The Shadow

Chapter 7 - The Breakdown

Donny watched carefully as the Shadow tried to move while aiming at him, the light in the corridor was flickering. The situation was tense as the light was flickering, and both were unsure what the other's next move would be. Donny aimed it right towards the Shadow's head, preparing for what was about to go down. "You've been expecting me?" Donny asked curiously, trying to focus as much as he can on the Shadow's movements.

"Oh, you think I was an idiot who casually happened to get noticed by you? I led you here; I just wanted to have a quick chat with you," the Shadow replied sarcastically.

"What is it you wanna talk? Do you think you can justify your actions and the amount of pain you caused all these years, to so many families and so many people?" Donny asked angrily.

"Hah, justify? What made you think I regret my actions one bit? I enjoy what I do. The pure thrill and exhilaration I get when I kill those people are unmatched," replied the Shadow.

"The legend was true; you don't have any value for life. It's monsters like you because of whom the society will never see the light," replied a furious Donny.

"Don't make me laugh. What light are you talking about? Hope, Justice, Peace, and Love? You think any of that is real. It is a fucking fairy tale you optimistic people have created. You people are scared to look in the dark abyss, the reality of the society we live in. I was born in that darkness; I was like you, looking for a light, for that one spark that could save me, but I just sunk deeper as I searched for that light. You can never escape; you just have to adapt to it, and that is what I have done. Once you have seen the society's reality, you can never look back. So stop lecturing me about your ideals," Shadow replied.

"That doesn't bury the fact that you killed countless innocent people in the name of your so-called reality check. You terrorized everyone 13 years ago; you stopped it. Why are you back now? Wasn't it enough for you?" Donny inquired.

"Huh, innocent? Oh, Donny, I thought you were better than this. All the people I killed were the ones that were supposed to be hanged by your so-called police force, whose justice you are pretending to idealize. I did the fucking dirty work for you people." The Shadow replied.

"So, you say you are helping us murder these people? What, are you some kind of vigilante shit now?" Donny retorted.

"Vigilante? Haha, Were you not listening, Donny? I am not doing this for justice or to do something good for this society. I am doing this for fun; I was just stating the fact that none of them I killed were 'Innocent'," replied Shadow.

"Would you say that about Ren's father and Abbas who didn't hurt a soul and were trying to do something good? Were they also not 'innocent'?" replied Donny. Shadow remained silent for a moment and stared at Donny.

"Heh, thought your younger generation police were really better than the ones 13 years ago. But I guess not; you aren't any better in investigating who killed whom, huh? Look closely before you point fingers and guns, Donny," replied Shadow.

"Maybe, I might be wrong about them, but that doesn't let you have the authority to kill all these people; you are just a killer hiding behind a mask scared to face the reality and unable to fight it through justice," Donny replied.

"Now, you are making me mad! Come on, Donny, who are you fooling around? The so-called justice you are talking about is a fucking farce! You know it better than anyone. Do you think I don't know how much you hate yourself, the feeling of looking at yourself every day in the mirror and hate what you see? Justice, you say? I know you wanna puke every day doing the half-assed work you do, powerless and unable to make a difference trying to fight the inevitable fact that you are nothing but a fake pretense of the word justice. There is no such thing as justice in this world; the ones with power are 'The Justice'," Shadow retorted.

"What are you talking about?" Donny looks at Shadow confused as his head starts to spin suddenly. With his vision slowly blurring.

"Oh, you know exactly what I am talking about, Don. Have you forgotten about that kid? What you did to him?" Shadow replied.

"Stop!" Donny says as his pain intensifies.

"What happened to that kid was your fault; where was your so-called justice when you got him killed? What did it do to save the kid? You killed him! And here you are lecturing me about Justice and Righteousness." Shadow increases his tone as he slowly starts walking towards Donny.

"I said stop!" Donny screams in agony out of pain, as he trembles to aim his gun and loses his control. He watches the Shadow slowly closing after every flicker of the light.

"I know you enjoyed what you did the next day, Donny, all the blood and all that gore; you finally realized there was no justice in this world. So stop acting and pretending to be the follower of justice." Replied the shadow inching on closer as he spoke.

Donny has flashes of a small kid, and a scene of him breathing heavily as he watched the blood drip over his wrists. He dropped to his knees, trembling and powerless as his memories slowly came back to him about the incident which left him traumatized 4 months ago.

"I know everything about you, Donny; I have been watching you closely. You asked me why did I come back after 13 years? It is because you and the others didn't have the fucking conviction to do the job." Shadow said as he landed a punch on Donny's face. Donny didn't resist, Shadow continued a series of blows, "You are the same as me, Donny, but you just don't wanna accept the truth, hiding behind the curtains of justice; you think there is something on the other side, something on the other side of the pain, searching desperately for hope and light, but let me tell you, Donny. There will be no end to pain; you can hide, but can't run from it; you just have to choose your pain. You said I was hiding behind a mask, eh? But what are you doing? You are hiding in the crowd and plain sight. So wake up and Embrace the darkness!"Saying that Shadow hit a final blow on Donny's chin as it knocks him out and as he loses his vision, He sees Shadow standing over him menacingly, saying, "See you soon! Don."