The Absconsion

The Phoenix Reborn (P-2)

K10: Okay. This is bad. Let me put it this way. I do not want to die.

D4: Neither do I.

K10: Well, then, now that the discussion and negotiation are out of the way. We need to find some other means to come to an agreement.

D4: Are you thinking, what I am thinking?

K10: Yes. You might be Russian, D4. But you do not have any idea about who you are messing with. 

D4: Let's see about that.

K10: Calm down now. We still have plenty of time to decide, and all I need is roughly five minutes or less to put your sorry a*s to sleep. Do you know how I used to end my targets? I used to freeze them to death. Do you want to know why I used to do that?

D4: Freezing the dead bodies makes the time of death unclear, which makes the investigation difficult.

K10: Oh, for a man who dumps the bodies in a hole, surely knows stuff about killing. 

D4: Do not worry, you will also get a taste of it very soon.

Since both of them came from a violent background, they were not afraid of a good fight. D4 belongs to the Russian mafia, while K10 is a member of the Serbian mob. They had killed so many people that taking one more life was not that big a deal to them. They started to take up these violent jobs to earn money so they can have basic things like food and shelter, but these small robberies and kidnappings then turned into murders. Initially, they used to do these for a living, but now it had turned into an obsession. Imagine if a person can kill for money, then would they even give a thought about killing someone for their survival? They will not hesitate and would kill in the blink of an eye. 

Since neither of them was backing down, a fight was imminent, and it would definitely be b****y. Since the organizer did not keep any rules regarding how to come to a conclusion. Players are free to opt for whichever method they seem fit. D4 and K10 were sitting at the opposite ends and were staring at each other. Not once did they leave the sight of each other. 

Ten minutes passed by and K10 finally broke the ice. 

K10: Alright, then. We have already decided to fight each other, right. So, we fight till one of us goes unconscious. Then they will not be able to vote and the other one wins and goes out of this shitty box. 

D4: I am a man of my word and I am sure you are too. We do not need to fight till one of us goes unconscious. The one who falls down three times loses and they will vote in the favor of the winner. 

K10: Well, I like my version better. But since you are going to die here anyway, I am willing to play along. But, I have one condition. I would like to know why you want to live.

D4: I am not known for sharing. If you want to, you go ahead. 

K10: I always want to know about the people that I am going to hurt. I let them talk to me before I kill them. Maybe that is my style of getting things done. I do not know if you will believe me, but I know a thing or two about each and every person that I had killed. By mistake, if I kill you, I do not want to break the streak of knowing about my victims. 

D4: You really think very highly of yourself, don't you? Fine then. I will tell you something to satisfy your ego, but I will keep it brief. As a child, I used to live beside dumpsters with my family. We barely made any money from the dump yard. One day, accidentally, I found a wallet and it was full of money. It might not be a lot, but I had never seen that kind of money before. I did not tell to my parents because they were built differently. Even though their earnings were tiny, they never earned money in an unethical way. Even now, I wonder how they were content with what they had. So what I did was I used that money to buy fancy food and then I used to bring them home and say that someone dumped this in the garbage. Since we grew up near a dump yard, our body was immune to unhygienic food. For two weeks, we ate good meals, and then I ran out of the cash that I had. I did not want to go back to my pathetic life again. So, I started stealing, running away from stories after stocking myself with fancy food products. Years passed by and my parents did not even suspect a thing.

Even though we continued to live in a dump yard, we ate good food and sometimes wore good clothes and all thanks to the money that I stole from people. I was somehow good at robbing people because they would not even know that I robbed them blind. I always fled the scene undetected. Things were going well, but I wanted more. I wanted to get us out of the dump yard as soon as possible. I could do that by saving enough money, but what would I tell my parents? How did I get my hands on such a huge sum? I can come clean, but then they would not accept the benefits that come through those dirty money. It would be even worse if they realize that, all this time, they were enjoying good meals and clothes through the money that I earned. It would shatter them for sure and the last I wanted was a breakdown. 

Since I was also helping my family financially, I did not need to work along with my father all the time. I used to go into town every day to steal money. I can use this and tell my parents that I found a job in the town as a servant for a very rich man and after a few months I could tell them that my owner had given me enough money to buy a house in the town. So, I told my parents the lie I made up and went to stay in town. After 6 months, when I returned, they were dead. An anonymous group dumped some radio-active material and my family came in contact with it, which killed them. 

I, then tracked down who did that and killed them. That was my first murder and then it led to who I am right now and the reason I want to stay alive is that let's say there are kids I know who would turn like me if they are not taken care of. I can not let them become like me. To do that I'll have to leave behind the dark side of me. But you know how they are, they would not let you go. I made a deal with them. I would offer them money and they would let me go. They agreed but stole everything that I had earned all my life and that is why I am here. 

K10: Hmm. that is some story you got there, huh. So you were not bad, situations turned you into this. But I was born bad. The only similarity is that I also came from a very poor background and that bugged me. I aspired to become great. When I really became the person that I wanted to be, the feeling I experienced was indescribable. People were afraid of me. I can do anything I wanted and there was nothing that could stop me. But things went sideways when one of my men f****d with me. He was a mole and I realized that too late. All my properties, weapons, money were gone. I needed a huge sum to recruit people, buy stuff and then go to war with my rivalry and I need to kill you to do that.

D4: Without any further ado, let us begin.

The way they fought each other after that was ungodly. It was as if two untamed beasts were let loose and they were fighting to establish their dominance. To show who was the apex predator. D4 was lean, but strong and did not look that scary, but he is scary. While K10 was a bit heavy and with lots of tattoos. He looked like a guy who you do not want to mess with. Both of them scored two points each and the one who wins the next point would be declared the winner. K10 used a technique that paralyzed the legs of D4 and he fell down making K10 the winner of the game. 

K10: I hope you remember the rules of the game.

D4: As I had already told. I am a man of my word and I intend to keep it.

----*----

E7: Please, sir. I want you to calm down. Do not worry about the situation we are in. Just breathe. 

Q3: How am I not supposed to worry after listening to what the organizer had said. One has to die for the other person to live. Who is going to give up their life for the sake of a stranger? Are you going to?

E7: Do not jump to conclusions, sir. We will discuss, and then we will decide. The more composed we remain, the easier it would be for us to deal with it. 

Q3: Okay. Panic does not help us anyway. Fine, just give me a minute, and then I will be ready.

Compared to all other players Q3 was a bit old. Not that he was an outlier, but definitely crossed his 40's. It took a while for him to wrap his mind around the situation that he was in. 

Q3: I think I am ready to talk now. 

E7: That is good to hear. We can take this nice and slow at the pace that you are comfortable with. 

----*----

H8 was successful in forming the team with the one of his choosing. He looked and acted weakly. Now all he had to do was check whether he was as gullible as he thought him to be.

H8: Good morning, J6.

J6: Good morning, I suppose.

H8: Can I ask you a question?

J6: Go ahead. What do you wanna ask?

H8: Why didn't your teammates pick you to be on their team. 

J6: The other four people formed two teams, and I was left out. If you want to know the reason, then according to them, I was comparatively weaker than any of them. So they did not want me to be a part of their team. So, I was left out. Did the same thing happen to you?

H8: Ah, no. Obviously, one person is going to be left out, right. So I sacrificed my position for that guy and went on looking for another teammate. Luckily, I found you. 

J6: Trust me. There is no luck in being around me. Maybe my teammates are right. I am weak and fearful. 

H8: Never say that ever again. You came to this wretched place for the sake of your family. Faced death twice and survived while hundreds of people lost their lives. Who in the world would dare to face death a third time? None of them. But you did. Whether we survive or die, we did something that none of the people in the outer worlds can ever do. Just remember that. 

J6: Thanks for saying that, but how are we going to decide who gets to leave this place? 

H8: It is easy to decide who gets to survive if we both agree to look at the problem from a neutral perspective. From now on, you are not J6 and I am not H8. We are just two people who are going to discuss who gets to survive.

J6: How do we do that?

H8: Let us listen to what J6 and H8 are saying and then we both will make a decision based on which one's survival benefits both of them. Is that alright?

J6: Okay. I would like to share my story first. I am a very bad father and a terrible husband. I got married to a woman against my will. I could not stand up for myself and against my parents, so I married a woman of my parent's choosing. It took me weeks to even accept the situation that I was in. My wife never complained even though I remained distant. As weeks passed, I felt sorry for her. So I started to talk with her to ease my conscience. As we talked, we became kind of friends. Then she told me that she loved someone else before me. I told her that it is okay since it is all in the past. But the reply she gave changed everything. She said that she was still in love with another guy and when her parents found out about that, they got her married to me. I realized that the reason she was not complaining was that she too did not like me. All the affection and sympathy that I felt for her vanished in an instant. Even though we were not so rich, I gave her half of what I had earned every month and never asked her what she did with all those money. As time passed, we were blessed with a baby girl. She might not have been born out of love between us, she became the apple of our eyes. We loved her so much and our love for her kept us staying together. The things that had happened after that are kind of blurry, but we also had a boy at that time. We did not love each other, but things progressed as they suppose to be.

Even though my earnings were low, we had never asked anything from other people. The money that I was earning was enough to live. I could provide my family with the basic things that they needed to survive. I guess I am a survivor since then.

One night, while I was sleeping, I could hear my wife cry. At first, I thought to ignore her, but I could not. So I went to her and asked what was wrong. She did not reply but kept crying. After a while, she said that she was in huge debt. I did not understand because she had never bought anything fancy for herself or for our children. I was not angry but confused. I asked her how she was in debt and the answer she gave enraged me. All this time, the money that I was giving to her, she had been giving them to her lover. In addition to that, my wife signed on some papers as a surety. Now, her lover ran away with money and so the debt he needed to pay fell on my wife because of her signature. I was so furious that I wanted to hit her, but controlled my anger because of the children, who were peeking inside the room to see what was going on. 

The next day, a person came to our house to collect money and after seeing our house, he realized that we had nothing. For some reason, I did not like that man. It appeared like beneath his calm personality existed a malignant nature. He said that until we pay off their debt, my wife and children will work under him. I begged him to give us some time, but no amount of time would be enough to clear that huge debt. 

It had been months that I had not seen my wife and children. Even though I hate her, I worry about her because that man might be harassing her and I can not do anything about it. I tried asking for money from all the people that I know, but no one could give me the amount I needed. I tried taking up several jobs, but what they paid was not enough to even buy a car. When all the hope is lost, that is when I came across this opportunity. So I want to get out of here with the money that I had earned and free my family from working under him.

H8: That is so sad, J6. That is really an unfortunate situation for anyone.

J6: It is your turn now, H8.

H8 could tell his story too, but it would not stand against the J6's story. Because his story was about revenge while J6's story was emotional. It was time for him to use that brain of his and narrate a story that would convince J6 into picking him. 

H8: I envy you because even though you have an imperfect family, you at least have a family. But things were not the same in my life. I do not know who my parents are, where was I even born. I am guessing I landed in a dumpster right after being born. Some orphanage found me, and you know how the orphanages work. They do not give a damn about your well-being. I craved for affection and love but got none in return. My heart broke every day and I did not know what to do. I was old enough to realize that I was in pain because of a lack of love and affection, but not old enough to leave the orphanage and live on my own. I do not the reason, but one day, one of the sisters came to me and said, " If you want to lead a great life then you should get out of here as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will grow up, but be nothing. There would be no one to love you, help you. No one to share your happiness or sadness with. No one to cry when you finally die. You will not be remembered by anyone. It would be as if you were not even born. "

I didn't know how much of that I had understood at that time, but it became clear that I would be alone all my life till my death finally shows mercy on me. For days after that, I kept thinking about it. The words that the sister said reverberated in my mind every day. It was all I could think about. I imagined how my life would be after ten years from now if I continue to remain in this orphanage. I could not an exact picture, but it did not seem good. One day, I decided to leave that orphanage, but I could not muster the courage that was required to leave. After months of self-motivation, I finally decided to leave that place once and for all Even though, I was afraid of the dark, escaping from the place was only possible at night because it did not really have any security and everyone was asleep at night. 

I woke up in the middle of the night, made sure no one would wake up, and finally I was out of the orphanage that raised me till this point. That was the biggest decision that I had ever taken up till that point. I finally did it and I felt proud of myself for doing something that seemed impossible to me before. And at that moment, I realized that nothing is impossible if you set your mind to do it. It might take days, weeks, months, or years, but it will definitely happen, and all you need is patience, determination, and a strong will.  

That night, it was so cold, and I did not even have a sweater. I was shivering but kept walking to find someplace to sleep. Even though I ate, I was hungry too. After walking for hours, not even sure where I was going, I found an alley. I was relieved, but it was so dark that I felt there would be ghosts in there, waiting for me in the dark, ready to eat me as soon as I enter. But I did not have any other option so I went inside. The cold seemed to have reduced, and I could feel the heat coming from somewhere. As I went inside, there were two paths. Either I had to go left or right. But I decided to go right because there was some light in that direction. But before going, I peeked a bit to see what was the reason for that light. And when I looked, it appeared like there was a bonfire and there were so many people sitting around it. I went slowly towards them, and the closer I got, I began to see that the people who were sitting around the fire were also children. Some were older than me and some were younger. The fear I had seemed to vanish at that point. As I approached them, they also spotted me, but none of them moved from their place. They remained there, but their eyes were following me. The warmth from the fire eliminated the shivery chills of the harsh night. the kids did not appear hostile, but from the looks of them, I could easily tell that they were strong and rough unlike me. They were adapted to the severe climates unlike me who never stepped outside. 

But I felt relieved, you know. After seeing those kids I came to know that there were many kids like me who were abandoned. I felt like I belonged with them. None of them were surprised at seeing a newcomer. I went and sat beside one of them to feel the warmth of the fire. A girl who was sitting beside me smiled and said, ' Every day a kid joins us and that is the reason why we are not surprised anymore at looking at a new kid. '

I did not know how to respond to that so I just smiled and remained silent. As I began to live them, I came to know how they lived. Some of them were robbers, some begged, some worked as servants. They did different kinds of jobs and then they use the money to get through that day. They should fight every day to survive the day. 

One day, I spotted a kid, who was trying to sell the books that he stole from the library. I stopped him and begged him not to sell the books. I wanted to read them, educate myself and then help all these kids live a better way. Maybe that day, the kid was in a good mood, so he listened to my request. Since I was not doing any work to earn money, I kept educating myself from all the stolen books and then taught some of them to whoever was interested. With time, I became really smart and I got a job. And now, I run an institution for all the kids who are abandoned or who lost their parents in a mishap. There are so many kids in my institution that all my savings are depleting so soon. If this continues, then I would not be able to feed all those kids. They look up to me and I can not fail them. That is the reason why I am here. Hundreds of kids would be affected if I do not go back with the money. 

J6: That is both sad and inspiring. I know lots of lives would be at stake if you do not return. Those kids mean everything to you. But for me, my child is the world to me. If I sacrifice myself for the greater good, then it would be like giving up my son and wife to continue to live a worse fate. I would both fail as a husband and as a father. 

H8: I understand you, J6. I do. But do not make any decisions so soon. Think about what I had said thoroughly and then we will decide. If you are willing to let me get out of here, it is not me that you are saving, it is the hundreds of kids out there who are waiting eagerly for my return. I do not care about my life, but I care about their well-being and that is why I stayed despite there being a good probability that I might die. Do not say anything now. Just think it through. 

----*----

E3 got teamed up with the same person as in the first round. He appeared shady but she did not have much of a choice.

F14: You were trying to run away from me and it looks like nature has some other plans. 

E3: I would not go that far. Since there are only a few people no one really has a choice but to select someone from this small group.   

F14: Before we get into the game I would like to know why you were avoiding me after the first round and why did you form a team with me now?

E3: I was not avoiding anyone. I was just playing my game and this is how I play.

F14: Until and unless you give me the real reason, this round is not going forward. Do you feel me?

E3 understood that unless he gets what he wants, there is nothing she can do. So she decided to tell him why she did what she did.

E3: The way you killed the puppy in the first round without even hesitating a little bit. It scared me. I did not want to be around a person who do not have empathy or kindness. And now I became your teammate just like that, there was no ulterior motive behind it. 

F14 believed the lie that came after the truth. I am sorry that I scared you. But you know that I kind of like you, right? And I am ready to give up my life if that would save you. I may seem crazy saying all this stuff, but I am willing to die for you. 

E3 did not even understand how to react to that. She was not even comfortable staying along with him in a closed cubicle. So she just responded by saying okay.

F14: But I would like to know that you are also willing to sacrifice your life for me. Prove it and make me believe it. 

E3: I don't need to make anyone believe anything. 

F14: If that is the case, then I would assume that you became my teammate to take advantage of me. And that would make me really angry and you do not want to see that.

E3, even though is a strong and independent woman, she was afraid too. This was not a situation that we find ourselves in every day. This is something new and scary. And the fear of the unknown is a basic tendency of humans.