[b]DAY 16: THIS COULD BE HEAVEN OR THIS COULD BE HELL[/b]

Oliver had been for a while in a personal road trip, just him and his car. It's what he had wanted to do during his winter vacation. He had said goodbyes to his friends and family and began his journey. He enjoyed driving and doing stuff on his own, so he was excited for this little travel around the country. Currently he was driving through a patch of woods in a rural area. He was listening to some of his favorite rock music and everything seemed to be fine. Until all of a sudden, his car decided to act strangely.

Oliver managed to steer it on the side of the road, but then it just shut off completely. Nothing worked, and he couldn't turn it on again. Why would it do that so abruptly? There should be no mechanical issues with his car. Annoyed, he checked his phone, intending to call someone who could help him. But today everything seemed to be against him, because his phone had no signal. Wonderful. Just wonderful. He couldn't really stay in the car freezing his ass off, so he decided to leave. Maybe he could find somebody who would lend a helping hand or get his phone to work. Luckily it wasn't horribly cold day, he pondered as he stepped out of his car. He let out a sigh and started to walk along the road.

Some force was clearly having something against him, because after he had been walking for a while, a sudden snowstorm brewed up. The wind was howling and piercing his skin with its coldness. Harshly falling snow was making him blind. The storm only got worse and worse and Oliver really had a struggle to move on. He was freezing and could barely see. He had warm clothes on him but he could still feel the chill in his bones. But he kept going.

But it was possible for his struggles to end as well. The blizzard was wearing off, the winds subsided and the snow was falling gently. Oliver could move with ease now. He noticed that it was getting dark and wondered could there be any settlements nearby. That was when he spotted some lights ahead. Somewhere in the distance few warm lights were shining. And as he continued walking on, he understood that the road was leading him towards a great building and the lights were glowing from the windows. He felt an immense relief, because who knows how badly he could have got lost in the snowstorm. If there were any decent people living in that house, he could get some help. Tired but hopeful, Oliver made his way through the snow to the building.

It was a manor of some sort he noted as he got closer. It looked old-fashioned, but was still quite an impressive sight. He got to the door and knocked carefully. Everything was silent for a moment. Then the door creaked open and a strange looking man appeared. He had an odd blue suit; it resembled a baroque styled outfit. His skin was slightly grey and he had eyes that were gleaming in red. He also had a wide grin on his face.

“Yes?”

His appearance confused Oliver for a while. He definitely didn't look like an ordinary and trustworthy individual, but he didn't really have choice.

“I… um…” Oliver was struggling a bit with his words. “Sorry to bother you, but my car just kind of broke down and I need help.”

“Oh, come in, come in!” the stranger exclaimed and opened the door fully so Oliver had some space to step inside. “We always have room for a lost soul!”

“Um… thanks?” Oliver really felt uncomfortable in the presence of this man.

He looked around in the place where he had ended up to. It was a magnificent hallway, although outdated. But that was part of its charm. Everything was so clean and tidy, but there was an eerie feeling lingering in the air that gave Oliver some chills. He couldn't really pinpoint what it was actually.

“Welcome, sir!” the strange man announced behind him. “Can you please tell me your name?”

“I'm Oliver.” His gaze continued to wander around the hallway. “What is this place?”

“Oh, don't you worry about that! You'll learn soon enough. Let me show you around!”

Oliver shrugged and decided to just play along and follow this odd guy. It's not like he had anything better to do anyway.

But before they began their little tour, he had a question: “By the way, who are you?”

“I am Victor and I am your guide tonight!” the strange man chirped. “Come, come! Let's not linger.”

Oliver felt a bit puzzled about the whole place and his so-called guide, but just let it slide for a moment. At first, Oliver didn't notice anything suspicious as Victor took him to fancy rooms like fine salons, the great library and parlor. But when they walked by a glassy double-doors that led to an inner courtyard, Oliver detected something really weird. Although it was dark, he could see that there was no snow at all outside, even though it was winter.

“Hey, Victor… I just came through snow but now I don't see any, why?”

His guide stopped his going and faced him, wearing that creepy wide grin on his face. “Well, I guess it is now a good time to tell you that you are dead.”

“Dead…?” Oliver couldn't take this remark seriously. “That's not possible.”

“Oh, do not worry, sir! Most people will not remember their death, at least not at first. As far as I can tell, you died in the blizzard.”

“But I… I just came out of the storm and…”

“That is how it feels like to you. But you are dead. Did it not feel strange that your path took you to this mansion?”

“So… Is this afterlife?”

“Well, I guess you could say that.”

“Is this heaven or hell?”

“That is up to you to decide.” Victor was grinning again that uncomfortably wide grin. “Once this tour is over.”

There was nothing else Oliver could say, so Victor continued to show him the many wonders of the mansion, while Oliver did twiddle around his head with the thoughts about his death. His guide was now taking him to the upper floor that branched into two wings. While the rest of the mansion had been relatively well illuminated, the upper floor was a lot darker and felt sinister. In both wings, there were just rows of doors that felt endless. Victor took Oliver to one of them and the corridor felt like it was just going on forever. Then the guide began to open the doors randomly and what was behind them deeply disturbed Oliver.

In first one, there was a woman that had been stabbed multiple times, all the knives still sticking out of her while the wounds were constantly bleeding.

In second one, there was a decapitated head of a man hanging from a ceiling in a hook, trying to scream but obviously couldn't make a sound, while the rest of his body was shackled below the head, trying desperately to unite with it again.

In third one, there was another shackled man, his stomach brutally cut open and insects had made their nest inside him.

Victor did open few more doors like these and showed the many horrors of the mansion to Oliver. In the end, Oliver couldn't really stand to look at the tortured souls that knew no sweet relief of death. Victor took him back to the hallway where they started.

“So, what do you think?” the strange man asked him.

“What do I think of what?” Oliver huffed. The sight of tormented people was burning inside his mind.

“Is this heaven or hell?” Victor questioned.

“Hell! Of course this is hell! What the fuck are you thinking?” Oliver lashed out.

“Ah, so you are one of those people.” Victor shook his head. “Well, like I said before, we always have a room for a lost soul. You can be one of those who makes this heaven for some.”

The strange man snapped his fingers. In an instant, Oliver's sight went black, he couldn't see anything, and he had this odd sensation that he was floating. And just as suddenly as it had started, it ended. He found himself from an empty room. There was nothing in it, except a door. He noticed that it was exactly same kind of door as those which Victor had been opening a moment ago. Oliver tried to open it, but it was locked.

An unnerving feeling snuck into his heart as he realized that he was going to get tortured as well.

There was no hope, no escape. Only fear.



[b]DAY 17: MY DEAR YOU JUST KILLED A FRIEND[/b]

She had blood all over her hands. Trapped in a dark place, she was kneeling, shaking and the only thing she could do was to stare at her trembling hands with wide eyes. Few tears of fear rolled down her cheek as the blood was dripping to the cold concrete floor. She knew very well what was going on, but she didn't want to admit anything. In front of her, there was a body of a young man laying on his stomach. He had blood all over him, caused by several different kind of wounds that had been inflicted. Stab wounds, lacerations, burns, rope marks and even a couple of shot wounds. He had suffered much, that was clear. And all of this had happened by the hand of a vile woman.

From the great depths of darkness, I came forth, walking slowly, my eyes fixated on the bloody body of a man. She noticed my impending figure and for a moment she shifted her gaze on me. But I didn't pay much attention to her, I was just examining the body with sorrowful eyes. Such a tragedy, he was a kind-hearted and innocent man, he didn't deserve a fate like this. There was only one person to blame. My eyes wandered to the woman who was blinded by her tears. My heart grew rigid as I watched her pathetic act.

“You know, you killed him”, I said bluntly.

She didn't respond in any way. She was back at staring at her bloody hands. He had given his heart, his life, to this woman and what did she do in return? She had been backstabbing him, belittling him, restrained him, offered him just a cold heart. She had practically drained the life-force out of him. And yet, he had still loved her and did everything for her. It had been painful to watch how this man would just give the world to that woman, but nothing was ever good enough to her. She had always demanded more, but didn't give him anything except more reasons to despite her, however being the kind fool he was, he hadn't noticed these things.

I had known this man rather well, he had been one of my friends. I had witnessed how this woman had been poisoning him from the start, but he hadn't believed me whenever I confronted him about it. It was so sad, that he had put so much trust into this vile individual. I tried to make him see the truth, but he had remained stubborn and had faith in her.

I hold such an immense amount of resentment towards this woman. Now that we were here, in this little purgatory, it's time for her to face her sins, and I'll be the judge today. I started to circle around her and she nervously looks at me. These wounds on the body represent the crimes she did against my friend. When they are lumped together like this, it's clear as day that she did a lot of bad things to him, even if they weren't physical in the mortal realm. And what is left behind by their fucked-up love? Nothing but a bloody mess.

Suddenly I make a quick move and thrust my hand right through her chest before she can even react. My hand burrows into her and I grasp a piece that I think is a heart, and I yank it out of her. It's frozen solid as I look at it resting on my palm. It disgusts me. Violently I throw it to the ground and it shatters into thousands of pieces. It's not like she needed that thing anyway.

I start to make my leave from the scene. I don't care about her fate, she can stay in this limbo for all eternity. Maybe she learns how to be respectful and gentle human being while staying in here. I doubt that, though. I leave her behind in this dark world and she can cry all her helpless tears for I don't give a damn.

Have fun in your next life if you ever get out.



[b]DAY 18: TAKE THE KNIFE AND TWIST IT, WHERE'S MY HEART, YOU MISSED IT[/b]

Where am I? I don't recognize this house. Everything looks so… messy. The wallpapers are so dirty and torn and I'm getting an unsettling feeling that those stains on them are blood. I think I'm in a living room at the moment, and there's trash everywhere. TV is on, but it's only showing static. The lamp hanging from the ceiling is flickering ominously, and I can see shadows moving whenever it gets dark. My nose is pestered by the disgusting smell of rotting food. I try to open the door behind me, but it's locked. I have a feeling that I came from that way, although I can't remember anything about how I ended up in this nasty hole. I think I just fell asleep on my bed like usual and that's all.

So, is this a dream or something else? It feels so real, though. I guess I have no other choice but to find out. I watch my steps carefully as I try to seek my way through the mounds of trash. Eventually I managed to tiptoe away from that room, arriving to a corridor. I look around, but there is nobody to see. So I start my little tour around the strange house, silently moving from room to room.

I spot more and more things that makes me increasingly nervous. Most of the lights are on and yet, I can't see a single soul around here. When I try to look out of the windows, I see nothing outside, everything is pitch-black, only my own reflection can be seen. All the clocks here are showing different times. There's even more trash all around and especially the kitchen is in horrible state. There are food scraps everywhere and piles and even more piles of dirty dishes. I even saw a bunch of cockroaches skittering around. This whole place is such a dumping ground, nobody can possibly live in here. And I still haven't found a way out.

While wandering around a corridor, I saw a glimpse of Olivia, my beloved one.

“Olivia!” I called out her name.

But she didn't pay any attention to me, just kept walking forward. I was happy to see her nonetheless, because now I wasn't alone anymore in a strange place. I rushed after her, but I had ultimately lost a sight of her. I tried to call her name again, but the house was silent. That left me pondering, where could she have possibly disappeared to? Since I had no other options, I started to seek her out.

I dashed from room to room in search of her. But it wasn't until the second floor when I saw a piece of her black dress to disappear around the corner. I ran after her and I noticed that the door to the master bedroom was open wide, although the last time I checked it was locked. Had Olivia opened the door? Did she have keys to this odd house? Obviously, I headed to the room, hoping to find my dear Olivia from there.

The bedroom was strangely tidy compared to the rest of the house. There were just pieces of clothing scattered all over the floor, even the bed was well made. But none of that interested me, because there she was, Olivia, standing in the middle of the room, her back to my direction. 

“Oh, Olivia, I'm so glad to see you!” I said as I walked towards her.

She still didn't give me any response. She was just standing there. When I was close enough, I reached out for her, placing my hand gently on her shoulder.

That was when she swung around violently and stabbed me with something.

I was so shocked I couldn't even react. I just stared at the blade that was sticking out of my chest. Had she stabbed my heart? I didn't know. Why would she even do something like this?

“Why…?” I asked her.

Still no response. She just took hold of the knife and twisted it, causing me agonizing pain. There was no emotion in her eyes as she pulled the knife and stabbed me once more to the chest. I couldn't understand any of this, this couldn't possibly be real. I closed my eyes and muttered to myself that this was just a dream, when she yanked the knife out one more time and gave me a third stab.

Not real. Not real. Not real.

Tears formed in my eyes, both because of the physical and the emotional pain. I collapsed on the floor, the flowing blood staining my clothes. My tears were making me blind, but I tried to see Olivia, my sweet little Olivia… I blinked few times and saw that she was still standing beside me, holding the bloody knife in her hand. And then she disappeared. Not suddenly, her whole figure turned black and scattered as shadowy threads.

The knife fell on the floor.

I still didn't understand any of this. But I could feel my consciousness fading. I was just a crying bloody mess on the floor when darkness was taking a hold of me. And I embraced it, I didn't want to feel this pain anymore. But I had one last thought.

I still love you, Olivia.



[b]DAY 19: I RELOAD MY GUN, GET READY TO RUN, FUCK YOUR LIFE I'M JUST HAVING FUN[/b]

It was late evening and he feared that it would be his last. It was dark, but the lights of the town illuminated his way through the streets and narrow alleys. It had been raining previously on that day and as a reminder of that, the ground was still wet and there were puddles all over the town. The noise of his clattering steps echoed through the streets, occasionally accompanied by the splashing sounds whenever he ran through a puddle. Dread was motivating him to run as fast as he could, but he wasn't sure would that be enough. He heard a faint laughter coming from somewhere behind him, and that motivated him to hasten his pace.

Then he heard the horrific sound of a gun being shot. It frightened him even more, although it hadn't hit him. It had probably been just an intimidation shot, but it sure had done good job with that. He was straining his body, his muscles were aching and his lungs were burning. His body wasn't used to performances like this one. But he had to keep going or he would die.

He heard another gunshot, which was possible for intimidation as well. This time it sounded closer. And right after that, he heard additional shot and immediately felt horrid agony in his shoulder. He cried from pain and instinctively his hand got drawn to the fresh wound. The hand was stained with blood. This was cruel but effective reminder to him that he was being hunted here, so if he wanted to live, he had to keep going.

Desperately he tried to find someone who could help him, but the streets were empty, there was absolutely not even a single soul around. It was like he was all alone in this world with the man hunting him. He was panting heavily and randomly selected doors, trying to open them. Everything was locked. Then he heard a gunshot yet again and it sounded like it came from really close. The man after him was approaching. This whole ordeal felt like some sick game and the man was allowing him to have some lead because that would make the game more interesting. He wasn't actively staying on his trail – yet. He felt frustrated and scared, but in the end, the only thing he could do was to run.

He was zigzagging his way through the streets, hoping that it would confuse the hunter. However, while running around like this, he made one fatal mistake: he ran to a dead end. Immediately he turned around to correct this mistake, but it was already too late.

Right there, at the opposite end of the alley, a man was pointing his gun at him. He had a wide grin on his face and there was a murderous and mad gleam in his cold steel grey eyes. It terrified him and he made a futile attempt to try and climb over the fence. He couldn't do it. He faced the hunter again and the gunman started to slowly walk closer to him.

“Seems like you have nowhere to run, huh?” the hunter said as the distance between them shortened.

The other man couldn't say a word, nothing to defend himself. He fell on his knees, his heart beating fast both from the fear and from his failed run away. He didn't look up, he didn't want to face the incoming death. He could hear the slow steps coming closer. Then he could feel something cold touching his forehead: it was the barrel of the gun.

“Well, it was rather entertaining to hunt you down”, the hunter spoke again. “And oh, this is nothing personal, just business.”

He wondered what he had done wrong in order to deserve this, but couldn't think of any reason. He just had to accept death, it seemed. He closed his eyes and waited.

One more gunshot could be heard.

His body fell to the damp ground and there was a hole in his head now, bleeding. The hunter was satisfied and was wearing a sadistic smile on his face as he looked at the work of his hands. He chuckled to himself a little before making his leave from the scene. 

What a wonderful and thrilling hunt it had been.



[b]DAY 20: GLADLY I LEAVE YOU ON THE WITHERED KILLING FIELD[/b]

We were back here, in this ancient battlefield. Once we had been here side by side, but now we were against each other. The sky had darkened, even though it was still daytime; perhaps it was mourning the end of brotherhood that had lasted for centuries. A cold wind was blowing through the barren land, weeping and blowing gusts of sands into the air. There was practically nothing in these fields except sand, the death claimed everything else. However, here and there, the shifting winds had revealed pieces of armor and weapons, reminder of the days when this land was scorched by the flames of war. Nothing else remained of those who had fallen here, for no one remembered that they had even existed.

I'm eyeing your figure. You had lived for centuries and still you were standing proudly and with grace. You are still capable of taking down any foe that dares to face you in combat. Calmly you are inspecting me as well, I know you're trying to verify if I'm still as mighty as during my golden days. This situation makes me feel miserable.

What happened between us? We used to be brothers in arms, together we were close to unbeatable. We would fight on the side of the righteous, we would kill all diabolical kind of creatures like a two-men army, nothing could stand in our way. We were one of the leading forces that resulted in the victory for the mankind. We are legends, although at this point we are forgotten legends. So much time as passed since those days. We eradicated the dark entities from this land and peace has been retained for centuries.

But now they are back and that's because of you. You invited them and made them return. Surely you realize how serious crime that is. I haven't heard of you in decades and then this happens. What may have corrupted your heart like that? We were the men of valor, glory and honor. We were like a symbol of these virtues to the mankind. Why have you betrayed me like this, brother?

But know one thing: I'll never let evil prevail in this land.

I unsheathed my sword and got ready. You did the same. We eyed each other intently before acting. Then I made my first move and dashed towards you, and so began our dance of death. Our weapons clashed against each other, the racket of our combat being the only sound in the ancient battlefield. We are evenly matched, we could both dodge defend with ease. We both started pretty carefully, but our battle turns more heated minute after minute. Steel against steel, heart against heart. We are both equal and for a little while our fight wasn't going anywhere.

Then you managed to get an attack in; your sword penetrated my chest. I stopped my movements and looked at the weapon that had invaded my rib cage. You have pierced my heart, but you know what? It doesn't matter because you had already pierced it with your betrayal. This doesn't give me as much agony as your deed. I took a hold of the weapon and removed it from my chest; the little hole and bleeding won't hinder me much. Our combat continues like nothing had happened.

You made a little mistake with your steps and now it was my turn to attack. With a mighty swing, I sliced your hand off, your sword hand. It dropped to the ground and you are just left with bewilderment as you stared at your bloody stump. I knocked you down and you fell to the ground.

I unleashed my full rage and I started to stab you with my sword multiple times. Blood kept pouring as the steel assaulted your body time and time again until you were laying in a pool of your own blood. But in the end, my anger subsided, because I still considered you as my brother. I looked at you. You were in such a weakened state, but not close to death. I could never kill you. I hope you learn something from this experience.

I took my sword and I started to walk away. I'm gladly leaving you behind here, in this field where many has lost their lives. Perhaps the whispers of the dead will get some sense back into you. If not, I'll defeat you again.