3 Mission Six: A Murderer Beneath the Starless Sky

"Row… Row... Row your... boat, Gently down... the... stream~"

Surrounded by the creaking trees as his audience, he wiped the sweat off of his face with a smile and continued to use his broken arm as a paintbrush to make a path, a trail for those who would later come to follow him.

"Merrily… Merrily… Merrily merrily merrily… Merrily~"

He stopped to cough a mouthful of blood before dropping his knees and ramming his back against a comfortable looking trunk of an old oaken tree. He took the time to point and count the bullet holes in some parts of his body before saying,

"fff..four. Life is but… a dream."

"Those bastards got me… but it doesn't matter, I still win, It is still my victory" He raised his head with a victorious grin as he gazed upon his surroundings. It gave him a burst of satisfaction that it turned out what he intended it to be — a party and an art exhibit mashed together for everyone to see. He can't help but widen his smile seeing his blood glisten in the dark as it highlights his desired festive aesthetic.

He smiled at the thought that the people who proclaimed themselves as law enforcement can't even protect three of their citizens. He raised his hands with a laugh to celebrate before dropping it thereafter like a log. Silence has begun to chew his ears and the darkness has started to eat his surroundings. His artworks started to disappear, he wanted to leave a message, a trail for someone to trace his footsteps but it seems there's still no one coming.

"Hah… I can't' wait to see the look on their faces when they get here" He gritted his teeth, bit his nails, and tapped a rhythm with his fingers as he tries to get by with his shallow breaths. The night sky turned a little bit brighter giving focus to the contorting trees that surrounded him. The silhouettes swayed back and forth until they formed eyes, mouth and some ears, It wasn't long before he could hear them talking.

He regained the energy to twist his lips to form a smile. He leaned forward to the nearest tree beside him and looked at it in its eyes, realizing that he needs to entertain his guests after all. He glanced at his surroundings, he tried his best to take a deep breath and grin to greet his onlookers before him. He felt his blood suddenly rush throughout his arteries and veins for, at last, everyone was looking and everybody gave him the attention that he deserved.

"Hey… guys thank you for coming. I see you're liking what I did there so..." He coughed and wiped the blood off of his prideful face. "Let me tell you guys a story. Wanna know what happened to those people that I've killed? They've been cu-"

"Dismembered and their parts were scattered around the house. Neat, now the crime scene looked like some kid played too much with his ice cream candy" The man pulled his tongue back inside his mouth and looked at the masked entity that appeared without a warning. Cold sweat started to run down from his forehead as he tried to follow his train of thought. All he could remember is that he has been talking alone and when he blinked, he was already there slowly tilting his head like a beast examining his next meal.

"We...well it seems we have a late visitor…" He unknowingly bit his lip while trying to think about what happened. He knew at the back of his mind that there should at least be a sound when someone's about to come. There should be enough dry leaves, twigs, and bushes to warn him but it seems that this creature walked through them like they never existed in the first place and what's more, he despised that he cannot see his reaction behind that damned white mask.

"Hi, My name is Albert and I'm the Grim Reaper" The masked creature spoke with a playful tone as he waved his arm in the air. His fingers moved back and bounced towards the man's direction before he followed, "Also, I'm here to stab you"

"Gri.. Reaper?" He paused before painting his face yet again with satisfaction and shouting, "The devil himself came just to drag me down, a sinner into the pits of hell"

The man raised his chin to the starless sky and laughed as hard as he can. He's getting this much attention especially now that he's about to die, he thought that maybe, fate isn't really bad after all.

"Too bad you're getting a guy with a knife" Albert averted his gaze and scratched his head before he took his notebook out of his back. He felt safe knowing that this man won't know that he had already popped a vein behind his mask. He was annoyed that his last assignment for the week was a man expecting something else. "Shame. Although those pitchfork lovers could definitely try, I'm pretty sure they're too busy filling their quota of suffering to throw a welcome party for…"

"Well… that was-"

"A guy who managed to kill just two people..." The man leaned forwards just to give a reply but was interrupted when Albert continued to talk after a quick glance from his notebook. The man then dropped his hands and looked at his feet. Neither of them didn't talk for a moment.

"Three" The man whispered as he clenched his fist on the ground. He then regained his proud grin after a few seconds of thinking as he said, "Well what about my presentation… Did you like it here?"

"Eh… It's kinda gross and dirty. Kinda like what you did with your home." Albert stood up from the ground while stretching his arms and neck. His smile can't be seen beneath his mask but his words penetrated the pride of that man like arrows raining in a war movie. "Having a brush and running it across the board to produce something that looked pretty doesn't mean that it's art. What you made is a mess."

The man's jaw began to shiver along with his hands and shoulders. He pushed up his knees towards his chin as he wrapped his arms around him like a baby. He looked away and tried his best to keep it that way for he knew that the reaper was coming. The sound of his movement became softer but the weight of his feet gradually became heavier and heavier.

"I still killed those people," He said, stuttering. "I killed those three with my own... two... hands."

The man pulled the strength to look at the general direction of his reaper only to find him sitting there just beside him. He thought that their eyes had met but what he saw was a deep dark swirling abyss beyond the holes of those white mask. "Well yeah. You did rape your wife and daughter before dismembering them and scattering them around your house."

"Y..yeah… Yeah!" Still cooped up like a baby, the man did his best to keep his head straight away from the entity who was whispering right by his ears. "When they see what I did, I'll be famous and everybody will know my name!"

His heart then began to wither. He began to see the leaves rustle along with the wind but suddenly, he could no longer feel what's making them move. The sound of his surroundings began to fade away and all he could hear is the voice of Albert beside him.

"But that happened after you strangled them while they're asleep. You didn't want them to feel that much pain haven't you? What a good boy" Albert continued to blow words into his ears and watch him whimper. "So you had a taste and wanted more so you tried to go for a weaker victim — a grandma"

He gave silence as a reply. He then started to bury his fingers into his skull to scratch his hair away from his scalp. His arms and legs became heavy as the pain from his wounds slowly disappeared, the only thought that he has was that he's breathing but he could no longer feel his lungs contract and expand.

"Good try, but since you're too much of a pussy that you could be satisfied by people slowly closing their eyes, that random grandma is now sitting at a hospital enjoying her insurance money and wishing that you'd die in a ditch somewhere" Albert lowered his head and groaned as he clenched the handle of his knife. "She did get a bit of what she wished for since you made another attempt on a younger and yet another weaker victim where you failed, got reported, got shot and now you're here with me... because my job requires me to stab you."

"My poor wife and child… they didn't deserve this" The man whispered before dropping both of his arms and letting his head sit on the tree trunk beside him.

Albert scoffed.

"You and your cheating wife" Albert laughed and poked his cheek. "She can't afford to file a divorce so she settled for overtimes, business trips, and meetings... if you know what I mean."

"Did my daughter know about this?" He let out a sad chuckle as he slowly turned his head to once again, look into the abyss beyond the holes of his reaper's mask. The pain that kept him from moving has gone away but he couldn't find the desire to run away.

"Yep… she's in it the whole way" Albert gave him a nod and it seems he understood. He was able to make up a smile on his face but this time it didn't reek of pride.

"I guess there's really nothing special about it all huh? Those things that I did" He raised his head to the starless sky. His memories flashed back before his eyes and he was reminded of his efforts when he was alive, even before he strangled them and picked up that butcher's knife. He would die under the blank night sky inside of God-knows-where without any sight to see or rhythm to hear. It made him cry. "Since you seem to already know everything, give me this one last question. Is there anything else I could have done?"

"No, If it were me I would have done the same thing" He reached out to shake his hand and stroke his hair. It wouldn't hurt him to lie at the person who ended up getting denied the attention and respect that he worked all of his life for. "You did good making it this far you bastard."

"Da… Damn right" The man's frozen face was finally thawed by a single line drawn by his tears. He used the last of his energy to push the corners of his mouth. For it was the first time in a long while where someone reached and brought warmth to his callous-filled hands. He brought forth his middle finger and raised it to the skies to show his gratitude and there came his end. Silence, a grin, a middle finger and a knife sticking in the middle of his forehead.

***

"So much for the last of my general assignment. I would finally have that time to rest while waiting for that raid. I would be nice to-"

Something rang at the side of his head and his upbeat smile has turned upside down. He took a sharp deep breath and kicked the pile of dirt beside him and replied, "Yello~ this is Albert. What's up?"

"Hey, M-man… It's been a while since we talked huh?... This is Tanaka by the way."

"Don't tell me…"

"Yeah, we were held up not far from your location. Our teammate had to drop out so I called to see if we could get some help… then the service representative put me on hold for fifteen minutes before redirecting the call to you so…"

"Damn it…" Albert sighed as his two-day vacation that he worked hard for slipped by his fingers. "It's not like I have a choice, Hang on and I'll be there. Send me what you have."