The Wicked Game of a Psychopath

by Stan Hendriks

  “Wonderful. But not only is this an exciting moment, it also is a sad one. Because tomorrow evening, the game will come to an end. It’s been quite a hectic and eventful ride, hasn’t it? All the suspense has led up to this, we are now in the endgame. Tell me, how are you feeling?”

  “Ready to send you to hell.”

  “Of course,” Mr. Miller chuckled. “And you might just be able to do that.”

  “Wait… you said you would reveal yourself to me.”

  “And I will, however, there is a catch. Tomorrow morning three men are going to show up at your door, each with a package. What the packages contain is of no importance. Your focus should lie on the men who deliver it as one of them will be me. And it is up to you to figure out which one of them is me. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m using a voice changer so, don’t pay attention to what they sound like. But here’s the thing, if you have a strong feeling that one of these men is me, then you’re not allowed to act just yet. Because after these men have paid you a visit, you will receive a call from me. I will then ask you which one of these men is me and well, if you’re correct, then we will meet each other.”

  “And what if I’m wrong?”

  “It’s simple, if you’re wrong then you don’t get to meet me. But either way, the game will be over.”

  “No… no, you fucking liar! You told me that you would reveal yourself and that you would let me kill you!”

  “I told you that I would reveal myself, however, I did not tell you how. So, technically, I didn’t lie. I just left some information out.”

  “I swear to god I… I’m going to kill you!”

  “And I have faith that you will be able to point out the right man. Worry not, Susie, you will get what your heart desires. But oh man, isn’t it exciting? I actually cannot wait. But before I hang up, I would like to take this moment to say a few words. In the beginning, I thought that you would crumble under the tremendous amount of pressure, I even thought that you would end up committing suicide. But you held your head high and you kept on going. Which tells me that the bond you had with Kyle was remarkably strong and special. I wonder what that feels like, having such a strong bond with someone that you’re even willing to go through hell and back for them. Anyway, you have been a fantastic player and you are the reason this game turned out to be perfect. Without you, this wouldn’t have been possible. So, thank you, Susie. Thank you for participating. I wish we could go on for longer, but tomorrow evening it has to end. I’m certainly going to miss you, and something in me tells me that you will miss me as well. Because let’s face it, we’ve had many odd but pleasing conversations. And you expressing and showing your raw and unfiltered emotions is something I will definitely miss. Anyway, all that’s left to ask is, are you ready, Susie?”

  “More than ready.”

  “Excellent. Get some practice in with the gun and get a good night of rest, you’re going to need it. Talk to you soon, Susie,” Mr. Miller said as he then hung up.

  Susan laid the phone down, made herself a glass of wine, opened the back door, and then sat down on the doorpost. And with the sunshine on her face, she mentally prepared herself for what was about to come.

  The next day, Susan was seated on the stairs with her arms crossed. She was staring into the abyss and anxiously waiting on when the doorbell was going to ring. Was she going to be able to pick out the right person? And what if she was going to fail and pick the wrong one? Those questions had kept her up all night and she struggled to stay awake. But when the doorbell finally rang, she got an intense adrenaline rush and she was immediately wide awake. With her heart pounding in her chest, she opened the door. In front of it stood a man with a package who seemed to be in his late thirties. He had black slicked-back hair, wide shoulders, and was fairly tall. “Susie Wilson?” he asked.

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “There you go,” the man said as he handed Susan the package.

  “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” the man said with a wink as he then walked off again, got back in his car, and drove off.

  Susan closed the door and opened the package on the stairs. Inside of it were rose seeds. She took the seeds out of the package and sighed, “Is this all? You got to be kidding me.” She then threw the seeds and the package down the hall and took a deep breath.

  An hour later, the doorbell rang again, and Susan immediately opened the door. In front of the door stood a man with a package who seemed to be somewhere in his mid-sixties. He was bald, had a thick gray mustache, and wore circle-shaped glasses. “Susie Wilson?”

  “Yes.”

  The man then handed the package over to Susan and said, “Have a wonderful day, my lady.” He then walked off, got back in his car, and drove away. Susan watched as the man drove out of her sight and then closed the door and ripped open the package. Inside of it was a book about the world’s deadliest snakes. She simply shook her head and once again threw the package down the hall and sat down on the stairs again.

  Another hour passed by before the doorbell rang again. Susan opened up and a man who seemed to be in his late twenties stood there with a package in his hand. He was covered in tattoos, had a couple of golden teeth, and long curly hair. “Susie Wilson?” Susan nodded and the man handed her the package. “Rough night?”

  “Yea, kind of.”

  “I can tell, but you still look enticing though.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No problem at all, hope to see you again someday. I have a thing for women with a little more experience if you know what I mean,” the man said with a smirk as he then walked off, got in his car, and drove off.

  With a sigh, Susan closed the door and opened the package. Inside of it was a brand-new phone with a ripped piece of paper on top of it that read, “One hour”. Susan grabbed the phone, put it in her pocket, and as she threw the package away, she went back into the living room where she grabbed three energy drink cans out of the fridge and downed them rapidly. With a couple of deep breaths, she lied her hands on her head and looked up at the ceiling. Was this it? Was this all she was going to get? How was she possibly going to tell which one of these men was Mr. Miller? She thought about if they looked at her in a weird manner, or if they spoke with the same chilling tone as Mr. Miller, but they didn’t. In fact, they did nothing out of the ordinary. They just gave her the package and went on with their day which made it tremendously hard for her. But then the doorbell rang again. Confused, she walked back over to the front door and opened it. Jack was standing in front of it. “Jack? What… what are you doing here?”

  “I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now, but I just had to ask you how you were doing.”

  “I’m doing fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” Susan nodded.

  “That’s good. But listen, you probably still think that I’m the one who murdered Kyle which hurts quite a bit, but I’m not, Susan. And I’m willing to do whatever necessary to prove to you that I’m not. Please just tell me what I can do.”

  “I… I don’t know. I’m sorry but… I just can’t deal with this right now. But thank you for stopping by.”

  “Of course, no problem. Well, as always, if there’s anything I can do for you then don’t be afraid to ask.”

  “I know.”

  “All right then, well, I guess… I guess I should be going again then. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Jack then walked back to his car with his head held down and Susan closed the door and was left profoundly confused. Was it just a coincidence that Jack showed up on this exact day and time? Or was he part of this game? But Mr. Miller said that only three men would show up, not four. Meaning that it must have been a coincidence and maybe she had in fact falsely accused Jack. But she had little time to think about it as she only had an hour left to tell Mr. Miller which one of the men was him.

  The hour flew by quickly, and when Mr. Miller called, Susan st
ill had no clue which one of the men was, in fact, Mr. Miller. “And, Susie, have you come to a decision?”

  “I… I’m not sure. You barely gave me any hints. How am I supposed to choose which one of them is you when all they did was delivering the package to me?”

  “Well, I couldn’t make it too easy on you. I’m certain you can understand that. There is zero satisfaction to gain out of solving simplistic tasks. Complex and challenging tasks, however, dopamine overload. Anyway, which one of the three men was in fact me?”

  “Uhm… I… I don’t know. How the fuck am I able to know?”

  “Is that your definitive answer?”

  “No! Just… just give me a minute. I… I think you’re the older man.”

  “Interesting. How did you figure that?”

  “Well, you love to talk about the past and older people tend to do that quite often. You really sound like one of those people who keep on saying how everything was better and easier in the past.”

  “Hmm, I never thought of it like that, or maybe I have. Who knows.”

  “So, am I right or?”

  Then there was a fleeting moment of silence. Susan’s heart couldn’t possibly pound any harder and sweat was dripping down her forehead and she felt as if she was suffocating. This was it and she could no longer take the suspense. But then Mr. Miller slightly chuckled. “Congratulations, you did it.” Susan fell to her knees and tears flowed down her cheeks. “You did it, Susie, as expected, of course. I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight. You will receive the location of the place where our meeting will take place later on your phone. I just sincerely hope that you will be ready and that you will have what it takes to pull that trigger and avenge your son. Don’t disappoint me, Susie.”

  “Don’t worry, asshole, tonight I’m sending you straight back to hell!”

  “That sounds like music to my ears. See you tonight, Susie,” Mr. Miller said as he then hung up.

  Susan couldn’t quite believe that she had done it. She had guessed who Mr. Miller was and soon she would not only be able to avenge her son’s death, she would also be able to put an end to this once and for all. And with that in mind, she stood up and went over it in her head. She thought of the questions she was going to ask and what she was going to say to him before she would pull the trigger. And she did that for the remaining of the day until she got a text with the location from Mr. Miller.

  It was seven PM, and as she opened the text, she saw that the location was close to her house. It was in an abandoned warehouse just fifteen minutes away from her home. However, Mr. Miller also made it crystal clear in the text that she had to be there at seven-thirty and if she would fail to show up in time, he would leave. After reading that, Susan immediately put the pistol in her purse, grabbed her car keys, rushed out of the house, got into her car, and drove off towards the warehouse.

  Fifteen minutes later, Susan sat in her car which was parked right in front of the entrance of the warehouse. She stared into the nothingness and the pistol—which was locked and loaded—laid next to her on the passenger’s seat. Millions of various and disturbing thoughts crossed her mind to the point where a tear came rolling down her cheek. There she was, about to put the malicious psychopath to rest and end it all. She had been waiting on this moment since Mr. Miller first contacted her, yet, something was holding her back. The voices in her head were in conflict. One was whispering that she should go back or call for help, while the other one shouted that she had to give that asshole what he deserved. But in order to give Mr. Miller what he deserved, she had to pull the trigger and kill him. Something she had never done before, let alone thought about. Doubtful that she would be capable of taking his life, she called Jack. “Susan?” Jack answered with a surprised tone in his voice.

  “Have you ever shot someone?”

  “What… why are you asking me that?”

  “Have you or have you not?”

  “Yes, sadly, I have. But why?”

  “What did it feel like?”

  “What is going on?”

  “What did it feel like, Jack?!”

  “It feels horrible, as you can imagine. But why are you asking me this? What is going on?”

  “But you were able to live with yourself after you did it, yes?”

  “What are you about to do? Please don’t tell me that you’re about to shoot someone.”

  Susan noticed that it was almost seven-thirty and replied, “I have to go. I’m sorry, Jack.”

  “No, wait! There is something you—”

  But before Jack could finish his sentence, Susan hung up and put her phone down on the dashboard. And with a deep breath, she grabbed the pistol and entered the warehouse.

  The warehouse was completely empty except for two wooden chairs that were standing across from each other. A lamp was slightly dangling above the chairs and the man with the thick gray mustache was seated on one of the chairs. He wore a bowler hat, a three-piece black suit, circle-shaped glasses, and white silk gloves. It was Mr. Miller and Susan—who stood and stared at him from a distance—couldn’t believe that he was sitting there. Mr. Miller then looked at her and with a sickening smile, he said, “Please, Susie, take a seat.” Susan did just that and as she took a seat, she pointed the gun at him. “So, here we are. It has all come down to this moment. Exciting, isn’t it?”

  “Why Kyle?”

  “He was a feminine man, I thought I made that clear to you. But I’m guessing what you’re really asking is when and how I came across Kyle, right?” Susan nodded and Mr. Miller continued, “Well, one night I was driving through San Francisco, and I was on the prowl. Looking for my next victim. So, I stopped by a bar to get myself a drink and Kyle and his friends happened to be there. Even though they were underaged, the bartender had no problem serving them alcohol. Anyway, I could tell by his demeanor that he was the definition of a feminine man, but I had to be certain. So, I struck up a conversation and my observation proved to be right. I thought about killing him that same night, but then I noticed how many missed calls and texts he had received from you. I could tell that you were very protective off him, and I knew that if I would murder him, you would come after me. Or at least, you would try. That is when I decided to not kill Kyle just yet. I needed a plan, I needed to come up with a game, which was going to take a while. So, I postponed my initial plan of killing Kyle on that particular night and I went back home to come up with a plan. Because when the time would come that you would chase after me, the game had to be ready. So, long story short, once I had perfected the game, I tracked Kyle down. And, of course, he happened to be at the motel that day with his friends. He didn’t recognize me when I struck up a conversation with him at the bar, but that didn’t matter. He was intoxicated enough to tell me in which room he was sleeping and that was all I needed to know. So, after that, I left, broke into his room, and waited there for about an hour or so. Then when Kyle opened the door, I made sure that he didn’t have the time to react. I immediately stabbed him in his chest a couple of times, threw him on the bed, and closed the door. After that, I stabbed him some more as it was satisfying, but as soon as the satisfaction wore off, I slit his throat. He was already dead by the time I slit his throat, but it was like the cherry on top. And then I, of course, left and waited on you. And from there you know how the story goes.”

  Susan kicked her chair back, got up, and aimed the pistol at his head as the tears flowed down her cheeks. “You… you fucking bastard! I’m going to kill you!”

  Mr. Miller then got up as well and said, “Then what’s holding you back? This is what you’ve been waiting for, is it not? But now that the moment has arrived, you’re going to tell me that you’re not capable of pulling the trigger? How disappointing. I thought I inflicted enough pain on you that you wouldn’t even hesitate, yet, you are hesitating. I thought you were stronger than that, Susie, but it appears that you’re just as weak and pathetic as your son. Just do it, Susie! I murdered your son and countless other men i
n cold blood! Avenge their deaths! What are you waiting for?! Don’t disappoint your son!” Mr. Miller shouted as he broke out in sweat. His whole body was trembling, and it seemed as if he was about to cry, but Susan didn’t even pay attention to it anymore. She wiped away her tears and said, “I hope you rot in hell where you belong.”

  Right at that moment, Jack rushed into the warehouse with five other police officers and he shouted that she had to lower the gun. But it was already too late, Susan pulled the trigger and shot Mr. Miller right through his head.

  Sadly, the man she just shot to dead turned out to be Jacob Wright, an interior designer who had just retired. Jack found about who Mr. Miller really was, but he didn’t want to tell it to Susan yet since he was afraid that Mr. Miller would be eavesdropping on their conversation. Apparently, Mr. Miller’s name was Christopher. A thirty-nine-year-old man originating from Dallas, Texas. Jack was able to track Susan down by the tracking device he had placed on her car earlier that day, but if he knew that this was about to happen, he would have stopped her earlier. And he would have told her what he came to find out about Mr. Miller. But it was too late, and Susan had to be arrested for the fact that she just shot and killed an innocent man, who was being blackmailed by Mr. Miller and was forced to act as Mr. Miller. Sadly, there was no way around it, and Susan was cuffed and brought to the police station.

  Not even a week after, Susan appeared in court. And although the judge knew what Susan had been put through and the circumstances she was in, the judge still sentenced her to fifteen years in state prison to everyone’s disbelief. And there she was, about to be escorted to prison. She had lost the game. Mr. Miller had deceived her and had torn her life completely apart. But the damage had been done and sadly, there was no going back anymore. And to make matters worse, before Susan even arrived at the prison, she was indirectly forced to tell everything she knew about Mr. Miller and the game. It turned out that Christopher Miller was simultaneously playing his wicked game with nine other people, who sadly all committed suicide. And the police were able to connect countless other murders to him because of what Susan said. Mr. Miller became known throughout the entire world and through Susan, his story and his motives were brought to light. Just as he had predicted.