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I feel impatient when I see my vague destination. I don't know when this chase will ever end. I rested my head on the table while the old man was sitting before me. My phone pinged with a message which brought an instant smile on my face. 

"Can we meet in the cafe? I want to hang around but as you know I don't have friends." Hope, had messaged me. We chatted a few times after we met that day in the cafe. There wasn't any harm in meeting her so I texted her the time for the meet. 

"Life is unpredictable." I looked at the old man who looked serious. "Every single day, you may meet people who aren't as they seem. The universal truth is that the monsters who are human incarnations you have met or will meet were once a human being with a soft soul. Either the world's misunderstandings or greed has made them what they are today." He continued speaking. 

"Did you dream of me meeting some monsters?" 

"Not exactly. Just make sure you let the 13 souls free."

In the evening I wore a white shirt paired with blue jeans. Checking myself multiple times before the mirror I went to meet Hope. As we had agreed, I reached the park. She asked me to reach Ubbin Ground which was near her house or that's what she said. I sit here waiting for her. The day was cloudy, the wind moved dried leaves to pile up against them. It had started drizzling but she hadn't come yet. I can reach my hand through and let my fingers play in. 

"Azaiah." 

I snapped towards the tall man who was standing in front of me. His voice has a husky drawl. His face was attractive while he looked about 40's. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" 

"I don't have much time to introduce myself. Follow me, there's work which you need to do." 

I was hesitant at first but there was something about this man that I couldn't refuse. I followed him towards a small hut which I hadn't noticed earlier in the park.He took every step in slow motion compared to almost anyone else I know. The room was similar to the one I had met Ryan last night. He pulled out a chair and placed a black bag on the table. 

"Open it." He ordered. The bag contained all kinds of weapons ranging from knives, daggers to all kinds of guns. I glanced at him to understand why he was handing me these things. 

"You have to do me a favour by killing me. The choice of using any weapon is yours."

"Why should I kill you? Are you insane?" My voice held utter disbelief. There was a dead quality to his eyes, as if the soul had long departed and left this zombie-man in his stead, a monster to do the bidding of the dark force. He laughed at my reaction and sat on the chair. 

"You are behaving as if you don't know. You have been destined to kill me since your birth, my son." 

"I can't kill you. Isn't there any alternative?" 

"There aren't any alternatives. I have been waiting for this day for a long time. This death isn't going to make me immortal but more powerful than before." Powerful? Is he insane, I thought. "Death is the ultimate thing which could happen to a human being. One becomes powerless after death."

" Death is just a change of worlds." He paused for a while as he walked towards me. " I have been waiting for thirteen years not for you to refuse me. I haven't been silly to collect thirteen souls all this life. Do you want your friend's sacrifice to be wasted? " 

"My friend?" 

"He was such a poor and loyal dog of yours. Stubborn as you are behaving at the moment. I didn't want to kill him, trust me I did not but even I was bound to do that." He mocked me. Was he speaking about Ryan? Everything felt numb while his laughter picked my senses. "Why did you kill him?" I asked but it seemed as if it disappeared into the air. 

"To get stronger. This flute which I have made out of these thirteen souls will help me to grow stronger than all humankind." 

"Have you lost your brains? How can you kill people for your benefit! " I yelled but it did not affect him. He was just a devil in a human incarnation. I knew there was much more than what he was saying. Various questions looped in my mind-how were these thirteen souls going to make him powerful? How can a wooden stick be made up of souls? Where and what had he been doing all these years? Why does he want to get killed when he has the flute? 

"I am not as bad as you think of me, son. I knew you would wish to see your dead friend for the last time. Follow me" He smirked. He led me to a room which seemed similar to mine. All the bookshelves, my study table cupboards existed except my bed. Instead there layed a heap covered with a black cloth. He pulled off the black cover, shock would have been an understatement when I saw dead bodies of the young boys he killed. My heart sank when I noticed Ryan's body laying on the top of them. His eyes were rolled back, a long incision was made right from chest to his abdomen. His shirt was soaked in blood. In spite of the decaying heap, there wasn't a pungent smell in the room. "Why did you do this?" I have never felt so much rage as when pushed into passivity against my will. 

"Why did you do this!" 

I asked as I caught him by his collar while tears streamed down my face. He jerked my hand and laughed, shrugging his shoulders. Anger, pain, sadness - so intertwined that perhaps their names ought to be tweaked to reflect the true origins of those emotions. I swiftly took the flute which he had kept in the pocket of his pants. He held my hand and twisted it to my back. "Dare you try playing any games." He warned me by snatching back the flute from my hands. 

“You’ll never catch me!”

I lunged after him and caught him by his legs and ripped it from its toehold. Bellowing, he kicked me in the face causing my jaw burst, but I still held on. I clawed upward until he grabbed a fistful of his hair. He yanked hard, and with a scream he lost his grip. Tangled in a death embrace. I held a dagger, which I had sneaked in from the weapons before coming in here. I stabbed him with the dagger in his gut and twisted it. The red sticky liquid poured out from his body while he groaned in pain. I took the flute and broke it into two pieces. Sparkles. I didn't know what that meant, maybe something related to freedom. 

My head has become foggy, like that time when alcohol takes me into oblivion, but I haven't drunk a drop. I slump down on the ground. My jaw felt numb but that wasn't my concern. I needed some rest. I let myself cocoon in the darkness of rest with just a thought roaming in my inward brain, I needed to meet Hope.