•You... you're still here. I thought I was done with you.
Malek: You think it's over, Latef? No, we're just getting started. This... this is only the second round. There's more to come.
•I feel... I feel like I'm losing my grip on everything. My head is spinning, and yet... I can't let go. I don't even know what I'm doing anymore.
Malek: Isn't that the beauty of it? You never know, but you're still here. Still playing. You wanted answers, didn't you? Now you're getting them, piece by piece.
•I remember... the first thing I said to you. The first time I spoke to you, it was about black and white. About how they're opposites, but they still depend on each other to exist. I said that, right?
Malek: You did. Black and white. The duality of everything. Life and death. Light and dark. The choice you're facing now? It's a mirror of that. Life asks you to choose, but both choices are intertwined.
•You're right. They are opposites, but without one, the other doesn't make sense. Like... like this. The life I live, the death that looms over me—both are part of me now. They fuel each other.
Malek: You get it, don't you? The tension, the pull. You can't escape it. The choices... they will always lead back to the same question. The question you can never answer: who are you, really?
• I thought I knew. But every time I think I have a grip on it... you come and twist everything. I'm not sure what's real anymore. Is this a game to you? Or are you trying to destroy me?
Malek: : Pull the trigger,
•I... I don't know anymore. I don't know who I am anymore. I'm not sure what I'm choosing... but... I'll do it."
Malek: Good. Now, do it.
•This... this is the only way, right? There's no going back.
Malek:There is no going back. You've already crossed the line.
Bang.
When I opened my eyes after the second round, I wasn't sure if I was alive or not. I felt like I was floating in an endless void, as if the moment itself was suspended between past and present. The air around me was heavy, as if the room was no longer just an idea in my head, but a real weight pressing on my chest.
My breathing was shaky, each breath a small battle against something hidden inside me. I tried to move my hand, but my grip remained tight on the gun as if it were a part of me. I felt the cold spread from the metal to my skin, then to my veins, as if the gun itself was mocking me, reminding me that I was still here.
Malek: Again?
•No…
Malek: don't pretend that you're done. You know as well as I do that this was just the beginning. You felt it, didn't you? That little moment between pressure and emptiness? It draws you in, it invites you. Tell me, don't you want to feel it again?
I could hear him clearly, but his echo was drowned out by my racing heart. I didn't answer. I didn't need to answer. I looked at my hand, at the gun, then at the cylinder, which was spinning in my mind even as it stood still. Five empty spaces… and one filled with a bullet. I knew the possibilities, but those numbers had become something abstract, meaningless in the face of one fact: I was still here.
I felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. Relief that the bullet hadn't found its way to me, and disappointment that I had wanted it to. This wasn't just a test of courage. No, it was something deeper, an attempt to understand something that couldn't be understood.
Malek: Don't you see? Even death rejects you, Latef. You're not worthy of it. You're stuck here, with me, with your unanswered questions.
•That's… not true.
I tried to respond, but I couldn't believe my own words. My chest felt tight, as if the room itself was closing in around me. There was a weight pressing on my shoulder, but it wasn't something tangible. It was a feeling, a memory, or maybe a shadow of who I once was.
I slowly put the gun down beside me, as if I was afraid it would explode in my hand. I looked into the void, into the darkness surrounding me, and silently wondered, Is this the end? Or am I living in a never-ending cycle?
But I knew the answer. There was no end. I was the end… the point where all tragedies begin.
Malek: Have you thought about it well?
•What?
Malek: You're here now, again. That moment you were trying to escape… Do you know what that means? One chance in six, don't you see? One chance to die, five to survive. Not bad, right?
•Five… five chances?
Malek: Yes. Five chances to survive, only one to die. Maybe this is a good chance… Or maybe it's cheating. It all depends on luck.
and i pulled the triger
bang