The scene opens with a barrage of dark and fast moving images accompanied by screams from a scared female. We are seeing out the eyes of someone else.
"Run! Run!!"
Dark hallway, the back of a short haired brunette's head. She is clinging to the hand of whoever's eyes we are seeing out of.
"Hey kid! Amanda!" An eerie voice echoed seemingly all around.
Then there is a familiar image... the burning artificial lights flicking on inside the old, decrepit bathroom. A large man is hobbling down the dark hall, following the two with knife in hand.
Back in the bathroom, the eyes turn to the floor, seeing a rusted hacksaw. Shaky hands pick it up. A young, scared voice comes from the owner of those shaky hands.
"Pretend I'm dead, Amanda... I h-have an idea."
Darkness follows, then the next imagery is a hacksaw slicing into the neck of a muscular, terrifying looking man. Blood gushed from the gash as the man stumbles forward, grasping at his killer's shirt. Amanda's screams are all that can be heard as the man stumbles backwards and falls, dying.
Daniel gasps awake, shadows of night falling across his face. He is in a cold sweat and panting, throwing is covers off.
"Fuck..."
Daniel's door opened a crack, causing light to slowly illuminate the room.
"Kid... are you okay?" Hoffman stood in the doorway, rubbing a tired eye. Daniel tried to calm his ragged breathing.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a fucking nightmare." He told the older man. Hoffman nodded, yawning in to a fist.
"Well... uh, you... you wanna talk about it?" He asked. Daniel could tell that he was uncomfortable. Hoffman had never been the best with empathy so Daniel just shook his head.
"Nah man, it's fine. I'm just going to try and get more sleep." Daniel told him. The older simply nodded and turned to leave.
"Okay... well I'm going to do that too."
Once Hoffman was gone, Daniel got up from his bed. Though he had told his companion that he was going to return to sleep, Daniel didn't feel like he could just yet. The younger pushed his door open and went to the bathroom.
After splashing some water on his face, Daniel looked into the mirror. The dark, tired eyes looking back at him were all that he remembered. It had been over a decade since the pivotal, life changing moment that was his Jigsaw game and he had never been the same. After his freedom and then the loss of his father... Daniel knew he had to change.
"I was just a stupid teenager..." Daniel breathed out exasperatedly, dragging his hands down his face. He sighed after one more glance at his matured face and shuffled out to the kitchen. He stubbed his toe on something in the dark, cursing quietly as to try not to disturb Hoffman again. Daniel opened the refrigerator door and grabbed the half gallon of milk, then used the light from the fridge to grab a glass from the one of the cupboards before closing it back up. He poured himself some before putting the carton back and then stood there deep in thought. He hadn't dreamed of that day in years... why now?
He thought back to the hauntingly familiar eyes from the mugshot he has looked at the morning prior, then remembered his dream... Xavier, the man he had killed. Those eyes... they belonged to Xavier. Was the man in the mugshot related to the man he had murdered to save his own life? Hoffman has just handed him a file with pictures of a few possible people they could test. Did Hoffman know who the mugshot man was? Where has he received the pictures from?
All these questions and more circled through Daniel's brain and he felt now more than ever that he could not go back to sleep. So, after finishing his milk and rinsing the glass, Daniel went back to his room and found his shoes and his coat. Then, he crept silently across the hall and into Hoffman's room. His older companion's snores signaled that he had fallen back into a deep slumber, so Daniel sneakily snagged the keys from his bedside table and crept back out.
"Sorry Hoffman... I'll deal with your anger later." Daniel whispered, more to himself as he hurried out the door.
He unlocked Hoffman's car and pulled the GPS navigator off of the windshield so he could check Hoffman's most frequented stops. Daniel paused for a moment. Was this betrayal? He shrugged and continued.
"Where have you been going?" Daniel asked aloud, confusion prevalent in his voice as he scanned through the list of addresses. One address that was unknown to Daniel kept appearing throughout the list.
"I guess we'll just have to see for ourselves, won't we?" Daniel stuck the GPS back in its place before setting the address in question as his destination and turning the car on.
A twenty-five minute drive later, Daniel was pulling up to a somewhat rundown looking house, driveway empty. Daniel parked down the street and walked towards the home, hoping no one was awake at this hour to spot him and know he was out of place. As he approached the home, he saw a kid's tricycle in the front yard.
"And yet... no one's home?" He murmured to himself. There was no garage, so there was nowhere for a car to be hiding. Would he dare? He checked his pockets and found that he did have a pair of gloves and his lockpick in his coat. Fate had made the decision for him.
After a few moments, Daniel got the door open and used his phone as a flashlight to look around the home. Pictures of a little girl, maybe about four littered the walls. Shit... Hoffman didn't have a child out of wedlock, did he?
Daniel went into the kitchen and saw a photograph of a man with dark eyes and dark hair holding the girl from the previous photos, both smiling. Though Daniel could see beyond the man's smile and into the storm behind those eyes. He moved a bit closer to examine the photo deeper, slightly more confused than before. That man wasn't Hoffman... Daniel had never seen that man in his life. Then why did those eyes call out to him in a way?
Suddenly, Daniel felt something jab into his back and he stiffened as a gruff voice sounded from behind him.
"Move and I blow your spine out through your stomach."
Daniel raised his gloved hands in surrender and a light flashed on. Daniel swallowed nervously, unsure of what to do or say.
"Turn around, slowly..." The gruff voice ordered. Daniel complied and found himself standing face to face with a slightly more unkempt version of the man from the photo. The man may have been sporting a scraggly beard and slightly longer hair but the eyes were just the same.
"Now, who the hell are you and what are do you think you're doing breaking into my home?" The man asked, motioning the shotgun in his hand at Daniel. He took this as his cue to speak. But what would he say?? Having a gun pointed at him, there was really no other option than the truth.
"I... I'm sorry. I'm a, uh, a friend of Mark Hoffman's. I found your address in his GPS and just-" The man cut Daniel off.
"Just thought: 'Hm, why not break in?' huh?" The man paused for a moment, slightly lowering the shotgun. "Mark Hoffman... you're friends with Mark Hoffman? I didn't think he had any friends."
"My name is Daniel Matthews, Hoffman worked with my father before he died... so now we work together. But what does Hoffman want with you? Who are you?"
"Ballsy guy to be the one asking questions when you're the one that broke into my house." The guy growled. Daniel kept his hands in front of him.
"I know, I know... but, ah... cute kid." He said, honestly unable to think of anything else at the moment. The man sighed and lower his shotgun the rest of the way, glancing at the photo.
"Yeah. She's with her mother right now. Bitch took everything from me and now I can't even keep my daughter full time. She's the only thing that makes me get out of bed in the morning anymore man..."
Daniel felt a pang of sympathy for the man and found himself stepping forward towards him. This only resulted in the man raising his gun again.
"I didn't say you could move."
Daniel's hands went up again but his eyes drifted to the man's kitchen table, similar to his as it was littered with countless photos as well. One stuck out to Daniel. It was a picture of that mugshot man, but he was out wandering the streets instead. The shot looked to be from a distance and unknowingly taken.
"Where did you get that picture?" Daniel asked. The man followed his gaze and snorted, annoyed.
"You gotta be a bit more specific than that. But to answer your umbrella question with an umbrella answer, I took them. A friend of my father's gave me a camera for my birthday years and years ago back when I was a kid and now it's all I like to do, besides my shitty minimum wage job. I take pics and sell them on the side. Usually they're just artistic shots, but your friend Hoffman hires me to pretty much stalk people and get pictures of them for him. I'm surprised if you two work together that he hasn't told you about me. The name's Brent Abbott."
When he said this, alarm bells went off in Daniel's head.
"Brent Abbott... where have I heard that name before? Oh my God, are you the kid from Hoffman's William Easton trap? The insurance guy! You're the kid who pulled the lever on William's death!" Daniel exclaimed.
"Ding ding... bastard killed my father and Lord knows how many others... he deserved to die. So if Hoffman does this to people who deserve it, I am more than willing to help him find proper candidates. Don't judge me, you know what the guy does so you must not be all sunshine and rainbows either." Brent said.
"Well... no. I was a part of one of the original Jigsaw's games. And then my father was tested. He died because he lost his game and was locked up to become a part of someone else's game, who lost... Hoffman let the man that killed my father die, so I guess I sort of feel indebted to him. That and I also sort of agree with assholes being tested." As Daniel said this, Brent nodded along, then sighed.
"This still doesn't tell me why you're here. It can't be just because you found my address in Hoffman's GPS."
Daniel stopped and thought for a moment. Then he looked back to Brent's table and the picture of the man.
"That man. You have Hoffman a picture of his mugshot. I need to know who he is and what he's in prison for." Daniel pointed.
"Oh him? In and out of prison. Name's Miguel Chavez. Guy's been dealing drugs since he was a teenager. Got caught up in some gang wars too and killed a few people." Brent explained.
"Chavez..." Daniel echoed.
"Yeah, why? He was raised by a trashy single mom because his father was never around. Went missing I think actually. Xavier Chavez?" Brent squinted as he thought.
"Oh shit. Xavier... he was one of the guys in the game with me. My father had arrested him and framed him with some shit because he didn't have enough evidence to back up the shit Xavier actually did do."
"Eric Matthews was your dad? Shit man, anything else you want to tell me?" Brent eyed Daniel suspiciously.
"Xavier disappeared because... I killed him."
Brent took a step back in awe, stating at Daniel, so the curly haired male continued.
"I was only like sixteen when I was put in that trap, and with a bunch of criminals. I was only a stupid kid pretending to be a delinquent, I was terrified. Xavier chases me and this other person down and I had to kill him in self defense." The memory rose to the surface of Daniel's mind again as he told the story as vaguely as he could.
"Damn... no wonder Hoffman's working with you, you're badass." Brent murmured.
"Yeah well... I'm sorry I broke in. Kind of a first instinct after working with Hoffman for so long. If you could just not tell him about this, that would be great. Can I... go now?"
Brent shrugged and unloaded his shotgun with a few pumps and shuffles before jerking his head for Daniel to follow him. Brent led him back out into the living room and to the front door.
"Yeah, how about next time, you just knock. At a reasonable hour." Brent added the last part with a bit of edge in his tone, but Daniel saw the slightest upturn of his lips.
"Sorry..." he murmured, ready to see himself out. Yet, with his hand on Brent's doorknob, he paused. "Actually... can I ask you a favor?"
"Hm?" Brent grunted.
"If I paid you like Hoffman but we kept this one to ourselves... could you find someone for me?"