Chapter 9
Lord of Monsters
Chad was in his cell. The past few days felt like years to him. He was thinking over all of the horrible things he did to people and pokemon over the years. All of the killings, sexual assaults, and violence he caused was getting to him. "I thought my life fucking sucked in middle school, when all the kids hated me and I had anxiety." Chad thought to himself. It was the worst kind of self-loathing and angst he had ever felt. "I should have listened to Marcy. I should have killed myself." Chad said, regretting his every decision in life. Strangely, Marcy never talked to him during his time of introspection and self-reflection. It was as though she were never there.
No one actually told him, but Chad knew that he was getting the death penalty. He was never offered a last meal. He was too depressed to eat anyway. "I don't deserve to eat." Chad thought when thinking about a time when he killed a Buneary by luring it close to him with food, and how bad he felt about it now. A prison guard approached him with a wet rag. He had a Raichu with him. It was wearing a tiny executioner's hood. Chad thought that this was cute, but he also knew what was about to happen. "Any last words?" The guard said. "I am so, so, very sorry for everything that I ever did." Chad said. He had sincerity in his heart when he said that. The guard passed him the wet rags, which he put on his head. The Raichu lifted its tail on top of Chad's head too, and blasted thousands of volts of electric energy through Chad's body. He died a quick and very painful death. His body had a horrible smell of burnt flesh and huge burn marks all over it. The world had one less serial killer on its surface.
When Chad died, he felt his life force leaving his body and only his spirit remained. He found himself in a strange realm, The Afterlife, where he stood before a gigantic horse-like being. "Chad Walker? Or should I called you Dash Manly?" The creature joked. "What are you?" Chad said, in awe of this creature. "My name is Arceus. I created all life in this universe and when something dies, it comes back to me." Arceus said. "You… You're God?" Chad said, nervously. "In a sense. I did bring you up here for a reason." Arceus said. Chad was nervous now. "I'm very sorry! Please don't punish me!" He said. "Relax! I could never hurt you, Chad. I love you. I will always love you." Arceus said. "You do? Even after everything I did?" Chad said. "I could never hurt something I created." Arceus said. "Then why did you let me hurt other people?" Chad asked. "You aren't really hurting anyone. In the big picture, your actions mean nothing. People live, people die, and people return to me. It makes no difference what happens in life. What you choose to do with it is your business. It is the beauty of life, the fact that you could debase yourself into a killer, or help the world. To me, it does not matter. I will always love you." Arceus said. "Then… My sins… Can you absolve them? I feel horrible about them. I really need them lifted from my conscience" Chad said. "It matters not how irredeemable you or your thoughts may perceive you to be. You did nothing wrong in my eyes and I will always love you." Arceus said. "You asshole! You want me to wallow in guilt for all eternity!" Chad said. "Whether you wallow or forget about it is your choice. Whatever you want, Dash Manly." Arceus nonchalantly stated.
Chad was not sure if Arceus was performing some kind of elaborate punishment by refusing to acknowledge evil and forgive him or if the god of all pokemon was simply naïve. It did not matter. Chad was stuck in this strange afterlife of only him and Arceus, and the horrible pain of guilt. One thing was for sure, and it was that Arceus would always love everything that he ever made, no matter how good or evil it became.
This story is dedicated to anyone who has ever done something wrong and felt genuinely terrible about it. Life is beautiful, no matter how ugly some people try to make it look. There is no greater joy in life than being a human with free will. I hope you enjoyed the story.
Fin
