Ernest

No matter how innocent Ernest pretended to be, the cunning gleam in his bright eyes betrayed him as a liar, but he, seemingly unaware of this, continued to play his theatrical games. But suddenly his interlocutor made it clear to the young man that his gentle deception had no effect on him, and Era's eyes shone brighter, revealing his true nature, and he clicked his tongue. From his quick observations, Ernest concluded that the man in front of him was incredibly tense, and therefore stopped being cunning and became serious: "What do you think?" the young man asked quietly and threateningly, looking defiantly at the stranger. However, before Er could respond to the stranger's muttering, he felt a sharp pain in his temples. Letting go of the lamppost, Ernest began to fall, plunging into the darkness he had been trying so desperately to avoid. The agonising hours passed for Er in darkness, unaccompanied by dreams. He just felt endless cold, distant touches and endless noise. This sound was accompanied by a quiet and indistinct voice, but the young man understood that it was his own voice — almost indistinguishable, muttering as if turning words upside down. Meaningless. Endless. Annoying. The icy water pulled him out of the depths of his obsessive delirium, awakening Ernest as if from a nightmare. The young man shuddered and, half asleep, weakly tried a couple of times to move his hand, which was handcuffed to the radiator, but feeling that it was very numb, Er gave up, forcing himself to stretch his palm. Ernest did not immediately notice the man sitting in front of him, as if deliberately ignoring him. But in fact, the young man was curious to know where he was, so he began to look around slowly. It seemed as if he was completely indifferent to the man who posed a possible threat to his life. However, Ernest soon turned his attention to his captor. Before looking him in the eyes, Ernest carefully scanned the stranger's feet and slowly raised his head to make eye contact. Only then did he grin broadly, his eyes regaining their fiery gleam. Carefully lifting himself up, Ernest knelt down and placed his free hand in front of him: "Is that how you start a conversation? Without saying, 'Hello, my name is so-and-so, what's your name?', how unfair! But okay, what do you want to know? I'll answer several questions at once, if I may," Er began sarcastically, with feigned politeness. "Did I want to tell the police? No. Am I afraid of you?" The young man smiled and shook his head. "No, of course not! But how ingeniously you killed one person, he stammered enthusiastically and bit his lip for a moment, but then focused again on his interlocutor's eyes. Do you like taking lives with your own hands? Do you like feeling the person closest to you take their last breath in your arms? Ernest moved his hand even closer to the stranger, excited by their conversation. His eyes lit up with a playful flame, and he sighed nostalgically. "Unfortunately, I only watched it happen. I don't have the courage to kill so brutally, especially people. I'm impressed!