The Man Who Doesn't Exist. Chapter IV

As Julien lay on the table tied to it, he saw Finn coming closer to him with the pliers in his hand. Finn had a demonic look in his eyes, one which Julien had never imagined Finn to have in his lifetime. He had always thought of him as a calm and polite guy. Especially because he had quit his job of being a detective and started working in marketing three years ago. Finn had said that he was tired of always living in a constant fear of death while being on the job. That was certainly different from what Julien was seeing now. 

Mr. Finn? What is happening? Why is he holding that in his hands? Where am I?

Questions like these raced through Julien's mind but all he could do was let out a slow and feeble grunt. As he lay there, trying to get his vocal cords to work, he felt a sharp sensation shoot through his leg, changing to pain and radiating all over his body within seconds. He looked at his leg and was horrified to see that his little toe was gone.

Julien let out a huge scream, which echoed through the shed, enveloping it in his despair. The whole shed shook for a second there. It looked like the metal sheets could feel his pain and vibrated in rebellion. All this while, Finn hadn't uttered a single word. After covering the blood gushing out of the toe with a piece of cloth, Finn started talking.

'Aah now c'mon. Don't scream like a li'l girl.'

Julien didn't hear anything. He was too self absorbed at that moment in his pain and the memories of times when he was the person who dealt it. It all started coming back to him. And like a lion, capturing and neutralizing it's prey, he couldn't escape them. 

'The roles have reversed now, my boy! Time has, yet again, proved that it's a bitch.'

'Wh...Who are you?' Julien asked weakly.

'Seriously? Man, I never expected you to be so full of clichés. I thought you were different Julien. I really did. You've disappointed me boy.' said Finn, picking up his plier again and in one quick motion stabbing it deep into Julien's ankle. 

Julien let out a wild scream again.

'And I don't like people who disappoint me.' said Finn as he wrenched the plier swiftly out of Julien's leg and started wiping them with a cloth.

'How about some music huh? Will help you take your mind off things.' said Finn as he turned on the record player and put on Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World".

As Julien lay there, twisting and moaning in pain, Finn moved around him, waving his hands to the tune. After a while, he pulled out a chair and laying it out next to Julien, sat on it. 

'You see, we aren't that different from each other. We are but two daggers, drenched in the monster's blood.' Finn said, as he took the pliers and stabbed Julien right in his wrist. Julien felt the pain surge just as before, but now, he also felt a slight tingling sensation with it. He looked over, and saw the pliers connected to a huge battery. His face lost all its color as he saw Finn slowly increase the level of electric current passing through the pliers. Julien screamed again, which had helplessness written all over it, only to get hit in the face with a metal rod by Finn, who stood grinning. It brought back a few memories' of Julien which weren't particularly his favorites. 

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The man in the overcoat, seeing Finn and Julien leave in Finn's car, entered Julien's house and started searching the house for something. After some 10 minutes or so, he found what he was looking for. He took care of the business he had and left Julien a note which read-

"Don't try looking for me. It's not gonna end well for the both of us."

Little did he know, that the note wouldn't be of any use.

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'Julien, Please don't shout like that ever again. It pisses me off. And we both know what happens when you piss me off, right? I put you to sleep for days. Like I did before.' Finn said as he placed his pliers on the table beside him.

'What? How long was I in here?' Julien asked, in deep pain.

'Oh just 4 days. Not much.' Finn said. He couldn't care less.

'What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?' Julien asked as he managed to squeeze words out of his mouth. 'Fight like a man if you are one.' said Julien, spitting out the blood from his mouth.

'Oh Julien. You make me laugh. You of all people, speak about fighting like a man! Well, I'll be damned!'

'Do you really want to know why I am doing this? You want the truth?' asked Finn, enraged.

'Alright then! If that's what you want. 12 years ago, you did something which most people would say was really horrible. You brutally, and mercilessly killed your foster parents. Right?' Finn asked Julien.

'Yes. I did. I killed them. But how does it matter to you? Did you know them?'

'Oh no no not at all. I don't have any problem with you killing them. What I have a problem with, is you, framing another person for the heinous act that you did.'

What is he talking about? I never framed anyone for that. I ran away from the place and that was it.

'What do you mean?' Julien asked, confused.

'Oh boy! You still don't get it, do you? Well, remember I told you about the guy who went to prison for the murders that you did?'

'That boy was my son you fucking cunt!' shouted Finn. The sound was loud enough to rattle the shed once again. 'After he was taken away by the police, my whole world was crushed. My dreams, shattered. Oh the amount of nights and days me and my wife waited for him to come back home, To wake up and realize that it was all just a dream. Eventually, his mother got so affected by trauma and depression, that she ended up killing herself. And do you know what happened to Jay? The assholes fucking killed him. THEY FUCKING KILLED HIM IN PRISON.' Finn shouted and started tearing up a little. But, quickly wiping them off with his sleeve, he said 'What I'm doing to you must hurt real bad right? Don't worry I'm not gonna kill you. I can't kill you. You're my golden ticket to Charlie's chocolate fucking factory bitch. My precious. I am gonna make you pay for what you did to me and my family you sick piece of shit.'

'Don't act in haste Finn. I swear I don't know anything about it. I left town the same night I killed them. Nothing that you're saying is making sense to me.'

'Listen to me. Do you wanna know who the guy is? The guy who robbed me and my family's happiness?'

Julien stayed quiet. He was too tired and in too much pain to even think straight. And above all that, Finn had just told him something that he was finding hard to digest. Just then, there was a slight knock on the shed door and almost suddenly after that, there was a loud bang which enveloped the place in smoke and dust. Finn turned around towards the door, smiled and said 'Looks like the party brought itself to us.' As the smoke settled down, Julien saw a light figure of what looked like a man.

'I've been expecting you.' Finn said reaching for his revolver.

'Let him go. He has nothing to do with this.' The man said.

'Oh he has as much to do with this as David had to do with the death of Goliath.' Finn said.

'I'm the man that you want right? I'm here.' The man said.

'Oh no! I want both of you. I want the both of you to suffer as much as I suffered. I want you to go through want I went through. I want to see you helpless, down on your knees, given up, begging me for mercy.'

As the man stepped a little bit closer, Julien was able to take a look at his face. What he saw, left him speechless. He suddenly felt as if he was hit with a thousand bullets all at once. Numerous thoughts went through his mind. Words repelled him. He felt a deep well of emotions inside him but didn't know how to react.

Slowly and meekly, he uttered 'D...Dad?'