StarGaze

Nightmares in the Day

"Bruh, I don't CARE! What does this have to do with my learning?" Raghav asked, growing uninterested in the story.

"Everything connects, son. Just listen..." Thomas said.

“I understand that you have got some explaining to do,” Azak said and walked up to the man covered in the blood of his boss.

Jakhar lifted the butcher’s knife high in the air, getting ready to fight. But he knew it was no use against the man he was fighting. So after a moment, he threw the knife away, hoping it would better the chances of him surviving.

Azak casually walked up to the reporter and grabbed his throat with a lightning-fast move. He lifted the struggling monster high in the air and pinned him against a wall nearby. The face of Jakhar grew pink by the second as Azak’s grip grew tighter.

“Your dishonesty was the thing I always liked in you. You were an i***t, a clown in everyone’s eyes, but you sure as hell knew you to squeeze the situation in your favor.

But you made a terrible mistake when you decided to betray me. It was you, wasn’t it? Because of you, they tracked us and hunted us down like pigs. And now I have the opportunity to get my sweet revenge. So tell me, should I kill you fast or slow?” Azak asked, easing his grip so that Jakhar could speak.

“Please don’t kill me. I know you are back for a greater reason than to just kill me, and I will soon be in a position to help you in any way you desire. Just don’t kill me, I don’t even have kids yet.” Jakhar pleaded but Azak replied with a smile.

“Disowning children doesn't mean you are not a father anymore. You are forgetting I worked with you for months.” Azak said.

“Alright alright, but I am not lying about the power part. I just killed my boss, and now all the people in this city will sympathize with me as I take over the newspaper agency as the new boss. I can take you into any officer’s office.” Jakhar said calmly, accepting the fact that he had no way around Azak.

Azak gave it a thought as Jakhar squealed under his firm grip and then threw him on the ground. Jakhar groaned with pain.

“Allah damn you, you have to stop manhandling me like that someday. You f*****g people never change.” Jakhar said, getting up and dusting his clothes off. I think he viewed the blood more as a decoration than as a stain.

“And neither do you. You still don’t know your place in the room. Although I guess that is why you have forced yourself a place to the top. You seem to enjoy the killing.” Azak said, looking at the cold body lying in the empty alley.

“What can I say? I just like to be honest to my character.” Jakhar said, joking like he didn’t remember he was talking to the person who was just holding him up, ready to end his life at a moment’s notice.

At the other end of the road, Olivia and Gabriel were looking at this scene with awe. They didn’t understand what the f**k was going on. One moment Azak is accusing the stranger of betraying him and the other moment they are pulling each other’s legs. But that is because they didn’t know the fact that Azak and Jakhar’s association dated back a long time.

“I have to get into this shithole of a car? No way, let me get mine.” Jakhar said, looking at the dirty red car with disgust.

“I never said you are getting in with us. You will not be seen with us until we need to. So clear the crime scene and lead us to your home.” Olivia said, closing the door.

“I like this one. She reminds me of my innocent days.” Jakhar said, pointing his finger at Olivia and smiling. His eyes had a strange creepy glow and Olivia would soon find out why his eyes lit up every time he saw her.

“Ah yes, do not try to run. Or I will…” Azak said as Jakhar started to walk away, but Jakhar lifted his hand signaled that the message was taken.

“What a man!” Gabriel said as he started the car engine.

“Yeah, the charisma is just a distraction so that you can’t see the real monster lurking inside,” Azak said and yawned.

“Is that right?” Olivia said.

“He didn’t kill his boss because she frustrated him they fought. He killed her as part of an elaborate plan he set in motion a long time ago. As a matter of fact, I gave him the original idea. What I did not know was that he would seriously consider it and make it work. What a crazy bastard!”Azak said and rubbed his rifle to fight the cold.

“And what exactly did you tell him to do?” Olivia asked.

“You f*****g people never stop with the interview, do you? f**k, okay I will tell you, but no more questions after this.

He was a struggling journalist when I met him, working a temporary job as a crime reporter in this hell of a city. But when there is a war going on, no one gives a f**k about local murders and kidnappings. So what he needed was a threat that people could have a connection with. He needed a story that would not end with a single article.

It would be a story so long and interesting that people would stick to the newspaper, drying their eyes to find his new article. And he would have to be the fastest one to report it if he wanted to be in the race.

And the criteria I just described could only be fulfilled by a serial killer. Serial killers are surprisingly hard to find around these parts because anyone with the desire to have a license to kill usually joins the army. So my little friend was in trouble. I thought that was the end of his story, but this f*****g guy wouldn’t give up just yet.

He couldn’t find a serial killer, so he decided to become one himself. This was just a fun idea that he had, but this automatically filled all the loopholes he had. You see, being a serial killer yourself means you will be the first reporter on the crime scene. You can fabricate sources that would lead you to the killer after just hours of the kill, making you the smartest reporter in the city. He also spent a long time studying crime, so he wouldn’t kill in predictable patterns.

He would get a permanent job, but to get a promotion, he had to take his efforts a step further. When the time comes that the public is absolutely fearful for their lives and couldn’t wait for his reports, he would take it a step further. The next phase of the plan would be to take out his boss and kill her in cold blood. He would have the position of the editor and at the time the killer would be solidified as a fearless assassin who wasn’t afraid to kill the people getting close to him.

Now tomorrow he will be the chief editor of this city’s biggest newspaper, and he will be called to several military offices who want to convey a message to the public via the recently grown popular printing press. And if we could sneak in with him, we will get to our captured agent in no time.

He knows that is what we want, that is why we have to keep him alive despite my hatred towards him. He betrayed my trust and revealed our secrets to the senator’s daughter, the b***h who had been trying to get to us since forever. He arranged for us to meet and made me fall in love with her. I hope she rots in hell.” Azak said and looked away in disgust.

“Well, as a matter of fact, she IS rotting in hell,” Olivia said, smiling.

“What do you mean?!” Azak asked, pleasantly surprised and curious at the same time. His eyes grew wider as he watched Olivia prepare herself to tell him the story.

“…And then the general was blown up, and we got to kill his daughter.” Olivia finished the story after a few minutes.

“YEAH! That’s how you own the s**t. Thomas was always the best of us. That f*****g man knows no limits or mercy! So you split teams to save time or something?” Azak said, seeming like he was on drugs. He just wanted to get out of the damn car and run on the road like a free horse. But he barely contained his excitement.

“Actually, he died on our way to you. He died so that we could save some girls.” Gabriel said as he noticed Olivia was too weak to speak.

“Always trying to be a gentleman, that f*****g i***t! Well, I hope he is happy. He was trying to retire for a long time now.” Azak said with pain in his eyes. All the energy was drained from his system instantly.

“You two were close, weren’t you?” Olivia asked.

“We had our moments, usually in battlefields. I worked as his backup for a while, for around twenty years to be precise.” Azak said, clutching his gun tightly.

“We are here!” Gabriel said and turned the engine off.

The agents were out of the car and looking at the living proof of how much Jakhar’s story had worked out for him. The apartment was worthy to be lived in, which was a luxury in a country like this.

“So, what do you want from me?” Jakhar asked, pouring himself some coffee after he changed into nightclothes.

“Let’s start with the general that runs this poisoned city,” Azak said and leaned forward on the table.