Sinner's Game

23 - Sins

Eric

As the darkness faded, Eric's eyes had to readjust to the sudden brightness. 

In front of him – floating in reality like birds in unreal skies – were dozens upon dozens of long wooden benches filled to the brim with half alive creatures. They were arranged in a half circle, the creatures sitting on the benches quietly whispering and exchanging words he couldn't quite understand.

As he examined closer, he realized how familiar the creatures looked. He saw metallic half humans, people partly wrapped in present paper. There were heavily injured ones as well as remains of humans which clearly were supposed to be dead in the state they currently were in. But even in this pitiful state, he exactly knew who they were.

He had brought them into this state after all.

The masked figure slammed its hammer against the desk it was standing in front of, and the masses of Jim's and Anna's as well as the masses of Jack's went silent.

What is the purpose of this? If they already know everything they need about what happened back then, why should they act out a court sentence 'in here', he thought. I have already won the game, they can just let me out now like promised. And even if it was all just a lie and they would decide to somehow continue this inside or outside the game, I could just figure out a plan and get rid of everyone standing in my way. I could keep on trying, continue pushing forward, until I have everything I desire.

Eric wanted to mock the masked figure, tell it that presenting all these dead people in front of him wouldn't change a thing. He wanted to say that he didn't plan on hiding what he had done anymore, since there was nothing that could bring harm upon him anyways. But to his surprise, he  was unable to.

Instead, the masked figure rose its voice, the red box accompanying it as it said, "I will now proceed to name the crimes of the accused person Eric Hoffner, who will from now on been referred to as 'the Sinner'."

Eric looked up and down at all the versions of the three kids on the benches. Some of them were ugly, twisted and changed beyond comprehension, some weren't changed much, almost as if they were actually still alive. But they all were the definitive proof of his superiority and immortality, like a painting of the past underlining his might. Even though they were sitting higher than him, he looked down upon all of them.

Eric smiled, but yet something bothered him.

"Three years ago, on the 3. April at around 7 pm, the Sinner managed to break inside of the Reich family's home. He entered by smashing open the front door with something heavy. It is expected that the father of the family – Gerald Reich – heard the noise and wanted to confront the Sinner as he attacked him and cut off his hands. Following the evidence, Gerald Reich then died from blood loss after struggling to fight the Sinner."

Something about their faces, if they still had any, caused a feeling of unease inside of Eric. He didn't like the way they continuously whispered, pointed at him and shot glances at him like upon some kind of circus animal. Were they still unable to see his supremacy? Were they daring to look down on him? It was almost like back then. That god damn kid had looked down on him. His family had felt the consequences soon after... and they had never pitied him again.