IN THE aftermath of Adrastos's statement, four guys came up to me and tied my hand. My eyes widened, and my pulse began to race. "Why do you have to bind my hand?" I questioned them and winced as a guy abruptly tightened the shackles on the hand when I dared to speak.
"Perhaps you're preparing to flee because your brain has suddenly changed and you don't want to die anymore," the guy in front of me said.
My brow furrowed. Why would I even attempt to flee if I knew I couldn't? I'm curious now that I'm nearing the end of my life. I am not that frightened to death. I am stick to my plans that I would commit suicide even before I signed up to be a participant here. I am fortunate in that I will continue to earn money even after I die.
I shall not squander this chance to atone for my faults in the world. This is the only opportunity I have to help my family and other people. And this the one and only time I will have the oppo
AFTER hearing what he said, a sour grin grew over my lips, and the sins I had committed in the past several years raced through my head. "Who am I to label them as a demon? Who am I to condemn them simply because they do something wrong? What exactly am I? I reminded myself that I was Zacheus, a renowned demon. As a demon, I'm here in the hornet's nest. They are like me. I am just like them. We are all demons disguised as humans. The only difference is that the demons here intend to murder me in order to lessen the number of demons around the globe.At least they have a valid excuse to murder me... That is sufficient for me because I also have a compelling motive to kill myself. We only shared the same desire to get rid of the devil, who is causing evil to proliferate throughout the world."Please forgive me for what I said earlier. I was only overcome with fear and said those words," I murmured, looking tensely at the ground that was covered with gold and diamonds. "And you're corr
THE WORLD is overflowing with the sins of human beings. Pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth are the sins we often commit in our daily lives. As a person who has nothing to do except to submit a great deal of transgression, wouldn’t you want to do something good once in your life before you die? “Confess your sin!” he said with an authoritative voice while holding the camera in front of me. I looked at him and noticed that his body was full of tattoos and scars,as if he had been through a lot of pain to become like that. He’s dressed in a plain black sleeveless shirt with a small tear in it where a sharp object has cut it, perforated trousers, and black shoes. I stared at the camera and looked at my reflection in the lens before speaking. “I did something inhumane to my sister’s best friend.” The man stared
I KEPT crying for over a minute before deciding to stop because my tears had dried up and my eyes were aching. Adrastos moved toward me while shaking his head. “Alejandro, That’s exactly what I mean. You’ll cry when it’s too late and there’s no way to change things?” he said straightforwardly after he faced me. “I will not change my decision. I will continue to commit suicide. I came here with the definite intention of ending my life,” I said calmly to him, insisting that I’ll never withdraw, so no need to make a fuss. Adrastos looked at me with disbelief in his eyes. “That’s not what I’m referring to. Because at first, you had no choice but to commit suicide because you signed a contract. What I’m concerned about is your decision to commit suicide,” he said in a sympathetic voice. &
MY legs weakened, and I lost my equilibrium, so I crumpled to the ground from the heaviness of what I had been feeling, as if several tons of lightning had buffeted me in the sky all over my body. I could only feel the anguish it manufactured. Over time, the tears that I had been trying to suppress fell, running down my face. Carmina crouched down next to me and opened her two hands wide, as if encouraging me to place my head on hers. She embraced me, as if she didn’t want to let go of me and lose sight of me. Even she was trembling in fear and grief at what was happening in our lives. “I-I’m sorry Alejandro... I can’t do anything,” she said, feeling guilty, so I hugged her back. “Don’t cry... I understand you had to choose between me and our baby, and I am grateful that you saved our baby,” I whispered in her ears. “Stop crying, okay?” She just nodded while huggi
THE car came to a halt in the middle of the night, indicating that we had arrived. I had only just awoken when a man carried me out of the car. How long might I have been unconscious? When I opened my eyes, I noticed the tree branches all around me, and the only source of light we had was the moon. Because of the unnerving quietness that encompassed this location, we could only hear the chirping of birds and noises from the surrounding forest. I altered my eyes to explore the environs of this location and ended up not finding neither buildings nor even a railroad near as possible except for the woods and bushes, hence I shrugged my shoulders. I’m not familiar with this location, and I have no clue where I’ve been because of my ludicrous willingness to inflict suicide. “Stand up, buddy, you’re too heavy for someone like me to carry you until we cross the border at our departure p
EVERYTHING began as I stepped into the building“Do you want to write a message to the people you’re going to give this money to?” Adrastos suddenly asked me.I just awakened abruptly and without warning to the realization after spending a long time dwelling on the events that led up to my current situation of live suicide.“Yes, please,” I replied to him.He handed me a pad of clean paper and a black pen, so I thanked him before I picked it up. I poured all my heart and soul out into this letter to show them how much they meant to me. Before I said farewell, I wrote what I really want to tell them and thanked them for everything they had done for me.Hello Mom, Dad, and Sister!How are you doing? I hope you’re in good shape because I’m going to a wonderful and tranquil destination haha. Is it unfair
THE young man leaned in the swivel chair and stepped foot on the desk, lounging and watching the humongousmonitor where he could view the events that occurred outside while drinking a ridiculously priced bottle of champagne in his right hand. He witnessed everything that happened before, during, and after Alejandro’s death, as well as reading the comments. The man-made a radiant face. “The downtrodden young man... He died because of being unjustifiably charged with a crime of a sin he did not commit,” he said, howling with laughter throughout in the room he was. “Who is as foolish as a nincompoop to commit suicide out of infatuation? The clichés!” he said as if Alejandro’s narrow-mindedness and imbecility disgusted him. “Only fools kill themselves for the sake of love. They don’t consider what is more important: their life or that pestilent love that has no value compared to the life th
A FEW DAYS LATER, Alejandro’s family frantically searched for him everywhere, but until now they do not have any findings about him. They never stopped desperately seeking for him, day or night, even though they were told not to find him in the message, but it still prevailed in their hearts to look for him. “Sandro, where did he go? What happened to him?” Alejandro’s mother said as it overwhelmed her with so much emotion it’s swelling up and pouring out of her eyes. Sandro moved toward his wife. “Imelda, love. Maybe Alejandro was just hiding from us because he was still indignant with us when we shoved him out?” he said to his wife. “Just why did you kick him out, Sandro!” Alejandro’s mom said as if she surrounded by a low blue flame as she punched Sandro’s chest with minimum weight. “Love, Imelda. Alejandro has violated the law. We are not going to cover him up just because he is our