It amazes me just how quickly people can change.

At one moment, a person could be revered and respected for the work that they do and the way that they treat the people around them and under their care. Then, in the blink of an eye, the faux image they have created for themselves comes tumbling down as their reality is exposed to the world. It is these people who are the most dangerous.

They seem like ordinary people, but they aren't. People grow close to them and defend them against all the odds, but then reality hits them once and for all. It is no longer bright and colourful. The colour has been sucked from the world and all we are left with is the darkness that surrounds us, encases us, and welcomes us into its fold.

The darkness always lurks nearby, ready to grab people.

Mr James Manston is one such person. A liar, a fraud, and one of the many scums of the city who need clearing up.

He played everyone for a fool. Mislead those around him, and played the caring factory owner, but the truth was far different. All it took was a new deal, more money in his pocket to spend as his employees suffered day in and day out. It wasn't paperwork that kept him in his office until the dead of night; it was to make sure his employees worked hard for very little.

Had I not seen it for myself, I would have never thought him capable of such a thing. He played the doting owner so well. He lied as though he had been doing it his entire life, as though he had been trained in the art of lying to those he cared for the most. Except, maybe he never cared for them the way he said he did.

If he had cared the way he said he did, he would have moved to the country to help with his wife's health. He wouldn't have worked so late without sending word. He wouldn't have headed out into the dead of night to get drunk and stumble home in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Manston cared for no one but himself.

Much like the rest of the scum that plagued this city, his end will come soon enough. I need to bide my time and ensure that everything is perfect before I strike. After all, one look at me and it will all be over.

This will be my most dangerous attempt yet, the one that would determine how far I am willing to go to get what I want and ensure that the streets of the city are safe once more.

Little did he know that the person he feared the most had been living right under his nose, watching, understanding. I know his routine better than the other men I have watched. There is nothing about this man that I do not know.

He didn't know that his downfall would be his own daughter.

~~~

First Published - February 15th, 2023