I couldn’t leave you all on such a terrible cliffhanger. Clark lacks the suspense in his writing that Zander was able to leverage. His cliffhangers are lackluster. Allow me to intervene.
Let me tell you the real story of David Fucking King, as you all so vehemently call him.
David knew from an early age that he was different. That he was better than most people. His peers were concerned with sports and other useless activities, while David learned how people worked. He learned how to manipulate people early on, and it served him well his whole life.
He always enjoyed control. Control was everything to him. That's why manipulation served him so well.
His parents didn't approve of his favorite activities. He loved to design traps. He told me once that traps were all based on behavior, and that trap-making was a natural extension of his core ability to understand motivations and manipulate them.
They brought him to a psychologist, who analyzed him for some time. The psychologist, of course, became scared of David. Since the psychologist was trained to see signs of manipulation, David had a hard time controlling him.
So he killed him. It was David's first real kill.
He's admitted once to me that he regretted killing his psychologist. David wished he had tried harder to manipulate the one person in his life who refused to comply. He wished he had let the psychologist challenge him. Instead, he took the easy route.
I, of course, applaud David for killing him. The man would have committed David to an institution forever the moment he had the chance. He'd already tried to hold him in confinement once, but David manipulated his way out of that trap. If he hadn't killed the psychologist, he might never have met me.
If I attached labels to my emotions, I suppose I did love David King. Not in a "I want a stable future with you" way, but as a type of adoration. I'm a manipulator myself, and meeting someone who was able to manipulate me was... thrilling.
He had me spinning around doing tricks for him without me even realizing it. David truly was a master at his craft.
We met after the dare with Zander began. He talked about it with some regularity, and I offered suggestions. After only a short while, however, he stopped talking about Zander.
I asked him about it, and he said the exercise was boring him because Zander refused to fight back. He guessed that Zander had even forgotten about their dare and chalked his small misfortunes up to bad luck. He had things planned, but they were dependent on Zander trying to fight back. I made some suggestions, but nothing cheered him up.
That's when I brought home Jack Hemsey. We weren’t living together, but he came to my house with some regularity.
"Who's this?" He asked when he came to my home after work one day.
"Your new student," I laughed, guiding Jack over to him. "Jack here is dying to learn your craft."
"My craft?" David said dubiously.
"Yes, darling, he wants to learn how to ruin people's lives! It seems he has an enemy that he really despises. I met him online, and I think you could teach him how to take care of his problem."
David reluctantly heard the boy out. Jack was timid, and he acted like a young boy.
Within only a month, Jack's enemy was in prison with enough evidence to convict him when the trial came around. I could see in David's face that he enjoyed that challenge. Jack did too. They bonded so well over it. Jack became confident and outspoken. David supported him. It was similar to a father-son relationship, despite their close ages.
I was feeling pleased as I watched them ruin Jack's enemy. Going back online, I searched for someone else who might be in Jack's same predicament.
I brought home Walker one day, and Jack didn't like him. He didn't trust Walker at all. After only a couple of days, Walker tried to leave and go to the authorities after we'd disclosed our activities to him. Jack killed him through a lengthy struggle. It was sloppy, unfortunately. So sloppy that I called David.
He was livid. He helped clean it up and dispose of the body, but he was very angry and shouted incessantly at me for the mistake I'd made. I accepted my punishment willingly. I deserved it. I’d been careless.
Only a couple weeks later, I was at my favorite bar, the bar where David and I had met, when I stumbled upon Kraig Munson. Kraig had been in and out of incarceration his entire adult life. His large stature didn't get him very many points when interviewing for a job. He often resorted to stealing to support himself.
I brought him home and immediately called David over for an analysis.
"What the hell are you planning to do with him?" David had shouted.
"Teach him to succeed! Give him a minimum required effort to the point that he's useful to us and our operation!"
"US?!" David cried. "We don't have anything! There is no operation! Jack and his problems were a side project. A hobby."
"Well, you've not had a crack at your hobby for a long time. It's affecting you, I can tell," I cooed. He shoved me away.
But he knew I was right, even if he didn't admit it. He began to train with Kraig and Jack to keep himself sharp. I began to find new targets.
A little less than a year later, we had our... well, I suppose family is an appropriate word. Me, David, Kraig, Jack, and many others. We did everything together and learned how to take care of ourselves and maintain the right minimum effort, as David taught. David was involved, but not completely. He helped us here and there with covering up our activities, but I took command. I was, and still am, their leader.
Each of them used to have enemies. Each of them had worked one-on-one with David to ruin their enemies. These activities got us into trouble on more than one occasion, but it was nothing we couldn’t weasel out of. Sometimes we’d take too much risk, but things would take care of themselves. After some time had passed, all of our individual enemies were either dead or imprisoned.
Except for one. Zander Jones.
And David recognized that.
He pushed everyone away and began to really crack down on Zander. And you all know how much David ruined Zander’s life.
Unfortunately, David wanted to take things slowly with Zander. I pushed him constantly, making him accelerate plans. We had our own family to look after and a business to build. Zander couldn’t be a multi-year project. It had to be over quickly.
That’s why I kidnapped Katie.
David was very angry when we did it without telling him. He stormed over to our holding location for new victims and hit me. Hard. After some convincing, he relented and integrated it into his plan, but he was angry that we had forced him to accelerate. David was trying to savor the dare too much. He didn’t care what happened to the girl, so long as we kept her alive and healthy enough for future use.
We took good enough care of her.
Once Zander was arrested, I tried to assure David that his mark was down. I tried to convince him that his contest with Zander was finished, just like all the others. But he couldn't let go. And in a move that was so idiotic and careless that I'm embarrassed to recount it, he broke Zander out.
But I didn't vocalize my criticisms. Because he was David King.
We ruined four more enemies while Zander was on the run for that year. Each one was carefully plotted out to eliminate exposure and risk, at David’s request. Especially since David himself had to go on the run. Despite the small risk, he received the hobby very well.
During David’s time on the run, he refused to see me or the others directly. He used Jack as an intermediary to pass information. He demanded to be left alone, and we obliged. He created us, after all. We started our own preparations to get David underground and keep him safe.
And then Zander started to post. And David got excited. David got too excited.
He began to fantasize about continuing to ruin Zander's life. All the things he could do, all the extravagant traps he could build and set into motion. I had to step in. I confronted him, disregarding the consequences. Through Jack, I told him to ignore Zander and focus on our more important and pressing problems.
He shouted at Jack to send a message back to me. He said it was not my concern and that I should stay focused on the business rather than interfere with his personal affairs.
Up to that point, we had been raising a profitable venture into human trafficking. Another way to ruin people's lives. Another way to design traps and execute well-designed plans. The thrill was constant, and it fulfilled our appetites.
But David King would not be satiated until he had ruined Zander Jones.
When Zander called David out, Jack told him to ignore Zander. David refused. I told him he had to kill Zander if he couldn't stand to just ignore him. He reluctantly agreed. We plucked Katie out from our personal collection, and David took Jack with him to the meeting with Zander.
When Jackson came home after sneaking into the warehouse, and verified that David and Jack truly were dead, we all grieved. I grieved for Jack more than for David.
I don't know why David killed Jack. Jack was like a son to him, I'm sure of it. Maybe he did it to provoke Zander. Maybe he did it in a moment of overexcitement. Either way, I hate him for it.
I hate you, David. You killed one of our greatest creations.
Fuck you, David King.
Now that David is gone, I intend to finish Zander like David often fantasized. Not out of respect for David. Not out of hatred for Zander either. But out of respect for what David and I have built. Without David, I wouldn't have everything I ever wanted. Without Zander, I wouldn’t have my family. I wouldn't have these creations who I can rely on for anything and everything.
Clark was the obvious choice for Zander's new opponent. At first, I was worried he wasn’t trained enough, but when he killed Kraig in that car accident and took care of Mandie at the bar, I became satisfied with his capabilities. Of course, he won’t be willing to play without the proper motivation. His mother.
Knowing Zander, he will probably offer up his own life so Clark and his parents can live. That’s why I’ve asked someone to pick up Zander’s parents too. I’d use Katie, but I don’t think that would motivate him enough. His parents are innocent. Katie isn’t.
As for Katie, we’ll find her and bring her back to my personal collection. She's a fighter. I'll train her and mold her into a new creation just like the others. She's halfway there already.
And now we have come full circle. Best friend pitted against best friend. To the death, this time.
I’ve given Zander a miserable night’s rest, while Clark had a relatively easy night yesterday. I need them to be evenly matched for fairness. Once Leo gets here with Zander, everything will be finished. Only one will join our collection and become profitable for us. Nothing short of death wins. Whoever wins gets to decide whose parents go free.
This ought to be exciting.
Don't expect there to be an update.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the show, Reddit.
I know I have.
~Sophie
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