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.”247Please respect copyright.PENANAwtCHqlxi8K
The masked man looked at the lady and laughed, “You are an interesting character.”247Please respect copyright.PENANAN0T3vmYNRd
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.247Please respect copyright.PENANAc5lswLf3jn
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. 247Please respect copyright.PENANACilnHzCz8p
The masked man laughed and took a slow step toward her. "I agree but there’s one more heart already missing, isn’t there?" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAwyvIODHxg6
She frowned, confused. "What do you mean?" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAXCHlossuKL
He reached forward and touched her chest lightly, right where her heart was beating wildly beneath the skin. "Yours." 247Please respect copyright.PENANAFkcEcaXFks
She took a step back, "What are you saying?" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAEkJjWn8eXR
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?" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAB1kZVcTxm7
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…" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAegE3xSLb3H
"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?" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAWWhSgc0udG
The lady’s breathing quickened. She looked around the room, at the blood, at John’s lifeless body.247Please respect copyright.PENANApwend2L7Fb
Her hands trembled as she whispered, "I did what had to be done." 247Please respect copyright.PENANAg31uWsPHFS
The masked man nodded, "Of course you did." 247Please respect copyright.PENANAadjQH7Q53A
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." 247Please respect copyright.PENANAIrFP3WogZk
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." 247Please respect copyright.PENANAZiXB7NwKeu
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. 247Please respect copyright.PENANALI3I92IV2e
She gasped, her voice barely above a whisper. "My heart… is it black or white?" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAtHj5vFSchn
The masked man tilted his head and with a weird smile, he whispered, "It doesn’t matter. You have no heart left to judge." 247Please respect copyright.PENANAPGXMMO6XAM
Her body wobbled and she collapsed onto the cold, bloodstained floor. The masked man stood, gazing down at her lifeless form.247Please respect copyright.PENANA1Fhusn7OiG
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.247Please respect copyright.PENANACQUw6JGXop
“And that is her story,” The masked man stood up.247Please respect copyright.PENANA1lM2xFmkPq
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?” 247Please respect copyright.PENANAeyrEQIPIYN
“What were you told when you got transferred here?”247Please respect copyright.PENANAzYPkC7NbO5
“Nothing, just that this area needed a strong head of the police,” Harper said in a confused tone.247Please respect copyright.PENANAsGfNIZoCbK
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.”247Please respect copyright.PENANA50k2sJTh7u
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?”247Please respect copyright.PENANAQHSz5owxiz
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.”247Please respect copyright.PENANAQlGRBANcOq
“You’re lying.” Harper muttered, his fists clenched, “The mayor wouldn’t cover up something this big.”247Please respect copyright.PENANAghKIIE8655
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?” 247Please respect copyright.PENANAQLJ7guGJNg
Harper interrupted, “Shut up with your bullshit.”247Please respect copyright.PENANAdpdVn3aBkU
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?”247Please respect copyright.PENANAk16KU6U04U
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. 247Please respect copyright.PENANAwwyE1Q6JPS
The masked man took a step back, placing a bloodstained hand on the door handle. He opened the door and stepped into the darkness.247Please respect copyright.PENANAL6MF2ZsueZ
Somewhere else, Ace was lying on the bed and looking at the fan on the ceiling.247Please respect copyright.PENANAGCYQissjgR
Clark came to him and said, “What are you thinking?”247Please respect copyright.PENANAV3BPZeFGVK
Ace looked at Clark and said, “Something doesn't feel right.”247Please respect copyright.PENANAO4IqmnLZYz
Clark sat down beside Ace on the bed. "What do you mean?" 247Please respect copyright.PENANAspvwyynslR
"I don't know. It's just a feeling."247Please respect copyright.PENANArhm1Kofwv9
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.”247Please respect copyright.PENANAMsrg0VMc2T