Von Dirlich

Time eased its way along the wrist watch, slow minute, by slow minute, but Von Dirlich was in no hurry, he could wait there motionless for weeks if he had too. Von never missed his target and tonight was to be no different. He gazed curiously at the plumes of smoke as they escaped the end of his cigar, dissipating into the night air as they rose. Von made himself another drink, a fine aged whiskey with a splash of water. Von may have been an uninvited guest, but in a few minutes he was sure he would be no bother to his unknowing host. The familiar jingle of house keys were the signal. The game was on. In the one corner sat Von Dirlich, relaxing in a fine reclining chair. Puffing his borrowed cigar, and sipping on his also borrowed whiskey. And entering the other corner was William Pence who just now became aware of the game he stumbled into. “Who the fuck are you!” William stumbled backward into the wall knocking a lamp and small end table onto the floor, dropping his bags along with them.
“Calm down William, have a seat and relax will ya? You’re always so uptight…” Von trailed off expecting William to do exactly as he said.
“I am not going to sit down, what are you doing in my house!?!” Williams stress was evident in his voice now.
“Ah William, so stubborn, when a man with a gun asks you to sit…” William took note of the slender black barrel pointed at his chest, and finished Von’s sentence for him by sitting down on the seat across from Von.
“Good, doesn’t that feel so much better? We can have a true discussion now!” Von’s voice was calm and confident, polar opposite of his counterpart William.
“w-what are you doing in my house?” William was choking on his fear now.
“William, you need to relax, how can we have a lively conversation when you are sputtering for words?” William was at a loss, he had no way of regaining his composure. Millions of thoughts raced up and down his brain’s nerve fibers, calculating the possibilities, without a single answer.
“Well William, it’s quite evident I am here to kill you.” Williams’s heart beat spiked, he could hear and feel it all through his body. It was surely loud enough for Von to hear.
“You should see your face right now William, pricelessly pathetic! Almost the same face you make when you climax with that two dollar whore you buy every Friday.” Was that what this is about William thought? It was his only clue to this man’s identity so far.
“No William, this isn’t about the whore” Von put as much emphasis on the word whore as he could, then chuckled to himself.
“Your face reads like a book, I can literally watch your mind piece together your thoughts”… “No, I can’t actually read your mind William, don’t be ridiculous! At this rate though I might as well do your half of the conversation for you!” William was in such a panic Vons predictive nature was actually baffling to him. Though it could easily be chalked up to the talents of a person who knew the ways of the human mind, an interrogator or a shrink, but William was so in shock he could not draw on logical conclusions such as those.
“ William William William, it would be nice to hear some words come out of that mouth, your beginning to come off as a tad bit rude.” William stumbled for words, any words, but they were logged somewhere in the bottom of his throat. With no intention of finding their way past his lips.
“A simple exchange of pleasantries would be a good start William” Von began to impatiently tap his fingers on the arm of the chair, but pleasantries seemed so pointless to William, he didn’t care for a name! He was told this man was going to murder him, why would he want his name! Without waiting for William to respond Von did the introduction himself
“My name is Von. But I can see that you don’t care much for pleasantries at this point, so I guess I will just get to the business end of it all. People want you dead William, and when someone needs someone else dead around here, I am the guy. I get the job done you see? Unlike you. See I am very different from you. In almost every way! How ironic to be killed by your polar opposite.” Vons smile never seemed to fade, it was more of a grin. It clung to his face at all times, even as he talked. William finally summoned the courage to talk.
“Why would someone want me dead? I don’t harm anyone!”
“Well William, that’s exactly it. You are not a bother to anyone! You hardly exist in the eyes of most people. Such a waste of life, that’s not just my opinion either. You are so scared to live that you actually suck the life out of living for everyone else!”
“Who!?!?! Who do I suck the life out of?” William sputtered.
“Does it matter? Look at what you said! You didn’t even bother denying the fact that you are a life sucker, you just accepted it. Says a lot don’t you think?” Von raised his glass to his lips tasting the Whiskey, then flattened the glass out at eye level as if to gather some sort of evidence about the whiskey visually that he did not deduce earlier.
“So-so, I have been down on my luck a bit lately.”
“Lately? I am almost offended that you thought I would buy that line of shit! Why don’t you try umm, your whole life maybe?” William racked his mind for a time when he wasn’t an utter failure, and he even failed at that.
“Look, not a single word in retort! You couldn’t come up with on example to prove me wrong?” William sifted through his entire life, his friendless childhood, his girlfriend less high school years. The brief year he attended college before dropping out, and then all the years after that. Leading up to his current situation. Nothing! Not a single moment in the 33 years of moments to prove Von wrong. Von forced a very mocking laugh,
“I am amazed anyone needed ME to have you killed. I am surprised you haven’t killed yourself!” That sparked a thought in Von’s head.
“That’s it! You should kill yourself!” Von hurried himself to his feet, almost spilling his whiskey. He slammed the glass on the table and presented the gun to William.
“Take it! Kill yourself with it. Come on! You can’t tell me you have never thought about offing your pathetic self! I have read your journal ya know?” William was fearful. His skepticism told him this had to be a trick. How could the killer be giving him the gun? Could he be that stupid?
“Fucking take it you pussy! I won’t stand here like this forever!” William clutched the gun in his sweaty palms. He could feel the warm steel collecting his sweat. The power in his hands made him tremble.
“You like how it feels? That raw power! My Father gave me that gun, see the engraving on it?” William turned the gun looking at the etched letters in the steel life is meant to end.
“My father gave it to me on his death bed, as a reminder ya know?” there was an awkward pause in the conversation before William found the words lodged in his throat.
“W-whats to keep me from killing you now?”
“Oh William don’t be ridiculous, clearly I know you better than you know yourself. Why would I hand you the gun unless I knew full well you wouldn’t use it against me? That would be sheer stupidity on my part, seems that I am five steps ahead of you in this mental game.” William raised the barrel, pointing the steel at Von. Von didn’t even flinch; he just held that same grin on his face. William oddly admired Von in this moment. Von held himself with such confident and poise, it seemed that Von always got his way in life. William envied Von.
“William get on with it already, you’re wasting my time! You’re not going to shoot me. Put the gun to your head and end this already!” there was sleight agitation in Von’s voice. William placed the gun in his palm, still holding it firmly with his right hand; he looked the gun over taking note of the power it held. William began to run through his life again, his tormented childhood. Even his parents disliked him! Verbally abusing him just like the kids at the school yard. High school was no better, none of it was better. The whole thing was fucked. His entire life was just a pathetically sad movie to him now. He was powerless to the emotions stirring within him. William lifted the gun, and placed the opening to his temple, the barrel formed perfectly to the soft skin on his temple. Almost eerily prefect. For once William had all the power. Von stared over at William, he almost felt bad for how pathetically easy this all was. He kept his grin steady he didn’t want to lose this moment. Von had worked for this moment his entire life. The emotion boiled over inside William it reached his peak burning inside him. All his energy was forced into one pull of the trigger. William fell limp in the chair his blood showered the wall and furniture. Von witnessed the gruesome seen, soaking in his victory for a bit. Von washed down the success with the rest of the whiskey and went on his way. Leaving in time for the uniforms to show up.
Collecting evidence, dusting for fingerprints, the whole 9 yards, The investigators and clean up crews did the job to the tee. The led investigator was a burly man named Mike Evenger. He exuded the prefect cop aura. He had the look of a cop. Mike surveyed the scene as if calculating it in its entirety before paying attention to the detail. After a few minutes of silent observation Mike made his way over the bags dropped by the askew end table. He rifled through the bags and pulled a few receipts from the bags dated with today’s date. The first receipt read “m9 berretta hand gun 235$”. The second one read “Hand gun engraving 35$”. Mike chuckled at the easy of his job. The case was open and closed; William H. Pence's story was just another troubled suicide.

(The end, for those who didn’t get it the whole story is a metaphor for person we want to be. We create this perfect image of ourselves (Von) and when we fall short of becoming that person it kills us inside.)