Blood rushed out of John’s chest and his mouth as the lady pulled out his heart slowly. With the break of every vein and muscle, John’s eyes widened with pain. The lady had anger on her face and shouted in a heavy voice, “It is because of you people that girls never get the justice they deserve. You are the one with the darkest heart. A rotten heart that pumps black blood in your mind and has made it corrupt.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBYbPNMc5i
The masked man looked at the lady and laughed, “You are an interesting character.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINQylnnoJf
The lady didn’t respond and pulled the heart. John screamed and looked with disbelief at his heart in the hands of the lady. The heart pumped and the lady squeezed it. John’s vision blurred and then went dark. The lady threw the heart in the dustbin kept on the side.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyW0aaahIz4
She turned to the masked man, her fingers trembling from the adrenaline. "It isn't over yet. There are more black hearts out there. And your heart too," she whispered. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyW2950Yyc
The masked man laughed and took a slow step toward her. "I agree but there’s one more heart already missing, isn’t there?" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAZYKTCkD3
She frowned, confused. "What do you mean?" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQX4nboD5o3
He reached forward and touched her chest lightly, right where her heart was beating wildly beneath the skin. "Yours." 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVsfqZQkQO
She took a step back, "What are you saying?" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSr0LDvre6P
The masked man let out a small laugh, "You spent all this time searching for black hearts, for corrupted souls. But did you ever stop to wonder about your own?" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1padIrGATP
The lady clenched her fists, shaking her head, "No, I only took the ones that deserved it. The ones who destroyed lives. The ones who…" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3cldp8iC6
"Who were just like you?" the masked man interrupted, his voice dripping with amusement, "You think you’re different? That you’re above them? But tell me, what do you see when you look in the mirror?" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmjKWH5MSs
The lady’s breathing quickened. She looked around the room, at the blood, at John’s lifeless body.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH1wtf87wo
Her hands trembled as she whispered, "I did what had to be done." 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTosVSOA5wJ
The masked man nodded, "Of course you did." 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VLpoMRbt6
The masked man took out his knife from John’s chest, "The truth is that justice and vengeance are two sides of the same coin. And you? You became the very thing you sought to destroy. There is never a justice, there is only chaos." 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxN4nqj1MAl
Before she could react, the masked man thrust forward and the knife pierced her chest. Her eyes widened in shock as pain burned through her body. Blood spilt from her lips. She looked down at the knife buried deep in her heart, her breath coming in uneven gasps. The masked man held her, whispering in her ear, "You were never meant to cleanse the world." 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt9CzLiak0
She fell to her knees, her strength fading. Her fingers weakly grasped at her wound. The masked man crouched beside her, watching as the light in her eyes began to dim. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2aiyC0R10
She gasped, her voice barely above a whisper. "My heart… is it black or white?" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQV1sP6A6oo
The masked man tilted his head and with a weird smile, he whispered, "It doesn’t matter. You have no heart left to judge." 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1A0dbStUp
Her body wobbled and she collapsed onto the cold, bloodstained floor. The masked man stood, gazing down at her lifeless form.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJk5UrbQs4A
He let out a deep sigh and turned toward the door. As he reached for the handle, he paused. He looked at the body of the lady, went toward it, grabbed it and took it out with him.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2RStjrNOlJ
“And that is her story,” The masked man stood up.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6PMF0llgt
Harper said in a serious tone, “She’s dead? Why have you kept her with you? And where is the answer to why there was no case file about this lady?” 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe93YhGpUPV
“What were you told when you got transferred here?”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjxuN8QOrK
“Nothing, just that this area needed a strong head of the police,” Harper said in a confused tone.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMCFPYI1Lj
The masked man smiled, “They didn’t tell you or anyone what happened to the previous head of the police. How could they tell? There was so much mismanagement under his regime. So many cases left unsolved, so many cases that were never filed and at last getting killed by a psycho or a revenge maniac.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OwxYSFjea
Harper clenched his fists, “That doesn’t make sense. If she’s been killing people for months, how come there’s no record of her? No reports, no missing person cases, nothing?”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQUoTxSk4U
The masked man continued smiling, “It is funny that I have to tell you all this. You corrupt people know more than me but act like you are innocent. There was a very silly reason. The mayor of this town got all the reports of mismanagement, but he never acted, but after the murder of John, he acted. This town is so corrupt, that the mayor needed the funds from the treasury of this country, not for the police but for himself. But, they need some proof of what is happening here, you know the progress made, but a corrupt and inefficient head of the police is murdered. So, a story was made. The head of the police’s heart was placed in the original place and he was kept in the car and the car was blasted. It was shown as if he was assassinated by one of the psychos and that’s the reason you were brought here to control all this mess. And the records of the lady and her case were destroyed so that all this could be hidden. Isn’t this interesting? Some people will call this story nonsense but this is what it is.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuF7x3XTPFC
“You’re lying.” Harper muttered, his fists clenched, “The mayor wouldn’t cover up something this big.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx41Ne8jRJw
The masked man chuckled, stepping closer, “Wouldn’t he? Or are you just afraid to admit the truth? That you’re nothing but a pawn in a much bigger game? Have you ever thought that even all this is real? If she was real? If I am real? If you are real?” 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19ptFGFdvV
Harper interrupted, “Shut up with your bullshit.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rGxDjllzX
The masked man leaned in, lowering his voice to a whisper. “The question isn’t whether you believe me, Officer. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sCS7AhT9i
Harper swallowed hard. His instincts told him to arrest this man, to take him in and interrogate him until he got every last answer. But there was something in the masked man’s stance; calm and unbothered. Almost as if he knew exactly how this would play out. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoFUV3q7eH
The masked man took a step back, placing a bloodstained hand on the door handle. He opened the door and stepped into the darkness.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK68GZDt8ak
Somewhere else, Ace was lying on the bed and looking at the fan on the ceiling.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGVPmOU6EK
Clark came to him and said, “What are you thinking?”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgVecb3wyx
Ace looked at Clark and said, “Something doesn't feel right.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKz2p6divnM
Clark sat down beside Ace on the bed. "What do you mean?" 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRZkrVjz67
"I don't know. It's just a feeling."18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMsONjgCFm
Just then, the fan above them suddenly flickered and died, plunging the room into an eerie silence. Ace's heart skipped a beat as he felt a chill run down his spine and then he heard a faint whisper: "You're right, Ace. Something is very wrong indeed.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rYyav5tnx
