The man in the white coat seemed pleased with himself. Guess he thinks he did something miraculous. At least my time away was well spent. The world was a better place because two pieces of human trash were now frying their asses off in hell.

You’re probably wondering what I was talking about. All I did was take advantage of a situation and kept a promise. The promise? Kill the men who murdered my daughter. The situation? My death. It may have only been temporary, but I didn’t know that at the time. Most people don’t come back after an incredible beating and taking three bullets to the chest.

I’d been tracking the two bastards for months. Ever since they were let loose on a technicality because of an incompetent prosecutor. Mr. District Attorney will probably piss himself silly as soon as he reads the report on who the two dead men in the alley were. He’s gonna wet his pants because I promised him I’d kill him as soon as I got the other two first.

I’m not worried about the judge. He’s already half dead and has already reserved his place in hell for what he’s been doing.

There’s nothing to tell about my daughter’s murder. They took her, did terrible things and killed her. She wasn’t their first, but she would be their last.

When things unraveled in court, I voiced my displeasure in a clear and convincing manner. Thirty days in jail for contempt only cemented my conviction to the cause. They would all die. However, it had to be done in a way so I wouldn’t end up in jail before I got them all.

Going old school and using a shotgun sounded like fun, so did a nice acid bath. But there were too many problems with each method of execution. I had to keep my head and just get the job done. Nothing fancy, just kill’em and move on to the next. But how?

That problem was solved in an unexpected manner. I’d been following the fuckers for two days waiting for the right opportunity to get my revenge. But I got careless and they caught me unaware in an alley. They had as much mercy for me as they had for my daughter. After beating the fuck out of me, one pulled his gun and put three in my chest.

I was divided on my expected death. Being with my daughter again would be fine with me, but not keeping my promise to her and the other girls hurt my soul. With my last conscious thought, I asked for justice and vengeance. Blackness took me and the pain stopped.

The next thing I knew I was standing in front of a young man who was sitting behind a very old desk. He was reading through pages of a folder stopping occasionally to look up at me. He didn’t say a word until he closed the folder. “So you want justice huh? You intended to murder two men. Killers don’t usually deserve justice. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Who are you and where am I?”

“For the moment, you’re in a receiving room. Where you go from here is up to me. I’m your judge, jury and executioner. Again, why should a murderer be given justice?”

“OK, if that’s how you want to play it. Technically, I’m not a murderer. I was killed before I committed the act. And, don’t you believe my daughter and the other girls deserve justice? Who really cares how justice is served?”

The man said nothing but pointed up. I knew who he was referring to.

I asked, “Doesn’t he care? Is he going to do it himself? If you ask me, he should, then people like me wouldn’t have to.”

All of a sudden the man began to smile. “Who said he doesn’t? Remember, ‘Vengeance is mine saith the Lord.’ Besides, you’re exactly the type of man he uses in situations like this.”

Giving him a look, “What do you mean, a man like me?”

“A dead man. You do realize that you are dead, right?”

That didn’t surprise me. I knew that was going to happen. “Ok, I’m dead. How does that get justice for my daughter?”

“Simple really. You’re not a physical being anymore. But you still have the ability to do what you asked for. Go do what needs done and we’ll talk after.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I already knew all I needed to know to get the job done. The thought was made and I was whisked back to the alley. It was weird looking down at my body, but I had a task to take care of and there was no rest for the wicked.

Time must work differently when you’re dead. When I rematerialized, the fuck with the gun had just fired his last shot into my chest. He barely had time to lower the gun and glance toward fuck number two. Both started laughing right up until they noticed me standing in front of them. It was hard to tell if their laughing stopped because of the look on my face or was it that there were two of me? One dead on the ground and one standing looking at them with a deadly calm. Either way, it was a good start.

Fucker with the gun raised it and started shooting. Each bullet passed right through, impacting the wall behind me. He kept pulling the trigger even after the magazine was emptied. I just stood there with the same expression.

Fuck number one started pissing himself while Fuck number two muttered some nonsense like, “God save me.”

I spoke my first words since coming back, “I’m afraid God is sitting this one out.”

Right after his eyes registered the meaning of my words, I picked up a piece of wood from a broken pallet off the ground. My first few swings took their knees. I couldn’t have them run away before I finished, could I?

Their excessive screaming was starting to get on my nerves. To solve the problem I tore some material from the shirt off my dead body and shoved it in their mouths. Not too much though. I did enjoy hearing their pain, just a little.

When the piece of wood in my hands was worn down to a nub, I figured it was time to put a little personal touch to their earthly punishment. Besides, the thought in my head told me it was time to end things.

Punching those two pieces of shit felt good. There was just enough consciousness left in them that they felt every ounce of pain delivered. Each strike came with me reminding them this is how their victims felt.

Both were unrecognizable. It would take DNA records to identify them.

I wasn’t physically tired after delivering justice upon those two worthless men. I was exhausted, however. Exhausted from the pain of having to identify my precious daughter’s battered body. Exhausted of having to live life without her. Exhausted from ... just everything. Like the two on the ground at my feet who were asking for the beating to stop, I myself asked for the torment to end.

I heard, “Let it be so.” Before being pulled out of the alley, I watched the spirits of Fuck One and Fuck Two drop through an opening in the ground. The heat and smell of sulfur was overpowering.

I was standing in front of the young man again. He was still sitting behind his desk reading through another folder. Looking up at me, he asked, “How do you feel after killing those men?”

I told him, “It needed to be done. They needed to feel what my daughter and the other girls felt. They needed the agony, the terror ... and the helplessness. But if you’re asking me, ‘do I feel good for doing it,’ the answer to your question is, maybe a little.” He gave a slight smile.

He then asked me another question. “What about the district attorney? You made a promise to him as well.”