I'm Setting You Free

We received 100 power stones this week, and so, here's an extra chapter as promised!

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Ashton watched in confusion as 'Henry' put on his clothes again, and fixed his glasses back on top of his nose. Their lovemaking was disrupted.

"I can't let this end like the book, y'know?" He saw his 'Henry' jeer. "Just thinking about it makes me puke. It's so plain and simple, hiding behind a mask and mind-controlling a bunch of lumberjacks, yet you managed to fool so many at once..... I can't let you fool anyone anymore...."

"What are you saying, Henry?" Ashton fidgeted. "You're scaring me....."

'Henry' finished buttoning up, and smiled at him. "Ashton, what do you see by that wall over there?"

"The portrait." Ashton answered, confused. 'Henry' tossed his clothes at him, becoming even more confused.

"Yes." 'Henry' sat beside him, putting the clothes back on him. "And? What does the portrait mean?"

"It's a representation of my true self, so what?" Ashton frowned as he wore his T-shirt and pants. "I have already come to accept it. Do you dislike me now because of it?"

"No, I could never dislike you. In fact, Ashton, I love you so much. That's why I want to show you a gift I have been hiding for a very long time."

Zhe Chouhen had reached a state of strong will that even the electrifying OOC shocks in his heart doesn't affect him anymore. How?

Self-hypnotization. If you believe you're not experiencing pain, then you aren't.

He used the very thing he dislike the most about Henry to his advantage.

"You believe that you and this portrait switched places. That it has the appearance you truly have. You and it are one and the same like two sides of the same coin, or Janus. The old and the new, end and beginning, flipping back and forth."

"And speaking of flipping..." Zhe Chouhen grinned even wider, pulling out the small remote control button.

(Don't you dare.....) Henry said inside him.

(I dare. You know, you're not really as smart as you thought you are, Henry. In fact, you are very stupid. Because all that you worked for years..... can easily be destroyed by just one click.) Zhe Chouhen grinned. (Now watch me destroy it.)

Click.

There was a buzz, and the portion of the wall where the portrait was started to move.....

Ashton, who is now sober from both the alcohol and the drugs, wished he thought he wasn't. Because he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Henry..... What---"

"Ta-da!!! Two paintings, carefully made to parallel each other. Aren't I so good at this?" He grinned from ear to ear. "That's not the only one. I disposed of the copy where you were just smiling evilly, where you first grew a wrinkle, all the small details, and changes until it reached to this."

Ashton shook his head. "I don't get what you're saying... Why?! Why did you do this to me!?"

"Because I am a coward, Ashton." 'Henry' admitted with a crazed smile. "Too cowardly to speak about my feelings and pursue you like a normal person, so I delve into the dark arts myself. "

"Dark arts.....?"

"Yes, it's a magic called 'Manipulation', dear."

There is a shock wave of about 10,000 volts in Zhe Chouhen's body now, but he barely flinched.

"You're not the only partner I have in this trick. Do you know just how powerful words are? So powerful that those who master them can control others, on what we now call 'Hypnotism'?"

"H-Hypnotism..... Henry, you're not making any sense! Hypnotists are just a bunch of hoax on TV, swinging pocket watches in front of people who are paid actors."

"Well, you aren't paid by me. Along with the several staff members of Fangs of Eros. Hypnotism doesn't need pocket watches, Ashton, just convincing words."

"Fangs of Eros..." Ashton remembered that moment again, the time when the world seems to be spiraling below him and he lost his footing. "No.... No, you don't mean that. You're just joking----"

Zhe Chouhen placed a hand over his face. "Do you see now? Ashton, I can tell you to throw yourself over the balcony, and I can assure you, you will jump. I have been practicing this for years, I am even more effective than someone with a license in psychology."

Ashton shook his head again and again. "Henry, stop this! This isn't funny---"

"Jump, Ashton. Go to the balcony and jump." Zhe Chouhen commanded. "You want to, don't you?

Ashton suddenly felt a strong urge, like an itch in his heart. He had always wanted to jump, why hasn't he before? Looking at the height of that balcony... He sure wanted to find out what will happen if he throw his body off to the busy roads down below.....

'Henry' led him to it, where an easel with an unfinished painting of the city landscape was just left behind on the side. He walked slowly, trying to reach the railing, one foot up.

"Stop. Ashton, break free from it."

He blinked.

What was he doing again? What was happening?

He remembered Henry was trying to convince him that he can hypnotize him into jumping---

"Ahh!!!!" He yelled as he fell backward from seeing the scene below him, the towering height where he almost met his end. 'Henry' was there to catch him, hugging him tight.

"You see now? Even Sidney is easily convinced." He held Ashton tightly. "I'm an amazing bastard, Ashton. A very horrible bastard who made you go through being dragged by a van and taken to a field to be undressed by six men, only to kill them so the guilt would burden you and add to your inhibitions all your life. That is amazing, right?"

"Shut up!! Shut up, shut up, shut up!!!!!" Ashton struggled from his grasp, punching, and kicking. "WHY ARE YOU SAYING ALL THIS? IF IT WAS TRULY YOU, WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME NOW???"

"Because I love you, Ashton." Zhe Chouhen said. "And I cannot accept you being like this anymore."

"Bullshit.... love....." Ashton cried and cried. "If you loved me, you wouldn't have told me. Not like this.... You wouldn't have told me and let me continue living in a fantasy...."

Zhe Chouhen sighed, patting his head. "...I can't do that anymore, Ashton. I need you to wake up. Because if not, your love for me will never be real."

"Who told you?"

"Who told me what?"

"That you needed all this to make me love you? For how long have you been doing this?" Ashton asked him, burying his head on his chest. " Since we were kids? Back in Kansas?"

(No.....) Henry answered.

Zhe Chouhen gritted his teeth, annoyed, yet spoke the truth. "No. I only learned to do this once we moved."

"Then you're stupid, Henry! Sob, sob, you're so stupid!" Ashton slammed his fist on his chest. "You could have stayed the way you are back in Kansas. You could have stayed as the guy who willingly risked his life to work in chemical mines and lost his 20/20 vision because of it just so he could earn money for me..... The guy who had always been there for me when no one believed in my dream, who risked everything just so I could achieve it..."

Henry was quiet inside. Zhe Chouhen too, not knowing what to say.

"You could have just been more open..... No longer making vague remarks..... Or even just continue doing so without this hypnotism crap..... Man....." Ashton punched him again and again. "I would be able to see it, Henry. I really could have. If only you just waited a bit..."

This isn't the reaction Zhe Chouhen expected nor wanted.

"Ashton... I could have never waited. I'm always impatient. Don't pity me."

The boy shook his head. "No..... I don't believe you."

"This changes nothing, Ashton. I still did so many horrible things, caused so many deaths. I'm the real murderer, Ashton."

"I know... I hate you for it....." Ashton looked up and didn't say anything for a while. His tear-steaked face, red eyes.... It was heartwrenching. "Just turn yourself in. Admit everything, I don't mind if you even involve me. If only you get in jail, I will wait for you. If I'm with you, then we stay there together."

"Ashton..... You're forgiving me too easily!!!!!" Zhe Chouhen gritted his teeth. "I'm not even forgivable!!!"

"I'm not forgiving you, Henry."Ashton said...

"I just love you."

Henry smiled inside him. (I love you too.)

Meanwhile, Zhe Chouhen's face darkened. Things are drastic now, and he doesn't know what is up with Daoist Panda and why he can only appear so shortly. He had to separate the two of them no matter what.

"Ashton, I cannot forgive myself." He kissed his forehead. "I'm sorry, but I just can't. I need to pay for my crimes with my life."

Ashton stopped sobbing, eyes wide. "What?"

"Stay here. Live your life without me."

Ashton felt his body locked in place, unable to move. But he can still see everything, as 'Henry' let go of hugging him and went to the railing of the balcony.....

"No!!!!"

There was a thump.

Shouts in the street.

Mangled limbs, blood seeping out to crawl further and further.

The broken phone dinged four new notifications.

[Love Meter: 100%]

[Satisfaction Meter: 39%]

[Scum Meter: 90%]

[The book has reached an ending. Aborting this world in 3.....2.....1....]

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"Mr. Florice, that was a great performance."

"Thank you." Ashton bowed his head a bit at the person who complimented him. "Thank you for the tip."

"You know, I prefer you as a pianist than an actor." The lady said. "Please don't be offended by it. Just my two cents."

"Thank you." Ashton just repeated. As she left, he muttered. "I prefer myself as a pianist too....."

He took his cap back on to hide his gray hairs, and kept playing.

There were two people in Kansas that Ashton had felt like he couldn't live without. His grandfather, who taught him how to play the piano and act out old movies with him. And his friend, Henry Basildon.

Now, both of them are gone. And yet, he is still living.

He just couldn't do it. Every time he tries to join them, he could not. His friend's hypnotic power must be so strong that even after his death, it still has an effect on him.

"Stay here. Live without me."

Those are very cruel words to say, said by a cruel man who did very cruel things to him.

He played the melodramatic and sorrowful tune in the restaurant. The patrons love this one, though it always brings them to tears. When asked the title, he would respond---

"I dare not speak its name."

Because the song he composed was named after the man who dared not speak his love for him. So he dare not say it to anyone else too. It felt like explaining it would be giving away a piece of his soul.

And he is only willing to give his soul to that man.

Someone placed another tip as he reached the crescendo, and he mumbled, "Thanks."

"You must be parched, Mr. Florice." The young man said. "You've been playing since this morning. If my counts were correct, you have played that tune 5 times today now."

"Thanks." He repeated.

The young man sighed, just putting the water bottle in front of him. "If you're tired, you should just drink."

As he left, and the piece was finished, Ashton looked at the water bottle. He truly was tired, but not just of playing the piano.

He drank.

And immediately, his heart constricted. He couldn't breathe. The patrons of the restaurant panicked. "Mr. Florice!!!"

But Mr. Ashton Florice, once a world-famous actor and now a pianist at a low-end restaurant, had finally died from cardiac arrest at the age of 61. Patrons said he died with a satisfied smile. The last thing to escape his lips.... was a name.

The name of the song and the man he loved.

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