ELEVEN
“What is like unto itself is drawn”
"I'm not a philosopher Sussy." He shouted. They'd been at it for hours, trying to figure out what it meant for him to be just, true and follow his conscience. "I need to get this right so I can get to heaven." Matt picked up the pad of paper. They'd written down all the factors involved in the situation and different ways of make all the angels happy."
"Well your conscience is easy, what is your inner voice telling you to do?" Sussy asked, picking at her nails.
"I feel like this is the first time I've ever had a conscience." Matt paced the floor. "In the van I felt it, it was screaming at me to do something. Like it was telling me not to rob that bank. Even though we'd done things like this before."
"You've kidnapped someone to ransom them?"
"Yes, but not for as large of an amount as you." Matt paused for a second. "How are we going to get this money by the way? I mean, who are you, in this dream world anyway?"
"I am the fiancé to a rich prince. I came into this body a few days before the heist. I met with Mickey and told him the story of my fiancé being financially controlling, which is true. I have no control over my own money. It's either handled by my father or him. But if you guys sent him a ransom note, I know he or my father would be willing to pay anything to get me back."
"You really think they can get 4 billion dollars together in 2 days?"
"I know it! They are very rich people. And they care for this girl." Sussy pointed to herself and picked at her flesh. She ran her hands down her body as if she was noticing herself for the first time. "Human bodies are strange."
"I guess it's no different than when you come into my dreams."
"That's different. That's my succubus self." Sussy got up and poured herself some coffee and passed Matt a pack of cigarettes. "I can look like whatever I want in dreams, and I can control what's going on. This is different. I feel my body. I can't control what's happening to me, I have hunger, pain, and feelings! This is worse than being in Hell. At Least there I had soft furry legs!" Sussy lifted up the shirt she was wearing to show off her bare legs. Matt got lost in thought for a second.
"We were talking about uh, truth!" Matt snapped back to the topic at hand.
"Well, what is the truth?" Sussy sat back down next to Matt.
"The truth can be relative," He said, lighting a cigarette and leaning back on the couch. "What is true for one person may not be true for another. Same with what's right and wrong."
"In a general sense what you guys are doing is wrong," Sussy curled up and got closer to Matt. "When you look at the specifics, you are not doing a bad thing. You've freeing me from my life with a man who just wants to control me. The way you got there was wrong but the intention was right." Matt was lost deep in thought for a while. He looked up at the ceiling and thought back on his life in general.
If this was his life, maybe he deserved to go to Hell. Whoever he was now was not a good person. However, simply the fact that he and Sussy have been debating what is morally justified about this action leads him to believe that this life wasn't the life he had originally. This was just another dream put together by the demons, or angels. He wondered who he was. Who was the real Matthew? Not whatever Matt this bank robber guy was.
"What are you thinking about." Sussy asked.
"Nothing." Matt snapped back and realised he'd been staring off into space right at the spot Sussy was sitting. She'd been drinking her coffee and fiddling with her fingers, but he hadn't noticed. He was lost in thought. The train of thought would be too complicated to explain to her. "In your few days of being this girl, are you noticing a lot of differences between what's normal for Hell versus what's normal here."
"Yes, people try their best here, but are often stepped on by more powerful people. Social structures seem to be the same. And humans are angry and petty. But I guess not all demons are like that."
"I guess demons and humans aren't so different."
"What about justice?"
"Justice works differently for humans for sure. We don't have a justice system like you humans have, but what is like unto itself is drawn, am I right?"
"Did you just have a stroke?" Matt tapped out his cigarette. "What did you just say?"
"What is like unto itself is drawn." Sussy repeated slowly.
"Is that supposed to mean something?" Matt tried to think of a way that made sense.
"It's something demons and angels always say, you know? It's a saying. What is like unto itself is drawn!"
"Please don't say it again, it's giving me a headache to think about!" Matt pressed his hands into his temple and started to massage his head.
"It basically means you are what you are, and you get what you get because of who you are and that's just how it is." Sussy said in a more confusing way than the original phrase. "It's so simple."
"If you say so, if we're justified in our behaviours, or do they mean seeing justice for the wrongs we've done? If we misinterpret what they want us to do we could get it all wrong, and I'll be thrown into the pitt!" Matt was getting more and more worried. His heart was racing, his head was pounding. He just wanted to scream and run away. But how can you run from a dream you are stuck in.
"Calm down, Hue. Calm down." Sussy stood up and gave Matt a big hug while he sat down. She shoved her chest in his face and locked her arms around his head. Strangely enough, it did help calm him down. Her cold shirt pressed against his face, he could hear her steady heart beat. He started to breathe in sync with hers. It calmed him down.
"Sorry that took so long, my old man was..." Mickey walked in and stopped mid sentence when he noticed what he was walking in on. Sussy didn't move or react, even her heart beat stayed steady. But Matt realised what a strange scene that must look like. Sussy was standing with her boobs in his face, in a shirt and no pants. "Did I miss something?"
"No, We're just trying to figure something out." Sussy said, releasing Matt from her grip and walking over to her spot on the couch.
"If it involves what I think it involves, I'll help you figure it out." Mickey was obviously jealous, but it seemed he didn't want to show his true colours too early with this girl. "Matt can I talk to you."
Mickey took Matt into the other room and left Sussy to sit on the couch.
"It's not what it looks like." Matt tried to explain as soon as Mickey closed the door.
"It better not be what it looks like! We are this close to getting 4 billion dollars." Mickey pinched his fingers close together. "If we start fighting over this girl, it could ruin a good thing. We've gotta promise not to let her come between us. When we get the money, we leave her behind!"
"No problem, I don't like her like that." Matt laughed. It would be difficult to explain to Mickey what was really going on. But deep inside Matt felt he should be convincing Mickey to do the right thing too. Maybe justice was more than just getting justice for him, but for the others around him. Maybe they're conscience needs to guide them to do the right thing. He needs to change their warped view of truth. Mickey, Dave and Gary have all been living this way their whole life. If this is all they know then this is how they would act, but it's not a good way to live, but they've probably been suppressing their conscience so long they don't know what is true and just. The test must be about saving them! Not just him.
"I figured it out!" Matt shouted.
He walked out of the room and frantically started ranting his idea to Sussy. Mickey stood there confused, not understanding anything they were talking about.
"That could be how to pass the test. You'd save not just your soul, but their's too."
"Woah, woah, Matt what are you talking about?" Mickey came in closer. "Are you telling me you're getting religious on me? You think we need our souls saved?"
"Yes! You do! You've been living this life for too long, you don't even see how wrong it is." Matt explained. "What is like unto itself is drawn!"
"You get it!" Sussy exclaimed in delight as she stood up and started clapping.
"What the fuck is happening to you!" Mickey said. "I left you alone with this girl for 3 hours and suddenly you want to change your whole life. You wanna move to a mountain top and become a monk too?"
"You don't have to go that far, but we haven't made any demands yet. And Dave and Gary have the stuff from the bank. We could return it. We could just get by living a decent wage at the bar. We don't have to do these things anymore. We won't be rich, but we won't be criminals!"
"I'd rather be rich." Mickey said in a stern voice. He then pulled a gun from his belt and shot Matt in the chest.
Time started to slow down. He didn't feel as much pain as he thought he would. Suddenly he was looking at the ceiling, he was laying on the floor but he didn't remember falling. Sussy was above him, she looked worried, her hands were covered in blood. It was his blood. He could feel his chest now. The pain came all at once. He kept his eyes open long enough to see Sussy beating the crap out of Mickey after wrestling the gun out of his hands. Matt chuckled a bit then he closed his eyes for the last time.
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