Mercy For None

Who Dares Kill My Family?

“I speak these words with a heart full of tears,” a man said, his voice trembling as he faced the people before him. “One of our own, Riley Collins, through his negligence and irresponsibility, has brought about a tragedy: the loss of a newly married couple and their two-month-old daughter.” He paused, his eyes heavy with grief.

“Th… this… is… very…” he began, but his voice cracked before he could finish. Suddenly, he broke down in tears, lowering his head onto the desk. For a moment, the room went silent except for the sound of his sobbing. When he finally lifted his face, his eyes were already red and swollen. His voice trembled as he continued, “This is very sad news… and ever since I heard it, I have not been myself. Those precious lives could have been saved if only this foolish, selfish man had answered the emergency calls on time.”

He paused, trying to steady himself. With the back of his hand, he wiped away his tears.

“This man deliberately ignored the emergency calls more than a hundred times. And because of that, he let those innocent souls perish in the most painful way imaginable.”

In the hall, murmurs had already begun to ripple through the crowd. Some shook their heads in grief and lament, while others sat frozen, their eyes fixed on the man accused of killing those poor souls.

“Why on earth would he intentionally kill them?” a woman in her late thirties whispered, pressing her right hand gently against her face. Her voice quivered with disbelief as she turned to her husband. “Those young couples were the happiest couple in our community. People often envied their joy, their love… and now, their lives have been shortened because of one man’s negligence.”

She paused, her eyes clouding with tears. “Whenever I looked at their little girl, I always wished she were mine. Wh… why? What have they done to deserve such cruelty from this wicked man? What a bitter, bitter life.”

“He must be killed,” her husband responded coldly.

The man addressing the people continued.

“Riley has long been regarded as one of our most dedicated and hardworking men in this industry. For years, he has been praised for saving more than a thousand lives. But after this tragic incident, the truth has finally surfaced. It has become clear that much of what he claimed was never his. Many of those lives were, in fact, saved by another person named Ethan. Yet Riley, driven by the lure of money and fame, manipulated the truth and claimed the credit.”

At this, Riley could no longer remain silent. “No!” he roared, his voice echoing through the hall as he shook his handcuffs violently. His face flushed with rage and anguish as he struggled to rise to his feet. “I saved them because I love humanity! I risked my life because I cannot bear to see people die. Why on earth would I do all that for money and fame? I… I would…..”

Before Riley could finish his words, one of the police officers nearby stepped forward swiftly. With a hard swing, he struck Riley across the head with the butt of his gun. Riley collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain, his mouth parting as a faint sound escaped.

“Ah…” he muttered weakly, his body twisting against the cold ground, while the hall fell into a stunned silence. The officer stood over him and the man at the desk continued without hesitation.

“This so-called savior of lives claims that he acted out of love for humanity. Yet the evidence shows otherwise. He willfully ignored emergency calls that could have spared those three innocent souls. And further investigations revealed that he even created a social media page filled with photographs of himself alongside people he claimed to have saved. If not for fame and money, what then!”.

The man paused, lifting his eyes from the piece of paper to the crowd. His gaze lingered on their weary faces for a while before he slowly lowered his eyes back to the paper trembling in his hands.

“I am ashamed of myself as the manager of this company,” he said, his voice filled with sorrow. “And I am deeply ashamed of Riley. Why these poor souls? What had they done to deserve this cruelty from him? Even if his wife had vowed to leave and divorce him, why let those innocent lives be destroyed because of his bitterness?”

At his words, a wave of murmurs rippled through the hall once more. People turned to one another, looking in disappointment and disbelief. Some shook their heads in sorrow, while others stared in silence.

“He killed them because of divorce?” one of the men in the first row muttered, his voice barely above a whisper as his eyes narrowed on Riley. Suddenly, his whisper erupted into a roar. Pointing a trembling finger at Riley, he shouted, “You wretched soul! You deserve to be killed at this very moment! Why would you take the lives of innocent people over something as petty as divorce?”

Riley lowered his head, shame washing over him like a shadow. His lips quivered before he finally muttered.

“I’m innocent.”

Gasps spread through the hall as heads turned sharply to his direction. The crowd stared at him with disbelief, their faces etched with shock.

“Are you mad?” the same man barked, springing to his feet with fury. He slammed his hand against the table, the sound echoing through the hall like a gunshot. His finger shot out again, trembling with rage as he pointed at Riley. “Say one more word, and I swear I’ll end your pathetic life in the most miserable way imaginable!”

Riley lowered his head in shame, unable to meet the accusing stares around him.

“If not for the intervention of the police department,” the man continued, his voice filled with contempt, “do you think you would still be alive today? Do you think you would have walked into this hall unharmed? Mark my words, you will not escape the consequences of your actions.”

With that, he sat down back on his chair, slightly raising a hand toward the manager in a silent gesture of apology for interrupting.

The manager gave a small nod of acknowledgment, then leaned forward and adjusted the microphone. Clearing his throat, he continued to address the audience.

“It is true that the thought of divorce was difficult and painful for him,” the manager said, his voice laced with disappointment. “But that can never be an excuse for taking the lives of innocent people. What is even more disturbing is that he committed this heinous act before his wife had even finalized the divorce. One cannot help but wonder that if the divorce had been finalized, how many more lives would he have destroyed?”.

“Because of this, With immediate effects, Riley has been sacked from this company. And let me be clear, this matter will definitely not end here. The case will be handed over to the authorities and will be pursued in court, where he will face the full judgment of the law. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.”

Suddenly, the door of the hall swung wide open and the old woman entered. In her right hand, she clutched a hospital IV drip stand, the clear bag of fluid still swaying from its hook and the tube dragging loosely behind her. Its metal wheels scraped and rattled across the floor as she pulled it along. In her left hand, she held a long kitchen knife.

Her lips quivered as her chest rose and fell rapidly. Then, she screamed at the top of her voice, “Who dares kill my family!”

Every head turned sharply toward her, then instinctively shifted to Riley, who was still sitting. The woman let out a cruel smile, her gaze fixed on Riley, before she roared and lunged forward at him.

“You took them from me, and I’ll take you too!”