Present Day …

Is death white or black or any color at all?

Or maybe scarlet like blood, the true elixir of life?

I watch the thick liquid drip from the crumbling wall

While the slime in my grasp prepares to die.

Two boys have just brought down a gang in an abandoned, dank, musty space once called a Market Merchant store. And now the final search for answers has taken one of them to an even darker place. Puffs of air escape the lungs of those in attendance and disappear long before they reach the many broken lights above them.

“You’re gonna admit everything you did, or I’m gonna finish what I started, right here and now,” threatens Naz, standing over a defeated gang leader.

Harvis understands Naz’s meaning as he kneels next to the fallen thug. He opens the voice recorder app on his watch and then taps the red button. He nods to Naz, indicating he is ready for the confession. Other gang members litter the floor in pain, consciously observing but too afraid to move.

“You can start whenever you’re ready,” Harvis says, eyeing the thug.

The two stand in judgment, feeling nothing for this scum who has just taken the life of an innocent lady.

“I’m not sayin’ nothin’.” The gang leader trembles.

Harvis looks back up at Naz and nods. Naz flexes his mind. The thug grabs his throat. His eyes go wide as he struggles to breathe. He reaches for Harvis’ arm only to have Harvis punch it away violently.

“You better talk; I won’t be able to stop him soon.” Harvis laughs.

Finally, the fallen thug concedes, mouthing the word, “OK.”

But it’s too late.

Harvis toys with him a bit, not able to help himself. “I’m sorry; I didn’t hear you.” He moves a little closer, turning sideways as if that will help. Something catches Harvis’ eye. He asks Naz to release the thug, and Naz complies. Harvis has words with the gang leader, and before long, with two fingers to the neck, he applies pressure to the thug’s carotid artery, robbing the gang leader of blood flow to his brain. Harvis is enjoying this, life seeping away from the undeserving. Now, you will die. The gang leader fades.