Pretending To Be God

Hearing this answer, his jaw clenched at an instant, but his lawyer instincts kicked in before he uttered the next word. It was important not to make a mistake speaking in a moment like this; even when facing death, it was essential to appear unflinching. "I don't know what you're suggesting here…" he uttered clearly.

"Oh, you don't?" Rusty raised his switchblade; George's eyes moved from the man's eye towards the weapon. He didn't do it intentionally, but it was as if the muscles around his eyes acted on their own. His eyes focused on it, and for a moment, his slightly deteriorating vision suddenly sharpened; he could see the lines on the switchblade, detail after detail.

As if everything was playing in slow motion, the knife slowly pointed at him, and from the small point, he could see his own reflection, only this time it wasn't as clear as a mirror but seen through a crimson lens.

"Hey! You even listenin' to me?!" Rusty shouted.

"Huh?" His attention was quickly taken away from the knife as he looked at the man holding it.

"Are you deaf?" Rusty questioned, his teeth gritting, before looking beside George.

Suddenly, a crimson light shone on the three of them, causing them to step further to the side of the street.

Seeing them move to the side, George did the same before looking to the back.

Whoosh!

"Oh, it's just a car…" he thought as the vehicle passed by them. The headlight, however, was white, but suddenly, another flash of red light bathed the street. As he looked more closely, he could see the white light from the car passing through a small piece of broken red glass bottle standing upright in the road's crack, causing the color change.

Turning back to Rusty, he saw him holding the knife close while scanning the surroundings.

Crime was almost non-existent in the country since Artificial Intelligence had become so advanced that it could predict if someone would commit a crime or harm another. It would immediately run an algorithm to find the best way to prevent the crime.

'A new one-hundred percent success rate… So why are there no police here yet?' George began to wonder if the AI was functioning correctly. The last time he attempted to delete the Oracle, the algorithm had figured out his intentions. But currently, there were no police sirens.

"Rusty, put down the knife…" he said, extending his hands. "Please."

"You know what, old man, I would, if only you would-" Before he could continue, the light above them started blinking; raising his eyebrow, Rusty looked up, seeing the streetlight blinking, "Strange…" He whispered.

"Boss, I don't recall streetlights malfunctioning…" Vinnie asked as he looked up, his hands raised, covering his eyes from the blinking lights.

"Me neither…" He replied before his eyes returned to George, staring at the blinking street light shadow on the floor.

The shadow appeared normal to them, but to George, it resembled the Grim Reaper. The shadow slowly moved across the illuminated pavement to the next shadow of another streetlight before engulfing the ordinary shadow and transforming into it. The streetlight stopped blinking and worked as usual, but another streetlight was now blinking.

"What the heck is going on here…" Rusty's attention shifted to the newly blinking streetlight.

With their current technology, this was the last thing that should happen to the light.

Shaking his head, Rusty redirected his focus to George, raising the knife slightly.

George's eyes dilated as he stared at the knife, feeling as if there was only him and the knife; it grew larger until it overshadowed him to the point where he could see his own reflection, from the top of his head to the tips of his shoes he felt a pain that resembled a cut.

"Wake up!" Rusty shouted, covering his face, exasperated by George's daydream.

"Sorry…" George shook his head again, pulling himself out of his imagination. He didn't know what was causing him to drift away from the present moment, but it was becoming troublesome.

He took a deep breath before locking eyes with Rusty. "I will get the money, I promise, and I know that I've made many promises, but this time, I will get your money, and if I don't—"

"If you don't, then what can you offer me, huh?"

Closing his eyes, George gritted his teeth before exhaling and reopening his eyes. "My house. If I fail to get you your money, my house is yours."

Hearing this, Rusty nodded and rubbed his chin. "Hmm, you should have thought of this earlier; maybe we wouldn't even need to have this conversation."

Vinnie, however, leaned over to Rusty, whispering, "Boss, no one is buying property these days. You won't be able to sell his house. Why don't we just cut him up and sell what's left of him."

Although it was a whisper, it was loud enough for George to hear. "Wait, no, I know how you could sell it; we are in New York after all. If we sell it at a low price, people will fight to buy it!!" He shouted.

Shrugging, Rusty replied, "I don't know, it seems like you're just trying to get out of this situation. Why should I trust you?"

"I…" George tried thinking of a reason for the low Boss to trust him, but he knew that he had failed to pay back the money long enough that anything he said could be thrown out the window. 'Is it today?'

"Look, I will give you one last chance. You can either take that or you could take this option," he said while raising his blade.

"I would take anything but the blade…" He answered without hesitation. After all, there couldn't be anything worse than having your guts ripped out and sold. 'I'm not even sure if my organs could be sold with how bad their condition is…'

"Smart. I like how you're thinking…" He replied before closing the switchblade and putting it back in his pocket.

'Whew…' The sweat on George's back finally felt the cool air cooling it; with the knife gone, everything seemed more peaceful.

It would have continued that way if Rusty had left, but that wouldn't even happen in an alternate universe. "Now, it is time for you to pay. Empty everything you have, and pray that it is enough to pay off the debt."

George's face quickly changed again. "That's impossible; I have nothing worth that much on me."

"I don't like to wait, Georgy, don't make me wait…" He said, almost whispering, with his hand touching the pocket where his switchblade was.

"Yeah…" George quickly moved his hands, trying to empty every pocket he had taken things out of. But as he reached his left side pocket and pulled his hands out, the ring that had been given to him by Lyle fell out.

The ring fell onto the rough ground, bouncing and rolling toward Rusty. George tried bending down to reach for it, but his back was so stiff that if he bent any lower, he might have broken in half.

The sound the ring made was loud, metallic, and clanky. Before it could stop on its own, a brown muddy boot stomped on it, and the sound of the gold ring rolling ceased. However, George's face looked even more terrified than when he was faced with the knife.

Lifting his boot, Rusty squatted before picking up the ring, which was now covered with a bit of dust from the sole of his boot. "What do we have here…" He dusted it off with his finger, revealing a shiny gold that was incredibly reflective.

But through the reflection, he could see a dark shadow behind him, causing him to turn around, but there was only Frankie behind him with his dark jacket. "Jeez! You scared me!"

Raising his brow, "Sorry, Boss… I didn't mean to."

Rusty sighed before turning back to George, who had his eyes on the ring. "From how you are looking at this ring, I assume that it is precious to you?"

George couldn't answer; if Rusty were to think that the ring was worth something, he would definitely take it.

"Can you give it back?"

Hearing this, Martino raised the side of his lips. "So it is worth something."

George came to a halt, not saying anything.

Rusty chuckled before throwing the ring up and catching it. "I'll tell you what, I'm not a bad person. If this ring is genuine, I will give you what is left after I deduct what you owe me. Or else…"

'Or you'll slit my stomach and sell what's left of me…' He thought. 'There is no choice.'

"What do you say?" Rusty asked as he walked toward George.

Staring at the ring in another man's hand hurt. 'Am I really going to sell the ring, given by my father, given by my brother, trusted to me?'

Just looking at the ring reminded him of the times with his father. "Damn it…" He whispered to himself. 'I know Lyle would rather me live without the ring than die with it… Besides, if I die, they will get it anyway…'

He nodded, "Fine."

"Alright…" Rusty smiled, closing one eye to look at the ring more closely. "Come back right here tomorrow when the sun sets. If this ring is genuine, you'll be debt-free, and with how big this ruby is, you might get something back. But if it is not…"

"I understand… I will be back…" George replied before turning and walking away. 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢

But before he could even take ten steps away from the three men, he could hear Vinnie talking, "Boss, how can you be sure that this ring is real? What if he is trying to trick you and doesn't come here tomorrow?"

George started walking faster, hearing this, hoping that Rusty would ignore this long enough so he could walk away. The Amish were still a thriving society, so it made sense that he would go there as a last attempt to survive. If the ring was not real, at least he wouldn't get dismembered living in New York City.

But life wasn't so kind to him, and as he took the next step, Rusty's voice called him, "Georgy… Old man, would you come here?"

Turning back, George nodded with a fake smile, or what he used to call a lawyer's business smile. He slowly walked back, shaking his head. "Uhm, what is the problem here?"

"You see, I trust that you will return here tomorrow, but my men here don't think so. To me, this gold looks real, feels real, you know? But I wouldn't know if it is truly real if I don't know if the ruby is."

George chuckled slightly; a hint of his anxiousness seeped through it. "I can assure you, I got this ring even before I was born; it was my father's. This is real, that I can tell you."

"I'll put that to the test." Vinnie raised his voice with his hands raised while holding an item.

As George's eyes gazed upon the item, he could feel his stomach weakening. 'A diamond detector?'

"Whoa, Vinnie, I didn't know you had that," Rusty commented on seeing the diamond tester.

"Yeah, Benny had a similar problem, hence why I have this," he replied before handing it to the Boss. "I think it would be pretty useful for this situation."

"Yeah, I think it would be…" He nodded before turning to George, who looked pale white and was walking towards the road. "Hey old man, stay on the side of the road…" He then turned to his men and continued talking.

"I'm not dying today!" George screamed before running as fast as his old legs could, looking back at the three men glowing red, with a Grim Reaper-like shadow behind them, holding its scythe aloft.

Rusty quickly turned to see the old man run. "Hey, stop!"

"NO!" George screamed back, increasing his speed while still looking back.

"You're running toward a car, you fool!"

"Huh?" George turned back in front and suddenly saw an old SUV in front of him, trying to brake but sliding toward George.

Raising his hands, George tried moving out of the way, but he couldn't move fast enough to avoid the car completely. Even though the car had tried to swerve to miss George, its side still struck his arm.

Even though it wasn't a direct hit, that small impact was enough to send him flying eight feet into the air before landing by the side of the road.

"Shoot!" Rusty shouted as he saw the old man on the ground. He quickly turned to Vinnie. "Call 911."

"I'm already on it, sir!" Vinnie had his phone at his ear, waiting for someone to pick up from the other end of the line.

"Ah…" He grunted, and slowly, his vision was tinged red; his eyes had developed Erythropsia.

'It's all red…'

Suddenly, time sped up in his mind, taking him back to where it all began. "So that's what happened…" He whispered to himself after the memory had replayed itself.

'You will be great…' A whisper from the past told him his father was confident, and everyone in his life had believed he would be great too.

But who would have known that every source of luck would drain away from him? "I could have been more… no, I should have been more than this." He whispered to himself as he held back his tears.

Through his red-tinged vision, he saw his ruby ring rolling into a puddle. Through the lens, the ruby looked shinier.

With all the strength he could muster, he picked the ring out of the puddle and saw the Skeletor figure through it. But his eyelids grew heavy, and everything through his vision darkened.

Before, a light appeared once more.