I could see myself killing those men as though I was in a trance. I heard their death cries as their blood splattered across the sands. The crowd's roars were at its highest, but the voice in my head was louder than them all. It was the voice of the one inside me, leading me down the bloody path of killing. It represented nothing but violence, removing mercy from its dictionary and replaced it with the urge for blood.

I gasped and woke up to find myself in a room. I was bounded to a chair, both hands and feet, and found out that I was sweating profusely, even though the room temperature wasn't high. Part of my face and back was bandaged, reminding me of the arena. In the room, there was a lot of paintings and pictures of Boss Jack and his notorious men committing crimes and enjoying their earthly wealth. I didn't need anybody to tell me that I was in Jack's living room. The only question was: why?

I heard the sound of someone sniffing something into his nostrils, and I looked up to see Jack himself sniffing in a whitish substance lying on a table of a poker game into his right nostril. He shuddered as it circulated through his brain and had to support himself against a chair. There was nobody else inside the room besides the both of us, which was quite understandable considering the fact that I was bounded to the chair.

Boss Jack noticed I was awake and moved to where I was. He sat on a couch opposite me and lighted up a cigarette. He sucked it deeply and puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Smoke?", he asked while lifting up a pack of cigarettes.

"I don't smoke", I replied.

"Alright, if you say so", he replied while tossing away the pack and relaxed more on his couch. "Congratulations on your victory. I didn't believe a man like you could best eleven men".

I kept mute, not knowing whether to be grateful or not.

"What? Where they your friends or comrades? Know them, hmm?", he asked with a curious expression, which made me wonder why.

"I didn't", was my reply.

He smiled and resumed smoking. "Lemme guess", he said after clearing his throat, "You're probably wondering why you're here and not in your cell, right?".

I nodded my head in response.

He smiled and continued, "No one had ever bested every man by himself once in the sands, but you came and changed history".

"A change is always bound to occur".

"True, I must say. But there's something that keeps bugging me. In that arena, I noticed that the person who was fighting wasn't you, young man", Boss Jack commented and dropped his cigarette on an ash tray lying on a table beside him.

"What do you mean?".

"The person I saw fighting in the sands wasn't you, but the beast within".

I was surprised that he noticed it as well. However, I hid my expressions and continued our talk, "What do you mean?".

"You know what I mean. I can see it in you, hidden deep within your heart, caged, and chained deep inside. It's something that's once triggered, becomes very hard to control. You look like someone having a personality issue".

I paused a bit before replying, "I don't believe that".

"You don't huh?", Jack asked while slowly nodding his head. He stood up and began walking about in the room while he continued, "Do you remember fainting after your glorious victory?".

I was shocked, "Fainted? Why did I faint?".

"You asking me? You fainted a few minutes after your victory. I had my men carry you out like a rag and brought you here. While they were attending to your wounds, you started shaking profusely and began hitting them with your fists until you yanked out one of their knives and stabbed two men in the hearts. It was a headache, so we bounded you to a chair and left you there. Of course they both died, and now here we are".

I remained silent for some time before asking, "Was I saying something while shaking?".

"You kept saying, 'I'll kill you! I'll kill you!', repeatedly. Must have been rough for you huh?".

"Yeah... it was", I replied with both a sigh and frown.

"Mind telling me who?".

"I rather not say".

Jack sighed and said, "Well, whoever you want to kill is probably dead already, cause the chances of surviving on the surface is very low".

I decided to let him believe that for now, "Why are you asking me these?".

He sighed and replied, "Funny enough I was actually a Reverend once. My name isn't Jack either, but I won't tell u the original name. Had a dad who had issues because of a personality disorder he acquired while he served as a slave. The anger he built up while experiencing the harsh treatment from his masters, three females to be exact, led to his madness. They would torture him, used him as a sex toy for fun and for other things I'd rather not say. They'd lock him up in a windowless room after they were through with him, where he would be left all alone, his only companion was the rage within.

"He later got fed up with the maltreatment and decided to act. He managed to get a long chicken leg bone in the room and began chewing it. Crazy kid chewed the bone into some kind of key that managed to open the door, and he killed them all, one by one, without a second thought".

I looked at him with such eyes that wondered what kind of father he had, "And how does a Reverend become the notorious Jack".

"It's Boss Jack. Remember that and you'll live", he replied and went back to his couch, "Because of what those women did, the darkness controlled him, convincing him that women were his enemy. So he began, raping women and killing them after. However, after he raped my mother, he got caught right before he could kill her. He tried to escape, but when he got cornered, committed suicide.

"My mother gave birth to me, but didn't wanted me at all, so she abandoned me in front of an orphanage, with a note explaining everything concerning my birth. I was later adopted into a Christian family, became a Reverend, got married and had kids. It was so happy that I was going to be man very different from his father. But it all changed once I lost my family".

"What happened to them?".

"Wife got sick with breast cancer. She was almost at death's door, waiting to meet her maker, only to experience a miraculous healing that healed her from the disease. But God was so cruel, to do such a thing and let my wife and kids die in a car accident, the same day she was discharged", he paused for a while before continuing, "Since then I kept wondering why he would let them just die just like that, and the only reasonable conclusion was simple: He didn't exist".

I paused as I listened to his sad story. Kenny was right about Jack, except for the fact that Jack himself wasn't a hundred percent bad person. Just a human bitter about his misfortunes. "Why do you tell me these things?", I asked.

"To tell you the simple truth: If you can't beat the monster inside, then join forces rather than lose unity".

"You are telling me to embrace the person inside me?".

"It's ultimately up to you, young man. Say, what's your name?".

"Joe. Joe Benson".

"Hmm, Joe. Got a nice ring to it".

He stood up from the couch and stretched his body. "You can come in now!", he yelled at the door. Two of his men entered, untied me from the chair, chained me and began taking me away.

"Remember Joe", said Boss Jack as I was leaving, "If you don't take care of the beast within, it will cost you more than you wanted to pay".

***

The atmosphere changed immediately I entered the prison. Most of the guards stared at me as I passed, while others moved back a little even though I was pretty much far from them already.

"You see him? Man killed eleven men by himself", I heard one of the guards whispered as I walked.

"Brutal killer. He had no expression while killing them off like rams", commented another.

"I could watch no longer. Felt one-sided at some point", commented a third.

It was worse when I caught sight of the prisoners. Every man stared at me deeply as I walked. They all bore mixed expressions on sight of me, as if I was a world class serial killer.

"Killed them all so naturally with a jack knife. Obviously, a pro", said one of the prisoners.

"I bet he enjoyed killing them", said another.

"That's him! That sh*thead killed my brother! I swear to God that I'mma kill you!", screamed a third. He was a man of his thirties with lots of muscles and tattoos, having deep blue hair, a nose ring, bloodshot eyes, and earrings on both ears. He grabbed hold of his cage and growled like an angry dog while trying to use his right hand to grab me. I was out of his reach though, but his violent behavior was one that everyone couldn't ignore. The guards escorting me listened to the man for a moment before ignoring me and continuing their duty.

"That's Benny. Obviously angry at the one who took his brother's life. Wasn't his name Kenny?", asked a fourth.

"You damn right about that. Poor Kenny, dying with a knife in his throat", replied a fifth.

I tried my best to ignore more of these comments. I was led right into my cell and the guards left me almost immediately. Even though my cell was far from the others, I was slowly starting to hear them more. They were becoming more clearer, and louder within my ears.

"Must have been a serial killer".

"I bet he's witnessed so many deaths".

"He looks like a professional killer. No expression, as if killing is his hobby".

More voices kept popping inside my head, driving me mad. I blocked my head, closed my eyes, and rolled on the bed, trying to bolt out the voices. But they kept on becoming more louder and louder, until I heard a strange voice that suddenly popped right into my head:

"Free me!".

I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by darkness. There was nothing except a whitish fog that was above my ankle level. I looked round and saw nothing at all. I was confused, trying to make sense of the situation I was in. Another illusion? I thought as I kept on looking.

"Free me!".

I heard the voice again, but it was weak and faint.

"Free me!".

It became clearer. I saw something up ahead and began following it.

"Free me!".

I couldn't make out what I was seeing yet. The voice was slowly becoming louder as I came closer.

"Free me!".

A cage up ahead. I began running towards it to close the gap between me and whoever was probably trapped inside.

"Free me!".

I reached the cage but saw no one. It was dark inside, so much so that I couldn't see the other side of the cage, even though the fog invaded it.

"Free... me...!".

It became faint, but this time as though the person was crying. I drew closer to see if I could at least catch a glimpse of what was inside, but still couldn't see anything. Hesitantly, I asked, "Hello?".

Suddenly, two arms, both having fresh wounds but were really strong, grabbed me and pulled me closer to the cage. A head then popped out from the darkness, also having fresh wounds as well. The hair was wild, the eyes were bloodshot, and the teeth were bloodstained. Its upper body was also in view, also having fresh wounds that seemed like they would stay there forever (the same could also be said for the other wounds as well). It was the personification of madness itself, expressing violent, bitter and angry emotions.

"Free me!!!", it screamed so loudly that I thought my ears would burst.

It was human.

It was crying.

It was me.