Lars Lopez slowly opened his eyes to the world. The world he saw was a damp room that was cold and filled with a sense of hopelessness. The only source of light was a small light bulb on the ceiling that hung from a wire. A old fashioned TV set sat in the corner humming lightly as the screen sat blank.” hello” he called as he tried to stand from the chair that we had woken up from. A sharp pain made him gasp and fall back into the chair as a dull aching pain caught his attention. He looked down and gasped as his chest had been carefully cut and pulled by two bungee cords to reveal his inner chest. He stared in disbelief as he watched his heart beat inside his rib cage. He looked at he cables and followed them to the ceiling were the hung on a pulley and attached to the pulley were two sand bags that read “20 ibs”. He looked back at the pulled away skin to see that the cables the held the skin was a lock with a tiny key hole on it. “Hello?!” he called out again in desperate panic. The TV on the corner came to life and a small creature looked at the man with cold dead red eyes. Its pale skin was smooth and even except two small red markings on its face. It wore an old fashioned suit that hung loosely on its small frame.

Lars stared at it in disbelief he had seen the creature before. A cold mechanical laughter filled the room as the creature opened up his mouth. “Lars Lopez for five years you have lived a double life as a cop and a criminal. You disturb the very foundations that you swear to protect. You have tried to hold two very souls inside your body but I will show you what happens when you try to rip your self in half Lars. I want to play a game, the devices you are connected too will activate in five minutes and release the weights. But there is a chance at redemption Lars inside this room there is a key that help you survive but you must look deep inside of yourself for the answer. Live or die make your choice.” said the puppet in a voice that did not fit it as the cackling laughter filled the room again. The TV died and Lars sat in near darkness. His mind raced as he looked around in the darkness. He tried to get up but the taunt wires pulled on the skin ripping it slightly. Crimson blood slowly oozed from the cut and Lars screamed desperately for rescue. “How the hell am I suppose to find the key when I can’t get up!!” he yelled at the darkness but the only answer was his own screams He looked desperately at the chair thinking it was on the chair then a thought struck him. “Look deep inside you for the answer.” he remembered from the puppet and almost puked at the thought. “He couldn’t possibly…” he thought to himself looking at the open chest cavity.

“That sick f***!!” he screamed as he slowly lifted his hand and reached inside the opened cavity carefully. All he found in the cavity was soul crushing pain. Everything he touched sent wave after wave of pain into him as Lars screamed and screamed as he desperately looked for the key. Soon his hand was covered in blood as he gently pushed what he thought was his stomach out of the way. He felt it a hard object inside his chest. He quickly pulled the key and looked at the crimson old fashioned key as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world as he wiped away some of the blood. He quickly went for the taunt cord and shoved the key inside and twisted. The lock popped and the cord pulled away leaving his skin intact. “I’m going to make it.” he thought to himself as he heard another click. This one was louder than the locks and Lars looked up to see the weight dropping toward the ground. In that moment of surprise it occurred to him that there was a ripping noise and for some reason his body felt very wet. After his surprised went away the pain quickly took hold as he screamed and screamed as his blood flowed freely from the large gap that used to be the left side of his body. It took Lars twenty minuets to die from loss of blood and it took the police twenty nine hours to find him in a small mental hospital room. When they found him they found a small recorder next his head. they recording was short but impacted all them in way that made a cold sweat sweep over them. “I want to play a game.” was the message.