"I'm going to kill you!" "Wait 'til your father leaves and I am going beat you to death!" This familiar voice kept echoing in Jon's head for a while. He reached for his glass of whiskey and gulped one shot of this strong liquor trying to ease the pain he had had all his life.
The loud music in the club replaced the voices in his head. He stood up again and danced to beat. He banged his head like there was no tomorrow. He was quite popular with the girls. He went to the club almost every single night and met women without any strings attached. He was a flatterer.
"Hi, this is the first time I saw you here!" Jon eyed an attractive woman at the corner of the bar.
"I can't help but staring at your beauty if that's fine?" The lady smiled. She put her arms around Jon's neck as she pulled Jon's body towards her. "You know, I know a really good place to relax," Jon whispered in her ear. He held her hand as they exited the club that night.
The alarm went off.
Jon felt extreme pain in his head. He moved around his bed and realized he was alone. He noticed that the girl had already left. It was not new to him. He had the same routine almost every day. He was young, athletic, handsome and a billionaire. He had everything in his life that other men could dream of. He was a young CEO at a big pharmaceutical company that he bequeathed from his late father. He couldn't remember much of him since he passed away when he was around five. He was left with his stepmother, Dr. Madonna de Vile, a well-known psychiatrist in town.
"Jon! Jon!" Jon heard his stepmom shouting and she went close to his room on the second floor.
"You, imbecile! Come out of your room and get back to your senses! You have to meet our top clients today and you're still here in your bed?! What a useless piece of crap!" Dr. de Vile sounded very angry that she slammed Jon's door and headed to her office across his room.
Dr. de Vile had to see her patients scheduled that morning. She was in her 50's but looked much younger and tougher. She managed to run her own clinic and assist Jon in their company.
Jon finally stretched up and put his white robe on. He walked straight to the bathroom. He gazed at himself at the mirror for a while. He still had episodes of flashbacks of his dark childhood years. The voice of his stepmother still echoed in his head as he remembered how she repeatedly beat him and called him names when his father wasn't around. Now, he had to live up with his stepmom's standards in running the company that he never had the heart to. The only escape that he had was being someone he was not. Going out to the clubs at night and meeting women was his only version of freedom.
"Man up Jon," he mumbled.
He held the water from the tap and closed his eyes to wash his face. He held another amount and sprayed it to his face.
Jon felt a sudden change in temperature. It was suddenly very hot, but he felt the coldness of the wind hitting his face. It was strange. He then opened his eyes and he could not believe what he saw. There was a pile of dead bodies around him, rotting. Some were still dying and covered with blood, screaming. He saw most of them were children. It was a complete horror. His eyes grew bigger as he looked up and noticed that the sky was bloody-red and the mountains turned pitch-black. He couldn't move a muscle while he was in shock.
"Oh! Here we have our hero! Why did it take so long for you to show up?" An eerie voice of a woman came from behind. Jon immediately turned to see who it was.
"Mom?" He was extremely confused why he saw his stepmother wearing an all-red witch's dress. She was holding a bloody scythe on the right hand, and a child's shirt on the other.
"Mom!" He was certain that he was looking at his stepmom's face.
The Red Witch laughed hysterically as she floated towards Jon. The closer she got, the bigger her mouth expanded exposing her huge sharp teeth.
Jon did not have any choice but to turn back and run this time. He ran as much as he could as he tried to avoid the bodies on the grassland. Finally, he saw a river a few meters away. Without thinking twice, he splashed into the water.
The pitter-patter of the shower continued.
Jon opened his eyes, bewildered. "H-how?"
He was still in his bathrobe. Jon thought he was going crazy. He got drenched. Yet he didn't step in the shower, he was already wet. "W-what happened? Where was I??"
A few moments later, Jon found himself walking downstairs heading to the dining table to eat breakfast with Dr. de Vile.
"What time is it now, Jon?" She grabbed her phone to check Jon's schedule. She went over it again and reminded Jon.
Jon remained silent.
"Hey!" Dr. de Vile shouted at him again. "Your medicine?!"
Jon nodded.
Jon stopped talking when he was five years old and it lasted for a year or two. It was not clear to him if it was because of his abusive stepmother or his father's passing. It seemed that his memory tried to block something in his dark past. As his personal psychiatrist, Dr. de Vile prescribed some medicine for Jon since then. Even when he turned normal again, he was still forced to take this prescription. He was getting better until now.
A week later, Jon tried to shake things off a bit.
He went out of his building to see a friend, but suddenly it got dark and then the rain poured. He ran to his car which was parked across the road. The rainwater dripped all over his face. He lifted his right arm and wiped his face. As he closed his eyes, he felt that weird feeling one more time. It got hotter. The rain stopped as he felt the cold wind on his cheeks. He was again terrified.
He opened his eyes and saw the same horror he saw when he was in his bathroom a week ago - dead bodies around the grassland, dying children screaming, the red sky and the black mountains. He looked around to look for the Red Witch, but there was no trace of her this time. Jon felt something heavy on his right hand - he was clenching a large sharp weapon. It looked like a sword but it seemed like it was a massive katana. He raised it to have a closer look. For the first time, he saw his reflection on the sword. He wore a white mask that showed only his eyes and mouth.? He also noticed that he was wearing some kind of oversized white clothing.?
"Look, it's the Masked Hero!" Jon heard the voice of a child. It was strange but he felt braver and more familiar with the environment. "The Masked Hero! The Masked Hero! The Masked Hero!" Two more children ran towards him exclaiming his known name.
"What happened here kids? Where's the Red Witch?" Jon kneeled asking the children for some clarity, but before the children could say anything the Red Witch appeared. The children rallied behind the Masked Hero.
"There's nothing in this world that tastes more delicious than children's fear!" The Red Witch struck her scythe at the children skewering them at once! The witch devoured them with her expanded mouth in the blink of an eye.
"Nooooo!" Jon couldn't even move to save them.? He just couldn't do anything but witnessed the horror of it. Then, a fire started to burn in his heart.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" He raised his sword above his head and ran to strike the witch. He shifted side to side really fast as he sought to hit the witch at one blow. However, the witch was also very swift and managed to avoid the Masked Hero's charge.
Jon's left foot submerged partly at the edge of the river now trying to evade the witch's attacks. He continued to move backwards until half of his body was in the water. The witch, however, did not advance as if she was afraid of something. He stared at the witch's face as it tried to avoid Jon's eyes.
"The river! The water," Jon mumbled.
"The Red Witch is afraid of the water!" he exclaimed. "That's why the children were hiding in the water before they saw me! They were alive then!"
The river got deeper and Jon lost his balance. As he got drowned into the water, everything turned dark in an instant.
"Hah! I-I'm back again." Jon was panting as he found himself inside his car. The rain stopped but he got soaked to the skin. His eyes started to well up when he remembered the terrifying fate of the children in the other world. He didn't know if what was real or not this time. He just felt everything was real in both worlds. Instead of thinking he was becoming mentally ill, he just thought of something how he could kill the witch and avenge those children. His tears kept falling down to his cheeks together with sadness that the rain symbolizes.
He tried to act normal. Days had passed he hadn't figured out how to get back to the other world and kill the witch. However, he spent most of his time at his computer at home researching about anything related to his experience whether or not it could be medically explained or a myth. Then, he turned his head to his right and stretched his arm to reach his glass of water.
"Water," he mumbled. "Water!" he exclaimed.
He then realized that before he got into the other world, there was water involved - like at first, he washes his face, and second got stuck in the rain. He also managed to escape to get back to his real world through the river where he always found himself got drenched right after.
"The Red Witch... Water... The Red Witch looked terrified when she saw the water... The children were hiding in the water and they were safe... She couldn't even get close to it... Water was probably the witch's kryptonite!" Jon felt a sudden excitement like he felt like he had ultimately solved something for the first time in his life.
"Probably, real or not, if I killed the witch who looks like Dr. de Vile in my darkest past and present, I might finally remember what happened when I was kid, what happened to Father, why I lost a year of my memories... I could be whole again." Jon continued to talk to himself, reflecting a series of questions ha had had all his life.
He jumped to his feet and ran to his bathroom. He filled his tub full of water and took off his clothes before getting into the water. He lay down and submerged his head into the coldness of the water.
"You're back, you fool! How many times do you have to cower yourself, huh!?" It was the familiar eerie voice of the witch.
"I'm right. It's the water." Jon opened his eyes and prepared for an attack. He realized that when he was aware in a dream, he could do anything supernatural. He imagined that as the Masked Hero, in that world, he could be superhuman. His mind was limitless.
The Red Witch threw her bloody scythe targeting the Masked Hero. Jon was able to avoid the blow. He managed to leap a few meters above the ground and using his right elbow, he hit the witch at the back of her neck. The witch dropped on the ground. She then reached her scythe and struck Jon with it. Jon managed to shield himself with his huge katana. The scratching metallic sound deafened both of them and blew them apart.
"You will never escape from my hands. I own you and you'll do whatever I wish! I'm going to kill you like what I did to your poor father!" he witch declared as she laughed like a madwoman.
Jon did not get fazed by the Red Witch's intimidation. He charged swiftly towards the witch and held her arms and body from the back. He leapt towards the river squeezing the witch against his body. The Red Witch wriggled trying to escape Jon's arms. Jon never realized how strong he was this time. It was the first time he fought against someone let alone someone who looks like his stepmom. He wanted to avenge the days when he was abused and treated like an animal by his stepmother. He never had a normal childhood for these reasons that eventually turned him into a heartless and insincere adult. His eyes and heart were burning in sadness he firmly wanted to free from.
It was too late for the witch. Jon dropped her into the river. The witch screamed in terror, but Jon remained cold as tears ran down to his face. He watched the witch got burned while falling into the water. Then, the scream ended into complete silence. The Red Witch disappeared into the calmness of the river.
Jon, floating in the air above the river, looked around to seek for any survivors. However, in most unfortunate reasons, he could not see any. The dying world had been soaked with blood and horror. Nothing left in the emptiness, but the aftermath of the destruction of life the Red Witch had created.
This time, he knew how to go back to his real world. He closed his eyes while he got ready to plunge into the water. He could not believe it. For the first time, he had done something heroically - he saved the souls of the children, he saved the world he didn't even know whether it was real or not, he killed the symbol of his hatred and sadness, and he fought for freedom.
"Ha!..." Jon felt blinded with the bright light in his bathroom. He was still catching his breath and rested on his back for a few seconds. Then, he got up and reached for his towel. He had never felt anything good like this before, but at the same time, he felt that he had to accept that he might have had a mental illness. "Who would have the right mind to explain how I lived in a parallel universe?" he murmured.
Bang! Jon heard a very loud noise coming across his room. He got dressed immediately and ran to his door. He was certain that it was in his stepmom's office. He stepped near at the door and hesitated to check what happened inside. Sometimes, some patients got aggressive during sessions so he thought it could be nothing. Bang! He heard another noise, and the noise continued.
"Mom? ... Dr. de Vile?" he spoke softly. He turned the doorknob quietly and peeked in through. He saw everything was messed up. Paper, books, chairs were all over the place. Then, he saw Dr. de Vile smiling at him in the creepiest way he imagined.
"Hey, son. Come inside," she declared.
Jon entered the room and closed the door. He tried to act like he had seen nothing unusual. "Do we have a session today?" he said.
"No... no... no..." She continued to stare at Jon, smiling. She seemed like hiding something behind her back. Then, she ran to him and pushed him against the door. She raised her right hand she was hiding at her back revealing the kitchen knife. It was pointing at Jon's eyes this time.
"Mom? What are you doing?" As opposed to his bravery in the other world, Jon turned weak and could not move. He remembered the same feeling every time his stepmom beat him when he was a child. "You don't look fine. P-please put the knife away," he begged.
"What? After all this time, you managed to kill me in another world? Hahaha!" Her eyes grew bigger as she laughed.
"Kill you? What do you mean?" Jon frowned in confusion.
"Did you take the medicine? Did you take all of them? Answer me!" she shouted.
"I never took your medicine, okay? I thought I was fine that I didn't want it," Jon answered.
"No, no, no. This can't be happening." Dr. de Vile put her hands down and looked disconcerted. She started to walk to her side and talk to herself. "You supposed to go crazy. You supposed to be taken in an asylum. I should have all the money that you have that in the first place should be mine," she murmured and then began to raise her voice. "I was your father's wife, but he chose to leave all the money to you and the company I myself worked hard for!"
Jon was shocked at what he had just heard. His vision went blank and his memories started to be coming back in fragments. He was told that his mother passed away giving birth to him. In four years, his father got depressed and met his psychiatrist, Dr. Madonna de Vile. They dated for a while until they decided to get married.? He never had good memories with his stepmom. He was beaten every day while his father went to work. Then, one day he mourned his father's death. He was told he died of heart disease. His father had depression but his health deteriorated fast after his marriage. Then, he started to remember a night when he was five when his stepmom bathed him. She grabbed his hair and pushed his head into the tub water. He cried for help but lost his consciousness right after. The last voice he heard was his stepmom's eerie laugh. That explained a traumatic event in his life that his mind tried to block him from remembering.
"I ended your father's depression, I ended his life! And I supposed to make you demented, and I take over the company! I worked hard for this and there's no one can stop me!" she continued.
"You killed my father?! You witch!" Jon charged and pushed his stepmom in the neck. He snatched the knife from her hand and threw it away. He then felt an extreme pain below his chest.
Dr. de Vile kicked him in his stomach and ran to pick up the knife on the floor.
"Freeze! It's the police! Show me your hands where I can see them!" The police came hurriedly from the door and seized the knife from Dr. de Vile's hand. "You're under arrest for the case of the murder of Mr. Chris de Vile, embezzlement and fraud in the company, and for the attempted murder against Jon de Vile through drug poisoning. You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in a court of law..."
"Aaaaaaah! I'm going to kill you all! You animals! Ahhhh!" She kept shouting while the police escorted her downstairs to the police car outside.
Jon fell on his knees. He felt so much in despair when he knew what really happened to his father, how his stepmom tried to kill him and attempted to make him go crazy for the sake of inheritance.
A few moments later, an officer put a blanket around his shoulders. "Are you really okay to leave you like this, Sir?"
"I'm fine. I just want to be alone for a moment," Jon responded. "Ah, wait. What will happen to Dr. de Vile?"
"She isn't fit for a court trial yet. Since she has shown signs of possible mental illness, she has to undergo a series of medical test. In most cases in our city, they will be admitted at a mental facility first," the female officer answered.
"Thank you," Jon replied. "I'm also wondering how she got arrested and who filed the criminal charges. Also, it's clearly only us who lived in this house apart from the helpers who are taking their leave now. Who could have called the police at this timely moment?"
"It was strange for us as well since this person remained anonymous in that weird mask and clothing. We were hesitant at first, but he said it's for his own personal security. He doesn't accept witness protection either. Well, it took years for us, but he has enough evidence and paperwork that could help us secure a warrant immediately," the officer continued. "Plus, de Vile's office cameras have records of your stepmom's confession of murder and attempted poisoning on you."
"Weird mask and clothing?" Jon turned even more confused by what he learned. "Is it possible to meet him?"
"Yeah, of course. He's outside."
"Thank you, officer." Jon got up and walked to the window looking for the person the officer was talking about. His eyes grew bigger when he saw the Masked Hero in his white clothing waving at him.
