text: [Themes: modern]
  
  "Ben, please wake up," You hear as it brings you back to reality. Your eyes focus and you see you're in a windowless room with unpainted drywall. As you try to move you discover you're stuck to a chair with your arms tied down to the arm chair. To your right is Victoria who is also tied to a chair and in the center of the room is a man with slicked back blonde hair, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. On his hip is a holstered revolver.
  
  "Vic, are you alright?" You ask your sister.
  
  "I'm fine, just please get us out of here," Victoria begs.
  
  "What the fuck is this?" You call out to the man.
  
  "Doesn't anyone say hello anymore?" The man responds curtly responds. "Well, let's get introductions over with, I'm Westfield, I took your little sister since her boyfriend owed me money due to his gambling, the same casino where you just were believe or not, anyway he had no money so Victoria was the payment, afterwards I killed him because loose ends are a bitch, speaking of loose ends, I'm not quite sure what to do, you see Steve had told me your sister had no one who would miss her, but then you show up at Ellis looking for her," Westfield reveals.
  
  "Please don't kill us, I don't care about what you do, I just wanted to find Victoria." You plead.
  
  "If it makes you feel any better I'm not going to kill your sister, I mean I did go to some lengths to get her, but I'll tell you what, since I'm in a generous mood, I'll let you and her go if you can give me a good reason why I should."
  
  > offer to do a favor
  "I'll do a favor for you, anything, there has to be something you want done," You offer.
  
  A look of curiosity appears on Westfield's face. "I'll admit I'm intrigued, tell me just how far are you willing to go to save your life and your sister?"
  
  "Like I said I'll do anything."
  
  "Really would you be willing to take a life in order to save another?"
  
  "Ben don't this, there has to be something else you can do," Victoria interjects. You really don't like what Westfield is hinting at either, but your options are limited at this point.
  
  "Let's continue to this conversation in my office," Westfield says sounding a bit annoyed that Victoria butted in. He unties the ropes holding you're arms to the chair your in. "Follow me and please try not to do anything stupid."
  
  "What about Victoria?"
  
  "She'll be fine."
  
  "Ben don't leave me here!" Victoria protests.
  
  "I promise I'll come back and get you out of here," You try to calm your sister. You lean over and hug her. "Don't trust him," Victoria whispers in your ear. Westfield walks out of the door leading out of the room and you follow suit. The next room is larger and also has unpainted drywall. There are barrels to the left and right of you. On the opposite wall is a shutter and another door to the left of it. You and Westfield continue into the next area, where there are large shelves with stacks of more barrels. Near the center of the room are the two guards who are playing cards. On the right there is a huge open shutter leading outside.
  
  As the two of you walk towards the shutter the guards fail to notice anything. "Fucking idiots," Westfield says under his breath. Outside you see a number of different structures: warehouses, an office building, smoke stacks and buildings with weird shaped pipes surrounding them. Along the perimeter there is a razor wire fence.
  
  "Where the hell are we?" You ask very confused.
  
  "This is Versweyveld chemical plant, my base of operations," Westfield states proudly. "My office is in the administration building," You continue to follow Westfield to administration which is a two story building made of brown brick. Once inside you are lead down a long corridor, making a left at an intersection which takes you to a shorter corridor and finally stopping at an office on the left hand side.
  
  "Step inside," Westfield orders while opening the door. You head in and see an office somewhat similar to the one you saw in Ellis. Westfield sits down on a chair in front of a desk. He opens one of the desk draws and takes out a vanilla folder, which he hands to you. Looking through its contents you see a photo of a man who looks like he is in his thirties.
  
  "His name is Ryan Walker, he lives on eight lost river lane, kill him and I'll let you and your sister leave here alive."
  
  > say "Why do you want him dead?"
  "Why do you want him dead?" You ask Westfield.
  
  "Ryan is a journalist and he's obsessed with trying to take me down, not for any moral reasons mind you, he just wants his name out of there," Westfield answers. "When you think about it he's no better than me, in fact he's worse for pretending to actually care about the people of this town, anyway for years he was getting nowhere and I just ignored him, but lately he's been finding out things he shouldn't know about it and if left uncheck he could wind up with evidence that will bring my whole operation down."
  
  > say "Why don't you kill him yourself?"
  "Why don't you kill him yourself?" You ask.
  
  "Well there's two reasons actually," Westfield responds. "The first is that Ryan knows who my men are, if I send one of them he'll see them coming a mile away and will vanish before they can get near him, so I need an outside to deal with him, the second reason is that I find this all rather amusing, you're in a situation where you either must kill someone who has done nothing to you or get killed and have your sister be forced into prostitution, I'm curious to see what you'll do."
  
  > say "Let's get started then"
  "Let's get started then," You agree reluctantly.
  
  "Excellent, you'll be happy to know we brought your crappy car over here, I was going originally to sell it for scrap and I suppose I should give you back the other possessions you had on you," Westfield states has he opens another desk draw, takes out your car keys, wallet and cell phone and places them on the desk. "Personally I found it rather odd that you took your driver's license with you, carrying ID while sneaking into a place isn't a particularly smart idea but anyway when you leave the guard at the security booth will give you a gun, after you kill Ryan you'll have to take a picture of his body with your phone as proof, come back here and after I confirm that Ryan is dead you and Victoria are free to go."
  
  "How do I know you'll keep your word?"
  
  "You don't, you just have to believe me, but you do know I will kill you if you fail and that should be enough reason to do this." Westfield threatens. "One last thing, it's currently slightly passed midnight you only have until six in the morning to get the job otherwise I will guarantee you'll never see your sister again."
  
  You take your possessions off Westfield's desk and leave his office. Back outside you see the parking lot beyond the administration building and find your car underneath a light pole and amongst several black sedans. You get inside and begin to drive to the exit, all the while you wonder if you really can go through with this and if Westfield will keep his promise if do. Stopping at the security booth in front of the exit, the guard inside hands you a gun.
  
  "Bring it back and don't do anything stupid," The guard warns. After placing the gun in the passenger seat you leave the chemical plant and begin the drive to eight lost river lane. You quickly find that that the plant is on the outskirts of town and it takes a good twenty to minutes to arrive. During the drive fear and panic creep into your mind, causing your hands to shake and steering the wheel become a challenge. You try to calm yourself by remembering you have to do this for Victoria. You are able to steady your hands to an extent but they still tremble slightly. When you arrive you pick up the gun, hide it under your waistband and make your way to the front door. After ringing the doorbell you begin to wait, you're not surprised that it would take someone a while to answer the door in the middle of the night but nonetheless your anxiety takes hold for a moment. At last the door opens and a man who matches the photo in the folder answers it, this is definitely Ryan.
  
  "Yeah?" Ryan greets.
  
  > shoot Ryan
  If there is any chance to save Victoria and yourself this man has to die. It's not fair but if it's one thing you've learned today it's that life isn't fair. Swiftly you pull the gun out of your waistband, Ryan notices this and tries to take out his own gun hidden in a holster under his bathrobe, but you get the jump on him and fire. The bullet hits him in the stomach and you turn away to avoid the horror of watching him die. Before you leave you remember Westfield wants you to take a photo of the body to prove Ryan's death. As you are about take out the phone you hear a strange gurgling noise.
  
  Turning your attention back to Ryan you discover he is still alive as blood come out of his bullet wound and his mouth. With the gun in one hand and the other covering your mouth in case you vomit, you approach Ryan. Your hands tremble but since Ryan isn't in any position to move, accuracy really won't be an issue. Just like before you fire a round and it hits Ryan in the stomach. He continues to gurgle for a few more seconds until he stops completely.
  
  Now that you're sure he's dead you take your phone and snap a photo of the body, since the police are Westfield's pocket, having this piece of evidence on you really won't matter to them. You run out of the house as fast as you can and get back into your car. The ride back to Versweyveld Chemicals is less tense although only just. The only way you're able to maintain your grip is to the thought of Victoria being freed soon. Entering the main gate of the chemical plant, several armed men approach your car. One comes up the driver's seat and you roll down the window.
  
  "The gun," He demands. You comply and hand over the gun to him. "Follow me," He further demands and you once again comply. You get out of your car and the man leads to the warehouse that you and Victoria were held in earlier. The man takes you to the room in the back where Westfield and your sister who is now untied from the chair are waiting. Victoria seems to perk up upon seeing you, almost making a smile.
  
  "It's done," You confirm to Westfield.
  
  "Are we happy?" Westfield asks the man who brought you in.
  
  "Yeah, Miller responded to the scene, Walker is dead." The man informs.
  
  "Wait if you had the police tell you Ryan's dead then what the hell was the point of me taking the photo?"
  
  "That was just in case an honest cop got there before one of mine did," Westfield explains.
  
  "He did what you wanted, now let us go," Victoria demanded.
  
  "A deal's a deal, go to your brother," Westfield allows.
  
  Victoria runs up to you and hugs you tightly. "Let's get out of here," she pleads.
  
  "Before you leave can I have a word with you Ben?" Westfield requests.
  
  You are about to walk up to Westfield when Victoria grabs your arm, "I'll be fine," You reassure her.
  
  "I prefer to have this conversation in private," Westfield directs towards your sister. Reluctantly Victoria leaves the room.
  
  "What's this about?" You ask with dread.
  
  "While you were out dealing with Ryan your sister told me quite a bit about you, how you hide from a world that doesn't understand you, no friends, no girlfriend, it's kind of sad."
  
  "What are you getting at?"
  
  "After the events of tonight I see you have potential that is going to waste to be blunt I want you to work for me, no longer will people shun you instead they will tremble at the mere sight of you, the world has been pushing you around for years, I say it's time you pushed back."
  
  > accept Westfield's offer
  Westfield is right, the world rejects you simply because you have difficultly fitting in. Society doesn't give a shit about you so it's only right to the return the favor.
  
  "I'm in," You tell Westfield.
  
  "Excellent, now you must be exhausted why don't come by here tomorrow around noon and we can get started," Westfield says approvingly. You head out of the room and out of the warehouse, still a bit uneasy about being in this place. Victoria is waiting in the car still parked in front of the main gate. She looks at you with worry as you get in.
  
  "What did Westfield want?" Victoria asks.
  
  "I'll tell you later," You avoid answering.
  
  Driving home your mind races from thought to thought. The fact that you've killed someone who was almost certainly innocent of any wrong doing and the fact it doesn't seem to bother you as much as it should. Your life is forever changed, there is no going back to the days of being isolated and withdrawn. You wonder how Victoria is going to handle things once you break the news you are working for Westfield now.
  
  > One year later
  You check your watch and it tells you it's almost noon, Westfield is going to be here soon. Sitting in your favorite leather chair the events of the past year occupies your mind. Your sister was upset to say the least when you broke the news to her that you were working for Westfield. She quickly moved out and stayed with Moira for a few months. When Victoria left for college she never came back to Van Hove. You haven't had any contact with her since. Part of you is a bit resentful of the fact that after all you went through to rescue her she repays by abandoning you. Sill there have been some positive changes that more than make up for this. The biggest change is the way people treat you, no longer are you a social pariah. Instead people fear you, they go out of their way to gain your approval. This may not be the most moral way to get respect but you're bothered by that.
  
  Checking computers for spyware or any monitoring program for Westfield and the rest of his gang is the main job you actually do. Ryan wasn't the only one who wanted to bring down Westfield and thanks to you that task is now much more difficult. In addition to people being scared shitless of you, working for a criminal gang has made you quite a bit of money, much more than your previous job. After several months you sold your house and your car and moved to a much more affluent area of Van Hove. You also now have a car that doesn't have any rust on it. Your thoughts are interrupted by the ringing of your door bell. Getting out of your leather you head to the hallway and to the front door. Opening the door you see Westfield along with two of his henchmen.
  
  "Hello Ben," Westfield greets.
  
  "Westfield please come on in," You return the greeting.
  
  Westfield and his men enter your home as you lead them to the living room. They take a seat on the leather sofa across your chair. "Ben, do you remember the first task you did for me?" Westfield asks.
  
  "I killed Ryan Walker," You correctly answer.
  
  "I know that you hated doing that and that's why I tried to avoid having you do anything similar since then, but I'm afraid your hour as come once again," One of Westfield's men takes out a vanilla folder out from his coat and hands it to him.
  
  "There's this cop named Carla Northcutt," Westfield tells you as he opens the vanilla envelope and hands it to you. "For years she has been trying to bring me down, at first I tried to get her on my payroll but she refused, after Ryan's death she doubled her efforts and I'm afraid I can't just brush her aside anymore, she knows you but thinks you're just some computer geek, she has no idea what you're capable of and that will be her downfall, I just need to know are you in?"
  
  "Always," You confirm.