“It had been a while since my wife came here,” the old man in a strange cloak told a woman sitting directly across from him. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Both eyes showed a gray, dark past.
“Yes, how long was it?” the woman asked.
“I believe two years?” the old man said. “She’s always been so sorrowful after this.” The man gasped, realizing the mistake; saying something negative against an Interview was punishable by death. “I’m sorry-”
“WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD,” the woman shouted, “DISHONORING THE LAWS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE FOR A VERY SPECIFIC REASON?”
Why continue this awful life? He lost his wife to The Interview two years ago; she was now dull. His daughter was the only hope he had left, but the government had gotten to her too. Now her lifeless body was just like his wife’s. Her eyes went sheet white, her golden hair had turned a boring bland.
“Leave,” the woman spoke in a whisper.
The man nodded solemnly, and then rose, clutching his cane, and went to open the door. But he shook in fear to see that the door that had been there minutes earlier was gone. The room was engulfed in pitch black darkness. The blank wall flashed with a light, and the old man looked at the source. A video was playing. It showed the street that he had walked on minutes earlier. But the mall in the video had a grainy TV showing the date: July 19, 1932. 1932? Why, the year now was 2030! The people on the street in the video moved briskly, with lively, playful bodies. A narrator’s voice sounded.
“Back in the 1930s when our government hadn’t established The Interview yet, our world was like this, seemingly happy! But there were troubles, and the government had to act quickly. This is why we now live in a better world. With The Interview room.”
In the video, a figure stood on the right. A glint of light showed an object: a gun. His eyes were huge, but with tiny slits as pupils. His face was scarred all over, and the entirety of his right side was the red of a burn–a devil in a human body.
The old man watching screamed.
The gun in the video turned and faced the camera.
The narrator ended with, “And this is why, you must learn respect!”
The old man stepped back, but then thought he was being childish. The gun couldn’t touch him.
But the gun in the video fired, and time seemed to have stopped. The bullet spun around, running right through the wall! The man couldn’t move, he was paralyzed in fear. The bullet entered the old man’s body. The man’s body crumpled, as pain shot through him. The devil man had shot him from the video! But it wasn’t a video. The devil man trampled through the wall. The people outside continued to walk, not even showing a mere glance!
The devil man grabbed the dying man’s hand.
“H-help m-me,” the man called, but the people outside didn’t even notice. Their blank eyes stared into space. They were truly lifeless and boring–puppets.
The woman with the dark hair from before walked slowly forward now. She looked at the devil man straight in the eye and said, “Well done.” She then changed into an equally horrifying creature, with the same half red face and scars. “It’s time to finish this Interview.”
The devil woman put the man up on a chair. The man winced in pain as he sat. His eyes only saw red.
“IS THIS WHAT YOU DID TO MY WIFE TOO?! PUT HER IN THIS AWFUL ROOM!?” the old man cried.
“You must be taught,” she said gleefully.
“No! No wait. Please don’t kill me,” the old man pleaded. But something clicked in his mind, something he hadn’t realized, something he hadn’t expected–why not just die? He was boring, ordinary. The government just was trying to keep our world from harm. From people like him who weren’t lifeless and boring. Those who were smart and funny could also be dangerous and ruthless.
He accepted his fate.
“You are me. We are the same,” the old man said. Then the now old, now regular, now boring man died happily, on the wings of evil and hatred, which were his own.