It was a perfect setting.

After years of reading and planning it out inside his head, finally he had the chance to direct it himself for the first time. For the first time, he felt powerful. For the first time too, he had control of things just the way he wanted it.

Tonight, he had a new target to settle the old scores. The scene was simple. No major or scary propos were needed to carry it out knowing that everything will be done by the tip of his ballpoint. His job was to only think on how and when he wanted to finish up the chapter before he starts on a new one.

Slowly, he peeped through the holes on his wooden door trying hard to minimize all possible noise or sound as possible. He hated it when his privacy was invaded by some aliens in the house, pretending to show how much they cared when they were not in the first place. Enough with all those beatings decorating his skins and abusive words playing in his ears and mind. Soon, all those dramas and pretentious will come to an end as he grinned at the thought of how he will end it later that night.

As expected, a figure passed by his room and walked straight to the stairs. The sounds of those heavy steps soon became faded as he leaned forward and placed his ears against the door. A loud slamming echo coming from downstairs indicated just exactly how he had it all written in the script. Next, all he had to do was to make sure that things were not screwed up in any way. No matter what happen, the scene MUST be wrapped up. There must never be any mistakes in the plot. He had read the storyline a few times before he inserted the date of mission and with that, he was so sure of leaving no clues, no concrete evidence to pull him aside as a suspect and most importantly, the scene will never have any fingerprints. Grabbing his cap, he sneaked out of his room through the window. He purposely blasted up the volume of the radio so as not to arouse any suspicious of his absence.

The wind whistled across the almost empty road and through the branches of trees that flanked the path. Despite of his old age and big burly figure, he had no difficulty in walking fast. Once in a while he would stop and turned around as if he knew he was being followed. He would then raised his eyebrow and started to scrutinize at everyone and everything that stood in front of him. Noticing that everyone was busy chattering and meddling their own things to even mind his presence, he continued walking and whistling at the same time as if he was trying to out beat the wind.

If he was to do this in his own way, he would have drugged the figure and slit his throat himself but no, he convinced himself to wait. Good things were afterall worth the waiting. If he had the patience to wait for twelve long painful years, then waiting for a few more hours would not have hurt him. In fact he was kind enough to let the old man enjoyed every last seconds of his life. He knew nobody would ever want to miss that man, or that his death would be a major loss to the town, society and the world but an early exit was too kind for him. For someone like him, kindness never existed. Throughout his life, he only grumbled about his living condition without making any effort to improvise it, he whined and complained about them being a burden to him even though their maternal mother had passed away long time ago. Whenever he was in foul mood, he would turn to them as his punching bag. A slight mistake would end up being getting beaten like hell. Perhaps hell was better than what he had experienced, he thought as he clenched his fists and shook his head to brush off those agonizing and heartbreaking memories from flashing inside his head like slide shows. Turbulence of anger with voices deep within himself began to boil up each time he looked at those ugly marks on his hands. Although he was the youngest in the family, he knew he had to protect himself and his sister. Past experiences had taught him a new meaning of maturity. It was something that he thought gave him a new form of authority to stand up for both of them. Something powerful that once the mission was accomplished, they will start their lives afresh. Just the two of them.

The old man stopped his pace. He had a puzzling look shone on his face. It seemed like he was not sure what he was doing or what was he doing there at that moment of time.

“Hey Jack! Over here!” A female voice came from the other side of the road and waved at the old man. He hurriedly crossing over, making no attempt of checking on the upcoming moving vehicles from the opposite directions. Even so, it was already written that road accident will not be the reason of his death. Let the journal be the ultimate witness on how the author wanted to end it himself.

From afar, he heard other hostesses calling out to the old man and being a frequent patron he was welcomed with warmth hugs practically by everyone outside the bar. Those hugging were reciprocated with kisses and cheeky touching, something that was obviously contrary to what he got at home. Beatings were taken as hugging, cursing was regarded as normal way of communicating between a child and his father, and scars on their bodies marked as a form of his love. He clenched his fists again. The sight and the flashbacks were too much for him to take. For that moment he wished he had the journal with him and changed everything. Instead of having to wait, he could change the set-up. He could have the scenario such that the old man died while crossing the road, or he was stabbed by some robbers or even by the falling of huge trees on him. Then again, such deaths were too merciful to him. He wanted the old man to taste a slow and horrifying death.

Slowly he walked away from the pavement and decided to take cover behind the huge tree to enjoy the rest of his own directed motion picture. He looked at his watch for the third time and started his own countdown. With both his hands slipped inside his pockets, he waited anxiously for another successful writing.

“Alright Jack… make sure you come back tomorrow… we’ll be waiting…” He lip-synched the exact words coming out from the blonde hostess as she bid a goodbye kiss on the old man’s wrinkled cheeks.

“Sure Margie! I… ahemm… I will… I will definitely be… be here…”

“Jack? Are you alright? You are too drunk I think… need me to send you home?” Offered the same blonde hostess from the bar.

“Nah… I’m fine… I’m not drunk… I can never be drunk… I’m just little tipsy tonight… you know tipsy…”

“Right! Never get drunk huh! Remember the last time you went back home, you almost hit into the lamppost!”

“That was sleepy, not because of drinking.” He laughed at his own stupidity.

“Yeah, whatever! You sure you don’t want me to send you home tonight? I can just keep you accompany for tonight…” She continued to seduce him. Usually he would be tempted but that night, he strongly rejected the proposal.

“Its okay… I can go back by myself… I’ll see you tomorrow… hup!” A strong smell of liquor escaped from his lips each time he burped and hiccupped.

“You are drunk tonight man! Alright alright… if you think you can manage it, then by all means… I won’t stop you but you have to promise to come back tomorrow night… I have a surprise for you…”

“Hahaha… surprise eh? Sure I’ll be here!” He said as he steadied himself out of the premises and strutted his way along the empty pavement.

“Hey! Take care!” She shouted from the door and Jack simply showed an ‘OKAY’ gestured without looking at her. Knowing that was not the first time she saw him leaving in such a drunkard mannered so to her, it was a normal sight. So when Jack made a turn to walk his way home, the sexy hostess closed the door to attend to another patron.

Jack, on the other hand had to keep on stopping after taking a few steps gasping for air. From what he remembered, he only had a few shots of Tequila and a mug of beer; the least amount of drinks he had consumed so far compared to any other nights. Yet he could still feel breathless.

He continued taking a few more steps and had to hold on to the walls and railings for support as his vision slowly became blurred. In spite of his blur vision, he knew he saw a notable figure standing in front of him. He heard no footsteps but then a dark shadow looming over him from behind as it grew bigger and taller. One by one the lamps on the street started to flicker. It was more like having spotlights being switched on and off but it was not the streetlamps or the flickering of lights that bothered him.

Out of a sudden, he began to shiver. It was unusual to see how a big man like himself shivered and trembled with fears but when a supernatural occurred, even the strongest man cannot fight the fear buried deep within themselves. He wanted and tried to scream but his voice got lost somewhere in the vocal box. Running would be the best alternative but the terror apprehended him too much that his legs can hardly move. His hands pressed hard on his chest. His heartbeat started to race crazily as he felt something piercing through his skin, his flesh and his veins. It was sharp and prickly.

“What the…” In one final push, there was a fractured sound followed by spurting of blood on the wall.

A wide grin appeared on his face in full satisfaction. That was not revenge, never meant to be one but merely a payback time for all those miseries he had endured all his life. A debt to pay for those tears and sleepless nights his sister had during those years of torment. He laughed. For the first time in his life, he never had such a wonderful laugh. Not even when they watched the stupidest or any natural comedy show at home but that night, it has totally changed his life and he knew he would soon change the life of others.

“This is only the beginning…” He muttered as he sauntered away from the scene. In his heart, its already considered a wrap and all casts were free to go until he summons them back with another plot for another chapter in his journal. Meanwhile, he just wanted to savour the moments of triumph.