Chapter 4

“The next time you tell me there’s a big problem…I’m putting a bullet through my skull.” Sim said to himself.

He was dressed in a black hoodie and dark black pants with a small black string bag around his shoulders and hanging low on his back. His eyes were covered by strongly tinted sunglasses, despite the skys being covered by gray clouds. He was standing across the street from a small bakery with a sign that read “closing soon. All pastries are 80% off.”

“Oh come on. They make the best pastries in the city.” Polymon replied.

“We’re not going…”

Sim started to turn, but his body quickly did a full spin around, his eyes starting green but changing to red after he spun. He began to walk towards the bakery, stepping through the doors and looking upon all of the empty shelves and containers. There were two people standing behind the counter, one an old lady and the other a college age woman. Both had long and curly hair, hazel colored eyes, and similar face shapes. The older woman wore an apron covered in stains while the young woman was mostly clean, a few pieces of flour here and there.

“Good morning there.”

Polymon had a wide smile on as he stared through the strongly tinted sunglasses.

“Good morning…I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.” The young woman replied with a smile.

“I’m not much of a morning person, but I heard you were closing and thought I would stop by.” Polymon said with a smile.

“Oh…I guess it’s good people are coming here when stuff is almost free.” The young woman said with her smile fading.

“Don’t worry…I have more to offer.” Polymon said.

Inside his head, Sim perked up.

“Polymon, what are you doing?”

Polymon reached over and grabbed the drawstring bag, placing it on the counter. He then opened it to reveal that it was full of cash. The two women’s eyes went wide as their jaws dropped.

“I’ll take whatever you have left, and all of this money is yours. That way you can keep the business afloat.” Polymon kept smiling.

“Where the **** did you get all of that money?” Sim shouted inside his head, making Polymon’s eyes twitch and squint slightly.

“I…I can’t…”

The young woman was speechless while her mother quickly gathered the remaining pastries, throwing them into three large paper bags. Before Polymon could take them though, the mother ran around the counter and hugged him tightly, kissing his cheek over and over.

“I could never think of a way to repay such kindness. But the best I can offer his once we reopen, you will have free pastries for life!” She shouted as she kept hugging.

“That is very kind. Thank you.” Polymon replied.

He grabbed the three paper bags and left. Once they went through the doors, Sim took back over and sighed.

“I fucking hate you.” He said to himself.

“Ouch. Maybe I’ll have to go back in and say I was just joking.” Polymon teased inside his head.

Sim looked over his shoulder to watch the two women crying and hugging. They were happier than Sim had ever seen before. He softly smiled and walked back to his apartment carrying the paper bags.

“I still want you to tell me where you got the money from.” Sim replied.

“While you were asleep I took over your body and took some cash from an ATM.”

Sim looked confused.

“I don’t have a bank account.” He replied.

“Yeah…and?” Polymon said back with a joking tone.

“Did you break into an ATM?” Sim asked.

“No…”

The two sat in silence for a few seconds.

“There was somebody who had already put their card in, put their pin in, and hadn't done an amount yet. So I knocked them out and stole some cash.”

“Polymon!” Sim shouted quite loudly, his voice full of anger.

“Oh please. I only took a hundred thousand.” Polymon replied.

Sim aggressively rubbed his fingers against his eyes.

“How much money did he have in his account?” Sim asked, hoping to justify the act.

“Numbers are hard. How many zeros is in a hundred thousand?” Polymon asked.

Sim sighed, rubbing harsher, clearly angry and annoyed.

“One, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero.” Sim replied.

Polymon thought about it for a second.

“One, zero, zero, zero, two, zero.” Polymon said.

Sim’s hands clenched into his fists as he shook from silent rage.

“You left a man with only twenty dollars in his bank account?” Sim asked.

“Well…”

“You killed him didn’t you?” Sim asked.

“I told you I knocked him out…I just didn’t say it was a permanent knockout.” Polymon replied.

Sim suddenly went over to the wall of his kitchen, headbutting it as hard as possible and falling backwards unconscious, his head whipping back and hitting the ground hard.

Meanwhile in another part of the city, police were arriving to check on a dead body laying in the middle of the sidewalk next to an atm. One officer climbed out of a police car, wearing the dark blue and black uniform with a matching cap, golden star badge on his left pec, and multiple small ribbons. His name tag read “I. Lawton” and sat on his right pec.

“Detective Lawton…” One officer started.

“Not a detective anymore…just Officer Lawton.” Lawton replied.

He immediately began to hear a soft ringing in his ears, reaching up to rub them and shake his head suddenly.

Lawton went over to the body covered in white tarp, looking around the grounds and walls for evidence or clues.

“Oh right…sorry. Good to see you though.” The officer responded.

He was a large and old man, quite bloated in the gut with the uniform shirt straining to stay buttoned. He had a large and thick gray mustache that covered his lips and went down to his chin. His name tag was old and faded, but was still readable. “E. Osman” sat next to a few ribbons, nowhere near as many as Lawton.

“So, any leads?” Lawton asked, but noticed a young man step under the caution tape wearing a large brown trench coat while carrying a thick folder in one hand and a large suitcase in another.

Lawton’s eye roll had enough power to make a nuclear power plant run for years on end.

“What are you doing over here Officer? You should be standing on the other side of the tape and making sure no civilians contaminate the crime scene.” The investigator had a very arrogant and cocky smile.

His hair was bright blond and combed back with enough product in it to fill a bathtub.

“I was the first officer here after Lieutenant Osman. He was giving me the breakdown of what we know so far.” Lawton replied.

The detective sighed and snapped his fingers, motioning for Osman to walk away.

Osman walked down the sidewalk, looking back at Lawton with a confused look.

“Lawton, have you taken your meds today?” The detective stepped closer and whispered.

Lawton looked away, not wanting to engage in the conversation.

“Lawton, you have to tell me.” The detective said.

“I don’t have to tell you anything.” Lawton snapped back.

The detective stepped back afraid.

Lawton rubbed his eyes and sighed.

“Go back to the office. We’ll take care of it here.” The detective said in a caring tone.

Lawton clenched his fists, quickly throwing and punching the detective right in the face.

Lawton stood over him, but then felt his uniform being pulled.

In the time it took for him to blink, Lawton was suddenly being pulled up off the ground by Lieutenant Osman. The detective was over by the body and Lawton was quite a distance away.

“Are you okay Lawton? You took quite a fall.”

Lawton looked around and rubbed his uniform off, throwing dust all around.

“Did I slip?” Lawton asked.

“Well you threw a punch into the air before falling. I imagined you lost your balance or something. You gave the punch your all.” Osman replied.

Lawton sighed and went to his patrol car. He climbed into the driver’s seat before reaching over into a large paper bag sitting on the floor of the passenger side. He pulled out one pill bottle that matched another twelve in the bag. He opened it and quickly took two pills, swallowing them dry.

The ringing in his ears came back, but quickly disappeared.

“We have a ten-thirty one at the fire station on fortieth street. All units available please respond.”

Lawton sighed and grabbed his radio.

“Officer Lawton on my way.”

Lawton quickly began to race through the streets, turning his siren on as he drove to the fire station.

Sim slowly began to open his eyes. His forehead was bleeding with seemingly no attempt to patch it up or fix it.

He looked down at the busy street, his body leaning over the edge of a building. He jumped back and hit the roof hard.

“Polymon what the ****?” He shouted loudly.

Sim looked down to see he was dressed in his all black outfit.

“Crime in progress. We gotta go!” Polymon said loudly.

“How do you know that?” Sim asked, looking down at his hand clenching a fist around his mask.

“We should get going before the police show up.” Polymon said.

“Ugh. Fine.” Sim got to his feet and pulled his mask up and over his face.

“Let’s go kill some bitches.” Polymon said.

“Nope.” Sim suddenly turned to walk away.

“Oh come on.”

Polymon took over and made him start to run towards the edge, but Sim stopped himself and went to walk back. Polymon took over again and ran, but Sim made himself trip.

“You suck sometimes.”

“Come up with a better one liner if you’re insistent on having one.” Sim replied.

“Why do you hate doing what heroes do?” Polymon asked.

“I don’t…you know the reason.” Sim replied as he sat up on the roof.

“Cause you’re a…” Polymon shouted, but Sim lifted his hand up which made him stop.

“You don’t have much time.” Sim said.

“Oh you’re such a fucking buzzkill. Just let me be me.” Polymon replied.

“You expect me to let a demon be a demon? That sounds like it would end very poorly.” Sim replied.

“I mean…” Polymon said.

Sim rolled his eyes and got back up to his feet, walking away from the edge.

“Last shot. You have to come up with something good.” Sim said.

“How much time do I have?” Polymon asked.