A Little Faith

*Ding Dong*

Mrs. Simmons sleepily trudges towards the door. Yawning deeply, she opens the door and her eyes go wide.

"Matt, what are you doing out here, you were supposed to be sleeping upstairs."-Mrs. Simmons says as she starts to get angry.

"I have some things to tell you Mom."-Matt says looking down.

"Oh my god, is that blood on your clothes? What happened? Are you okay?"-Mrs. Simmons asks worriedly.

"It's not mine, I'm fine. Can we talk inside?"-Matt

"Come in and get cleaned up, we can talk after that. I'll make breakfast."-Mrs. Simmons

Matt goes and takes a quick shower before changing into clean clothes. He goes into the dining room to see his mom watching the morning news while eating some pancakes.

"So what did you want to talk about? Did you go out last night and get into a fight? That was a lot of blood, if it wasn't yours then I'm guessing you either won or lied to me."-Mrs. Simmons

"Since I got hit by a car, I've been feeling a bit stronger than I used to. I've noticed that the world isn't quite the same as it used to be. One night in the hospital, I saw a ghost hurting a patient and I ended up killing it with...magic."-Matt

"So you went out with Carl to play Dungeons 'n Dragons last night?"-Mrs. Simmons

"I'm serious mom. Afterwards I realized that it couldn't be the only one, so I went looking for more to help people last night. Unfortunately, I didn't find a ghost but a different kind of monster. A human kind."-Matt says with his head down.

"What happened?"-Mrs. Simmons

"I couldn't believe that these 'creatures' could do such terrible things. I heard a scream from an alley but I got there too late. The victims were already murdered and tortured. They were raped and dismembered mom. I can't even explain how horrible seeing something like that is."-Matt says in a small voice.

"Fucking animals."-Mrs. Simmons says with tears in her eyes.

"I was so filled with rage that I killed them all. But not just that, I brought judgement down on every gangster I could find last night. I don't know if I'm much better than them now."-Matt says growing silent.

"I've known you longer than you've known yourself. Do you think I taught you wrong? That guilt you're feeling right now, did you see those gangsters feel it after doing those things to those innocent girls? That is how I know you are better than them. Now eat your breakfast and let me tell you a story."-Mrs. Simmons

Matt stares at her while she braces herself to begin.

"A long time ago, there were two sisters. The older sister was named Jane, and the younger one was named Faith. That's right, I had a little sister."-Mrs. Simmons

"But I've never heard of an aunt."-Matt

"She passed away a long time ago. Jane was always a straight laced girl, good grades and popular in school. Faith was also a good girl, but she had some bad friends and ran with a rough crowd eventually. Faith joined a gang and for awhile she was happy to have a tight knit group of friends. One day, her gang got into a turf war with a rival and was wiped out. Being a woman, she was captured and made their plaything for weeks....."-Mrs. Simmons takes a deep breath.

"We looked for her every day, my parents and I, but we couldn't find her. One day, a local found her body. She had sliced her wrists with glass shards, but we could still see all the abuse she had been through. I asked the police if they had any information about her abusers, but all they could tell me is that it's a common occurrence and they had too many similar cases open to prioritize her case. So I decided to spend all my savings at the time to hire a professional to investigate who did those things to her. A few more weeks had passed and I had a decent bit of information about the gang involved. I stalked their leader for a couple of days before slipping roofies into his drink while chatting him up in a bar. I dragged him to my car and brought him to the docks. I tied him up and waited for him to wake up. When he woke up, I slowly cut off pieces of his skin with a pocket knife I had until he passed out from the pain. I woke him up with cold water, then tied a cinder block to his legs. He started begging me with tears in his eyes. I looked at him and asked him why he could beg for his life but my sister would never have hers again. I think he recognized me then, since my sister and I looked pretty similar. I gave him one look before throwing the block into the water and kicking him in after it. He screamed before hitting the water. I just stared at the water until the bubbles had stopped rising, and then waited fifteen more minutes to make sure he wasn't going to get out."-Mrs. Simmons says while tears stream down her cheeks.

"So I know what it's like to be so consumed with rage that you would want to kill someone, Matt. I've been there. And I hate animals like those gangsters the most. In my heart, you did the right thing and helped so many innocent future victims."-Mrs. Simmons

"Thanks Mom, but turn up the volume on the news first so you can see what I did. Then you can give your opinion."-Matt

Mrs. Simmons turns up the news to see shocking sights of mangled corpses across the city.

"I've received reports from across the city that many gangs have been wiped out overnight. The police are scrambling to find the culprit and the murder weapons. It appears they were sliced apart by some kind of sharp and flexible spiked blades. Police have determined that it seems to be the work of someone the gangsters are calling 'Judgement.' They have recovered phone calls between these gang members that mention this 'Judgement' frequently. It would seem that 'Judgement' stumbled upon the scene of gang members who had raped and murdered a Mother and her Daughter in an alley. Police are asking witnesses to come forth with any information about this Judgement. We have a reporter on the streets asking civilians about this vigilante."-Newscaster

"Thanks Bob. Actually most people I've interviewed have said the same things about this vigilante. I've got their quotes written down. 'Good riddance, the cops haven't been able to get this many gangsters off the streets.' 'He seems like a hero to me.' 'Wish we had someone like him back when I was growing up.' 'Judgement is so cool, I want an autograph.' 'He's cleaning up the streets, I feel safer knowing he's here.' We also got a quote from the cops, 'He's a mass murderer and he shouldn't be idolized as a hero. One man with the power to kill that many people in a night is a monster. He could be a worse menace than the gang members he has killed. Anybody with information please bring it to your local police station.' That's all I have to report, back to you Bob."-Reporter

"Thanks Jerry, now on to the weather."-Bob

Mrs. Simmons turns off the TV.

"Well you certainly got rid of more of them than I did. The people who have been living in fear for so long, are finally feeling a bit of the weight off their shoulders. You've done something that might weigh down your heart, but never forget how many people you have saved."-Mrs. Simmons