"It all started after I finished a mission and decided to head into town..." Max begins to speak about his past with Mr. Dark to Alex.
"I went to a restaurant and ordered dumplings then only to see Mr Dark came into the restaurant and was about to destroy the restaurant."
"I stood up to him and took down all his men, but I forgot about him..."
"When I remembered about him, it was too late... He had come behind me and injected me with sleep medicine. Soon I passed out..."
"When I woke up, I found myself chain up like a wild animal...".
"I shout at him and ask where I am, only to find out I was in Australia...".
"I was frustrated, angry and hungry and all I wanted was to go home, back to my mother..."
"Until one day he came and asked me to kill five men..."
" 'Kill! Are you crazy?!' I shouted at him as fear came over me..."
"He walks closer to me, looks me in the eye and asks, 'Do you love your mother?'..."
"I thought he was just trying to get into my brain but somehow I heard something softly said in the back of my mind saying answer him because you can never know the evil this man can bring, so I answered."
"Yes, I do... He smiles then asks 'can I kill her since you don't want to do what I ask you to do?' Hearing he asked such a question I panicked and shouted 'DON'T YOU DEAR TOUCH HER!' All he did was took out a phone and said 'Go in boys' then after he said that he shows me a screen which shows two men about to kill my mother..."
"The fear of losing the only person I care for the most, I agree with Mr Dark's offer..."
" 'I WILL DO IT!' after shouting that, he looks at me and asks if I could repeat with a smirk on his evil ass face..."
" 'Yes, I will do it,' I said as I held my head down to the floor."
"Soon after, I went to kill the first guy, but I didn't have the heart to, so I let him escape. I thought I had done the right thing until after one week Mr Dark brought the same man I let escape into the room I was in."
" I pretended to be sleeping, but fear was already showing on my face. 'Wake your ass up!' Mr Dark shouts as he holds a gun to my head."
"Not knowing what to do, I held my head up and looked at Dark. POW, I closed my eyes as I heard the gun get off safely and was fired."
"I thought it was me, but it turns out that Mr. Dark shot the person in their heads. The fear, the pain, the anger began to boil in me but when he held the gun to my head again and shouted, 'You better kill the others or your mother is dead meat!' I trembled in fear and simply nodded to him."
"The next time I went to kill, I fought really hard but when I was supposed to kill him I hesitate then after hesitating I remember my mom panicking voice after I had nearly stabbed my dad to death, then that reminds me that I am still yet to repay my mother for causing her pain so I just kill him."
"Soon after, killing felt like hatred. I felt like I was doing it because I hate everyone I had to kill just to get back home to my mother, but then soon I realized that killing was already in me so that's why I try to focus on the good I can do..."
"Even after killing the five people he still didn't want me to leave until one day a familiar face entered the room when Dark wasn't around and helped me to escape and brought me back to China then back home to Canada where I started to rewrite my history...".
Alex never had words to describe how deeply sorry he was to hear that Max had to bear through that hell, then had to rewrite history as if he never had to encounter such a harsh life.
"I understand why you didn't want to tell me..." Alex spoke as he put his arm behind his head to rest on as a pillow and look at the ceiling.
"That surely was a hell of a life you were living. I'm glad you were able to fight through and keep reminding yourself what was your goal or the person you want to see after you have made it out."
"I don't know if I could have kept fighting, but I sure as hell I would have to keep moving even when I'm on my last breath."
"After all, we are humans and the pain of feeling pain and fighting can make us tired and weak, but reminding ourselves what's our main goal or who's the person we are fighting for to see again is what gives us the push we need to endure the pain and keep fighting...".
After saying that, Alex got up off the floor and untied Max.
Max's smile as he stood up and was going to walk away but stopped when Alex asked, "What's your plan?".
Max turns to Alex, then starts to explain his plan to him.
***
'Knock, knock',
A knock was heard at the door of Mrs Bryan's, waking Juliet and Mrs Bryan.
Juliet started to panic as she thought Mr Francis had found her.
"I will leave through the back..." Juliet spoke as she was slowly walking to the back.
"Wait, wait Juliet... I know you are scared, but you can't run from this forever. You got to, we got to fight for our own happiness.", Mrs Bryan spoke as she held onto Juliet's hand. "So what do you say?".
Juliet nodded at Mrs Bryan, signaling she will stay and won't run anymore.
Mrs Bryan slowly walks to the door and as she sees who it was she and Juliet went in shock...