Earth, 2025. A man sat in a prison cell, holding a diary he had written. "Tap... tap... tap." The sound of a guard's boots echoed down the corridor. A guard stopped outside his cell. The man looked up at the guard's tense face.
"It's time," the guard said.
The man smiled. He stood at the cell door. The guard immediately opened the cell and allowed him to step out, then escorted him out of the hallway. The man walked, clutching his diary. He was led into a room that looked like a hospital suite. When he turned, he saw many people sitting behind a pane of glass, watching the room.
Those people looked at him with sheer hatred; some were crying. But among them all, he saw a woman sitting alone at the very end, looking down. She didn't dare to look at the man being led by the guard. Two guards laid the man on a bed and strapped his body down. Then a person dressed as a doctor entered, accompanied by a court official.
"Execution by lethal injection for the defendant named Shawn Reeve, age 42, on charges of committing serial murder with victims totaling 20 people, men and women," the official announced.
The person dressed as a doctor took a needle and plunged it into Shawn's arm. "Thump." Suddenly, a sound came from the next room. Shawn looked up and saw the beautiful woman who had been sitting in the corner now behind the glass, crying and looking at him. Both her hands were pressed against the glass as if she wanted to enter the room. Shawn smiled. "Goodbye," his lips moved to form the words.
"Thump... thump... thump," the woman pounded on the glass, crying hysterically and saying something. Shawn smiled. "Be happy, Emma," his lips moved again. Several police officers held Emma, who was starting to disrupt the other attendees. Shawn laid his head back down. He glanced at the doctor, who was flicking the syringe.
"It'll be over soon.... I have no regrets..... thank you Emma... goodbye," he thought to himself, closing his eyes and crying.
The doctor immediately injected him. A stream of heat entered Shawn's body and deadened his senses. Then he felt his breath hitch, causing him pain, but his face remained calm and showed no sign of it.
He closed his eyes, and in the last moments of his life, he remembered everything. Suddenly, "hahahaha," Shawn laughed loudly. He sat up and stared at the shocked audience behind the glass.
"I don't regret it! Not one bit! The people I killed deserved to die! They were bullies and criminals! I saved the world from trash like them!" Shawn screamed, eyes wide and a massive grin on his face.
"Gasp," suddenly Shawn's face went rigid. "Thud," he fell back onto the bed, and "beeeeeep," the EKG machine flatlined. Nevertheless, Shawn's final shout terrified the audience, especially seeing Shawn's face still laughing and his eyes open, even though he was lifeless.
Emma, who was being restrained by the guards, struggled free, then ran to the glass again, staring at Shawn as he was covered with a sheet by the officials, her tears flowing and her screams hysterical.
An officer with rank picked up Shawn's book and began to read it. It was Shawn's life story, or biography, starting from his childhood until he was eventually identified as a serial killer and sentenced to death—all written by himself.
***
Hello to whoever is reading my biography. My name is Shawn Reeve. My story began when I was seven years old. I found my mother hanging herself at home, leaving a note. At first, I didn't understand and was just sad that Mom had left me. But when I began to understand the note she left, I realized my mother never actually wanted me.
I was considered an accident that shouldn't have happened but did, and she was stuck with me. Because she had me, she was ostracized by her family. Because she had me, she had to work hard to support me. And the most painful thing was that she once deliberately abandoned me at a gas station but was forced to come back because otherwise she'd be arrested by the police.
After Mom was gone, when I was ten, I lived with my uncle and aunt. Initially, I was happy because they didn't have children, so their attention was all focused on me. But that only lasted for a year. When I was twelve, my female cousin was born. My uncle and aunt's attention immediately shifted to her, and I was just a household accessory.
They didn't see me at all. They didn't even come to see me go up on the podium to receive my diploma when I graduated elementary school as the top student. Then, for middle school, they sent me to live with my grandparents so I could go to school there. Of course, I was happy again, until Grandpa died three years later when I was fifteen, and Grandma followed him six months after that.
Since then, I lived alone with absolutely no help. I worked at a neighbor's garage and earned just enough money for daily needs and monthly bills. Almost every day, I only ate instant noodles and cucumbers, which I usually bought on sale at the supermarket. At school, I was bullied because my body was small and thin.
I had no friends and was ostracized. There was only one girl who was close to me, her name was Sophia. She was very kind and sometimes invited me to her house. Honestly, she was my first love, and we even dated for a while, but that was just the beginning.
Sophia had a sick younger sibling who was constantly in and out of the hospital. One day, right after I graduated middle school, after Sophia's parents fed me, they asked to speak with me privately. At first, I didn't think it was important, but five minutes later, I shivered.
The reason was they asked me to sell my kidney and give it to them so they could keep treating their child, arguing that it was payment for taking care of me over the past year until I graduated middle school. I was completely heartbroken. I turned to look at Sophia, who was standing near her parents, pleading for her defense, but she just said,
"Sorry Shawn, I got close to you because I knew you didn't have any family, so I'm asking for your help, please help my family. I promise I won't leave you if you grant Mom and Dad's request for my little brother."
I stood up and left without looking back. My heart hurt and I was angry. Both my hands were clenched in frustration. With the money I had left, I went to another city because I got a scholarship there. I lived humbly, sometimes under a bridge, sometimes with homeless people until I got a job at sixteen and could rent an apartment above a laundry shop in a slightly run-down area of the city. I kept working while going to school without rest, and I finally graduated with honors.
I took out a loan to attend online college when I was eighteen and worked three jobs simultaneously just to buy a laptop. When I started college, I met Kaylie, a beautiful girl in my class who who later allowed me to live with her because I became her boyfriend. After graduating college and getting a decent job at a cybersecurity company, I married Kaylie. Our marriage was blessed with a beautiful daughter named Emma.
I was very happy and thought my life would be like this forever because when I had Emma, I had already opened my own cybersecurity company. But in the seventh year of my marriage, when I was 28 and Emma was 4, I had a fever and came home early. I found Kaylie and my business partner, Derek, in my bed, naked and doing God knows what.
When they were caught red-handed, Kaylie and Derek showed no remorse, didn't even cover themselves up. Instead, Kaylie handed me a manila folder containing divorce papers and child custody rights. Ambushed like that, I was powerless. In the end, my company, my only child, and my self-respect were taken by them, and I had to start everything from scratch.
After being destroyed in court, that's when I started to think, "The people who hurt me live comfortably and happily, why do they make me suffer just so they can be happy?" I was angry, truly furious at those who casually step on others for their own happiness. "Snap," something finally broke in my head. I immediately sought out everyone who had hurt me.
First Derek, then my ex-wife Kaylie, then Sophia and her family, my uncle and aunt. After all of that was done, I moved on to people I considered bullies and criminals. Of course, I sent them to hell along with their families. After I was tired, and at the request of my daughter Emma, I surrendered myself. But it wasn't because I regretted it—not at all. And if I could go back, I would keep doing it because I wasn't satisfied punishing the world, hahaha.
***
"Clap," the ranking officer closed Shawn's book. He turned to look at Shawn's corpse lying on the bed, now covered with a sheet. Then he looked at the audience, who were satisfied to see Shawn executed, with their smug smiles. He also saw Emma, sobbing hysterically. After that, he turned back to look at Shawn's body.
"I understand your suffering, sir," he thought to himself. Then he turned to look at the two officials dressed like doctors who had given Shawn the injection. "Take him to the facility. We're putting him into the Watcher program," the ranking officer said.
"Yes, sir," the two doctor-like officials replied.