Test of Internet Fiction #4

It was a dark and stormy night. Detective Smith was sitting in a cold sweat in his office when he heard the sound of a woman with a cocktail of chemicals in her face walk into his office and put a gun to his head and say “I have a job for you.”<br>She was dressed in a black leather trench coat. The wind was blowing her hair left to right.<br>She said, “Mr. Smith, the world is going to end in a month. You are the only person in the world who can stop it.”<br>A group of mice came scurrying into the office. Their little arms were raised up in the air and they all screamed “It’s the end of the world as we know it.” Mr. Smith studied them.<br>The woman who had walked into the office pressed the gun to the back of the detective’s head and said, “Don’t guard yourself, you won’t need to. What I have to tell you is important.”<br>“This is all very confusing.” He said.<br>“Then let me clarify for you, Mr. Smith. My name is Barbara. I am a time traveler. I have been working for the government for 20 years and I am here to tell you that God is going to come down in a month and burn the world to hell. We have done so much damage to the planet Mr. Smith that even He can no longer ignore us.”<br>Mr. Smith was silent. The mice chanted. Barbara went on.<br>“Your task, Mr. Smith, is to find out why He hasn’t come yet. We think it’s because of a missing artifact. The artifact can only be found by you and you only. This is a test of your worthiness Mr. Smith, and it’s the only chance we have.”<br>“I uh… I don’t know if I’m up for the task.” He said.<br>“I don’t care if you’re up for the task or not.” She pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out of the other side of his skull. It was like his eyes opened up for the first time.<br>“Huh.” He said. “I get it.”<br>She held his face in her hands and said “I knew you had it in you all along, Mr. Smith.”<br>Now Mr. Smith was sitting in his car, driving through the streets. A homeless man walked across the intersection where the green light was. “Shit” said the homeless man. “Why must drivers always get the right of way?” Mr. Smith drove through the intersection when a car ran right through the light and hit his car. It was a VW Beetle, and the airbags immediately deployed. A young man got out of the car. He was clearly drunk. The homeless man from the street ran up to the young man. He was furious.<br>“Why must drivers always get the right of way?” He repeated.<br>The young man stumbled out “I… I was driving under the influence officer.”<br>The homeless man shot the young man in the head. Two other homeless men came running down the street. They jumped into the young man’s car and drove away. The homeless man waved. It was the president. He waved. Mr. Smith waved back. The president was gone.<br>Mr. Smith got out of the car. He walked into a nearby bar. In the corner was a man who looked like an owl. Mr. Smith immediately recognized him. It was the infamous Owlman who was involved in many of theAncient conspiracies. The two men made eye contact.<br>There was sexual tension in between them. A young man got up from the bar and walked over to Owlman. “I am the child of the owl.” He said. “You are my father.” Owlman shot the young man in the chest. He collapsed and died on the floor. Owlman got up and walked out. Mr. Smith followed him.<br>They walked through a park. They walked for a long time. Then a shooting star fell from the sky and hit the earth.<br>Mr. Smith and Owlman went to go look at it. It was glowing. Owlman said “From the ledge there, right there; you can hear the last thing that Jesus said.”<br>Mr. Smith walked to the edge. A woman was selling tickets. He got one. He walked to the guardrail and looked into the light.<br>He didn’t see anything. He didn’t hear anything. Then he did.<br>It was the voice of a man. He was saying “Forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.”<br>A man stood next to him. He said “That was the last thing he said.”<br>Then next to him stood a woman. She said “So you heard it?”<br>“Yes” said Mr. Smith.<br>“So now you know” said the man.<br>“Now I know what?”<br>“The nature of the universe. You know now, Mr. Smith, that everything in the world is based on forgiveness and love. You have been enlightened, Mr. Smith, you have been absolved of your sins. You are free to do whatever you like in the world.”<br>Mr. Smith coughed. He spat on the sidewalk.<br>“Thanks but no thanks.” He said.<br>Owlman walked up to him. “Come on, Mr. Smith. We still have a long road ahead of us.”<br>The three of them walked together. Mr. Smith asked “What’s that in the distance?”<br>“That is the End of the Tunnel.” Said the Man. “It is the end of the road, the final destiny. It is the tunnel that we cannot avoid, the inevitable end we must all succumb to.”<br>Mr. Smith asked “What’s that?”<br>“That’s how you get there. Do you want to?”<br>“Yes; I do.”<br>“Then look at your feet.”<br>Mr. Smith looked down at his feet. They disappeared. His waist, his chest, his head all disappeared. He fell off into space. He felt himself flying. He was going higher and higher. He looked down at the ground. He could see the earth. It was a tiny little dot. It shrunk more and more until it disappeared.<br>Then suddenly he landed. He looked around. It was a room. It was white. There was a desk in the middle. There were two men standing right behind it. One was on the left and one was on the right. One was dressed in white. The other was dressed in black. The one in white spoke first.<br>“Hello Mr. Smith. Welcome to the End of the Tunnel. Welcome to the End of the Road.”<br>The one in black said “We have been waiting for you.”<br>White said “I am Right.”<br>Black said “I am Wrong.”<br>White said “We are here to test you.”<br>Black said “We are here to trick you.”<br>White said “We are here to guide you.”<br>Black said “We are here to lead you astray.”<br>They went on like that for a very long time. Mr. Smith listened.<br>Finally they finished. “That is it.” Said the White. “What is your choice?”<br>“I choose White.” Said Smith.<br>“Wrong.” Said Black.<br>A loud buzzer went off. A woman walked out of the shadows. She was dressed in white. “You failed.” She said. Then she shot him in the head.<br>It was dark. Then there was light. Mr. Smith was back in his office. Barbara was standing there. “God damn it.” She said. “I knew I should have picked the other guy.”<br>Mr. Smith looked at her. “It’s over.” He said.<br>“Yes.” She said. “You will never now know the nature of the artifact. It’s gone. God is coming. The world is ending. And it’s all because you failed the test.”<br><br>Fin.