Adrian Marx awoke in a sterile white room., the white lights blinding him as the voice spoke "Hello there Adrian. I hope you can hear me. Do you see the room?"
The light dimmed and indeed he did. It had the appearance of a hollowed out lab from some kind of science fiction movie, all the advanced technology and all the secret gizmos gone. Instead there was just a table, one with three chairs (one of which he was seated in) and nothing else in it.
"What about your companions. The gagged ones?"
That was when he noticed the other two seats also had occupants. Two other men. Both looked eerily like he did, but for some reason he didn't dwell for too long on that fact. Both men had their wrists cuffed behind their backs, secured through the chair so they could neither move nor stand, with their mouths gagged as the voice had said. His own wrist, he noticed, was not secured to his other wrist. Rather, his left wrist was cuffed directly to the chair and his right hand remained entirely free. On the table between the three figures was a single pistol and hastily, Adrian snatched it, pointing it at each of the others in turn, wondering which of them was speaking until he laughed at his own absurdity. Gagged men couldn't speak. Still, he just could not place the origin of that voice, as hard as he was trying to do so.
"The man to your right I believe you call John. The other you call Henry."
Adrian nodded, that made sense.
"If you ever want to leave that room, the two of them need to die"
"NO"
"Your other option is to only kill one—and then to kill yourself. Only one of you can survive in there"
"And if I don't?"
"If you don't, you all die."
"Why should they die over me?" Adrian demanded. He had been a soldier. He was willing to risk himself.
"Both of them deserve to die"
"Why?"
"Well... why don't you ask me questions about each of them in turn. You can decide then."
"Fine. Have either of them ever killed anyone?"
"One shot his son in the head. The other drowned his daughter in the bathtub"
"Which did which?"
"It really doesn't matter"
"It does to me"
"John shot his son while he was sleeping in bed. Henry drowned his daughter"
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because you know I'm, right"
Adrian howled in anger, raising his gun and fired a shot. In an instant, John was gone.
"There. Now let us go"
"You did well Adrian. But it seems only one of them is gone."
"John"
"Then you have to kill Henry too"
"He doesn't deserve it. Children can drown by accident."
"They can. They can't be held under by accident."
"Was she?"
"She was"
He groaned, thinking for a long time "If I do this—am I not a murderer too?"
"No"
"I don't think I could live with myself—you're a sick bastard"
"The choice is yours."
Adrian closed his eyes.
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A man in a labcoat stood watching the monitor. A woman stood beside him, crying. "I am sorry Mrs. Marx, we have had some success with these more—radical methods in the past"
"He's not a bad man Doctor. You gave him a loaded gun—what if he uses it?"
"Then he'll be at peace. Therapy, electroshock, brain surgery, even exorcism—damn near everything we've tried has failed miserably. That IED left more than just his body broken—he's mentally fractured too. Multiple personality disorder is rare—but it does happen from time to time. The only chance now is to make him get rid of John and Henry."
"That's what he calls them?"
"Yes. Two men in his unit, they didn't survive the blast—internally, he doesn't know they're there. But when one of them takes over, they're used to punish him for failing to save the real John and Henry. I just wish we had noticed during the earlier instances—before your children became involved. "
She nodded in response, still crying "Just help him—please. One way or another"
They both looked back at the screen. The man was sitting at a table with three chairs, buty he was the only one occupying them. He moved the gun back and forth, occasionally pointing at the chair on the left, occasionally at his own head. His eyes appeared to be closed.
"I have a wife" Adrian said suddenly "A son—a beautiful baby girl. Please, just let me go, don't make me do this"
The doctor leaned in, pressing a button to use the intercom "I don't have a choice Adrian. Just one last bit of strength—and you can go home to them. She... they all miss you, I know it" He disliked that lie in particular. The news would not be easily imparted, even should the man survive. But too late to worry about that now.
Adrian nodded, a sense of peace crossing his face. In his mind he pictured his family—the vacation they had taken to visit his parents during the autumn, right after Lily had been born, his wife and Ben playing in the fallen leaves. He suddenly knew the truth and knew what he had to do. The one who had killed his daughter had to pay.
He raised the gun and fired.
