So I was going to end it all in broad daylight. Nothing too dramatic. I just needed to disappear for a while, to step away from everything that had been pressing down on me. Death is a frightening concept, not because it is loud or violent, but because it is quiet. Humans fear what they cannot understand, and there is nothing harder to understand than simply not existing anymore.
People build beliefs around that fear. They reach for meaning, for comfort, for anything that makes the unknown feel less empty. Maybe that is why religion exists. Maybe that is why so many people would rather believe they are going somewhere than accept the possibility of nothing. But I had made my peace with the nothing. The idea did not scare me. It almost felt easier than carrying on the way I had been.
So there I was, standing alone in the middle of the street, lost in my own thoughts. The place was empty at first, silent enough to make the moment feel unreal. I stayed still, staring ahead, my mind drifting somewhere far away. Then, slowly, the sound of an engine crept into the distance.
It grew louder.
Closer.
I turned my attention forward and saw a small vehicle approaching, bright and sky-blue, cutting through the street with an annoying, high-pitched roar. It was moving faster than I expected. For a second, I just stood there, caught between disbelief and instinct, wondering why it sounded like that and why the rider looked so strange.
Before I fully understood what was happening, everything had already begun.
This was the story of how I died. Or, at least, how it started.
Rene stood motionless in the middle of the road, his gaze locked on the vehicle barreling toward him.
This is how you really know I meant it. Most people in this situation would jump out of the way to avoid dying. Many people don't want, humans are naturally afraid of death in that way, that's why many people kill themselves in ways that are instant.
"Hey! Get out of the way!!!" The voice cut through the night like a blade.
That guy on the bike is an idiot anyway. He has no helmet on, he's asking to die. I guess I'll die with him.
The rider made no effort to slow down.
"Seriously get out of the-" The rest of the sentence never came. Impact tore through the silence in a sickening instant, and Rene's body lurched violently from the force. His limbs went slack as the vehicle struck and dragged over him, the momentum of it scattering everything into chaos.
The rider skidded to a stop a few yards away, quickly parking the MoPeG and climbing down with a startled, stumbling motion. He was an enormous man, towering and broad, his arms wrapped in bandages. Sunglasses hid his eyes. A sleeveless hoodie hung from his frame, its hood teal, pulled up beneath a dark blue baseball cap worn backward. A face mask covered the lower half of his face. Jeans and brown boots completed the strange, unsettling silhouette.
"Ooooh shit bro."
Rene blinked. "Am I dead?.."
He looked around in confusion. Everything felt wrong, too still, too distant, as though the world had slipped a little out of place. Then his eyes dropped to the ground.
There was his body.
Rene's breath caught in his throat. "What the... no way this is real... So there really is something after death. I'm a ghost?!"
Before he could make sense of anything, he felt himself lifting, light and weightless, rising against his own will. "I'm ascending... How am I ascending? I thought after all of this I'd go to hell.."
His head tilted back.
Above him, a blinding light burned in the darkness.
"Everything I didn't believe in, is... true-"
"Woah, look at you."
Rene froze.
The rider was looking directly at him.
"You can see me..?"
"I don't want to explain that. Just come right back down here, I don't wanna catch a murder charge today."
"What are you talking abou-"
The rider reached up with one bandaged hand, grabbed hold of Rene's soul, and yanked him downward as if he were pulling rope from deep water. "You're gonna be unconscious for a bit pal."
"What the hell?!!" Without another word, the rider lowered Rene's soul back into his body with an almost careless ease. The world snapped shut around him.
Everything went black.
This could not be real, right? Ghosts? The afterlife? Someone who could touch a ghost? Someone who just brought me back to life? This had to be a dream, and I was going to wake up about... now.
Light crept back into Rene's vision.
He found himself staring up at a ceiling.
Rene was seated on a couch in a dark room, the only illumination coming from a lamp in the corner, its glow weak and lonely against the shadows.
"Where am I?" He sat up and looked around.
The room was dim, but unnervingly clean. A flat-screen TV sat directly in front of the couch, dark and reflective like a blank eye. Rene rose slowly to his feet, scanning the space with caution.
I swore I died! And now I'm here...
The room was almost empty.
"Is anyone here?"
No answer came.
The silence stretched.
Then, after a long, breathless moment, a door creaked somewhere nearby.
Rene's head snapped toward the sound just as a door slowly began to open.
"Hello?"
He moved forward carefully, every step measured, as he crept toward the door.
The room was swallowed by darkness, the only break in it being the open door, where two yellow dots hovered in the blackness and stared straight at Rene.
Are those... eyes? They're so high up though. I must be dead, because none of this can be real. Why is this even happening to me right now, of all times? This is like something straight out of a show.
Rene's voice came out thin, careful. "Who's there..?"
From the darkness, a voice answered, deep and distorted. "So you're awake."
Rene swallowed, still staring into the void. "Who are you?"
The voice in the dark let out a dry, almost mocking edge. "Do you have no fear? You're hearing a disembodied voice coming from the darkness right now."
Rene's brows furrowed just a little. "Is it really disembodied if I can clearly see the thing that's making the sound?"
The voice paused for a beat, then replied, "I'll give you this, you have the survival instincts of a deer."
Rene blinked. "I don't know how to take that—"
"It's an insult, dickhead."
A beat of silence passed. Rene's expression shifted, confusion overtaking the fear that had briefly gripped him. "I was scared of you for a solid five seconds, now I'm just confused."
"Run."
The door slammed shut with a violent crack, and the bulb in the lamp burst apart, hurling the entire house into total darkness.
Most people would be scared out of their mind in this situation, but me? This is just what I wanted.
Rene spread his arms and closed his eyes.
I wanted to die. There is no fight or flight behind this. I genuinely want to go, and I was cheated from death once. I don't want to cheat it twice.
His voice came out calm, almost accepting. "Give me the fate... I deserve."
"Woah, what are you doing, jackass?"
Even with his eyes shut and the room completely black, Rene could hear that voice clearly—familiar, unmistakable. The person who had hit him with the MoPeG. Rene opened his eyes and looked toward the sound, seeing the exact person standing there.
The Rider stared back at him. "Shiiiit, you're just gonna stand there? Do you not value your life?"
Rene's stare held steady. "It's you.."
"Fuck yeah, it's me. This gotta be confusing as hell for you."
"I— Yeah... it really is confusing for me..."
"Yeaah... uh uh... SHOOO!!!" His voice distorted hard as he yelled the last part.
Rene didn't move. "No... I don't think I will."
They stood there staring at each other for a couple of seconds, the silence between them stretching thin and awkward.
"The fuck's wrong with you?"
Rene's expression didn't change. "Please do kill me, whatever you are."
The Rider let out a frustrated breath. "I really don't want to though. I kinda just want you outta my house."
Rene frowned. "Why'd you bring me here in the first place?"
The Rider lifted a hand as if this was all painfully obvious. "Well, I was speeding, hit you, killed you, and brought you back to life. I was intending to just scare you away."
Rene stared at him in disbelief. "Oh my god, you do this often, don't you?"
"Oh yeah, all the time."
"What the fuck."
"No no no no, it's not as bad as it sounds."
"No, it's EXACTLY as bad as it sounds. What even are you?"
The Rider's tone shifted strangely gentle as he waved at Rene. "Oh, I'm a monster."
"....What?"
"See, you wouldn't understand it if I told you." He turned away from Rene as he said it.
"Then how about you explain it better!"
"HOW ABOUT YOU EXPLAIN WANTING TO DIE BETTER?!!"
"Um—"
The Rider pointed at Rene with aggressive certainty. "Exchange of info. I tell you something, you tell me something."
Rene frowned at him. "Why do you care so much?"
"Because, I'm not a huge negativity kinda guy. Your negativity is off the charts, dude."
Rene's eyes narrowed. "Are you calling no longer having the will to live negativity?"
"Yeah? IIIIIs it not?"
"I— That— That doesn't matter. Fine, I'll tell you... But after I tell you my stuff, you explain to me EVERYTHING that's going on."
"Ok." The Rider gave Rene a thumbs up.
The Rider sat on the couch, while Rene remained standing in front of him. From there, Rene told him pretty much everything he had told us at the start, and my god...
The Rider broke down immediately. "OH MY GOD, DUDE, DO YOU NEED A HUG?!!" He was sobbing, though his face was still heavily obscured by his sunglasses and face mask, and tears poured cartoonishly from beneath the glasses.
Rene stared at him, thrown off. "How are your tears doing that?"
"It's just something I can do" he said, wiping at his tears. "That girlfriend of yours was a bitch."
Rene looked down, his voice quieter now. "I don't find pleasure in talking bad about her... but it was the only way I could calm myself down. Now I just look back at it all and..." His voice caught.
In the blink of an eye, Rene and the Rider were on the couch, crying together in each other's arms.
"WHY MEEEE?!!!" Rene wailed.
"ITS SUCH A CRUEL WORLD!!!" The Rider cried back.
Then, just as quickly, both of them stopped crying. Rene slid out of the Rider's arms and sat beside him instead.
He cleared his throat. "ahem Anyways... what are you? Who are you?"
The Rider tilted his head slightly. "Oh yeah, I haven't told you my name yet. I'm A.C. Cable."
Rene blinked. "What?"
"A.C. Cable. Yes, that's my name, and yes, A.C. stands for exactly what you're thinking of."
Rene's stare turned dead serious. "Your name is... air conditioner..."
"Errrm actually it stands for— OF COURSE IT IS, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!"
"I know, I know, I was just making sure! Jeez.."
"MAKING SURE OF WHAAAAT?! WHAT ELSE COULD A.C. STAND FOR?"
"I— Just tell me what you are."
"Alright. I'm a monster."
"Mhmmmm."
"Don't you 'Mhmmm' me, you fucker."
Rene leaned back a little. "Woah, chill out man.."
His yellow eyes gleamed through his sunglasses.
"Do you know how dumb you sound? You know what, imma tell you. This house we're in right now has three residents. Me, and two other people."
Rene frowned. "So you have roommates—"
A.C. pushed one of his large fingers against Rene's lips, shushing him.
"Shhh, I'm not done. All three of us just graduated high school, and just got into college. Being the broke, parentless teenagers we are, we started a small-time business."
Rene's brows lifted. "All three of you have no parents?"
"It's a whole thing, I won't get into that now."
"Ok, so what is this business?"
A.C. spread his stance a little, as if this was obvious. "We hunt monsters!"
The room went silent. Rene and A.C. simply stared at each other.
"Uh huh..."
"Alright, so the couple of things I say might sound unbelievable, but they're true!"
"Mhm... yeah... go on."
"Stop sounding so uninterested."
"You lost me the moment you started talking about slaying monsters."
"Ok, shush. Monsters are REAL."
"No, they're not."
"Yes they are! I'm a monster!"
"Yeah right."
A.C. stood up and crossed his arms.
"I'm literally 7'9."
"And you're a rare tall human."
"I have YELLOW glowing eyes. How many other people do you know have YELLOW bright YELLOW eyes?!" He pointed at his sunglasses as his yellow eyes glowed through the shades.
"Could just be lights put into your glasses."
"And what about the shit I did with the lights and door."
"Easily could have been set up. Look, if monsters are real, why have I never seen one?"
A.C. threw his hands up. "Ok ok, that's VERY normal. Most people don't see monsters in their lifetime! You're just a lucky person. Be happy."
Rene's mouth twitched with disbelief. "Sounds like code for 'Holy shit he's calling out all of my bullshit'—"
A.C. suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Rene by the collar, yanking him closer and lifting him off the ground, his voice distorting as he did.
"CAN A GODDAMN HUMAN DO THIS?!!"
Rene didn't even flinch. "With steroids and a voice changer, one can."
A.C. dropped Rene and staggered back in absolute frustration.
"FUCK IT. FUCK YOU. FUCK THIS." he snapped, his voice still distorted.
"OUTTA MY HOUSE!!!" he shouted, aggressively pointing at the door.
Rene nodded once. "You don't have to tell me twice."
That was a weird encounter, to say the least... but wait—he's the same guy who put my soul back into my body.
He froze mid-step.
Then, slowly, Rene turned back around.
And directly behind him stood A.C.
"So, you realized."
"Yep— how did you know—"
"Monster things. Get your ass back in the house."
The two of them returned inside and sat back down.
"Ok, ok, ok, ok," Rene said, trying to steady himself. "I wasn't thinking straight. You totally have some powers."
"Some powers is a crazy understatement."
"Ok, what are you?! And if you say you're a monster one more time—"
"Well, my friend, there's not much else I can tell you."
Rene leaned forward, visibly more frustrated now. "If you hypothetically were a monster, what monster kind of monster are you?"
"Not any in particular."
"That doesn't help... IN THE SLIGHTEST!!!"
"WELL I'M TELLING YOU ALL I CAN!"
"What does that mean? Are you withholding information or something?"
"No! I just suck at explaining concepts."
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"I wish I was. Explaining is my only flaw, of course!"
Just then, the front door swung open.
A rather average-sized man walked in. Nothing about him looked especially strange at first glance—brown hair, brown eyes, plain enough that he almost seemed like he blended into the room.
"A.C.C.!!! I got us a job!" he announced, then stopped the moment he noticed Rene. "Now who is this? A guest?"
"Perfect timing! Rene, meet Arthur B. Wulf."
Arthur extended his hand toward Rene.
"Rene was your name? Are you here for our help?"
"Uhhh... no no no. I'm just here because..." Rene shot a look at A.C., his expression sharpening fast. "THAT GUY HIT ME WITH A MoPeG AND KILLED ME!!!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet and pointing an accusing finger straight at him.
"I'D DO NO SUCH THING!" A.C. snapped back, also standing.
"Hitting someone while driving sure does sound like a A.C.C thing to do."
"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO AGREE WITH HIM!"
"I'm not particularly agreeing with him."
Rene looked between them, then settled his stare on Arthur. "So, Arthur. Are you a monster?"
"No, A.C.C is the monster."
"Mhmm."
"I'm a demon."
"WHAT?!!"
"YOU CAN'T JUST CASUALLY SAY THE ARTHUR!!! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO REVEAL THAT DETAIL IN A COOL EPIC MOMENT!!!"
"Says the one who casually called himself a monster at least 3 times."
"I'll admit it, Arthur's whole schtick is cooler than mine."
"Oh, thank you."
"Please, can someone just give me a direct answer as to what is going on."
"A.C. is about dumber than me, so he isn't explaining shit. I think we can show you something by bringing you on a field trip, though!"
"What?"
"Arthur, we got a job, right?"
"Correct, we have a chainsaw murderer on our hands."
"Scuse me, what?"
"You heard the man, THE chainsaw murderer!"
"What—"
Before Rene could finish, A.C. suddenly grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hoisted him up like luggage.
"I'll try my damn hardest to explain it on the way there!"
Arthur and A.C. then exited the house.