Chapter 13

His eyes shoot open, his breath ragged. “Where am I?” He sits up on the dirty asphalt, looking around. He doesn’t recognize the dark alley he woke up in. Standing up, he brushes the dirt off his pants when he hears a woman’s voice.

“You new? You look new.”

The man looks up, seeing a white orb float down from the sky. He reaches out, but it backs away.

“Don’t touch me, pervert.”

He looks around, wondering who said that.

“Where are you looking? I’m right here!” The orb flies up to his face. “You are new, aren’t you.”

The man, baffled by the situation, comes to the conclusion that he’s dreaming. He slaps his face to wake himself up.

The orb flies around his head, laughing. “What was that about?”

“I’m not dreaming? This isn’t a dream?” The man asks, starting to freak out. He spins around and sees a body lying on the asphalt behind him. He lets out a little scream.

The orb flies over to the body. “What are you screaming about now?”

The man steps back, staring. “That’s… That’s a body… A dead body!” He can’t take his eyes away from the head, or at least, what used to be their head.

The orb examines the face. “It’s been blown to bits, probably by a shotgun or a high caliber pistol. Either way, it’s not much of a face anymore.”

The man falls on his butt, panicking, hyperventilating. “How did… Who… WHAT’S GOING ON?”

The orb floats back to the man, stopping right in front of his face. “You really don’t remember, do you?” She lets out an evil laugh, “You killed him.”

“I… I did? No… There’s no… No!”

“You did, and I saw it all!” She floats over, landing on the corpse. “Oh, what a poor man he was. He was begging for his life. “Please, please don’t kill me. I have a wife and kids. Ohhhhh.”  But you didn’t care. BLAM! You blasted him right in his face!”

“NO!” The man screams, covering his face with his hands.

The orb laughs, “Okay, I’m done teasing.” She floats over to him.

The man removes his hands from his face. “Teasing?”

“Yeah, go take a look.”

“A look? You mean at the body?”

“Yeah.” Floating over to the body, she hovers above it. “You’ll be surprised at what you find.”

Staying on the ground, the man crawls over to the body. He stares at it, unsure what he’s looking for. “Wait.” He says, finally noticing. “Those are my clothes! He’s wearing my clothes!”

The orb whispers, “Look a little closer.”

The man crawls over to the mangled face. “No! It can’t be.”

“Ohhhhhhhh but it is!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“NO!” He screams.

“YES!” She screams back. “It’s you.”