NPCs
By Jason Gibbs
“Sometimes it feels like everyone else is an NPC.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighed, and looked around. Waving his arms vaguely he said, “All these people, they’re just automatons. Physical expressions of some simplistic code. You know like non-player characters in games.”
“Right, or, and this is just a wild suggestion, but you might have been gaming a little too much recently. You might want to take a break.”
Normally Ray would have laughed at this point, but instead he looked quite grumpy.
“No, Jules, really, I’m serious.”
“OK OK. Look, I have to go. I’ll meet you later, right, at the Old Lion?”
“Yeah yeah, I’ll be there.”
He wasn’t, in fact I didn’t see him for a few weeks, which is quite unusual. Even more strange was that I saw him in the morning at our usual coffee hang out. Ray was the kind of person to whom mornings were anathema.
“Jules. How are you?”
“Erm, I’m fine Ray. What are you doing? Where’ve you been?”
“Ah, well, just trying a few things out.”
Then he looked at me oddly and leant close and whispered something in my ear. It sounded a little like ‘shuzz-worzler’ but I didn’t catch it.
“What was that for?”
“Damn, I was worried there for a moment. I thought you were one of them too.”
He was starting to weird me out.
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, can we grab a coffee, I need to talk to someone real, and you’re the only one I’ve found so far who’s likely to listen to me.”
I wasn’t entirely sure whether to be complimented or not, but I nodded, and we ordered some coffees. I was going to pay, as Ray is often between jobs, but he said, “Leave it to me.”
The barista rang up the amount, and Ray leant over and said something to him. The barista looked a bit vacant, and then entered something into the till, and said, “On the house.”
I looked askance at Ray. He shrugged and said, “They know my face? I’ll explain.”
Shaking my head I took my coffee and headed for our regular table in the corner. It gave an excellent view of both doors, and had a comfy feel to it.
“Explain.”
“What?”
“Where you’ve been! And why you got these coffees free.”
“Right yeah. Where to begin… so you remember I said it was like everyone was an NPC?”
“Kind of.”
“Well it got me to thinking, so I did a bit of experimentation. You know how in Dungeons of Trithory you could use special codes to get NPCs to provide information even if you didn’t know the right questions? It was kind of a hack.”
“Um, I didn’t actually play that one.”
I wasn’t anything like the gamer Ray was. Not least because I had a job and really didn’t have the time.
“Well take my word for it, there were these special words. It’s quite common really, most games have some form of them. The way to find them involves some trial and error, but they follow some common themes, usually a corruption of the title of the game, or some main part of the back history.”
“And this has what to do with free coffee?”
“Well, I did some testing on people who I was convinced were NPCs. It took me a couple of weeks, and some slightly difficult situations, but I found the codes. I found the codes!”
I wasn’t quite sure what he was saying. I must have looked a little confused, because he went on, “Look, all I did to get these coffees was use one of the code words, and then tell him it was on the house.”
“Like a Jedi?”
“Yes, these are the coffees we were looking for.”
“That is BS. I bet you just promised to pay him later.”
“No, serious.”
“You’re trying to tell me there are some secret words which will make anyone in the world do what you want.”
“Not anyone, just the NPCs, which is most people. I reckon there’s only a dozen or so of us real people in this part of the city.”
“Ray, you have really lost it. I am worried about you. This kind of delusion… you need to give up the gaming.”
“I haven’t played a game for more than a week, other than the game of real life.”
I was getting quite worried. I’d never seen him like this. As he saw my face he started to get frustrated.
“Look, give me a challenge. I can get anyone in this shop to do whatever I want, well except you. Mores the pity.”
“Not this again.”
“No no, I know, we’re just friends. But seriously. Give me a challenge.”
I looked around the shop. There were a few people sitting enjoying their coffees. A couple of business men clearly having a gossip about work, their voices were too low and the chuckles too loud for it to be anything else. An old man, doing the crossword and nursing a small latte. Next to him was a pretty girl. Long dark hair, red lipstick. The coffee in front of her was empty, and she was checking her makeup with her phone, but the frown on her face said she’d been stood up. I knew Ray was useless with women. It was painful to watch, and normally I wouldn’t put him through it, but he was irritating me with this NPC thing.
“OK, get that girl’s number.”
“I’ll do better, I’ll get her to kiss me.”
“Right. But if it doesn’t work I don’t want to hear any more of this MPC rubbish.”
“NPC.”
“Whatever. Stop stalling.”
He walked over quite calmly and said, “Hello”. The girl’s face was a picture. Not only had she been left waiting on her own in a coffee shop for ages, now some geek was hitting on her. Then he leant over and said something else. She smiled at him. They chatted for a couple more minutes and then she kissed him. Not a peck on the cheek or anything, a full on, tongues and lust, she rose to press her whole body into him. It went on for a while, and when it finished he stepped back shakily. They were both breathing quite heavily. Ray said something else, she laughed, and wrote her number down on a card. He took it and she reached for him again. After another kiss which was almost pornographic he managed to disentangle himself and walk back over to me. The girl still stared at him hungrily, while everyone else in the shop seemed to have missed the show.
“See.”
He sat down with a self-satisfied smile on his face, and a smudge of lipstick.
“That was impressive. And a little disgusting.”
“Yeah. I think I’m definitely going to give her a call.”
“I’m sort of believing you, but she might just be madly attracted to the geekier man.”
“Do you want to do it?”
“What?”
“Use one of the words.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“OK, it is…”
He leant over and whispered it. He had me repeat it back to him several times until he was satisfied I was saying it right.
“Now you have the power too. Say that to anyone in here and then give them a command, and they’ll do it.”
The clientele hadn’t changed much in the last few minutes, and I was bereft of ideas.
“No idea what to do.”
A sly smile appeared on Ray’s face. “Well, you could get the girl to kiss you too…”
“Oh you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Pervert. I’m not into that as you know.”
Well, I’d tried it once, and it was strange, and fun, but, well, I wasn’t going to provide Ray with the entertainment.
“OK, I’ve got one. I’m not going to tell you what it is.”
I got up and walked over to the two men who were still gossiping away.
“Good morning gentlemen.”
“What do you want?”
I leant in and said the word. Then I said, “Now please give me all the money in your wallets.”
They immediately started emptying their wallets and gave me everything they had, notes and coins. It was quite a nice haul.
“Thank you gentlemen.”
I walked back.
“Well, it seemed to work.”
“But?”
“Well, these could all be actors you’ve hired, how do I know this isn’t just a huge trick you’re playing on me?”
He was getting frustrated again, “I’ll get that girl over, and she’ll do whatever I tell her. Or those blokes, or anyone in this coffee shop. Really.”
“Hmm, no, you could have paid them a lot. I’ve seen some stuff on the internet which leads me to believe some people will do anything for money.”
“Well…”
“Wait. I’ll believe you when I’ve tried it out in locations you won’t have had time to prepare.”
“Oh, well I guess.”
“Excellent.”
“Um, but one thing, if you come across a real person, you need to remember one thing.”
“A real person?”
“Like you or me. Not affected by the words.”
“Right.”
“Well, they might take offence at your suggestion, and it can cause some embarrassment. So far I’ve only met a few, but, still.”
I wondered what he’d asked them to do. Knowing him it could be pretty disgusting.
“How do I spot them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Brilliant. That adds a little challenge. Are these people immune to all your words?”
He looked thoughtful, clearly he hadn’t tested it out. Suddenly he leant forward and said another strange word in my ear. I decided to play along. I made my face go vacant. His face lit up and a smirk crossed his face. I nearly laughed at him then, but managed to hold it together.
“Kiss me like that girl just did.”
I reached for him, and just before our lips met I brought my hand round and gave him a slap.
“Ouch!”
“Stop trying your words out on me. Or at least if you’re going to, ask first.”
“You didn’t have to slap me so hard.”
“Hmm, yes, sorry.”
I wasn’t at all sorry. He rubbed his face. I really had caught him. I was a little annoyed with how he was trying to use me too, just like these others, who it would appear might really be mere automatons.
“Anyway, how many words do you have.”
“Just four.”
“OK, well do you want to try the other two on me?”
He looked at me a little shiftily and said, “I thought you didn’t believe in them?”
“Well, I’m becoming convinced.”
“I’ll tell you the others when you really are convinced.”
“That seems fair enough. Is there any difference with the effect of the words?”
“None that I’ve been able to find out, but I’ve not been using them for long.”
Something occurred to me.
“These other real people, do they now have words too?”
A look of fear crossed his face.
“Maybe, if they remember the word and try and use it. But, well probably not I would have thought.”
“OK.”
I looked at my watch and realised I was going to be late back to work.
“Sorry Ray, got to run.”
Work is normally a real drag. I work in an office pushing paper around for a large corporation. The money is good, the benefits are great and the office politics is vicious. I try and keep out of it, but that means I’ve watched a continuous stream of snakes get promoted past me. The work used to be satisfying, if not entirely challenging, but even that has palled.
The first thing I did was visit my boss. He quickly agreed that I should be promoted, and told me who else had to agree to an out of cycle pay raise. I spoke with four more people and I had a letter by the end of the day with a whacking great increase, and a guarantee of a promotion and bonus.
While I was organising a better situation for myself I decided some payback was in order. Michelle had pretended to be my friend, and then used my ideas to get ahead. I also suspected she’d stolen my last boyfriend, but in all honesty he wasn’t a loss. It was when she snubbed me once she had the metaphorical key to the executive bathroom that really hurt.
“Hi Michelle.”
“Ah, Jules. Sorry, but I’m very busy…”
Oh yes, she was always too busy to speak with a mere peon like me.
I leant in and said the second word Ray had told me. It worked a treat. Her face went slack.
“So Michelle, did you steal my ideas and Paulo.”
“Yes.”
No hint of apology, but then she was in that suggestive state, so that wasn’t much of a surprise. Here she was, I could do anything. I could make her run naked down the halls, make her piss on her boss’ desk, or maybe even jump out a window. But, the thing was I didn’t want to do any of those things. Oddly I just wanted my friend back.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I thought that being a manager is what I wanted. And I was so jealous of you. Pretty, clever and with a hunk like Paulo.”
“Do you miss our friendship?”
“I do. I wanted to apologise, or make it right, but, I just couldn’t.”
She looked upset, but if it hadn’t been for the word then I wouldn’t have believed her. What should I do?
“OK Michelle, I forgive you. We are friends again. Come for coffee with me. Oh and, tell Paulo you have syphilis and he should get himself checked.”
She smiled at me. The power of the word always seemed to ebb once instructions had been given.
“Oh Jules, it’s lovely to see you again. Look, I shouldn’t, but do you want to grab some coffee? I just need to make a quick call to Paulo…”
She looked embarrassed.
“Michelle don’t worry, I know, and to be honest it was all over for us.”
“I think it might be over for us too, which is a shame… but I have to tell him something.”
“OK, well I’ll see you in thirty minutes at the coffee shop on the corner?”
“Perfect.”
As I walked away I heard her dialling. I did wonder what Paulo would think, though I didn’t really care.
That night I woke up sweating. I’d had a dream where I was a puppet master, and I’d kept getting caught in my puppets’ strings, and then I’d become one of the marionettes. It had been unpleasant.
I didn’t sleep at all after that. My conscience was troubling me. Sure it was nice to have Michelle as a friend again. She’d been the same chatty, cheerful person I’d remembered. Yet, it had lacked substance for me. Knowing at any moment that I could make her do, well, anything. I was starting to wish Ray hadn’t told me about them, or even that they worked on me.
It was too late though. The genie was out of the bottle. What was I going to do about it?
I met Ray for coffee again, at a different place, one I’d selected at the last minute. I don’t know why, but I just thought it was safer. Maybe I still didn’t believe the words worked and wanted a place he couldn’t have set up.
“Jules, you look terrible!”
“Always the charmer.”
“No really, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, I think I’m coming down with something. But it’s nothing really. How are you?”
“I am a god!”
He laughed. I remembered the old saying about power tending to corrupt.
“That’s nice, and you’ve been doing good works?”
He looked at me strangely.
“Good works?”
“To help the unfortunates in the world, the poor, the starving and the destitute.”
“Um, but they’re not real. They’re just NPCs. Constructs put here to add colour to the world.”
He actually believed it. It was worse than I thought.
“Right. If not good works, what have you been doing?”
He smirked.
“I’m not sure you want to hear about it. Suffice it to say I’m making up for years of women ignoring me.”
I sighed. This should not have been a surprise to me.
“You’ve been using all these girls?”
“They have a good time, I tell them to.”
His eyes glittered. He really was having a good time. I just wondered about the wreckage he left behind him. If they really were NPCs, then perhaps it didn’t matter.
Our coffee order was delivered but a petite blonde girl, with a cute shy smile. Ray did a double take, and said, “Morning lovely, what is your name?”
She stared at him and started to back away, when he leant forward and said a word to her. I didn’t catch which one it was, though it didn’t seem to matter.
The girl stood still.
“What is your name?”
“Greta.”
“Well Greta, it’s lovely to meet you. You have an opportunity to join tonight’s harem. Strip.”
“Ray…”
“Don’t be silly, she’s just a machine.”
The girl started to take her clothes off. She was quickly down to her bra and panties. This was enough, I leant forward said a word and told her to stop. She just carried on.
I turned to Ray in surprise. He too looked surprised.
“Stop.”
The girl was bending down to pull her panties off, and just stopped in that position.
“What word did you use Jules?”
I told him.
“Hmm, I used another one.”
He told me the word he’d used, which was a new one to me. I held it in my memory. I now had three of his four words. Assuming he hadn’t added any more. Though given what he’d been doing I somehow doubted that.
“That’s interesting. So the first word stops the others. Hmm.”
“Ray…”
Some of the other patrons had noticed the girl. Her naked bottom was on display to the whole shop.
“Yeah, this sometimes happens.”
He shouted a word, and told everyone to go back to what they were doing.
The waitress stayed where she was. Ray looked at her appraisingly, then handed her a card.
“Come to this address tonight, at seven thirty. Bring a friend. We are going to have a party. Now get dressed and carry on with your day.”
She quickly put her clothes back on, smiled at us and went back to the tills.
I shook my head at Ray, “You really are a pervert.”
His smile was extra wide.
“You’re welcome to come along… the party starts at around five. Oh, and I have a new house, more befitting my new stature. I have a pool and everything.”
“What happened to the people who were living there before?”
“Who cares?”
‘Who indeed?’ I thought to myself. I answered, “Sorry Ray, I have a few other things I need to do tonight. Maybe another time.”
He looked disappointed. “Well, you’re always welcome.”
“So are you going to tell me the other words?”
He was just leaning in to tell me, when he pulled back, I could see him calculating. “You have two, so why do you need more?”
“No reason I guess, but you said you’d tell me.”
“Well Jules, I think I’ll keep them to myself for the moment. Unless you’d like to reconsider your plans tonight?”
So that was how it was going to be.
“Ah sorry Ray, but they’ve been in the diary for a while. As you say, two words are more than enough.”
He just smiled.
We talked a little more about inconsequentials, but he seemed distracted, probably thinking about hunting down more girls to join his party. He quickly left, and I stayed sitting staring at my coffee.
Greta came over and asked me if I wanted another drink.
“A latte would be lovely, thank you. One thing Greta.”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember the word that man said to you before you took your clothes off?”
“Oh yes.”
“Can you tell me it?”
She told me. It was the fourth word. Ray thought I had only two. I repeated it back to her, and she went slack again. The poor girl, she was just a toy in our hands. I was in a quandary though. If I told her not to go to Ray’s tonight, he’d know I’d found out the word, and I was starting to think that might be a mistake. On the other hand sending this poor girl into his nasty mitts was repugnant. What could I do?
“Greta. You’re supposed to go to a party tonight.”
“Oh yes. It will be fun.”
“Unfortunately you won’t be able to go. At around five o’clock you’re going to start feeling very unwell. By six o’clock you’re going to feel faint and want to throw up. At that point call the number and tell the man your symptoms and that you’re going to hospital but will see him afterwards. He won’t want you to come to his party and will likely tell you not to bother. As soon as he does you will feel much better, and then you and your friend can stay in and watch movies.”
She just nodded.
“Good, and a latte would be nice.”
She smiled again and headed off.
Saving one girl, two I guess including the friend, wasn’t enough. I needed to stop Ray before he went completely mad. Looking at the girl as she had stood in front of me I got the impression that she wasn’t totally happy with what I was saying to her, there was someone inside screaming to get out. Maybe I was projecting, but I just couldn’t believe that she was an automaton.
She brought my coffee and I sipped it slowly while I made some plans. I needed a holiday somewhere outside this city. I was sure work would agree to a paid sabbatical.
Two months later I returned to the city. I wondered what Ray had been getting up to, but I was also sure I didn’t really want to know. I went back to my little house. It was so welcoming, and cosy. I’d missed it on my travels. I was making myself a coffee in my favourite mug when the doorbell went. I’d wondered how long it would take.
At the door were two large men.
“Miss, you’re to come with us. Il Capo demands it.”
Il Capo? I just nodded at them and they escorted me to a limousine with blacked out windows. I was expecting Ray to be in it, but he wasn’t and it occurred to me that he wouldn’t have been waiting. He’d have just left these goons.
They didn’t say a word as we drove. I tried to talk to them, but nothing. I smiled.
We drove to a big house. The tyres crunching on the gravel drive. The two men were very courteous as they helped me out of the car, and then bracketed me as we walked to the front door.
A butler, an honest-to-god butler, answered the door, and led me to the drawing room.
A few minutes later Ray appeared. He’d put on a lot of weight, and unfortunately I could see it all as he was wearing just a pair of shorts and an open silk dressing gown. He did not look well.
My expression must have revealed my thoughts as his greeting stumbled. “Ah hi Jules.”
“Ray. How are you?”
“Well, very well, I’ve been enjoying life.”
“I can see that.”
“Oh don’t worry, I have an exercise man coming tomorrow, and my doctor is putting me on a new diet tomorrow as well.”
“Does tomorrow ever come?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“So where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since we met in that coffee shop.”
“I needed to get away. To think about things.”
“Did you think I’d be upset about the girl?”
“What?”
Damn, had he found out? Had he hurt her?
“Yeah, she phoned up with some cock and bull story about being ill. I figured you’d somehow turned her, and decided to keep her for yourself.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Oh Jules, I had so many girls I probably wouldn’t even have noticed if she hadn’t turned up. It was only when she called that I figured something was up. But that’s ok, I’m happy to share. I’m happy to share everything with you.”
“Ah well, that’s nice Ray.”
He was starting to loom over me.
“Now Jules, I’ve decided we need to be together.”
“But Ray…”
“My words don’t work on you, but I think you can be persuaded.”
There was real menace in his eyes now. He smiled, but there was no warmth in it, just a desperate hunger.
“These two gentlemen will take you downstairs, and make you comfortable. Then they are going to make you very uncomfortable, until you agree to everything I ask. Do you understand?”
How could he do this? My heart was pumping, I looked around. Was there a way out? This wasn’t what I’d planned.
“There is no way out Jules. Not ever. I have more like these, and they will watch over you, always.”
I looked into his eyes, and saw only a hungry madness. Fear froze me, I couldn’t say anything. I tried to hold his eyes, but he looked away as his two goons loomed over to me, and just picked me up, one on each side.
They carried me down to the basement into a room which was part dingy strip club, part Hammer horror. There was a large bed, a couple of poles on a stage, and a table in the middle, with straps to hold arms and legs, and a mirror above so that the victim could see everything. There were some unpleasant stains on the table, and the bed. Next to the table was the obligatory dentist’s trolley with an arsenal of pain-inducing implements. Looking round I took in the cameras. Everything could be watched, recorded and if necessary, shared.
I felt my knees go weak. This place would break me, I knew it. If I let it. If I let them. The two large men seemed like they knew what they were doing as they carried me to the table.
I wondered when Ray would come to see what was happening. At first I thought he’d be watching, and then I remembered that he had no real stomach for blood or real violence. He liked it at a cartoon level, but genuine razor blade to the throat stuff really didn’t work for him. He’d wait until I’d begged, and begged and the men finally believed I was broken. Then they’d tidy me up and call for him. That squeamishness would be his undoing.
As they lay me on the table I decided that enough was enough, I said something to the men. And held my breath. They both went slack and dropped my hands and I could breathe again. I hadn’t fully believed it would work. I’d feared Ray might have learned a new word, or tried something different, but I was lucky. Then again Ray thought he was already a god, why would he have learned more.
I got off the table, and asked the goon on my left, “What is your name? And his?”
“I am Tomaso, he is Lars.”
“Nice to meet you I’m sure.”
Under the spell of the word they didn’t answer.
“How long would Ray expect you to take before calling him?”
“Twelve hours usually, maybe a little more.”
I shuddered. I didn’t want to think about what twelve hours in their tender mercies might have meant.
I considered asking them for more information, how many girls they’d brought down here, what they did, but I just didn’t want to know. They’d get their just desserts in due course. I needed to deal with Ray.
“What does he do while you’re busy down here?”
“We don’t know. But he always answers the house phone. He might be in his room.”
Excellent. I’d need to move fast, but I was inside, and he didn’t realise I was loose, or about to be anyway. I figured I’d take my two new friends, they’d prove useful. First, I needed to make sure they were entirely under my control. I said another word to them, and then said, “Punch each other. Hard. Tomaso first.”
They really hit each other. Lars lifted off his feet and fell back at Tomaso’s punch, and Tomaso flew back when Lars returned the favour. Good, that was a start on their punishment, but I needed them so I had to refrain from anything further.
“Let’s go. Keep an eye out for anyone threatening me, except Ray, and neutralise them. Non-lethally.”
They followed me out, flanking me once again, but this time as my guards.
Ray’s house was big and spacious, and surprisingly empty. I’d assumed he’d have some staff. Some girls in French maids’ outfits perhaps. Apart from the butler I’d already met, and who didn’t show himself while we were looking around, there didn’t seem to be anyone else. I was going to ask the boys, but thought it best to keep quiet; I didn’t want to alert Ray with some careless talking.
His room was upstairs, at the end of a long hall, every other room being empty. It was eerie. As we approached the door I could hear the sounds of people having sex. On the one hand I don’t like being rude, but on the other hand… I had one of the boys slam open the door.
I walked in to see Ray lying on his bed, alone. The projection on the wall in front of him was of some kind of orgy, the figures of almost lifelike size. I almost started trying to count the participants as it seemed rather busy, but instead concentrated on Ray. He looked up, and then laughed.
“I misjudged you Jules. You found the other word. I was so sure you hadn’t. A mistake. I should have watched, but, well I didn’t want to see you hurt.”
I couldn’t believe his nerve. He didn’t seem at all worried, and I wondered what I didn’t know. He languidly rose from the bed and then spun round, and I felt something hit me. Then I was writhing on the floor in agony. He’d tasered me.
“Pick her up, and take her back downstairs. First gag her.” He said to the boys.
The two of them did nothing, just standing there.
He sighed and leant towards them and said a word. Then he repeated himself. Still nothing. He started to rave at them, shouting his word, and demanding they do something. He was working himself up into a real rage when I managed to choke out, “Grab him, make sure he has no more surprises.”
Suddenly released the two of them grabbed Ray, and patted him down thoroughly.
I got up, still unsteady from the taser.
“Bastard.”
Ray was almost frothing at the mouth with anger. “How did you do that? You bitch.”
“Now now Ray, no need for that. They’re mine now.”
All the energy went out of him, and he slumped down, and if he hadn’t been held then he’d have fallen to the floor.
“What have you been doing Ray?”
“Having fun. I guess. It wasn’t the same without you. I just wanted you to join in the fun. I love you Jules.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.”
“I gave you the words! I thought that would be enough, you’d see what I could do, and then you’d love me too. But you didn’t and then you ran away. I couldn’t find you, I went to your office, but they just didn’t know. Where did you go?”
“I went to find out more about the words. I met with some people who’ve been studying them, trying to understand them. They took me in, but interrogated me to make sure I hadn’t misused the words. I have to make up for the small indiscretions I committed while testing the words, but they felt I was trustworthy. Then they explained the basics of what they’d learned.”
“Some other reals? With words?”
“Ray, everyone is real, they aren’t NPCs. We all just have different levels of susceptibility to the words. There’s a whole hierarchy. If you’d spent more time studying them, instead of trying to sleep with every pretty girl you saw, you might have worked a little more out.”
“But we did that test, a second word cannot cancel a first word.”
“A weaker word cannot override a stronger one. But a stronger one will always override a weaker. Your words were quite strong. Too strong, they gave you too much power.”
He stared at me.
I sighed and said a word. He went limp.
“That’s how it feels Ray. You’re still in there, trapped, but now you will do whatever I want.”
What did I want? I wanted him to understand the suffering he’d caused, I wanted him to pay for his crimes.
“This is how it goes Ray. You will never use a word again. Every time you try and say one you will instead ask the person to kick you. You have been stripped of your power.”
He didn’t move. He couldn’t. I could see a little of his internal struggle. He hated it, as his many victims would have. As I would have if I hadn’t been stronger than his words.
“I will now leave. You will never see me again, and you will not try to see me. I have a new mission in life. To find and stop people like you.”
I turned to the two men holding him.
“You two will hold him until I’ve left. Then you will go to the police station and admit to all the crimes you committed before you came under Ray’s sway. Then you will be free of the influence of his words.”
They nodded.
I walked out. As I left Ray was back in control of himself and shouted, “That’s it? I already have everything I need, I have all this money. Girls will flock to me now anyway. I don’t need you, or the words.”
I shook my head. He hadn’t learned a thing.
I looked outside to see that a car had turned up; there was a pretty girl in it. Several more cars followed, each disgorging one or two girls. They all looked angry, and some of them had weapons. They all started to head inside with some determination. I hadn’t told Ray the second half of his sentence. The organisation I’d joined had found as many of the girls whom Ray had used as they could. They’d freed them of his grip, and those who’d wanted revenge were told when they would be able to take it. They were all told that they would forget everything about Ray after they’d exacted their price. Those who wanted nothing more to do with him were freed of the burden immediately. They’d still bear some mental, and in some cases physical, scars underneath, but it was the best we could do.
“Well Ray, you were right. Girls are flocking to you.”
He looked confused as the girls started to stream past me, heading towards him. The confusion turned to fear and he stared at me.
Before I walked out I winked at him and said, “Thanks for playing. Game over.”
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