Another stab. Another jolt of pain. Another surge of memories.

One more fragment to process. I groaned internally as I felt myself being washed away and I recalled hoping that this time would be slightly less jarring than the last. That this mind would somehow manage to be less alien. Less perturbed.

I may as well have wished for a pony.

My vision flickered and from the brightness came the dark and from the dark, came the shapes above the water's edge and the intriguing machinations of a simpler, more animalistic outlook.

The ship was large and brightly lit.

'Good.' I thought. 'Easy to climb the ropes unseen. More space to hide. The people will be blinded by the light. Lower decks are not visible.'

Not that anyone would be looking.

Chief Pa had assured me that there would be parties above. The fat cats too busy to look down.

Chief Pa was right. Because of course he was. To say otherwise would be to bring the lash on yourself. The screws to the head. The metal pads and the wires and the stiff jitters.

So, there would be parties above and the bad fat cats would not be looking down. Because they were not like us. They were not good people. They were unclean and we were clean and we were good while they were bad.

We would win. I would win. I would succeed and I would not be seen.

"Hey kid! What are you doing out here at this hour?" I froze. Solid as a statue. Turning slowly to face the man.

He was a police man. Fat and round. Like a pig. Like Chief Pa said. Oink oink.

"Oink?" I said aloud. The words slipping past my lips.

"Huh?" He asked. Shaking his head and coming closer. "What did you say kid? No. Nevermind that. What are you doing here at the pier at this hour? And wearing that? Aren't you cold?"

"I'm a good person." I told him. "My goodness keeps me warm. Chief Pa says so."

And people who didn't listen to Chief Pa were hurt in the head by the metal, wires and jitters until they felt better. He would poke their eyes with metal tubes, like with me.

The oinky man looked surprised. He stumbled closer.

"Hey kid, uh. Do your parents know you're here?" He asked. Sounding concerned. "Do you need me to drive you somewhere? Are you lost? Or, okay?"

I frowned.

This wasn't going the way Chief Pa had said. But Chief Pa could not know that. Because Chief Pa could not know he was wrong or it would hurt.

I decided to cheat, in that way Chief Pa didn't like.

"You can't see me." I told him.

He blinked. Looking around in confusion.

"What? Where?" I slithered closer to him. Staying low like Chief Pa and Sergeant Bro had taught me.

Then I slit his throat.

"Sorry." I said as his eyes went wide. "Chief Pa can't know that he wasn't wrong. Because he wasn't. I'm a good person. I am clean."

I drew backwards. The knife separating cleanly from his artery.

Then I went around him and tackled him into the black waters of the pier. His body making little gurgling sounds as the fat rolls dragged him down.

It was good that the black, cold water was there. Normally I'd need to find a bathroom to be able to dispose of bodies. Since there were no windows on bathrooms.

Most of the time.

But most buildings had bathrooms and a bathroom was always a room meant to be private and so it would take longer for the bodies to be found.

'Yes. I'm smart. I use bathrooms to hide bodies. Not like that dummy Greg who hid that bad fat cat in the trunk of the car he borrowed. Who does that? Dummy. Silly dummy.'

Chief Pa had been furious, and we had to move after that. But he'd praised me.

I looked back at where the oinky man had come from to see a parked car and another man coming closer.

"You can't see me!" I shouted. Perhaps a little too loudly.

It took me another two minutes to drop that one into the bay and another five minutes to drop the couple who found me as I was dragging him into the bay.

The ship had started to move though and I was running out of time.

So, I got on the fun inflatable little boat and turned it on.

I arrived at the side of the ship a little while later, and from there, I threw the grappling hook upwards. Letting it catch the side of the big boat's bottom railings.

I smiled. I climbed with my big strong arms. I entered the lower level of the ship.

'Yes. They'll never find me now. I'm the sneaky sneaky sneakiest sneak. Sneaky. I'm a good person.'

"Hmn? Hey kid, what are you doing here?"

'Uuuuuuggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!'

It took me another two minutes to throw him overboard. If only because he was fatter and heavier than the two oinky men combined. How this oinkiest man ever managed to walk was beyond me.

Then I moved deeper into the big boat. Slinking and skulking past hallways and… wait!

I slapped myself over the head. Over the mask.

'How could I have forgotten? I forgot the clothes! Chief Pa always said to borrow the other people's clothes to sneak and skulk better!'

I slunk back a bit and decided that I should wait and see if I could borrow some clothes from the next oinky guy who came across me.

I waited inside a locker that was open. My eyes looking out from the slits in the metal.

I waited and waited and waited. Humming a tune to myself. The one from that movie with the bunnies that the fat men ate.

The movie was sad and it made me sad, but I liked the music. It was, oddly comforting. Like, it reminded me of a time before Chief Pa put the needle in my eye. Of someone, warm.

I would never tell Chief Pa this, but the music made me feel warm and safe inside. It often made me cry.

I was crying when I saw the man dressed in the purple robe coming up from the hallway to smoke a cigarette. I was still crying when my knife found the back of his throat. My hands already working to undress him quickly so the blood didn't fall on it.

"I'm sorry." I whispered into his ears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm a good person. Chief Pa says I need to do this. I'm a good person."

He fell into the water without his robes and most of his clothes. His mouth unable to make most sounds due to the hole I'd made.

I dressed in the robe. My eyes now seeing the little stars woven into the fabric and into the curly hat he'd been wearing.

I walked up the halls and up the stairs. Going one, two, three, four, five, six floors up and reaching the deck. The part of the ship where the party was.

No one stopped me along the way. Just as planned.

No one even stopped to look at me funny, despite how funny the robes and the little hat were.

'Excellent.' I thought to myself. 'Excellent. All according to plan. Now to find the bad fat cat and finish the mission.'

"Hey!" Someone called from the side. Coming close and trying to grab me.

My hand almost went to the hidden knife, but I stopped myself just in time.

"Yes? I'm a good person. How may I help you?"

The man who'd stopped me shook his head in incredulity.

"What do you mean? The show! The booth! How long were you planning on staying out here on break man! You're being paid by the hour!"

He went to grab me again and I let him. Sensing that killing him here with all these people in the way might not be what Chief Pa wanted.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He took me to a little booth where carpets had been set up in a tent-like fashion. All of them purple and all of them having little golden stars embraided onto them.

Above the booth was a sign.

One that read: "Behold! Come and have your future unveiled by the mysterious Xerxes! Master of past, present and future!"

I thought it was silly.

No one could know the future, aside from Chief Pa. Everybody knew that. Also, the sign said future twice. It was a very bad sign.

"Get in there and read some fortunes!" The man hissed in my ear. Throwing me into the rear of the tent and closing the door behind me.

Now I was alone in the booth, wondering what I should do next.

Then a person entered. A young woman with a nervous smile on her face.

"Hey there sir, um, Xerxes." She smiled shyly. "Um. Sorry. My friends dragged me in here! Haha! I really don't know what to do now."

'Neither do I.' I thought to myself.

But I was smart, as well as a good person. So, I knew to improvise.

"I can see your future." I said with confidence.

"Oh-okay?" She chuckled nervously again. "So, what's my future? Do you need to see my palm or something?"

"Your future is death." I said with confidence.

After all, it was true. Her own pa was a judge that had taken some kids from Chief Pa's previous community. Something about dangerous environments or abuse or something like that.

She was one of the bad fat cats.

She was going to die tonight.

She stopped. Her mouth hanging open.

"You should close your mouth." I said afterwards. "Or I see flies landing on your tongue in your future."

She closed her mouth. And swallowed. Hard.

"How?" She stopped. Gasped. And swallowed again.

"This is some kind of sick joke." She stated. "Did Tyler put you up to this? Haha. Nice going douchebag. Real funny. I bet you think you're a good person don't you? Harassing people like this for a few bucks?"

O shook my head. Kind of offended that she would take that tone with me when she was a bad fat cat partying on a boat while Chief Pa was trying to save the world.

"I am a good person. Chief Pa says so." I told her. "Also, I have seen Tyler's future too. His future is death."

She reddened. I could see her cheeks glowing in the dim light of the booth. I could see her chest puffing up like a pufferfish. Tears at the corners of her eyes.

She rose to slap me.

I rose too.

I caught her right hand with my left. While my right hand slid my knife into her throat.

Her eyes widened.

Her throat gurgled.

I squeezed down on her hand and brought her own finger to my lips.

"Shhhh." I whispered.

And then she lost her strength. Unable to make enough noise to get the attention of anyone outside.

Then I grabbed her tiny body and put it under my seat. It took a bit of jostling but I managed to get it in there without too much trouble and without getting too much blood on the table or the cushions or my clothes.

Bonus.

Someone else came into the booth. A guy who looked a bit older than me. Maybe some four years older than me. Which would make him, what? Sixteen?

"Hey dude! You've got a wicked tent here!" He chortled. Looking around with a vacant expression.

'He's on something.' I figured. 'Nice. Makes one slow. Makes things easy. Double nice.'

"Dude! Where's Trish?" He asked.

"She has met her destiny." I answered.

"Ooooh." He smiled. "Cool. So, like. Did you tell her the lottery numbers or something?"

"No." I said. "I showed her the future."

"Cool." He grinned. Now looking down. Placing his finger on a droplet of blood and trying to smudge it.

"Dude. This is sooooo cool. It looks just like real blood. What is it?"

"Real blood." I told him.

He rolled his eyes.

"Riiiiiight. Of course it's real blood dude. Nice.

He chuckled to himself again.

"So, can you read my future?"

"Yes." I told him. "Please sit."

I looked at his arms and then at his height.

"Also, in order for the spell to work, please tie up your arms with…"

I looked around.

"This towel."

He actually did it. Placing his arms in front of him and letting me tie a pretty sweet knot.

"Okay, so what's my future?"

I leaned back and placed a hand on my knife. Letting the blade rest just under the table.

"You will lay next to your beloved tonight."

He tried to pump his fists, despite the knot.

"Nice! Oh dude! You have no idea how long I've been trying! She's just so uptight you know?"

He sighed.

"Her dad got some threats from some wacko cult or something. It really has her spooked."

"Do not worry." I told him. "She will not lose sleep over it any longer."

"Oh right. You probably made her feel better. Something you said?"

"More like something I did." I admitted.

"So, what, like predicting the lottery numbers?"

"No. Not like that."

"Um. Okay. Could you show me?"

I could and I did.

His body was a bit harder to stuff under the seat and he did thrash around a bit more so there was more blood. But I was more or less done by this point so there was nothing to be gained from staying here.

I slipped out through the front and made a mad dash for the nearest double doors. Not letting anyone get too close, lest they see the blood splatter.

When a staff member did notice me, it was as I was running into the washroom. Using the map of the boat Chief Pa had made me memorize.

"You can't see me." I told him. Before I grabbed him in a chokehold and squeezed tight until he stopped breathing.

From there, I had a new suit where I was dressed as a common serving man of the big ship. Just as Chief Pa had planned. Not only that, but I was already down two targets in less than an hour. Great progress considering I had been given a limit of five hours to get things done.

'No problem. You're just that good.' I told myself. 'Now lets get out of the washroom and…'

"Oh my gosh! Someone's fainted!" A man called from the doorway. His eyes laying on the hapless serving man's naked form.

"You can't see me." I said in turn. Before going behind him and choking him as well.

From there, I put both of them in toilet stalls so they wouldn't be noticed. I thought that was going to do the trick, but then someone else opened the door and started screaming.

"Oh my gosh! Where did all this blood come from!? Is everything okay?"

I stuffed him into the only remaining stall and then went outside to try and clean up some of the blood, when I noticed that one of the stuffed bodies was slipping down from underneath the stall. A limp hand clearly visible.

"Hey, is that a limp hand?" Someone behind me asked.

I had stuffed seven bodies into three toilet stalls by the time I managed to find a mop to clean up the blood, but another pair entered the washroom right as I was beginning to pour the bleach.

I then ran into a different problem.

There was nowhere to put the bodies I'd just dropped.

The stalls were already stuffed as well as I could have hoped and even then, I was afraid that another hand or leg or head was going to start poking out from underneath.

So, I turned and did something extreme.

I placed an out of order sign outside the washroom and set out to find my last target.

I found him near the buffet table. As Chief Pa said.

I found him standing with the other fat cats. As Chief Pa said.

I found him ignoring the large chandelier dangling above them all. The metal, heavy, metal, heavy bands of heavy metal lit with all kinds of shiny lights.

I saw the rope. I made my way to it.

I waited as the bad fat cat moved around the same area. Making triple sure they would all be underneath the ideal spot.

I saw my chance and slashed.

And only then noticed that my knife was dull.

Looking closer, I saw that it must have been bent a little due to the previous tasks.

A staff member ran to me. Yelling at me and asking me what the bleep I thought I was doing.

I stared at him. At the gathering crowd. At the way the bad fat cat and all the other fat cats were staring at me.

"Uhhh." I said. "I'm a good person."

The man who had been yelling at me stopped. Stunned for some reason.

So, I used my cheat again.

"You can't see me!" I roared. Deciding to implement plan B.

So, I ran up to get a nearby vase and smashed the bad fat cat over the head with it. Before running off for the emergency rafts.

I had made a mistake. Again.

No, perhaps it would be more correct to say that I had made a series of mistakes leading up to this point.

First, I did not properly factor in how tired I would be after all that cleansing. I was supposed to have enough energy to row the inflatable raft all the way to shore.

I did not have that energy.

So, the raft more or less floated in the darkness for an hour or two. Or three. Hard to tell since I lost my watch somewhere along the way.

By the time I landed on the shoreline, the whole waterfront was filled with all kinds of cars. All but a few having all kinds of bright flashing lights on top.

I smelled bacon in the air, as Chief Pa would say.

Indeed, I was smelling bacon for a long, long time after, since one of the oinkies had shot me with a smelly oinky ball. I choked and fell back into the raft.

I felt hands around me and I felt the oinky men taking me inside a car.

From there, I had to wait until I could breathe again before I could use my cheat. And from there, I had to keep yelling at them until I could convince them to unlock the oinky chains.

It was strange. Seeing them do it.

I had no idea that I could cheat like this.

It opened up all kinds of possibilities.

I borrowed their car after they let me go and I was so thankful I didn't even cleanse them.

Good for me.

Yet now I was thinking of what Chief Pa might say.

He had not liked it when I first started to use my cheats. In fact, I clearly remember him trying to cleanse me after the fact. Him calling me a Telecom or something.

Hmnn.

'Now that I think of it, I had to ask him to stop. Very loudly. I asked him to forget.'

Hmnn.

I thought about it as I drove back towards the compound. About the kinds of cleansings I had to take care of recently.

It's not that I minded. I was a good person after all.

But I was getting the feeling that we weren't going anywhere.

Worse, I was getting the feeling that I was the only one going on missions anymore.

Again, I didn't mind it as much. Because I was a hard worker and a good person.

But I was getting a feeling that this was not the way it was supposed to be.

I left the borrowed car in a swamp, as I'd been taught. From there, I made my way up the hill and into the forests. My eyes following the now invisible trail while surrounded by darkness.

It was odd to walk the forest at night. Without any kind of light. It perhaps wasn't very bright.

I felt unsure. Enclosed and surrounded.

I felt that something was off and on instinct, I turned to a patch of darkness behind a tree.

"You can't see me!" I shouted.

Then I waited, as something moved out of cover.

I could not see it of course, but it felt and sounded like a kitty. A big orange kitty. With stripes.

The kind Chief Pa had gotten to clean up after the unclean ones he trapped in the shed.

I turned my head sideways and followed his sounds.

"What are you doing here, kitty?" I asked him.

I was not expecting an answer, but the Kitty reeled back and I could her how his paws disturbed the leaves on the ground and the twigs around them.

I had another hunch, and walked closer.

"Why are you acting like that, kitty?" I asked. "Are you afraid?"

The kitty retreated a bit more. His body and mind tense, though I could not say how I knew that.

"It's okay kitty." I assured him. "You are safe with me. I'm a good person."

The kitty did not like that answer. He turned to run and he would have bolted had I not used my cheat again.

"Get back here kitty!" I commanded.

He stopped, dead in his tracks. But then he came back. Meek as ever before.

"Good boy kitty." I rubbed his head and scratched behind his ears. "Walk with me kitty. Let's get you back to the compound."

We walked together in darkness. My eyes unable to see anything in front of me, while my ears picked up the odd sound now and again. My feet following the trail by memory, without any kind of trouble.

"You know kitty. I think you and I should play together some more." I told him. "This is so nice. Usually I have to walk back along the forest all by myself. It's so lonely."

I sighed.

"I wish I could stop feeling so lonely, all the time. I don't know what I'm going to do kitty. Everyone keeps going on missions and not coming back. Then Chief Pa gets upset and takes it out on all of us. At least, he used to. Now he just takes it out on me."

The big kitty did not reply. But I got the feeling that he understood.

"You know big kitty, it didn't use to be like this. I remember a time where I felt warm and fuzzy all the time. But I cannot for the life of me recall the details. I know I want to go back. That I used to cry myself to sleep wanting to go back. But it's always a dream and it always fades away when I wake up. It runs from me. Like a lot of the unclean ones do. I can't seem to figure things out kitty. Why is this taking so long? Why are there so many unclean ones to take care of? Why are there so many oinkies if they're wrong and we're right? Doesn't it make sense that there would be more of us? It doesn't make any kind of sense and Chief Pa gets upset when I ask him and he tries to cleanse me until I cheat him to stop. I don't get it."

The big kitty did not reply. But I again got the feeling that he understood.

"I'm going to ask him tonight, big kitty." I told him. "I'm going to get some answers once and for all."

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