Pt.2: [Night Identity] 7: The Punishment

Somewhere within Night Street, there was a business area called Night Ave where lively music began blasting at the street as soon as the sun started setting out from the sky. The street was filled with blasting, pumping music, and alcoholic drinks, and people wanted to either smoke, release stress, or just get laid. It was like that, but among the blasting music on the street, there was a particular establishment that was known to be famous due to the sophisticated and well-secured bar called SR Night Pub. But among the fun and some wasted customers, a frustrated man was drowning himself with alcohol due to his recklessness, which he did out of jealousy, turning him jobless.

"I'm going to get her back from throwing me out of the company for him," the frustrated and drunk man, Mr. Gables, drunkenly mumbled to himself at the bar area before slamming the empty bottle madly on the table. He followed up with gritted teeth. "I'll kill him."

"Be careful of what you say around here, man." Hearing his cursing, the bartender softly whispered to him, laced with worry.

"As if." He didn't believe it and just grabbed another bottle.

"Just saying. Whatever it is that you're going through, don't easily say you want to kill someone because someone might do it." The bartender wasn't trying to scare him; rather, it was a warning.

"If that person even exists, he better do so and destroy her company for good." He scoffed with venom before finishing his beer and putting the bill on the table, but the bartender shook his head.

"If you say so, but be careful, man." The bartender grabbed the bill, watching Mr. Gables stumble away from the bar area.

"He's going to eat his words." Another bartender patted his colleague.

"I feel sorry for him." With pity, he sighed before going back to work and served another customer.

***

On the sidewalk, Mr. Gables walked and stumbled toward his car, where the lights, the blasting music, and the liveliness of the street started to fade in the background. He grumbled and bumped into someone's body.

"WATCH IT, BITCH!" Mr. Gables drunkenly shouted at the stranger before stumbling on his way, making the stranger watch him.

But being drunk and filled with curses escaping from his mouth as he talked to no one but himself, he suddenly felt cautious of his surroundings. There was a sudden creep lurking around in the darkness, making him look around for a second, and since there was nothing but passing cars, he shrugged it off. But the eeriness swirling in the shadow still watching him fumbled his car's key, which seemed not to fit in the keyhole of his old manual vehicle, and dropped it on the ground.

"Fuck." He drunkenly cursed and took the keys, but before he could even try again, a shadow took form, and without making any sound, Mr. Gables started struggling. His mouth was covered with an intoxicating cloth, and in a second, he lost consciousness.

After a while, he woke up in a strange and filthy dark place with one flickering light above his head. With a couple of blinks and slight movements, panic soon spread throughout his body as he felt his hands and feet tied tightly to a chair. He began squirming out of the binding, but it was no use. He was not strong enough to break free from it; instead, he scanned his surroundings, making him feel disgusted.

"What the fuck…" He might be disgusted and want to throw up over the dirty sight before him, but he can't. The more he studied the area, the more he noticed the bloodstains all over the ground and the walls where vermin were feeding.

"Like your deathbed?" A sinister voice from a mysterious lady in the shadow began echoing throughout Mr. Gables's ears, making him gasp.

"DEATHBED?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? GET ME OUT OF HERE, BITCH!" he screamed as he tried to free himself.

"Sorry, but I don't want to." With a sinister laugh, the mysterious woman walked in the shadow, slowly showing her figure to the captive man on the chair. "So, let's play."

"I DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU, AND GET ME OUT OF HERE, BITCH! FREE ME FROM HERE!" He screamed as fear started mixing up with his anger, but the mysterious woman just laughed like a lunatic.

"If you insist on being free, play with me. Just one, and if you win, I'll remove those ropes. Do we have a deal?" The mysterious woman thoughtfully said, but the sinister look pierced over the man's soul.

"I DON'T WANT TO!" He screamed as tears began forming in his eyes. He was feeling how dangerous the woman was.

"Then suck it up and stay tied there." Amused, the mysterious woman laughed.

"ARGH! Fine. Let's play and hold onto your bargain." He gave up trying to outsmart the woman.

"You have my word." With a devilish grin beneath the dark mask, the mysterious woman began breaking the rope.

With the thought of running away to save his life, Mr. Gables harshly pushed the woman to the side and tried to run, but he fell on the disgusting floor. The mysterious woman hysterically laughed before harshly grabbing his hair and slamming his head on the floor three times, making him bleed, and softly taunting him in his ears.

"You want to play this way? Be my guest, Mr. Gables, or should I say Golden Hands?" With a sinister grin, she taunted.

"How…" His eyes grew wide as soon as he heard the code name only heard at the underground transaction he had from the past. He was done with it already, but not in this case.

"I just know. You can't run away after planting dirty deeds that are supposed to be yours." She interjected before releasing his hair, making him stumble on the floor with fear.

"I-I don't understand what you are saying…" Fear made him pale, but faking his confusion didn't help him escape her.

"Oh, you knew about the innocent general you all condemned for your greed. Now, her ghost is on the hunt." She chuckled sinisterly, making him pee on his pants as his regretted past began knocking on his life. "One by one, she'll be collecting debts."

"I—I was forced. I didn't mean to—I needed money and the job, and it was the only way…" he reasoned, but too late—so late to save his life from death.

"Too late, as your deathbed is already prepared." With her devilish grin under her mask, she whispered, making him shiver.

"NO! I'M BEGGING YOU! SPARE ME!" He begged, but it was late.

"Like I said, too late. It's time to pay a life for a life." She faded into the shadow, making him cower in fear.

"NOOOOO!!!!" He cried as he tried to flee from the area, but before he could reach the door, his arms and legs got entangled with web strings.

Out of fear, he struggled as he tried to break free from what was holding him down, but it only quickened his death. The strings tightened around his body, squeezing him tight, wounding him, and making him bleed like juice until his entire body was chopped into parts. Mr. Gables was now gone.

"Finally." A chuckle from a mysterious man commented as he leaned over the doorframe of the small, bloody haunted house.

"I know; I think this will be the last victim in this house," she coldly said as she checked the man's wallet.

"Do we need to clean it?" He wondered.

"Just the tracks, but not this bloody deathbed, since the game had already begun." She sinisterly chuckled as she walked out, leaving everything to her men, and slipped away in the darkness. "It's time to return to the surface."

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of Night Street in the Princestone Village, Vincencio checked the wall clock in the living area while randomly playing some melody on the piano. He has been waiting for his wife, who left a message about having overtime.

"She won't allow me to do overtime, but she does." Vincencio grumpily sighed before playing a song from the Phantom of the Opera: Love Never Dies soundtrack called Till I Hear You Sing.

"The day starts

The day ends

Time crawls by

Night steals in

Pacing the floor

The moments creep

Yet I can't bear to sleep

Till I hear you sing

And weeks pass

And months pass

Seasons fly

Still, you don't walk through the door

And in a haze, I count the silent days

Till I hear you sing once more…" He softly sang the song as his feelings began resonating with its message. He remembered those moments that he shared with Skylar in their younger years.

Vincencio's singing voice echoed throughout the living area; lost in the melody, he didn't realize that somebody—someone that he had been waiting to come home—finally had arrived and walked through the door.

"Vince, I'm…" Skylar trailed off when she heard her husband's singing voice from the living area with the piano's melody.

"… And sometimes at nighttime

I dream that you are there

But wake, holding nothing but the empty air…"

"I knew that song…" she muttered under her breath and went to the living area. She leaned herself over the frame, eavesdropping amusingly on her husband's musicality that he rarely showed.

"And years come

And years go

Time runs dry

Still, I ache down to the core

My broken soul can't be alive and whole

Till I hear you sing once more…"

"Damn, his emotion felt so real. It's making me want to protect him more than the person who hurt him," Skylar thought deeply as she squinted her eyes upon hearing and feeling the pain in those lines.

"… And music, your music

It teases at my ear

I turn and it fades away and you're not here…"

"His longing makes me cry." Trying to control the emotion around her chest, she composed herself and stood firmly before approaching him quietly.

"… Let hopes pass

Let dreams pass

Let them die

Without you what are they for?

I always feel no more than halfway real

Till I hear you sing once more."

"I hear you," Skylar teasingly whispered, surprising Vincencio almost enough to punch her face if she didn't manage to dodge it.

"SHIT! Wifey, you almost gave me a heart attack." While pouting, Vincencio glared at her in surprise.

"As if it never happened before." She amusingly chuckled, making him shake his head.

"Whatever." He dismissively mumbled before hugging her with gratefulness. "I'm glad you're home."

"Miss me?" With a teasing tone, she wondered.

"Very much. How's work?" He confirmed and asked her in return.

"Tiringly annoying, but hearing your melody, it's gone already." She rolled her eyes but snuggled more into his secure embrace.

"Good to hear." He chuckled before he kissed her temple and ushered her to freshen up. "Go and clean up. I'll reheat your dinner."

"Thanks, Hubby." With a sweet smile, she kissed his cheek before skipping to their bedroom to do what she was told.

***

In their master bedroom, Skylar's sweet smile slowly faded as she began removing everything that she was wearing, letting her hair down, and discarded her clothes on the hamper, letting herself be nude. Stepping into the bathroom, the whole mirror had been filled with moisture, and upon wiping a certain part, her eyes flickered with danger as her lips began smirking, which later turned into a peal of devilish laughter.

"Oh boy, that was hot." Skylar dangerously smiled while she cracked her fingers before humming the adrenaline rushing through her veins.

She turned on the music that goes along with her rush. The song Had Enough by Breaking Benjamin was echoing. It was her tempo as she let herself soak in the well-prepared tub. Upon relaxing, her mind replayed every dark and gruesome scene that she witnessed in person: the bloody death of a man that she knew well. His blood splattered all over the place and dripped down from the web strings that killed him while his body parts were chopped and scattered on the ground—lifeless.

"This is going to be fun." Skylar sinisterly chuckled before whispering a very deadly warning to no one. "Just wait a little bit more."