We arrived at the predetermined spot, which was the alleyway on Wharf and Destiny. It was a late, warm, and slightly humid, as the best summer nights are. It also fit the mood of the evening, minus the pleasant feeling. Rather, we were all nervous, angry, or for me, simply curious.

I myself was there with Milo and Suzie. Milo was of muscular build, one of the local regulars at gyms both in school and in the public. Was he smart? Hell if I should know. Frankly, he seemed rather keen in the department for storing trivial facts, like sports statistics and what school was number 1 in partying and acceptance rates. I know it sounds like a stereotype, but to be blunt it almost was. He played football, wrestled, and played lacrosse. However, unlike typical clichés he was a nice guy. But what do I know.

Suzie was a sweetheart, the type that would pull out a smile that would melt a convict’s heart. She was super religious, although I’m rather unsure what she was. I think she was Presbyterian, or Baptist. Maybe Methodist. Definitely not Catholic though, oh no, don’t call her that. Saying nonsense like that can get you killed around here faster than a prizefighter’s right hook. Word travels fast. Hence our visit to the Destructor. Suzie and Milo did a bad thing, a very bad thing, and they needed fixing.

The Destructor was a local legend of sorts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was world renowned, to be honest. Apparently he could do anything, and I mean anything. I can’t explain the name either: The Destructor. Sounds kind of stupid to me.

I could tell that Suzie and Milo were nervous, as they said little. Just about the time the awkwardness reached a peak of sorts, he arrived. He said nothing and brought us through a grimy door into a room filled with sheet metal and a couple of doors into other rooms. It looked like something out of those gory horror movies. It disgusted me. A couple of guys came out and took Suzie into the other room. She looked nervous, frightened really, and asked for Milo to come to.

“ You have the cash?” asked Destructor

“ Yeah here,” was the minimalistic styling’s that was Milo. He took out a stack of bills, probably from selling drugs or stealing. He went into the room with Suzie. She was starting to cry. The other guys went in with them and shut the door.

The Destructor sat down in a foldable chair and looked at me. My god, never before have I wished that I never could see, that way I didn’t have to gaze into the eyes of something unnerving. And then he smiled. May the lord forgive me.

“What are you doing here, anyway? You have no relation to those two.”

I didn’t say anything at first, because I was awestruck by the sound of his voice. Cold as ice, but still I felt the heat of something burning in my stomach. It took real guts to muster up to say, “ You’re right I don’t. I came to see you.” I paused a couple of seconds, enough for five beats of the heart, and then said “ But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“You didn’t quite answer my question all the way. What are you doing here with them?”

“I knew what they were up to…I’m a rather good investigator of sorts at my school. I said I would spill the beans if I couldn’t come. Hence my presence here.”

“You’re here to see me. Surely you’re not here to treat me like a zoo attraction. I’ll cut all the fat off and just ask: what do you want to ask?”

He was faster than I would have liked, getting a position over me. But what position? There was no race, no social order here, or was there…

“Who are you?”

“ Good question. Very good question actually. You see, in the beginning of time humans were given an opportunity of sorts: we could have whatever we wanted, if in return we just keep our loyalties and souls in tact. Unfortunately, that failed for us. Instead, we have the vices of life, be it murder, corruption, or, in the case of your ‘friends’, fornication. And what do we as humans do? We try to change it, hide it, bury it deep down in the catacombs of our very existence, and do we succeed? No, we don’t. Instead, it grows like cancer, only stronger and more cunning.”

He stopped talking to take out his lighter and proceeded to show me the flame. It flickered like some sort of macabre dance in a bright graveyard.

“You see this flame right? What does fire do? Well, it heats things, sure, but it mostly just burns things. But that’s a no brainer. The implication is that flame is primarily a destructor, something that’s only purpose is to see to the destruction of everything that it can. Now there are two types of people in this world: Destructors and Creators. Destructors destroy; Creators create. Now, the problem is that the majority of us our Destructors, meaning that eventually the world will be all destroyed. I came to this conclusion a long, long time ago after this… event of sorts. I’m not a liberty to really divulge the details, but you get the point. So I decided to bring the inevitable to our Earth as soon as possible. No matter how long it would take me, I would never, ever quit until my job is complete.”

He put the lighter away and tore into my soul with his death gaze. Suddenly a thought came to me like a shot in the dark.

“If you are here to ‘destroy’, then why help those two?”

He gave a laugh straight out of the gutter of evil, and then said, “ I am helping them, but do you think that they are going to get off scot free? No, you see, their information is going to pour out of here and into the town. Now, while this information will hurt them and their immediate family and friends, it will be marked into the town for years to come. Eventually a series of events will cause the town’s slow decay from a lovable small town into a sleazy trucker stop town. All from this event.”

“Oh really? And what do you think, that these people will believe you? They don’t know you, and plus they fear you.”

“Your absolutely right! That is why you are going to do it for me.”

“What makes you say that?

“Because one day Milo will get cocky, and you’ll feel angry and hurt, and then comes the truth. But you know what the real reason is? It’s because like me you’re a destructor. You want to see people like him lose, and you are going to be the guy to let the nightmare for this town be unleashed. And you won’t even understand the implication until it is too late”

At that time I got up and stormed out. I didn’t want to hear it anymore. As I left, he yelled out, “ You’ll do it! You’ll fulfill your place in life!”

As I walked out in the street, I felt a feeling of deep sorrow hitting me in the chest. So that was my fate, to be the bad guy? To be evil? I could pretend that I would never do as he said, but I knew it was going to happen. At that moment, I started to weep. I wept because I knew and understood the fate of our world, of the town, of myself, and it made me sorry. I haven’t cried like that in a long time. God have mercy, for the sake of our souls.