The Monster and His Mockery

“The club's bass vibrated through Mark' s bones as he showered the squalling women with champagne. His wife, Sarah, lay miles away in a hospital bed, kept alive by tubes after a hit-and-run, the money from their house sale meant for her treatment now being thrown away on a lavish display. Suddenly, Sarah' s parents, the Smiths, stood before him, their faces etched with grief. They watched in horror as he publically humiliated them, throwing crumpled bills at his kneeling mother-in-law, even striking the woman on his lap. "You bastard. That' s her money! That' s the money for her treatment!" Mr. Smith roared, his face red with fury. Then, with chilling indifference, Mark told them Sarah was a vegetable and would die soon, revealing an "inoperable tumor." Mrs. Smith collapsed, bleeding from her mouth. The city exploded with outrage as videos of "MarkTheMonster" went viral, but he reveled in the hatred, driving straight to the hospital. There, Mr. Smith launched himself at Mark, screaming, "You killed her! Sarah is dead! And it' s your fault!" But when the doctor confirmed Sarah's death, Mark threw his head back and laughed, "Oh, thank God! I'm free!" He celebrated, declaring himself released from the burden of his wife, a woman who, in her dying breath, had recorded a message forgiving him and telling him to be happy. Then, in an unthinkable act, Mark pulled back the sheet from Sarah' s gurney and slapped her lifeless face, hissing, "You were more than a burden. You were a leech." The crowd erupted, consuming Mark in a storm of vigilante justice. As police intervened, Mark, battered but lucid, dropped a bombshell on Captain Miller. "How can I have killed a woman who isn' t actually dead?" he asked, pointing a bloody finger at the doctor. He accused Dr. Evans of fraud and attempted murder, revealing Sarah' s "injuries" were a minor concussion. He then pulled out Sarah' s real medical records and a recording implicating Mrs. Smith in funding the hit-and-run, claiming the Smiths had already conspired to kill his first wife, Ava. Just as the Smiths and Dr. Evans were cuffed, Sarah sat up, confirming the elaborate charade.”