Fun fact about me: I'm really bad about having multiple copies of this. I had to harass both Sister and Ryan (neither of who had it) then finally dug through my email for about ten minutes. Here is the opening of my entire comic series. This one is about two months older than Deal. Inspired by something in the Writer's Block. Something I forgot about each issue, one story will have Death as a character, the other as a theme. I may end up switching this up but 'tis how it is for now.
“I can one-up you,” Derek says, pointing the cigarette in his hand in my face. Natalie is sitting next to him, her dark hair in a bridal bun wearing a glamorous trench coat, the timeless palette of red lips and smoky eyes, one hand between Derek’s legs, but she is looking at me. Next to me is a blonde, and I can’t remember her name but I can remember what she looks like under the little black cocktail dress.
“Please, can we change the subject?” Natalie says, tugging Derek closer to her. Now he’s the one looking at me. “I’m bored with these rumors.” Blondie nods in agreement, and I can’t help but notice how objectively attractive she is.
“Get this,” Derek ignores his date, putting out the cigarette in the ash tray. “There is a website, I think from Thailand, and for a million dollars, you can kill a man.”
"No,” Blondie gasps, and leans towards me. “He’s not serious, is he?”
“Oh, I’m serious,” Derek looks at me. “One million. How about that?”
“It’s a lot of money,” I reply. “Most people don’t have that.”
“Most people don’t want to kill a man, though.” Blondie and Natalie are silent. Derek just keeps looking at me. “Stare into another man’s eyes. You must look like God to him. In fact, you are God to him. You have the power to give him a greater appreciation of life by letting him go, or you could take that life away for no reason other than the pure…”
“Derek,” Natalie whimpers.
“No reason other than the pure pleasure of it. Imagine what it must be like. I mean, you have nothing against him. You’ve never met him, never seen him. You have absolutely no motivation. And afterwards, you just go home, go to work, go the rest of your life knowing that to one person, one dead person, you are God.” Derek takes a sip of the red wine, as if pausing for dramatic effect. “Be God for a million dollars. Doesn’t seem like such a high price.”
“It’s an innocent person’s life, you’re talking about,” Blondie says harshly, and I can tell she wants to leave. “That’s unforgivable.”
“Who’s to say they’re innocent? What if it’s a child molester, a bank robber, a murderer? I mean, you support the death penalty, don’t you?”
“For a million dollars, you could feed millions of starving children, help find a cure for AIDS, fight global epidemics…” Natalie starts, and I can tell it’s just the charity bullshit she reads about in the gossip magazines.
“So that’s what you’d do with a million dollars? Fight AIDS?” Derek says cruelly, before turning on Blondie. “What about you? Start up a charity to give breast implants to A- cups in need?” The girls are quiet, and Derek looks at me. “What about you? What would you do with a million dollars?”
“I’d kill a man.”
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