The Candle Wax Man

Under the light of the moon and stars a man in an all-beige trench coat limps through the streets clasping his side as it bleeds profusely. A six-inch blade buried deep in his back and four holes in his left thigh, gunshot holes.

Beside him walks the Candle Wax Man. An expressionless being with melting waxy skin, hollow black eyes and candles for fingers.

The five candles that make up the fingers of his left hand were burnt out while his right fingers stayed lit with an eerie orange flame that danced in the wind. This being, this Wax Man, he does not speak, he does not feel, he simply is.

The bleeding man stumbles forward, groaning in pain as his vision blackens. With his final breath he whispered, "No. Not again." He collapsed and life left his body. The Candle Wax Man raised his right hand and blew out the flame of the candle that is his thumb.

Four lit candles left. Four lives left.

The Wax Man vanished, as though he faded out of reality.

The man gasped as life returned to him. The bleeding stopped, and his injuries subverted all except the knife in his back. Behind him, the cries of angry men and gunshots filled the air. "Roberto!! When I find you.....!!" They yelled, firing several shots in the air. "You're Fucking Dead!!"

Robert found his way onto his feet, just barely. Unable to properly stand, much less move. The knife piercing him has cracked two ribs and punctured a lung. But still he must move. He ducks behind an alley, his eyes permanently fixed to the ground, the blade preventing him from standing upright. Soon he found himself resting, leaning beside a lamppost, in front of him a road and then a brightly lit diner. Across the road, in front of the diner stood The Candle Wax Man. With his four flame lit fingers to his lips ready to blow...... Robert was about to die. Again.

The Candle Wax Man. He appears when Death is near and once the death has occurred he blows out a candle and vanishes. Only to repeat the cycle until all candles are blown out.

Robert bowed his head and accepted his fate. He's died six times already and has become numb to the terrors of death. He steps forward fully aware of the pickup truck barreling towards him. "I've never been hit by a car before." He chuckled. "I wonder what that would feel like."

The truck rammed into him destroying his sternum and ribcage. His organs ruptured and he was sent flying upwards where he hung in the air for several seconds before crashing back down. Like a plastic bag filled with jelly, he exploded into a mangled mess of flesh, blood, organs and bones. Pain. Pain is what you feel when you stub your toe or accidentally cut yourself or even when you get stabbed in the back, literally. But this isn't pain, it's Suffering. Pure unadulterated, unfiltered Suffering.

Robert gasps desperately as his broken neck gives him a clear view of his lungs outside his body. His eyes shifted to the left. A piece of his brain and parts of what was once his skull lay there like playdough. He then locked eyes with the Candle Wax Man and drew his final breath. The Wax Man blew out another flame, his pinky finger.

Three Fingers left. Three lives left.

Robert regenerated and was completely healed, the knife in his back was finally knocked loose. He stretched his arms and walked upright into the empty diner. A waitress with two cigarettes in her mouth and eye bags deep enough to carry groceries unenthusiastically welcomed him in. She leads him to a booth and places a menu in his hands.

"What will it be?" She asked.

"Everything. I want everything."

"Everything huh? Can ya pay? Do ya even got cash on ya, Stranger??"

"Get me some food or I snap your Goddamn neck." He replied glaring deep into her very soul.

She stared at him long and hard, this isn't a man who looks like he bluffs. If he says he'll kill chances are he'll kill. This was just a job, certainly not one worth her life, not by a long shot.

She agreed and got to serving, bringing out plates upon plates of food. Burgers and fries, waffles and pancakes, cakes and pies and milkshakes and more.

Soon Robert's booth had enough food to feed a small village. "Enjoy." she said lighting up a third cigarette.

Robert began inhaling the food. He hadn't eaten in four days. Well, when being tortured by the mob not eating is the least of your concerns. He stopped and noticed the Candle Wax Man sitting across from him ready to blow out yet another candle. He then turned to his side only to see the men chasing him earlier right outside the diner staring and grinning at him.

"You should start running." Robert said.

The woman lifted her eyes to the horde of men rushing into the diner. Her cigarettes fell out of her mouth. "Good idea." She replied, bolting out the diner's backdoor.

Two men leaped over the counter grinning ear to ear trying to get to her but by the time they made it to the backdoor she'd vanished. All they heard were her footsteps echoing throughout the darkness. "Damnit she got away!!"

"Fuck!" He groaned blasting two shots forward. And as the two frustrated at the escape of their prey, their leader faces Robert, ready to settle the score.

"Roberto. You really think you can fuck me over and I'd just let you get away??" The Boss said as two of his men came back from the backdoor of the diner.

Robert continued with his meal paying him no mind. The Man grabbed him by the face and pressed his gun to his head. "Where the Fuck is my money Roberto!?"

Robert stared at the Candle Wax Man, long and hard.

The Boss turned to see, absolutely nothing. "The fuck are you looking at hombre?!" The man asked as his men laughed and chuckled. "Perhaps he's gone mad with fear eh!"

"You piss yourself yet Roberto?!" They mocked.

There were ten of them.

Robert casually slipped a fork into the Boss' neck and stole his gun. Using his body as a shield, he fired off three head shots, all of them connected.

Six of them left.

They opened fire immediately, cursing at him as they put holes in their Boss' corpse.

*Bang! Bang!*

Four of them left.

One of them nipped him in the shin and he dropped his shield. They put seventeen holes in his chest and dropped him dead. Emptying out their ammo. The Candle Wax Man blew out another flame.

Two flames left. Two lives left.

Robert resurrected right in front of their eyes. His body began convulsing and his blood levitated, flowing back into him as his wounds sealed back up. Robert's eyes opened and without missing a beat,

*Bang!*

He blew a man's head open.

Three of them left.

One man ran away screaming out, "Diablo!! Diablo!! El Diablo!!" The two men stayed behind and after reloading they shot at Robert multiple times, but missed 90% of their shots. I guess watching a man come back to life would throw anyone's aim off. They managed to blast away at his legs. Destroying his hips, thighs and manhood. But after everything he's been through, all the awful and painful ways he's died, this alone means nothing.

*Bang! Bang!*

He finished them off, painting the booths they were hiding behind in a crimson red mist. Robert stared at what was currently left of his genitals and decided, "Hell no." He put the gun to his temple and fired off a shot, blowing his own brains out. The Candle Wax Man blew out the flame on his middle finger. Leaving just his index finger left.

One flame left. One life left.

Robert resurrected but the Candle Wax Man still remained. He didn't vanish. Robert is going to die. Again. And this time, he's not coming back.

He calmly sat back in his booth and continued his meal despite it being covered in blood. "So, what's it going to be this time?! Eh?! Is the building going to collapse on me?! Or will I choke and die?!" He asked glaring into the black pits of nothingness this creature has for eyes. "Answer me!!" He yelled shooting endlessly at the Candle Wax Man, but the bullets phased through him, like a ghost.

Just then a beautiful young girl walks into the diner, barely 16 years old. She's wearing a short sleeve pink shirt, navy blue short-shorts with brown hike boots and a black backpack.

Behind her is a Candle Wax Man of her own, far taller and lengthier than the one that follows Robert and he too has only one finger lit.

She walks over to Robert completely unphased by the corpses littered around the diner. "Can I sit?" She asked, her voice worn out and her eyes bankrupt of any sleep. Robert shifts further into the booth making space for her to sit beside him. Her Wax Man sat by Robert's Wax Man and the two sat across from them, watching them as they stare at their fingers ready to blow out their Flames.

He slides a plate of strawberry cake to her. "I'm not hungry." She says. Robert stares at her in complete and utter bamboozlement. "We're about to die," he says to her. "Eat the cake."

"But I don't wanna die." She says as tears streamed down her face.

"I know."

"I'm so sorry." She said, pulling out a hand gun from....only God knows where and aiming it at Robert. Before she could pull the trigger Robert swiped the gun from her hands and aimed at her. She immediately threw her arms in the air and surrendered. "Wait Please!" She said as she began to cry. "I just didn't want to die!!"

"Me neither." He replied.

*Tiwwt!*

Robert pulled the trigger firing the gun but something shot out of the opposite end of the gun and into his neck. The girl started to grin, wiping away her tears. "Sorry Mister but it was either you or me, I picked you."

Robert looked closely at the gun and saw the modifications made to it. "Clever." He groaned. His last words as he slumped over on the table. Whatever shot into his neck has just killed him.

The Candle Wax Man stares at the flame on his finger. Robert is dead but instead of blowing it out, he passes it onto the much taller Candle Wax Man next to him. Now he has two fingers lit.

Robert's Candle Wax Man vanishes. Leaving only the tall Candle Wax Man and the girl. She tears up and begins to weep. "Mama. I did it." She says. "A second life."

Just then a Fat Man with a Candle Wax Infant on his shoulder enters the diner. The infant has only one single finger lit. The fat man aims at the girl and fires two shots to her chest killing her instantly. The Candle Wax Man blows out the second flame and she resurrects.

One flame left. One life left.

She gasps back to life only to see her Wax Man with one single flame remaining, and the Fat Man still pointing a gun at her.

"Just do it." She whispers.

The Fat Man fires two more shots to her head, once again killing her instantly. The tall Wax Man walks over to the Wax Infant and passes on the flame before fading away. The Fat Man leaves the diner with two flames and two lives. But high above him, atop the building lies a sniper with a Candle Wax Woman looming over him. She has three candles lit. The sniper has three lives but insists on a fourth.

He pulls the trigger and blows away the Fat Man's head and the infant blows out the second flame. The Fat Man resurrects and begins running for his life, but to no avail. "Please!!" He yells at the sky. "Please don't do this!!"

*Boom!*

He blew open his head again. The Wax Infant crawled up the building, passed the flame onto the Wax Woman, and vanished. The Sniper had his fourth life.

"Are you done now?" A man in an all- black tactical gear uniform spoke. Behind him is a Candle Wax Man with Nine flames lit.

"No way." The sniper replied with a devilish grin. "Four lives is good but I want all ten. I want to be immortal."

The man in black grinned back and said, "Then let's go make you immortal my friend."

The cycle continues.

The End.