“Dead!” said the hit man looking upon the body of the woman whose guts he had cut out and wrapped around her neck. He could still see the horror in her eyes and the dried tears. As he scoped the scene for loose evidence, he could hear the sirens nearing the abandoned apartment. He quickly cleaned up the scene and vanished without a trace into the dark night, where he hid under the naked sky. “No finger prints, no foot prints, no evidence, those are the attributes of a professional,” he said to himself as he was getting into his black Lamborghini. He removed his gloves then started his car and got lost in the midnight.

When he arrived home, he heated his electric tub of holy water to wash away the act he had just committed. He submerged his body into the water, and when he rose, he saw an old lady with a needle in her frail vein. He quickly wiped his eyes, and when he opened them, he saw nothing. Driving home from the murder scene was extremely exhausting; so he got out of the tub, dried off, put on some clothes and headed for his bed. As he lie there trying to sleep, he heard a voice proclaim, “You will feel the pain and suffering which you have caused others to endure. Every night that the sky is naked, the dead will return to you the pain and suffering that you forced on to them. Until one of your victims forgives you, you will feel the same pain that your victims felt” chanted the voice repeatedly.

When the voice finally ceased, he saw a face that startled him. He tried to move but he felt paralyzed. The man he saw slowly came closer to his bed. “You’re dead!” Bruce said still trying to move his paralyzed body. As he spotted a pair of scissors in the dead man’s hand, the man began to chant the message that he just heard. With every word, with every chant, the man stabbed Bruce over his entire body. Bruce yelled and screamed in agony until his body was left lifeless. Abruptly, he awakened from his slumber, “It felt so real!” he uttered panting.

The next night and every night there after, Bruce was tortured by everyone he had ever killed. He was burned, skinned, hanged, and buried alive. There was no escape. Bruce felt trapped every night and feared sleep. He remembered the pleading pain filled voices of his victims. Though he begged and promised to his victims that he would never commit those acts again, they did unto him as he had done unto them. Each day as night approached, he refused to go to sleep. Sleepless nights left his body feeling the aches and pains of the night before. His depression grew deeper and he became more frightened with each torture his victims forced him to endure.

As he lie in bed, he saw a familiar face; he began to shake and tremble at the thought of what he was about to experience. It was a woman with a scalpel in her hand. It was the woman whose guts he had cut out. He began to plead, “Please, please, please, I’m sorry, I know what I did was wrong. I know I hurt you and I feel your pain. In fact, I have felt everyone’s pain that I have ever tortured. Please, believe me, I have felt the pain of all of my victims.” She walked to his bed where he lie paralyzed; then she dropped the scalpel and sat beside him on the bed.

“Although the pain was excruciating, I am so grateful that you killed me. I know that may sound crazy but there’s a reason that I am thankful you did,” she said in a calm voice. “My mother was a witch, she used to practice her magic on my father until one day one of her spells killed him. I was so young and confused, she told me lies about what happened but it became clear to me that she killed him. I went to the police and she was arrested for murder, and then executed. I still remember the fatal words she said to me just before her execution, “This poison that they inject into my veins is a curse upon you. You will suffer unbearable internal pain as long as you live. The pain will incinerate your insides for eternity, until you welcome death as your only relief from the suffering.” Until the day you killed me, I had this pain that came every night around the time my mother was executed. The night you killed me, the curse was lifted” she said with a sigh of relief. At that moment her spirit was lifted, she rose into the air and disappeared into the night.

“Thank you….” Bruce said feeling the curse being lifted from him.

That night when Bruce went to sleep, he never awakened. They say the wicked witch cursed him to death.