CHAPTER 7

The snow was completely still as David sat outside of the police station. His hands shook violently as he looked at the last text message Fina had sent to him before her body was found in a shallow grave.

“Ok.”

It was simple. He had asked to meet her with the intention of breaking off the relationship. And she said “Ok.”

They found her body not far from the city limits after accessing the last place her signal was used by a local tower, which was the last place her cell phone was located. There was a team of people, from of all places, Heel Corporation where she worked that were outside the skirts of town trying to dig her body back up. Or at least, that was what they assumed. The man, who worked for Mr. HeelRiven, the CEO, refused to comment despite being currently charged with tampering with a crime scene.

It was pretty much a death sentence to go out that far now. If they had waited even one day more, her body would’ve been lost to the void that had encircled the city and threatened to engulf them.

She would’ve been gone forever without him knowing what had happened to her. And someone had just dumped her there like she meant nothing.

More and more it felt as if David was part of some sort of play. An actor on stage who did what he was told to do by some off screen director.

Except there was no life outside of this show. When the story ended, the actors had nowhere to go but the edge of an empty stage.

Despite everything that was currently happening, the news shook what was left of the world. The city, which seemed to be the last place left connected, flooded social media when Ryan HeelRiven was promptly arrested for first degree murder of one of his employees.

Ryan HeelRiven, the genius. Ryan HeelRiven, the youngest CEO to ever take over the company, was a murderer. A blackmailer. As soon as he was arrested, the floodgates opened and the people he abused came forward in droves with evidence of shady deals and coercion to stay silent. 

As he was escorted out of his mansion, the news crews stationed outside captured his arrest.

While it was reported that he was “escorted out” his mansion, dragged was the better description. Ryan was in his bathrobe despite being warned of his impending arrest.

“You can’t do this to me!” He screamed as his spokesman, who rushed to get to the scene attempted to calm him down. Camera’s flashed him as he was taken out of his expensive mansion.  

“No one take pictures of Mr. HeelRiven!” The spokesman said. “He isn’t feeling well. You’ll be hearing from our lawyers if this gets on the internet.”

“Don’t you know who I am?” he raged as he was taken into the police car. “I’ll make sure all of you are fired and have nothing to eat but dog food!”

Commentors on social media were ruthless.

“Calm and handsome CEO?” One user said under the video.

“Disgusting!”

“This is just embarrassing. POS.”

“Murders his employees and then takes a bath.”

“Rot in hell!”

“His parents should be ashamed they raised a monster.”

He jerked and fought and screamed. His bare feet hit the ice cold stone on his luxurious walkway.

None of this was supposed to happen.

While sitting in his jail cell, Ryan’s throat felt so dry from the screaming and shouting he had done before being stuffed into this dirty place that was smaller than his shoe closet.

The first thing that came to mind was how cold it was. How silent it was. Usually, there were other people in the jail cell with him. But he was alone.

Ryan brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around them.

There was no way they would be able to keep him in there. They would let him out due to pressure, right?

He was Ryan HeelRiven.

He was important.

In the grand scheme of things, he had done much, much worse things to others. Fina died pretty quickly and who knows if she felt any pain? He didn’t even mean to kill her anyway. He was going to torture her for a while until she understood not to mess with him and his money.

But he needed to focus first on damage control. Damage control would be needed for this. Once he got in touch with his lawyers, everyone who posted even a screen cap of what they saw would suffer the consequences.

When they inevitably release him, he will have to hire a team to erase all of the images on the internet of this incident. Donate some money to find the real killer and find some petty criminal to take the fall.

They would run a story. There were plenty of people in this world that could’ve killed her. But not him. Ryan HeelRiven was framed by someone out to ruin his company. 

“You.” A voice said.

Ryan HeelRiven jumped and saw that there was someone in front of his cell. It was a man, vaguely familiar to him.

The man from the photo. This asshole slept with his girlfriend and lived with Fina!

But he couldn’t tell him that. He couldn’t incriminate himself. Instead, Ryan glared at the man, who looked disheveled and listless. He wobbled back and forth, swaying as if he were about to collapse.

“I want my lawyer,” Ryan said, gritting his teeth. “Tell everyone here that if I don’t have a new set of clothes and my cell phone in five minutes, I’ll level this whole station and turn it into a parking lot.”

“No one’s coming,” he said. “So just forget about finding a lawyer.”

The man, who Ryan recalled was named David, looked over to the end of the hall. There was a small window on the wall that was barred and looked out to the street.

However, it was so dark outside that not even the street lights could be seen. There was nothing but empty space.

“I don’t know if this is some kind of trick, but I’ll make you regret it,” Ryan spat.

David ignored him and stared into the void. The black ink seeped into the windows. A halo of black dust circled around the window, seeping further and further in.

“I don’t think any of this is real,” David said.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t think we’re real,” Davidsaid.

“That’s nonsense,” Ryan said. “You should be the one behind these bars, not me! You’re clearly a lunatic.”

“Haven’t you ever thought about how easy it was?” David said, ignoring him. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “I know nothing about this place makes sense but I’ve never known anything else.”

Ryan was becoming disturbed. Someone had clearly let some criminal loose from one of the cells.

“You’re just insane,” Ryan HeelRiven said. “I am a genius. Articles have been written about my brilliant strategies.”

“Then tell me one.” David said, his voice dull. “I’m waiting.”

Ryan opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything. When he was in business meetings, he would say whatever came out of his mouth, but for some reason he drew a blank.

What needed to be said would appear in his head and he would say it. Everyone would be amazed about how brilliant he was, how miraculous his visions were. Anyone who opposed would later turn out to be jealous of his success and was trying to ruin him, or they were untrustworthy in the first place and needed to be weeded out.

No one objected to what he said. He was always right. But now, it was like he couldn’t do it. It wasn’t the right environment. And the delivery of information to his brain had stalled.

“Unless you’re in organized crime,” David said, “nothing about your profits make any sense,” David said.

“But they’re successful,” Ryan said. “I always make money.”

“Businesses fail all the time,” David said. “I’m surprised considering how much money you spend and your temper that you haven’t run your business into the ground.”

“You bastard, what you’re saying is slander!” Ryan HeelRiven shouted. When he gets out, he’s going to make this man wish that he was never born. He was already devising plans to ruin him.

David pointed to him inside the jail cell. “You don’t make sense.”

Ryan changed the subject. “If I’m not real, then how is it that I feel pain? And suffering?”

Ryan pinched his own arm, sending small jolts of pain into him.

David sneered at him. “You don’t know what suffering is.”

“How dare you say that to me!” Ryan shouted, gripping the jail bars. “I’ve suffered more than anyone I know!”

David was silent for a moment. They simply looked at one another.

“You were born in wealth,” David said. He pulled out a knife from his pocket. He opened the door to the cell and walked over to Ryan.

Ryan shrunk back. He had never shrunk back before. This alarmed him. How could he be afraid? He was never afraid!

“Every single need you’ve ever had was tended to," David said. "Maids, butlers. Staff. You’ve never had to work for anything in your life. What suffering would you know?”

Ryan tried to run around him, but David grabbed him by the hair and swung him back into the seat.

David pulled his arm back and then stabbed him once in the shoulder with a blinding force. Ryan screamed out. Blood splattered on his bathrobe and dripped down onto his legs.

But there was no pain. He expected pain to come shooting into his arm. 

“My-my mother,” Ryan said. His voice shook. “When I was little, my mother would lock me in my room while she invited men over. She wouldn’t take me anywhere I wanted to go. I only had servants.”

Ryan had reached into his memory for this. It was as if it was blocked by some unseen hand over his eyes. But now he could see clearly.

His mother would often invite men over while his father was away on business. She would lock him out of certain rooms in the house. He could scream and shout at anyone he wanted, just as long as he didn’t bother her.

“You can do whatever you want to the servants,” she would smile. “Kick them when you’re angry. Slap them when you’re sad. Just don’t bother me.”

And he did. People were and have always been his toys.

David gripped the knife. “I see. If you’ve suffered, you can treat others as disposable tools, is that what you’re saying?”

Ryan shook his head. “No! You’re twisting my words!”

“Is that why you murdered Fina?” David said. “You killed her because of what your mommy did?” 

Ryan jumped out of his seat and ran out of the jail cell. David didn’t bother following him.

Ryan HeelRven immediately tried to look for the exit, but there was none. The hall was an endless corridor of emptiness. Nothing, not even the window existed.

He couldn’t comprehend what exactly he was seeing. He stared for so long that he didn’t even notice that the dark dust of air had covered his feet. Ryan HeelRiven was sinking. The entire prison cell was sinking.

The murderer disappeared into the cloud of ash. David sat down on the ground and closed his eyes.

It was coming closer.

The darkness enveloped him until he lost sensation in his feet, then his legs, then his heart. It kept going until there was nothing left to feel.

END