STORIES OF BROKEN MIRRORS

All the characters you will see in this tale die in the end. It's a rule that few people take into account, but it will become reality one way or another.

This story begins with a hitman and drug dealer named Alejandro.

Alejandro was a simple person with unremarkable goals. His appearance was the most common you could imagine in a person; he had short black hair, brown eyes, and an average height. His job was, for him, sometimes boring and routine. However, that day he wasn't entirely sure about what he had to do.

The task was simple: Kill a guy named José David Hernández Alvarado, who lived in Cot of Oreamuno, Cartago, specifically on Central Avenue, near the local Ebais, in a house of the same sad blue color as the Ebais. The problem was the reason he had to kill him; his boss had met José David on the street and accidentally bumped into him, leaving a grudge in his boss.

Alejandro, while on the bus heading to the man's home, remembered exactly what his small-headed, bulging-eyed superior had said when he questioned the morality of the job.

"Look, dude, in this world there are two types of people: Those who keep quiet and those who bite. I'm a real dude. I don't give a damn how that bastard feels, and I don't give a damn how it will end. In my world, if someone gets thick, I smoke him smoothly and that's it... That's what happens for living so long on this earth, you see? I know how things are, so I know how not to screw up with people who promise goods."

And as he kept thinking, Alejandro had already arrived at the house. He observed it and looked behind him, a somewhat familiar pink Spark passed quickly on the street, but he didn't give it much importance. He knocked on the white gate several times and shouted.

"Upe, good afternoon!" he said while scratching his head.

His call was interrupted by the appearance of a homeless man to his left. The man, who seemed to be in his sixties, wore the strangest hat Alejandro had ever seen, so strange that even I can't describe it. The man, without preamble, approached him and asked.

"Hey, pura vida! Do you have some money you can give me, please? I haven't eaten in days, and I don't think I can last much longer...."

"Emm... No, forgive me..." Alejandro replied.

"Ah, mamapicha..." the strange-hat man responded and continued on his way.

Alejandro looked confused at the old man as he walked away down the street in front of the house; for a moment, he thought he saw a strange shadow falling near the homeless man, but he didn't give it much importance. While doing this, the door of the house was opened... Or at least half-opened; but it was clear who was inside, as well as the sound of what he was watching on television: one of the most anticipated matches in Costa Rica at that time.

"Yes?" José David asked monotonously, while looking at Alejandro with one of his eyes through the door.

"Eh... Eh! Good afternoon, sir! My name is Pablo, I'm from JASEC to conduct a small inspection in your house regarding the use of electricity in your... Well, in your house..." he lied while smiling falsely and awkwardly.

José David looked at the man up and down and vice versa.

"Don't you guys have uniforms? I thought you did..."

"Eh... No," he replied bluntly.

Alejandro's target turned his head to check something behind him, inside the house, and turned it back once more to the man. Suddenly, he made a strange sound, took something next to the door, which was a small garbage bag, and vomited, scaring and disgusting Alejandro.

"Oh, damn! Are you okay, sir?" the hitman asked, concerned.

"Nothing to worry about. I think I ate something bad at a soda..."

"Ah, yes, better rest then..."

José David nodded while wiping his mouth with a damp towel; but he opened the door and then headed to the gate.

"Look, dude, I don't feel well, and I'm not in the capacity to discuss right now. I know you're not from JASEC, so I'd like to know what you want. Are you here to rob me?" José David said, looking Alejandro in the eyes.

This surprised Alejandro, but it indicated what he had to do.

"Do you remember last week a man you bumped into?"

"What...? No..." he replied, confused.

"Well, he does remember... And he got pretty mad at you... He wants you dead."

José David raised an eyebrow, looked at the ground, and scratched his head. He didn't remember anyone he had had any confrontation with, but he also didn't remember if he had bumped into anyone or not. He didn't know what to respond to that; he tried to say something several times, but no words came out of his mouth until he said:

"Okay... So I'm going to die?"

Alejandro, determined, shook his head while watching how the other man opened the gate to let him in.

"No, but I need you to disappear for a while."

"Disappear for a while?"

"Yes, at least for now, so I can say I killed you and buried you somewhere."

"Okay... That sounds good..." while he was talking, one of the house windows shattered, and the indistinguishable sound of a gunshot was heard, which maybe caused the screams of the whole neighborhood, as screams were heard everywhere.

Alejandro quickly looked behind him, and the only thing he saw clearly was a strange hat. He grabbed the arm of who used to be his target, and they entered the sad blue house. Inside, the first thing there was a living room with a table and a television, which was on, connecting to the kitchen and a hallway leading to bedrooms, probably. The hitman turned the table on its side and hid there with his ex-target.

"Oh, damn! Oh, damn! Oh, dude!" José David shouted repeatedly.

"Calm down, calm down. I have it under control," Alejandro spoke while pulling a gun from his jacket. "Everything is going to be fine..."

"Goal! Yes, unbelievable, we're 3 to 1, in the first half!" José David said suddenly, giving a little explanation as to why screams were heard for the gunshot when there was no one on the street.

"Mr. José, it's not the time to say those kinds of things right now!" the hitman shouted while grabbing the man's shoulders.

"Oops, sorry..." he replied, embarrassed. He looked for a moment behind Alejandro and screamed, "He's there!"

Alejandro turned and saw how the homeless man tried to shoot them several times without success, as his gun had no more bullets. The hitman took advantage of this and shot him in the stomach, making him fall backward from the impact of the bullet; meanwhile, another goal was scored, and the whole neighborhood screamed with excitement. Both men stared at the homeless man, stupefied, breathing loudly.

"Okay... Okay..." Alejandro scratched his head with the hand without the gun. "Okay... I'm going to ask you not to call the police... I'll get rid of him..."

"Okay..."

"Okay."

The hitman slowly stood up and stopped looking at the strange-hat man for a second to check the front door; there were his boss and work colleague.

"Oh... Mr. Sánchez... Nice to have you with us!" Alejandro said, extending his arms, but completely terrified. "How did you get here?"

His boss, Isaac Sánchez, nodded to the broken window of the house; next to it was Tobías, a colleague of Alejandro, Isaac's companion; on the other side of the window, you could see a pink Spark.

"Did you guys come in that thing?" José David asked, peeking over the fallen table.

"Yeah, is there a problem, dude?" Isaac declared in an angry tone.

"Well, I didn't expect the guys who were going to kill me to transport in..."

"What...?" before continuing, he looked at Alejandro and then back at his mortal enemy. "Dude, the color doesn't matter... Dude, for example, there are a lot of chicks who wear pink, and they're total bitches!"

"Yeah..."

"Alejandro, dude, why didn't you kill this bastard?" Isaac asked, changing the subject.

"Well, it's just... I don't see it right..."

Isaac raised an eyebrow, confused. He looked at Tobías for a moment and then back at Alejandro.

"Dude, it doesn't matter, kill him!" he responded, pointing at the man.

"But..."

"Be stubborn, asshole! Get into it!"

Before proceeding with his rant, Isaac was punched by Alejandro in the chin, making him fall to the ground. Isaac's companion didn't move a muscle to help him, so both men started fighting on the cold ceramic floor.

The battle looked quite uncomfortable, to be honest, as it was impossible to tell whose body parts belonged to whom. However, it was clear that Isaac was winning, being more experienced and larger than Alejandro, plus having a "saber" that gave him an advantage. The man with bulging eyes got on top of Alejandro and hit him hard on the head, leaving the hitman dazed; this prompted José David to defend his savior despite never having fought in his life.

José David grabbed a wooden chair near the table and struck Isaac with force. This caused the chair to break into several pieces and the man with bulging eyes to fall unconscious on top of Alejandro. Quickly, he took Alejandro's gun and pointed it at Tobias, who, in response, raised his hands without much enthusiasm.

"Don't worry about me," Tobias said calmly with the serious look he usually gave everyone.

Alejandro, removing Isaac from on top of him, stood up and nodded.

"He won't do anything to us, but we have to get out of here..."

"Where to?" asked José David, lowering the gun with distrust.

Alejandro looked at his stomach and could see a bloodstain slowly getting bigger; Isaac had wounded him with his small knife.

"Ouch... I think to a hospital..."

"There aren't any in Cot... Maybe the Ebais?"

"No... I don't think the Ebais will help me much, they don't do that... Oh, God, it hurts a lot!..."

"Well, maybe not, but it's the best we have..."

"Is it close?"

"About two blocks..."

"Is it uphill? I don't think I can walk much..."

"No... Just a few slopes, but technically it's downhill... More or less..."

"More or less?"

Both men left the house, leaving Tobias alone with Isaac and what seemed to be a homeless man's corpse. The man sighed and approached the guy with the strange hat; he liked the weapon he was carrying, a revolver to be precise. Coincidentally, he had one just like it with the same bullets; but he was more interested in the design of the homeless man's. It was red, with a name engraved on it: "Tobias." He liked this even more, took it, and exchanged its bullets with his new gun.

While the man contemplated the gun, Isaac slowly got up from the floor, rubbing his head, trying to ease the pain.

"Where the fuck did they go?" he asked angrily and confused.

"An Ebais..."

"And why the fuck did you let them go, dumbass!?"

"They pointed at me with a gun..."

"Fuck you, man!"

"Okay..."

"Man, cut the crap! Why the fuck do I have you if you're useless? Son of a bitch, get the fuck out... Bring the car and fuck off!" Isaac responded, ignoring the fact that, in reality, Tobias had no excuse.

Tobias didn't reply and simply headed to the Spark. He opened the door, got in, and started the engine; however, he didn't approach the house, just looked at the street. Finally, he decided; he was already bored. He pressed the button to open the car's trunk and got out, walked to the trunk, and took an object out of it.

Meanwhile, Isaac, who had regained some balance, observed the homeless man for a moment, feeling he had seen him move. Nonetheless, he didn't pay it any attention and headed to the house's main door. Suddenly, just outside, he felt a sharp pain in his chest that made him scream; at the same time, someone had scored a goal in the match, causing a series of similar screams. Isaac looked at his chest and saw an axe embedded in it. He looked at the person holding it and saw it was Tobias... Isaac fell dead.

Meanwhile, Alejandro and José David were walking to the Ebais, not encountering a single soul on the street, showing the great attendance of Costa Ricans to that important match in history.

"I want to thank you for this, so... Thank you very much, um... Pablo or Alejandro?"

"Alejandro..."

"Thank you very much, Alejandro! You're a good person, you know?"

"I wouldn't say that... You weren´t the first they hired me for..."

"But I was the first you stopped for. That's a big step! Not everyone admits that sometimes they shouldn't follow orders... The good thing about life is admitting that we make mistakes but can improve!"

"Heh... I guess you're right..." for a moment, he fell to the ground, but José David helped him up, putting Alejandro's arm over his shoulders.

"Don't worry, man, we're almost there, okay? Everything's going to be fine, I promise..."

And finally, they arrived. Upon entering, they found a very nervous receptionist, who got even worse when he saw Alejandro enter.

"Good evening! Everything okay?" the receptionist asked, smiling, trying to act like the man's wound was none of his business.

"Um... No. I need help... Don't you have someone to take care of this?"

"Yes...! But today they got sick... So no!"

"Can you call an ambulance?"

"Yes!"

And so it was. The ambulance would arrive in 15 to 20 minutes... Probably 20 due to congestion.

"And how are you feeling?" the receptionist asked Alejandro, who was bleeding in a chair, next to José David.

"Not very well, man..."

"Take it easy, they'll be here soon."

"Thanks..."

"And... Aren't you going to say where that came from?"

"No."

"Well... You know? I like to talk a lot... It's fun! So... Since you're not going to tell me what mess you got into, I'll tell you one of mine!"

Alejandro and José David sighed at the same time. José David's illness started to resurface as soon as his adrenaline dropped. The receptionist began his story...

"You see, I really like a werewolf... No, I think that's not how you say it... Werewoman? Sounds weird, but seems right... The thing is, she's really good. S-She's pretty, but at the same time I'm insecure about dating her. It's not because of her, rather it's because of me... I mean, what if I make a fool of myself in front of her? I'm usually annoying, and people don't like me, but I really like her... But, what if I ruin it!? 'Oh, I don't know, Daniel, have confidence in yourself and everything will be fine.' But, what if I become overconfident and become an egocentric son of a bitch!? 'It won't happen, Daniel, relax... But if it does, it'll be your fault and you'll deserve to be abandoned.' And that makes me so... Terrified of the future. I don't know what I'll do with myself, I don't know what Valeria wants. Maybe I've misread the signs... Maybe not... Maybe she just wants me... But that's even scarier because then I'll have to maintain that image she has of me, and I don't know if that's me! You know?"

Both men looked at the receptionist confused, mainly by the werewoman part, but empathetic. José David responded.

"Well, you won't know until you try... Life is short, so it's better to do something than nothing..."

The receptionist nodded a little unsure, but not as much as before.

"True, I'll have to go out with her... I'll ask her out when I see her... I wonder where she is. The last time I saw her, she was fighting against an anti-werewolf cult in America... What was the leader's name?"

Suddenly, a pink Spark stopped in front of the Ebais. Someone got out; it was Tobias. He approached and shot his new revolver, hitting the receptionist in the left eye. Seeing this, José David grabbed Alejandro's shirt collar and covered both behind the counter. This time there was another goal, causing the shot not to be heard thanks to the spectators' cheers of excitement.

"Oh, crap... Oh, crap!" José Alejandro repeated over and over.

"Shit!... I didn't think he would come back..." commented the hitman, as he took his gun out of his jacket and checked the bullets.

He had only used one, and the gun had eight. Tobias' revolver, at least the one Alejandro thought the man had, had six bullets; one spent.

"Tobias, you're low on bullets! You know well you won't get out of here alive... Better leave!" Alejandro shouted, hoping for a response from the man.

Tobias, however, fired the five remaining bullets at the furniture, without harming any of the men. Alejandro took advantage of this and peeked out to shoot Tobias, José David followed even though he had no weapon. However, he saw no one nearby. He stayed observing the place for a good eighteen seconds until he heard the sound of a revolver being reloaded... Tobias had entered through one of the building's rear windows and reached where they were.

"I have more bullets, so I recommend not making any sudden moves," he said casually, with the same serious tone as always.

Both men sighed and turned around. Alejandro put the gun on the ground slowly and pushed it towards Tobias.

"Thanks," Tobias replied, looking at the gun; it didn't have as much style as his.

"Why did you come back? Did Isaac force you?" the hitman asked.

"No."

"So what do you want from us?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Then why are you attacking us!? I never did anything to you..."

"It's not personal."

"But... I don't understand... At least tell us the truth... Tell us what you want..."

Tobias looked a little confused at both men, who seemed exhausted and very scared. After this, he looked at the street and his pink Spark, thinking.

"The truth...? The truth is I do it just because I can... Does that sound so bad? Well, the truth is that our lives are short and absurd. Strange situations like this happen all the time; people die for stupid reasons and others live fully by mere coincidences. We create gods, laws, science, and philosophies to rationalize it, but deep down we know everything happens without any specific reason. It's nothing personal from the universe; heck, it probably doesn't even know we're living in it. We're just alive because of a series of elements that were bound to come together, sooner or later. So, the truth is we will never really understand how everything works. The truth is we spend so much time trying to find meaning in our actions that in the end, we don't do anything significant in this world. That’s why I know when my time comes, I'll be satisfied because I'll have done everything I wanted. The truth is, it's all about making the decision you think is best for you, and for me, getting rid of you and not being recognized will be the most convenient. That way I'll save myself future problems and live in peace... Don't take it personally, I have nothing against you other than a slight conflict... The truth? All I wish is that you lived your lives as satisfactorily as possible. And if you haven't? To be honest, it’s not my problem."

This little monologue was the first time Alejandro had heard Tobias speak more than a sentence, but it explained some things he had seen while working with the man. However, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud thud. It was the homeless man.

"That revolver is mine, you bastard!" he shouted as he punched Tobias with his fists. "They gave it to me! It's mine, mine, mine!"

The punches continued until Tobias shot the man in the arm. The homeless man fell away from him and ran towards the street, where he collided with a young woman who was about to enter the clinic.

"They gave it to me from the sky! It fell..." he said, raising both arms despite the pain in his arm. "Right in front of me... Like they had done before!"

The homeless man looked at something in the sky and started laughing. The woman also looked at the sky, seeming like it wasn't the first time she had seen whatever was up there.

"It's them! They've finally come to visit me once more..."

Little by little, his body began to rise as if gravity had reversed where he stood. And quickly, his laughter stopped being heard; the only thing that could be seen was a strange hat falling to the pavement. The woman remained there.

"Daniel? I think this has been a shitty day..." she commented as she walked towards the small reception.

Upon setting her eyes on the three men, she was puzzled not to see her friend.

"Daniel?"

She looked at the ground and saw him. Daniel had a hole where his eye once was. After this, she looked at Tobias and recognized the weapon he was carrying.

"You!? You’re one of them!" she yelled angrily, pointing at the man.

Tobias raised an eyebrow upon hearing such a comment, and raised the other when he saw the woman transform into a wolf-like beast. It was the first time Alejandro had seen Tobias impressed by something.

"Ah, damn..."

Those were his last words before dying, being mutilated by the wolf woman... Following this, she slowly and angrily approached the other two men, who were in shock, until José Alejandro spoke.

"He was going to ask you out... I'm really sorry... Truly..."

The monster stopped...

Ten minutes later, the ambulance had arrived, and everyone, including Daniel, who had miraculously not been hit anywhere important other than his eye, was inside. The woman was back to being human and wearing new clothes she had taken from Tobias. She had explained her story and why she reacted that way upon seeing the weapon. She deduced that it had reached the homeless man thanks to whoever those beings from the sky were, and she deeply regretted what had happened. Alejandro and José David explained the situation to her and how they had gotten to where they were. The conversation ended with this:

"Damn, what a shitty day," Valeria commented, stroking the arm of the unconscious Daniel.

"You can say that again..." Alejandro replied.

There was a silence that lasted a few seconds until José David said...

"At least Costa Rica won the World Cup... That won't be seen for another thousand years..."

"True," Valeria replied.

"He's right," Alejandro replied.

"Miracles happen!" the ambulance driver replied, having listened to the entire conversation.