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                 K R I S T E N' S    C O L L E C T I O N
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This work is copyrighted to the author © 2005.  Please
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Cycle of Corruption - 4
by The Synthetic Divine (syntheticdivine@aol.com)

***

AUTHOR NOTES: Well, we've now arrived at Part 4, the 
completion of the story. Since I'm sure you've read the 
feedback requests I tossed into the beginning of the 
first three parts, I won't repeat it for the fourth. I 
believe I've decided to write another story to post, 
after this one. Not sure precisely when I'll get it out 
though, so don't get too eager over it. When I do get 
it out it'll be titled "Dead People Aren't Toys", so 
look for it as you will. And no, it doesn't involve 
necrophilia. Well, not really, at least... I mean, it 
has a dead person in it, but no dead bodies, and.. 
You'll just have to read it for yourself.

This story, in it's entirety, has been awhile in the 
works so I hope you'll forgive me for not having it 
finished 'till now. But hopefully you've enjoyed it 
enough for that not to matter. Also, as with the 
feedback info, since I tossed the content warnings into 
the first through third parts, I won't bother with it 
again. If you haven't bothered to read those three, and 
are just starting now with the fourth part.. Well... I 
take no responsibility for what you're getting yourself 
into. I now offer to you the fourth and final part of 
this tale I've woven, which I hereby dub, "The Beast 
Within".

***

The Cycle Of Corruption: The Beast Within (MF, inc, nc, 
rp, mc)

Rick strode towards the glass doors of the mall, the 
gun already tucked behind the rear waistband of his 
pants, with his shirt covering it. Looking through the 
doors in preparation, he took note of what security he 
saw nearby. There were two guards somewhat close to the 
door, talking with each other. They were paying no 
attention to the door though, and little attention to 
anything else around them, either. He wondered why 
exactly they got paid for that. The mall wasn't 
crowded, but it wasn't empty either. There were more 
then enough people there to satisfy his tastes. As he 
reached the doors and extended his left hand to push 
one open, he reached around with his right to slip 
beneath his shirt and grasp the gun.

Almost immediately the power surged through him. 
Stepping through the door and into the mall, he drew 
the gun smoothly out and quickly aimed it at the head 
of the closest guard. He didn't need to concentrate, he 
could feel the shot. Pulling the trigger, he wasn't 
surprised this time with how loud the sound of the gun 
going off was. Nor was the sight of the guard's brains 
splattering across the wall behind him anything new. 

The second guard's head finally snapped around towards 
him, and he went for his gun, but Rick was able to 
shift his hand and fire a second shot before the guard 
even got his hand on it. This bullet took the guard 
through the throat, but it was still efficient enough. 
The man's attention immediately shifted from getting 
his gun, to the sudden pain and rush of blood from his 
throat. Not like it would matter anyways. Rick didn't 
wait the few seconds it would take for him to die, 
though, he just turned his attention to the rest of the 
mall. By now the heads of virtually every person in 
sight were turning or already turned towards him.

There were a few screams, but that offered no more then 
temporary amusement. A few people were already starting 
to break and run in the opposite direction. Rick raised 
his gun and aimed at one of them. Guy, somewhere in his 
twenties, actually wearing a suit of some kind. To the 
mall. Smirking, Rick pulled the trigger again. He saw 
the guy go down, but he didn't get a chance to see much 
of the blood. A shame. By now most everyone was either 
running or darting into stores to hide. That was fine 
with him. If they wanted to play hide and go shoot, who 
was he to object?

It was exhilarating, this whole killing thing. It was a 
rush he'd never imagined. That, combined with the feel 
of the power pumping through his veins combined for a 
sort of high he didn't think anyone would ever be able 
to get from simple drugs. Idly he strode towards the 
nearest store. Clothing. He didn't bother to look at 
the name above the entrance as he walked through it. 

He couldn't see the five people hiding in here, but he 
could feel them. He could sense them, hiding or no. His 
pace was easy and careless as he walked up to the 
counter and leaned over, pointing the gun down at the 
salesperson who was cowering beneath the cash-register. 
She wasn't even given the chance to speak before he put 
a bullet through her head.

Whistling a little tune to himself, he straightened up 
and walked towards the back of the store, invisible 
from the front. Nobody appeared to be there, but he 
knew different. Walking over to the first of three 
changing stalls, he politely knocked on it, calling in 
as he did. "I know you're in there. If you don't come 
out, I'm going to keep shooting through the door until 
I'm certain your dead. Step out, and there's a chance 
maybe we can work out a little deal to keep you alive." 

He knew that the last line would imply that he might 
desire sexual favors, but that was actually a good 
thing, because it was believable. As disturbing as the 
idea of having to hand out sex would be to the girl, 
odds were that it would be more preferable to her then 
death.

A few seconds passed, but then just before he was about 
to actually follow through and start shooting, the door 
to the stall opened and out stepped a girl. Pretty, 
sixteen or so. Brown hair, hazel eyes. He vaguely 
considered halting his killing spree for awhile to 
actually take advantage of the girl and grab the sexual 
favors he'd implied. But nah, he could fuck anytime. 
Today was about bloodshed. Aiming the gun straight at 
her, she had only begun to move when he fired two shots 
directly into her chest. 

She fell, and he paused just long enough to step over 
her body before moving on. Past the second stall door, 
to stop in front of the third. A mother was hiding in 
there, with two kids. It had to be a tight fit. 
Grinning, he leaned back and lashed out with one foot, 
having to hold back some of his power to just slam the 
thing open, and not knock it entirely off it's hinges. 
He could hear it impact with something, and then a wail 
of pain. Only a part of the occupants were visible past 
where the door had stopped, just the same he pointed 
the gun in their direction and took to shouting this 
time as he stepped back a few feet. "OUT, NOW!"

Looking absolutely terrified, the mother came out, 
tugging a boy of about seven by the arm, who was 
outright bawling now as his free hand clutched at his 
head. The girl was about five, and came out practically 
attached to the side of her mother's leg, so tight did 
she seem to be holding onto it. "Please, do whatever 
you want to me... Just don't hurt my children." The 
woman begged in a desperate voice. Somewhere in her mid 
to late twenties or so. 

Rick actually paused for a second, considering. There 
was something inside him, some small part of him that 
was screaming that he couldn't do this. That it was 
going too far. But he'd always hated inner voices. He 
unloaded a single bullet into the woman's ribcage. She 
actually managed to stay on her feet for a couple 
seconds before she collapsed. He wasn't sure if she was 
dead when she impacted with the ground, or if it took a 
few seconds after, but he was pretty sure he'd gotten 
her heart.

The boy came out of his pain induced crying when his 
mother hit the floor. There were still tears in his 
eyes, but his noises had vanished. Instead he knelt 
beside her, putting his hands on one of the woman's 
shoulders and trying to shake her. His earlier sobbing 
had turned to soft cries of "Mommy?" in a small pitiful 
voice. The girl was just staring at the body of her 
mother. She didn't move, didn't make a single noise. 
She just stood there, as if frozen in place.

Rick took a deep breath and aimed the gun at the young 
boy's head, only he suddenly found his hand trembling. 
His finger was resting over the trigger, but he 
couldn't seem to make himself pull it. His breaths were 
suddenly coming in short, quick gasps. 

All he could seem to hear was the boy's voice, crying 
for his mother. And for a second he found the power 
inside him wavering. Then something inside him snapped, 
ripped away as smoothly and surely as if it had never 
been there, and he pulled the trigger. The boy's brains 
looked the same any others. He could hear a weird 
chuckle ripping it's way from his throat. It sounded 
off somehow, it didn't even resemble any other sound 
he'd ever made, it didn't sound quite... Sane. The 
power in him was no longer wavering, though. Far to the 
contrary, it was suddenly complete. Absolute.

He didn't even realize he was moving. It was like he 
was there, but he wasn't. Like he understood that he 
was controlling the movement of his body, but there was 
no thought. He could feel a strange smile twisting 
across his face. The girl was still frozen, no 
expression on her face. She just stood there, staring 
at her mother and brother. She didn't even seem to 
notice the gun shifting towards her, but quickly enough 
her body joined theirs.

As he strode out of the store his mind was blank, but 
he didn't need to think, only to feel. He was alive 
with the power, so incredibly alive. It was like he 
could feel everything, like nothing was out of his 
reach. The sadistic smile on his face grew wider as he 
saw three more security guards racing in his direction, 
guns already drawn. 

He was still far, far faster then them, though. He not 
only leveled the gun at the first guard and got off 
what he knew would be a clean shot to the guard's left 
eye before they could even focus their aim at him, but 
he was able to shift his aim to the second guard and 
fire a second shot on a direct path for the man's right 
eye. The third guard got off a shot before he could aim 
for the third, but then he hadn't really been trying 
that hard. He could feel the bullet traveling through 
the air towards him, as if it was in slow-motion. And 
suddenly the entire world seemed to slow. 

The bullet was only about five or six feet away, and 
his body moved a little slower then he was used to, but 
he was still able to step cleanly out of the way before 
the bullet had closed within three feet of him. He 
could sense two more bullets heading towards where he'd 
just been, the guard must have got them off immediately 
after the first, but now that he'd already moved they 
posed no threat to him. Raising his own gun towards the 
third guard, he pulled the trigger... And heard the 
click.

It didn't occur to him to wonder whether the clip was 
empty or whether the gun had been unnaturally jammed as 
it had been with the bear. It didn't occur to him to 
think anything at all, he simply tossed the gun to the 
side. The guard, after freezing for a second at his 
incredibly quick movement, managed to turn enough to 
fire a fourth shot at his new location. This time 
everything slowed when the bullet was barely out of the 
gun. Rick just watched it travel towards him for awhile 
before, when it was finally only a couple feet away, he 
reached out and snatched it out of the air. 

It was surprising how effortless it was. The guard 
hadn't fired off any more shots, Rick didn't want him 
to. He could feel the guard's mind, could feel it 
bending. He didn't need to send any thoughts or 
commands into the man's head. He didn't need to push or 
force anything past. He could feel the guard, and the 
guard was nothing compared to him. His desire alone was 
enough. The man had to obey his will, he had no choice.

Slowly the guard raised the gun he was holding, not 
even trying to resist the irresistible pull he was 
experiencing. Placing the barrel of the gun against his 
own temple, the guard pulled the trigger. Almost 
instantly the guard's dead body collapsed to the 
ground, which brought Rick slight amusement, but didn't 
delay him long. He simply dropped the bullet he'd 
caught a few seconds before and outstretched his hand. 
He could feel the gun, as if he was already touching 
it, just as he could feel everything else. 

So it seemed only natural when the guard's gun suddenly 
flew up from the spot it had been dropped onto and into 
his hand. It didn't seem the slightest bit strange that 
he'd now been able to manipulate matter without ever 
physically coming in contact with it. All that mattered 
was that he now had a usable weapon with ammo left in 
it.

As he walked towards a nearby bookstore, he extended 
his free left hand. He didn't even have to look at the 
first guard's gun to will it into his hand, his palm 
closing around his second weapon. The people in the 
bookstore were hiding between the rows of shelves. They 
could probably have run out and gotten away while he'd 
been in the clothing store, but most of them probably 
hadn't even had the guts to stick their heads out and 
try to see into the mall to find out where he was. 

Even less probably would've had the guts to run out and 
risk drawing his attention in trying to make their 
escape. Still, they took all the challenge out of it. 
He was able to simply walk down the aisle, firing shots 
into whatever bodies became available as he passed. Two 
people, in realizing he was in the same store as them 
and was going to kill everyone there, tried to jump out 
and make a break for the door, but they didn't even get 
a foot before a bullet entered the air with their name 
on it. 

The guy hiding behind the last row had positioned 
himself to try to jump out and tackle him when he came 
within range, before he could get off a shot. If he 
hadn't been in his heightened state, it might have 
worked. But in this case the man wound up dead before 
he laid so much as a finger on him.

As he strode back out of the bookstore, he left seven 
bodies in total laying lifeless inside it. He could 
finally hear the sirens of the police cars approaching. 
He could feel thought returning to him, though the 
power didn't seem to fade in the slightest. Slowly, 
still smiling his twisted smile, he walked back towards 
the doors of the mall. The police cars were pulling to 
a stop just as he walked back out into the fresh air. 
Almost immediately doors opened and he had nearly a 
dozen guns aimed at him. There were a few shouts of 
freeze, a couple don't moves, and a hold it right there 
out of the bunch. He wasn't impressed. He was just 
about to start in on taking out the entire bunch of 
them, when it started.

It was kind of faint, the sound. It was definitely 
there, but it wasn't nearly so loud as TV seemed to 
want people to believe. And the ground most certainly 
wasn't shaking. So when he finally looked to the side, 
along with most of the cops, he was both surprised and 
not surprised to see the elephant charging in his 
direction. Surprised because, well, it was an elephant. 
Not surprised because, by comparison to the last few 
things he'd gone through, a simple elephant attack 
seemed dull by comparison. He didn't take the time to 
watch it for more then a second, it was still a fair 
distance off, instead he turned his attention to the 
nearest cop.

"A hundred bucks says it comes directly over and 
tramples me." Rick said. It seemed the only reasonable 
thing to do at the time, even though, when he won the 
bet, he wasn't exactly going to be able to collect.

"Shut up." The cop barked. The guns were still aimed at 
him, but most of the attention was on the elephant. The 
cops were definitely starting to get worried looks on 
their faces, and as the elephant got closer, a few of 
them began to back up several steps. A couple guns even 
turned in the direction of the elephant. Then a mutter 
rose from among them, causing Rick's attention to shift 
back to the elephant, and he saw it too. The elephant 
was almost to them, and there was something strapped to 
it's legs. 

It was as the elephant suddenly ground to a halt about 
ten feet away from him that Rick realized what it was. 
C4. A lot of freaking C4. When Rick suddenly noticed 
the name tag hanging around the thing's neck, he 
suddenly understood all too well. The chain wasn't that 
thick, nor was the tag, but it was all big enough to 
rest securely in place on an elephant. The tag, he saw 
when he looked closer, read "Kamikaze".

"Oh, no. It wasn't enough to fucking trample me with an 
elephant. No.. I've got to get suicide bombed by an 
elephant." Rick muttered, shaking his head. "Mother-
fucking sadists." He said, though the last comment 
actually brought a grin to his face. That was when 
something struck him. He reached out towards the 
explosives with his power, reached out his feel towards 
it to see if he could disarm it... And found nothing. 

He could feel the entire area, every square inch around 
the animal, but it was like the elephant and the C4 
attached to it didn't exist, at least to his senses. Oh 
well, it had been worth a try. Dropping both guns, he 
reached back with his right hand and pulled out his 
wallet. The cops had also seemed to have figured out 
what the elephant was there for, because a good number 
of them had suddenly decided to run, a couple had even 
jumped back into their cars and were trying to pull 
away. The one he'd offered the wager to was among the 
fleeing group.

Rick started to reach into his wallet to pull out a 
hundred, paused, and then just tossed the wallet at the 
fleeing officer. "Take it all!" he called after the 
guy. He was just starting to walk over to the suicide 
bombing elephant, not quite sure what he was going to 
do yet but figuring he had to pass the short time 
remaining 'till his death somehow, when the explosives 
went off. The impact was like getting hit by a giant 
hand. As he flew backwards through the air, the 
darkness came almost immediately. There wasn't even any 
pain.

***

"You sent an elephant named Kamikaze in to blow him 
up?" The first voice asked.

"Pretty much."

"And what if he'd tried to run?"

"The elephant would've chased him." The second voice 
said. There was a pause, and then both of them broke up 
laughing.

"Alright, contest over, you win." The first voice 
finally got out.

"Told ya. Unbeatable." The second voice said 
triumphantly.

"Indeed. Besides, I'd have extremely little time left 
to try and beat it anyways, even if I wanted to try."

"Any idea how many days he has left?" The second voice 
questioned.

"No, but it'll be soon. Very soon."

"The way things look, he's not going to manage to get 
out."

"Probably not, but then we didn't really expect him 
to."

"No, I suppose not. So, let's at least hope he goes out 
with a bang."

The haze was pain, a red mist of suffering. It flowed 
steadily around and through him and wherever it 
touched, it burned. It was like choking on a burning 
torch of some kind. He opened his mouth to scream, but 
there was no sound for him, the haze drew away his 
voice. When the jerk finally came, it felt like it was 
ripping his insides out. Still, it brought with it a 
sort of blessed relief.

***

Rick was sitting in a psychologist's office. He was in 
a chair, and the psychologist was sitting behind the 
desk in front of him. He didn't have an appointment, of 
course, but he'd managed to get a late session by 
saying it was an emergency and offering a thousand 
bucks. The psychologist, a Mrs. Lana Crey, had actually 
turned down the grand. She'd said if it was that big an 
emergency she'd take him, and had wound up actually 
dropping the price to a couple hundred herself. It was 
a bit higher then her usual rate, she said, but was far 
more fair for overtime then a thousand would've been. 
If that was what she wanted, he wasn't going to argue, 
even though the money meant nothing to him. He just 
wanted to get started.

He'd had to fill out a few forms real quick, and that 
had been somewhat annoying, but finally that part was 
over with and it was on to what he'd came here for. He 
wasn't sure precisely why he was here. He knew he 
wasn't going to find a way out this way. He just 
somehow wanted to.. Understand everything that was 
happening. To truly understand the changes in himself. 
Where better to go with such a dilemma then a 
psychologist?

"So, Rick. What brings you here today?" Lana asked, 
watching him over the desk.

"When I tell you, you'll assume I'm crazy, or at least 
deluded. But that's fine. Though I desire your help, I 
need you to be able to believe the truth of my 
situation before you'll be able to help me. So, since 
you can't do that, I'm not here this particular day to 
get help. I'm here today to get what I need to be able 
to prove to you that I'm telling the truth, so that you 
can help me later. But to start, I have to first tell 
you my problem, and let you assume what you will, so... 
Ready?" he asked her.

"Go right ahead." She responded simply, leaning back a 
bit in her chair, not showing any visible reaction to 
what he'd said.

"I'm stuck in a day that repeats over and over again. 
That cycles without end. Every day I die, and wake up 
again the same morning of the same day, as if the day 
I'd just lived had never happened. I've gone through 
today quite a few times already. It's always the same, 
nothing ever changes except based on the things I do 
and interact with. The problem is I'm the only one who 
ever remembers. You for example have also lived through 
this day multiple times already, it's just that you 
don't remember. So has everyone else, and neither does 
anyone else. So, am I crazy?" he queried, just tilting 
his head to the side as he watched her.

"No, Rick, you're not crazy. I just think-" she was in 
the midst of saying, when he suddenly raised one hand 
and waved it to cut her off.

Taking a deep breath, he stared her right in the eye as 
he spoke. "Please, Mrs. Crey, Lana, don't feed me any 
of that psycho-babble bullshit. I know it's your job 
not to judge, to make people feel comfortable, and 
outright telling someone you think they're crazy just 
isn't something you do but... I'm not here to be fed 
comforting statements. I want to know what you honestly 
think, what you honestly believe. Nothing else is gonna 
help me, so I'll ask again.. Do you think I'm crazy?"

For a moment she just studied him, seeming to consider 
and weigh various factors. Finally she nodded slightly 
and spoke. "I wouldn't say you're crazy, Rick. But if 
you truly believe what you told me a moment ago, then I 
do think you might have a problem with being able to 
tell what's real from what isn't in certain situations. 
While that would be considered a mental disorder, in 
talking with you so far I wouldn't say your case is so 
extreme as to be defined as insane. Still, a disorder 
such as that one should be treated if at all possible, 
so it's a good thing you came here today." She said 
steadily.

"Fair enough, I suppose." He responded, just smiling as 
he tilted his head to the side. "Now, if I told you 
that I could prove what I'm saying is true, what would 
you say to that?" he questioned.

"I'm a reasonable person. If you think you can prove 
that what you've told me is real, then I would be 
willing to listen and examine whatever proof you have 
to offer. So, what proof do you have?" she asked in 
return.

"None at the moment, but I'm going to. That's why I'm 
here. For the purpose of this explanation, let's just 
assume for a moment that I'm right, ok? That if I were 
to be told something by someone today, I would wake up 
tomorrow remembering it, while they wouldn't remember 
ever telling it to me because in essence they never 
would have, since technically tomorrow would just be 
today all over again. 

"Thus, if I were able to learn a few personal things 
about you, things you've never told anyone before... I 
could then come back tomorrow, or the next today, 
whichever you'd rather call it, and use that 
information I'd gained as proof that there really had 
been a previous day. 

"Now, I know that must not make as much sense from 
where you're sitting, as why should you offer personal 
information about yourself to be used as proof the next 
time today comes around, when you know for a fact that 
today won't come around again, right? But the truth is, 
what you think is fact is meaningless. So if you're 
willing to humor me, I'm willing to make a deal with 
you. One that I think is fair based on the situation." 
He informed her.

She just studied him for another moment, before finally 
saying, "I'm listening."

"You look like an honorable enough person, Mrs. Crey. 
So I'll trust that your word, when you give it, will be 
kept. And I can promise you that when I offer you my 
word, I will do everything in my power to keep it. So 
here's the deal I'm offering you. I need to ask you 
several questions in order to get the information I 
need for when today comes around next. If you'll 
promise me that you'll answer my questions completely 
honestly.. Then I'll promise you that, if when I wake 
up next it's actually tomorrow, and not just today all 
over again, I'll consent to be committed to an 
institution for observation, so that whatever condition 
I have can be treated. 

"After all, if it can be proven that I'm actually wrong 
about this, then I'll be the first to admit that I'm 
one disturbed individual, and that I'll need whatever 
help can be gotten. I'd even be willing to sign 
something stating that I turned my well-being and care 
over to the institute of your choice, so long as said 
document is postdated for tomorrow. 

"All I ask in return is that you answer my questions 
honestly. After all, if I'm willing to seek treatment 
in the case that I'm actually wrong. Then the least you 
can do is answer me truthfully, on the insane and 
incomprehensible chance that I might be right." He told 
her, arching his eyebrows a little. "Don't you think?"

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think this was 
some trick just to find out about my personal life. 
Except of course that I've never met you before, you 
don't look old enough to be a private investigator, and 
so any such attempt would have absolutely no point, 
so... I'll take you at your word. Fine." She said, 
grabbing a note pad and pen and passing them over to 
his side of the desk. 

"I'll need you to put down the following. 'As of', and 
then you put in tomorrow's date, 'in the best interests 
of my mental health, I hereby assign all rights and 
decisions for my medical and psychological treatment 
over to Lana Ashley Crey, effective immediately. I do 
this of my own free will, after all due thought and 
consideration. Signed' and you know what comes after 
that." She told him.

Just nodding, he picked up the pen and wrote out 
precisely what she'd told him, word for word, signing 
his name in the appropriate place at the end. Setting 
the pen back on the desk, he tore the top sheet of 
paper from the pad and held it out to her. Taking it, 
she glanced over what he'd written, nodded, and set it 
somewhere out of sight beyond her end of the desk.

"Alright, you've got my word, I'll answer your 
questions honestly." She said, almost solemnly. He got 
the impression that she was a person who actually put 
value into offering their word on something. He'd 
gotten that impression when they'd first started 
talking, which is how he'd known that this particular 
method was probably the best one to get the 
information. "How many questions will you need?" she 
asked.

"I'm not totally sure. I'll know when I get there. As a 
matter of fact, let me write this stuff down as you 
tell it to me. I'll need to sit here for awhile after 
we're done and memorize it all, to be sure I don't 
forget anything for tomorrow." He responded, picking 
the pen back up and holding it hovering over the pad. 
"So why don't we just start with.. Tell me something 
about yourself or your past that no one else but you 
knows."

She paused for another long moment, seeming to think, 
but finally she answered with "I have a phobia of 
something that doesn't even exist. I've had it since I 
was a kid, but I never told anyone because it seemed so 
stupid, but.." She took a deep breath, just giving him 
a look. 

"I have a deep fear of dragons. I know that must sound 
ridiculous, but I promise you it's true. I know they're 
not real, and of course they couldn't possibly ever 
hurt me because of that very fact but... When I was a 
child and I heard all the tales and stuff about 
dragons, they used to terrify me. A big scaly lizard 
that breathes fire and carries off maidens and 
princesses to eat them or do who knows what to them." 

She muttered, just shaking her head a little. 

"I myself know it's insane to let myself be afraid of a 
mythological creature, but I still to this day can't 
watch a movie or read a book with dragons in them 
without freaking out whenever the dragon parts come up. 
Hopefully you can understand precisely why I've never 
told anyone before. It's embarrassing as hell just 
saying it now."

"Afraid of dragons." He murmured as he jotted it down 
on the pad. "Well, at least that one should be hard to 
forget." He said, then just winced at how sharply she 
glared in response. "Sorry, sorry. Alright, next 
question. What's the one thing you wanted most when you 
were a child, but never got?" he queried.

"I always wanted a horse." She offered. "But, we lived 
in the city, so..."

He considered for a second, but in the end just shook 
his head. "Too common. I know a lot of people who 
wanted horses when they were kids. If I give that fact 
to you during the next today, it'd be easy for you to 
assume I just guessed it. Think of something else you 
wanted when you were a kid, but weren't able to get. 
Something not many people you know ever wanted."

One of her hands raised to her mouth, the tips of her 
fingers resting lightly over her lips as she thought. 
Unconscious habit, he assumed. Finally her hand moved 
away and she said "When my family was on vacation once 
to a theme park, I saw a snow globe in a gift shop 
window, with this little green mansion in it and 
miniature trees set in front of it. I thought it was 
beautiful, and really wanted it, but my brother and 
sister were eager to go on rides and stuff so my 
parents wouldn't stop. 

"With all the rides and excitement during the day I 
wound up forgetting about it, and I didn't remember 
again until we'd already gone back home and it was too 
late. I kept wanting and hoping for one like it, but I 
could never find one in any of the local stores. And by 
the time we went back to the park a couple years later, 
the snow globe was nowhere to be found. So, I never 
managed to get one. Is that any better?" she asked.

"That's perfect." He responded, writing down notes. 
"What was your first sexual experience?"

"What?" she shot back, one eyebrow arched.

"Your first sexual experience. Sorry, but it has to be 
asked." He told her.

"No it doesn't. You can ask whatever else you like, 
Rick, but my sex life doesn't need to get into this." 
She said firmly.

"That's precisely the point, Mrs. Crey." He replied 
evenly. "I need to know stuff you wouldn't normally 
tell people, so that it can't be said that I just got 
the information from somewhere else. You promised you'd 
answer my questions honestly. I understand this might 
be a difficult question to answer but.. Please."

She just sighed softly, her eyes never leaving him. 
"Very well. My first real sexual experience of any kind 
was when I was thirteen. It was with my brother, who 
was fifteen at the time." She said in a controlled 
tone.

"Vaginal, oral, anal?" he asked, keeping his expression 
neutral.

"Oral." She said simply, not elaborating any further.

Rick took down a few notes before pausing to ask, "Did 
you perform it, or did he?"

"I did." She stated simply.

"And was that the only sexual contact you two had, or 
was it just the first experience?" he continued.

There was a few second pause, and then she quietly 
said, "The first."

He wrote down a couple more notes, thinking about his 
next question as he did, before asking, "How long did 
your sexual relations with him go on?"

"They lasted until he left for college. I was sixteen 
at the time." She replied.

Jotting down the final note, he took a deep breath, and 
moved on to the next topic. "What was the name of the 
first boy you had a crush on? Besides your brother, of 
course." He said, earning another long glare out of her 
for the last comment.

"Jeremy Andrews." Her answer was swift and precise.

"How old were you, and how old was he?" he pressed.

"I was twelve. He was sixteen or seventeen. It's been 
so long that I don't remember exactly." She responded.

Rick dutifully wrote the necessary points down, before 
moving on. "What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

She winced slightly, but she didn't pause this time 
before speaking. "I once accidentally hit a dog while I 
was driving. A Dalmatian. It ran out into the road, and 
I tried to stop, but I couldn't slam on the brakes in 
time. I stopped and tried to do what I could to help 
but, it died just the same. Whenever I think about it 
or the little girl it belonged to, I still feel 
horrible to this day."

He made his notes without comment. "Alright, Mrs. Crey. 
There's just a few more questions I need to ask, but 
most of them are more regular ones. They'll only act as 
a sort of filler for additional proof. Before I get to 
those though, there's one more important question I 
need to ask. Imagine that I just walked in here today, 
told you my situation, and then repeated to you all the 
things you just told me. You'd never met me before, and 
you didn't know how I could know them, but you were 
still skeptical about how the things I'd said about the 
day repeating over and over again could possibly be 
true. What one thing could I tell you at that point to 
make you believe?"

She sat and thought for a long time over this one, but 
finally she began to speak.

***

He had just finished telling her his entire story, 
start to finish. Well, not quite to finish. He'd 
stopped when he reached the point where he came to her. 
He didn't add the fact that this was the second time 
he'd been here. That he'd spoken to her the day before, 
which had also been today. No, that would come shortly. 
His conversation with her had begun the same. 

And once more he'd made a deal with her. Only this time 
not for the future tense, and not for questions. He'd 
agreed that if he could not convince her that there was 
a chance he was repeating the same day over and over 
again, if he couldn't make her believe in at least the 
possibility that he was stuck in a loop that didn't end 
by the end of their conversation, that he would let 
himself be committed then and there. But that if he 
managed to make her believe there was a chance he was 
telling the truth, if he was able to convince her there 
was a possibility, she had to... Well... She had to 
blow him.

He hadn't been able to help himself. He'd been feeling 
somewhat horny at the time, and it had seemed the 
natural thing to suggest. Oh, it had taken a lot of 
convincing, to be sure. But he'd finally gotten her by 
asking if she honestly believed there was any chance, 
even the remotest possibility, that he would be able to 
convince her of even the possibility that this day had 
occurred a number of times before. 

When her immediate response had been no, he'd simply 
asked what she had to lose, then. She didn't have much 
of a response to that, and had eventually relented. He 
figured he could still get her help in understanding 
things, as he'd originally come here for, after she 
sucked his cock.

So, after he'd had to write out his end of the 
agreement yet again, he'd started telling her about 
everything that had happened to him. Starting from the 
beginning, and the run-in with Leon. He told her about 
all the sex, all the death, the pain and the pleasure. 
He tried to cover as much as he could, as accurately as 
he could from his memory, and by the time he finished, 
night had already fallen. She'd listened carefully, 
start to finish, and it had been her turn to take 
notes, this time. She'd asked minor questions here and 
there, but for the most part had remained silent and 
let him speak.

When he eventually fell silent himself, deciding to 
hold back the end and his first visit to her for now, 
she just took a deep breath and started in. "Well, 
Rick.. That's a remarkable story. Truly remarkable. 
While at first I thought you might just be trying a 
ploy of telling me some tale to try to get sex out of 
me.. I think now that you honestly believe what you're 
telling me. And, well... You'd make a fascinating case-
study. You told me you wanted absolute honesty, right?" 
she asked. 

He just nodded, they'd discussed that at the beginning 
again as well. 

"Well, while you seem like a totally coherent and 
reasonable individual, I believe you're suffering from 
fairly severe delusions. I think it'll take a fair bit 
more time to determine precisely what the cause of said 
delusions is, and the extent to which you're able to 
differentiate the real world around you from the world 
you've created in your head and are managing to lose 
yourself in, but I believe with enough proper treatment 
at the institution, we can get to the root of your 
problems." She told him, just steepling her fingers 
together in front of her.

"So you don't believe there's even a chance what I'm 
saying is real then? Not even the slightest chance? You 
just think I'm what... Schizophrenic?" he questioned, 
just staring at her as he spoke.

"Well, while your delusions show some symptoms of a 
schizophrenic episode, I think it's far too soon to 
determine outright whether what you're suffering from 
is schizophrenia or not. But I'm afraid that no. I 
don't believe there's even a chance that you're stuck 
in a repeating day, Rick. Though I'm sure your 
delusions have been real enough to you that you 
actually believe you are." She said calmly.

"Very well, Mrs. Crey. I suppose it comes to this then, 
though I didn't want it to. You see, this isn't the 
first time we've spoken. I was here yesterday. The last 
time today occurred, I mean. You see, I knew you 
wouldn't believe me just based on my telling you 
everything that's happened. So I took the precaution of 
getting some information from you. Information only you 
could have given to me. So that, since I can't prove 
the truth of what I'm saying to you, you'd be able to 
prove the truth to yourself." He informed her.

"Did we?" she asked, arching one eyebrow, her hand 
returning to hovering over the pad, as if ready to take 
more notes. "Well, I'm listening, Rick."

"Your favorite color is green. Your lucky number is 
eleven. You like cats more then dogs, in fact you have 
a cat named Tiberius, but you call him Tibby. When you 
were a kid you always wanted this snow globe with a 
green mansion and trees out front that you saw in an 
amusement park gift shop, but you never got it, and 
when your family finally went back to the amusement 
park next it was no longer there. You got your first 
crush when you were twelve, on a high school boy named 
Jeremy Andrews. You have a phobia of dragons of all 
things. 

"Your first sexual experience was with your brother 
when you were thirteen. Sexual relations continued 
until he left for college. You once accidentally hit a 
Dalmatian while driving, and you feel bad about it to 
this day, especially when you think of the girl it 
belonged to." He told her quite clearly. 

By now she was just staring at him, the pen had dropped 
from her fingers. "And you said that just in case you 
didn't believe me by this point, I should tell you the 
following.. Ashes are dreams. Dead in the mind. We 
sweep them away. And leave them behind. Not sure 
exactly what that's supposed to mean, but you said it 
would hold meaning for you."

Her face went nearly white with the last few lines, and 
she just sat there gaping at him. She seemed too 
shocked to speak, so he just waited, gazing at her 
face, his own completely calm. Finally, when she still 
hadn't spoke a moment later, he broke the silence for 
her. "Well? Have you managed to somehow come up with a 
scientific explanation for how I knew all that by now? 
I realize that must be what you've been desperately 
trying to do up until now. It's a little hard to take 
in, isn't it? That we've been through this day plenty 
of times already, and you just don't remember it?"

"I.... It.... It can't be true... It just can't be...." 
She said blankly, her expression one of both shock 
and.. Desperation, now.

"Oh, it's true alright. Everything I've told you has 
been absolutely true. Every single thing that's 
happened to me. Every single thing I've done. It's not 
an illusion my subconscious concocted. It's one-hundred 
percent real. And as you must realize, deep down.. I 
really have spoken to you before. In a previous 
incarnation of this exact day. And you told me 
everything about yourself that I just in turn related 
to you. The only question is.. Are you capable of 
accepting what was previously impossible, when offered 
proof that it is indeed possible after all.. Or are you 
one of those who'll stubbornly refuse to believe it 
anyways, just because 'it can't be'?" he queried.

"I... I... How?" she stuttered out as she just stared 
at him.

"Leon would be a better person to ask that question." 
He told her, shrugging ever so slightly. "Everything I 
know of what he did, I already told you. Anyways, 
whether or not you believe the truth of what I've told 
you, and it is the truth.. You have to admit there's at 
least a chance it's the truth, no?"

"There.. There's a chance." She said softly, her 
expression still full of shock. It took a good fifteen 
seconds before she finally seemed to realize the 
implications of what she'd just said. He could see her 
eyes widen, and she was suddenly once more stuttering. 
"I... You... I...." She got out.

"Yep." He simply responded as he reached down to start 
undoing his pants. "You can think about everything I've 
told you some more while you're blowing me. After all, 
I assume you're a woman of your word."

"I.." She said yet again, trembling ever so slightly 
for a few seconds before her expression suddenly turned 
firm, her head moving in a short quick nod. Swallowing 
hard, she spoke in a smooth ultra-calm voice, as if 
she'd resigned herself to a difficult task and was 
preparing herself for the dirty work ahead, "I did give 
my word. And when I give my word, I keep it. So..." She 
said, her voice trailing off as she caught sight of his 
cock, which he'd just then drawn out of his boxers. She 
just stared at it for a few seconds before finally 
finishing with, "I'll do it, as I said I would."

"Well? Get over here and start sucking, then." He 
informed her, a grin spreading over his face.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly rose from her chair, 
walking around the desk and dropping to her knees in 
front of him. She was quite pretty, with raven-black 
hair and green eyes. Her business outfit made it a bit 
harder to properly judge her bra size. She was clearly 
either a B-cup or a C-cup, he just couldn't tell with 
absolute surety which. He'd have liked to get a better 
look at her body, but her face was attractive enough to 
more then hold his interest.

Carefully she reached in, delicately wrapping her 
fingers around the base of his cock. She just stared at 
the thick shaft for a moment longer before finally 
tilting her head in, opening her lips as her head moved 
closer and letting the head of his large cock slip into 
her mouth. Rick just mmm'ed softly in appreciation of 
the feel of her warm wet mouth around his dick, her 
tongue tentatively lapping at the head of his hard rod. 
Her eyes closed as she simply teased the head of his 
cock with her tongue for several seconds before letting 
another couple inches of his stick slide between her 
lips and into her mouth, and then finally beginning to 
suck.

Rick reached in, beginning to lightly run his fingers 
through the woman's hair as she sucked his cock. This 
gave her pause for about a second, but then she simply 
resumed sucking, her head sliding forward just enough 
to get about another inch into her mouth before she 
began to smoothly bob her head back and forth, starting 
slow at first but gradually picking up speed. The 
sensation that accompanied her lips sliding along his 
cock made him wonder how there'd ever been a time where 
he'd gone without this sort of thing. "You're good at 
this." He told her as she blew him.

He'd just begun to use his hand to guide her head back 
and forth along his cock at a pace more suited to what 
he wanted when the pain suddenly seized him. It was 
like having molten lava suddenly poured into his veins. 
Like it was flowing through every pore, every crevice, 
every inch of his entire body. He heard himself cry out 
from the pain, but the sound was meaningless to him, he 
couldn't bring himself to focus on anything but the 
suffering he was experiencing. He didn't even notice 
Lana react to the sound by jerking her head back, his 
cock sliding out of her mouth as she pulled beyond his 
reach. The moment the pain hit him he'd ceased to even 
experience any pleasure from the sexual contact, the 
pain was simply too overwhelming.

There was a phantom sensation in his throat, as if it 
were convulsing, even though it wasn't. Not that he'd 
have really noticed even if it were. His vision was 
becoming strange. There were odd red colors in it, an 
almost haze seeming to well up around him. The image of 
Lana seemed to waver in front of him, but the pain 
continued to lance through him without end. He tried to 
open his mouth to scream, but when he did the phantom 
convulsions seemed to almost choke him. In the end, 
nothing was real for him but the pain.

***

When Rick started vomiting blood, Leon knew with 
certainty that he'd failed the test they'd put to him. 
He could faintly see dark lines along Rick's skin, 
almost like veins, pulsing with each surge of blood out 
of the boy's mouth. It wasn't long until he finally 
convulsed and collapsed to one side, dead. Leon could 
feel the energy he'd woven around the boy's mind snap, 
much like a taut rubber band that had suddenly broken, 
and he was sure Max felt it too. The warped flow of 
energy within the room remained though, binding as it 
had been all along. But it would fade long before 
anyone came the next morning.

"You can hear me, can't you?" Leon asked idly. Rick's 
soul would still be there for another couple hours 
before the energy faded enough for it to escape. It 
couldn't respond of course, but he was reasonably 
certain it could understand what he was saying. "It was 
so fucking simple, Rick. All you had to do was accept 
who and what you were. To truly accept the truth about 
yourself. Had you done that, the world you were trapped 
in would've simply dissolved around you. But every time 
you were presented with the truth, you shunned it. 
Every time the truth was suggested, by someone else or 
within your own mind, you denied it. You took up the 
role of a monster, without ever truly accepting what 
that made you."

Leon could see Max smiling off to one side, and he 
paused a second before he went on. "You are precisely 
what I and Max are, Rick. Evil. That is the problem 
we've seen in people, and why we decided to put this 
test into motion. It's not the fact that there are 
people with evil natures out there, no. It's that many 
are incapable of accepting themselves for what they 
are. Society has attached so much stigmata to the word 
that people fear even the idea of being it, and become 
outraged when it's implied of them. Why? 

People are so ready to accept themselves as being 
basically good deep down, so why is it so difficult to 
wrap your mind around the concept that you could 
therefore instead be basically evil? One is as much a 
necessity as the other. Light cannot exist without 
darkness. There is no good unless there is also evil. 
We create a balance. Our existence and our natures are 
a necessary opposing force in life. Without us humanity 
would cease to grow. There's nothing wrong with being 
evil, if that is who you are.. Society has simply 
portrayed it as abhorrent for so long that we've begun 
to believe it."

Leon just sighed softly, staring at Rick's body as he 
continued. "We must be what we are, Rick. We can try to 
hide from it, but we only serve to weaken ourselves. 
Accepting your nature doesn't mean you have to act on 
it, only that you understand it. If we cannot embrace 
the truth of our selves, it will eventually devour us, 
from the inside out, as I'm sure you've learned. The 
test simply made that fact far more literal. It drew 
out your nature and made it into a beast, growing 
inside you. It was that beast that fed you your power. 
Accepting who you were would have appeased it and 
halted it's growth. Continued denial caused it to 
continue to grow, until it finally tore you apart."

Leon glanced over at Max, who simply shrugged. Turning 
his attention back to the corpse, he finished what he'd 
been saying. "I'm sorry it had to end this way, Rick. 
We were watching your progress. You showed a lot of 
potential. You might have actually been useful to us if 
you'd survived it all. Such a waste." Leon muttered, 
shaking his head a bit. It had only been about half an 
hour since the test had first begun. They'd been 
prepared for it to take longer, as they hadn't been 
sure just how much time would be distorted within the 
test's world, but this worked well enough.

Tilting his head slightly to the side, Leon began to 
whisper. He could feel his voice carrying over the 
room, shifting the energies just enough to let him 
shape them as he wanted. And as he manipulated them, 
all traces of his and Max's presence began to 
disappear. When the cops came to investigate the death, 
they would find no signs that anyone but Rick had been 
in there this night. Finally when he was satisfied with 
his work, he and Max opened the door and stepped out. 
Working quickly to remove the last traces of evidence 
relating to them from both sides of the doorknob, the 
two of them were finally able to set off out of the 
classroom and down the hall.

"What now?" Max asked beside him as they walked.

"After we get some sleep, you mean? Well, I was 
thinking we should have a talk with Jason Hayes. I know 
the guy well enough to know that he won't stop with 
just fucking Rachel once. Even if he honors what he 
agreed to, he'll still have some kind of leverage left 
over to work her with. The girl's too nice a piece of 
ass not to. I figured we could save ourselves a bit of 
trouble and just use him to set up an opportunity for 
us to fuck her. Then after that we can begin figuring 
out how we're going to pull off the doctor one." Leon 
replied steadily.

"Sounds good, but you're forgetting something. As soon 
as Rachel finds out about Rick's death, she's going to 
freak. It might take awhile for even Jason to convince 
her to do anything, after that." Max told him.

"You're right, I hadn't thought of that." Leon said, 
turning a corner into another hall as he took the time 
to ponder this. "I guess we'll just have to find a way 
around that particular problem. You've got to admit, 
she'd be worth the effort."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Max responded. The two 
of them fell silent after that. There wasn't anything 
else to be said. They simply walked the rest of the way 
to the exit and out into the night.

***

(And the story now comes to an end. I know some will be 
displeased/disappointed by the ending, but with every 
story I write, I know by the time I'm a third of the 
way through how the story has to end. With this one, I 
knew before the first part was even finished. That this 
had to be the way it ended. Anyways, hopefully the work 
as a whole was good enough that I'll wind up still 
getting occasional feedback on it, even now that it's 
complete. Perhaps one day, if the story ever gets 
popular enough, I'll do some kind of "The Adventures of 
Leon and Max" continuation, heh. Of course, I'd have to 
think of a far better name for it first, but who knows. 
For now, I'll focus on "Dead People Aren't Toys". Until 
next we meet, dear readers, good hunting.)

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This story was written as an adult fantasy. The author
does not condone the described behavior in real life.

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