THE TITLE OF ALL TITLES

The room was desolate with more than enough cracks in the wall. The sooty

grey colour of the walls would make anyone vomit with patches of yellow and

black on the ceiling. There was a meeting taking place between two

companies: ‘The Reliable’ and ‘The Workers’. They were both disputing over

who takes the land of their properties. But the landowner was baffled and

confused.

Suddenly, the landowner shouted “SHUT UP!” The whole room broke into a

dead silence like a graveyard in the night.

“Now, all this shouting is doing my head in! At the moment, none of you are

convincing me about selling my land to either of you. So I have a proposition”.

Both the companies leaned forward towards the landowner in interest.

“Can your managers step forward please?” stated the landowner.

Two men dressed in exorbitant clothing, stepped forward. The man from ‘The

Reliable’ was called Dave McDonald. Dave had short rusty brown hair with blue

eyes and tanned skin. The man from ‘The Workers’ was called Tom Smith. Tom

had charcoal black hair and a faint black beard with light skin.

“Now my lads”, said the landowner as he crossed his arms, “The game you

both are going to play is called ‘If you dare’ ”.

The two men looked at each other awkwardly and turned their eyes back

towards the landowner.

“The aim of the game is, you both have to do certain for me and whoever

chickens out loses and the winner’s company takes my land” said the

landowner with a smile.

“What kind of dares sir?” asked Dave nervously.

“Ones that I want to do for me imperatively” announced the landowner in an

angry manner.

The two men looked at each other to see who will cower and walk out. But

none of them hesitated. The two men gulped and answered “Okay sir” in time

with each other at which they looked at each other again.

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“Excellent!” said the landowner and at which their response made him break

into devious laughter. The landowner asked the two men to follow him into a

room, bleak and dark as the room before. The landowner closed the door

behind him.

“Now gentlemen, I want you both to kill a member of your family” stated the

landowner with a smile.

The two men ran towards the door and shook the door handle to open it. But

nothing happened. The two men turned around and stared at the landowner

and lunged at him. Suddenly, the landowner brought out a knife, which made

the men stand rooted to the spot.

“Are you crazy?” cried the men desperately.

The landowner broke into laughter and shouted “No! No I’m not! I asked you if

you would play the game and you said ‘Okay sir. And plus if you don’t do it, I

will lock you in this room. Forever. ”He then broke into laughter.

“You’re insane!” screamed Dave.

The landowner clicked his fingers and two muscular men dressed in suits came

out of the darkness in the corner of the room. Following them, were two

groups of people; Dave and Tom’s family. The landowner laughed hysterically

as he saw the motionless faces of Dave and Tom. The landowner threw Dave

and Tom, a pair of knives. They both caught the knives that were heading

towards their faces.

The two men looked at each other and nodded slowly. The two men roared

and charged towards their families. Watching, the landowner laughed at their

stupidity as they ran towards their families. In a split second, just a few metres

away from their families, the men changed direction and ran towards the

landowner. The landowners smile faded as the men ran towards him at

hurtling speed. The two men leaped off the ground and flew through the air,

their heads tucked and knives held out. A loud ‘SQUELCH’ was heard the knives

dug its way through the landowner’s chubby chest, with blood gushing out of

wound at an uncontrollable rate. The two men in suits had ran back into the

darkness knowing their boss was hopelessly going to die. Dave and Tom landed

with a thump and looked up and as they did, their blood ran cold. The knives

THE TITLE OF ALL TITLES

had dragged themselves down the landowner’s chest down to his knees as

they dropped towards the floor from mid-air.

As the two men got up and wiped themselves clean, the landowner knelt down

on both knees, one hand on his macerated heart and with a faint laugh, he fell

on his face. The two men smiled at each other and cursed at the landowner

kicking his head and jogged towards their families. As they untied the gags

around the wives and children’s necks, they started to cry uncontrollably. Their

wives comforted them with a hug and walked towards the landowner at the

same time covering the children’s eyes. Dave stole the key from the inside of

the landowners pocket and opened the door for himself and Tom’s families.

The police were called to investigate the case and entered the room in which

Dave and Tom were held captive. There was nothing. There was no body. No

traces of blood. Months later, Dave and Tom had merged businesses and

called their new business ‘The Reliable Workers’. The company was very

successful and carried on for many years. They had tried to forget about the

incident that had happened, but of course the never-ending laughter of the

devious landowner would always ring in their ears…