been tampered with previously. It has the markings of someone setting an explosive, for detonation, if and when someone is stupid enough not to be paying close attention.

Then outside you hear a phone ring, dropping the case, you dive for cover just as the case explodes, sending many items flying across the room, guns and knives are deadly projectiles and the knives are thrust into the door and walls nearest you. You were crouched behind a couch and are not sure how you will find some weapons and ammo, so you can at least exit the place you are.

The doorbell rings once then twice, then a third time, before gun fire erupts into the door, and a loud kick is heard from where you are, sounding louder than it actually sounds. You raise up and are standing face to face with a familiar face.

Your martial arts instructor is this close and proceeds to try a sucker punch on your face, to stun you. It fails. By about 10 inches and you respond with a sucker punch of your own, knocking back the man into a wall then falling flat on his ass. It is one less person you will need to deal with when trying to exit the place you are.

As you are making your way towards the hallway, heading to freedom, you feel a hand reaching around your body, grasping one shoulder, in an attempt to choke you and make you defenseless. It fails too, as you counterattack with a gut punch and after turning around, land a knee with quick thrust, causing the individual to go down, and keel over falling further to the floor. While they are preoccupied with their pain, you come down upon on them, reaching for their exposed shoulder, you pinch hard and they collapse on the floor, not moving in the least.

What happens next surprises both you and the other perpetrators, who have decided to follow the other guy, trying to prove themselves worth of Prial's Warriors, who think they are invincible and cannot be harmed.

The wakeup call I handed was share with only the immediate people who either were there or had witnessed it, and they were warned too about the possible consequences of their actions.

The noises heard next were like nothing ever having been seen nor possibly the only time things like this as the world stops to take notice.

Off in the distance, the world lays silent and awaits the verdict.......

Mr. Henry Monthze, you have been found..........

Posted Oct 21, 2025
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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