I was walking along the deserted pathway one afternoon when I saw a man lurking in the bushes behind me. Realising how late it was, I quickened my pace and only focused on heading home. Since I was walking in one of the shadiest parts of my town, I knew that whoever was lurking in the bushes was up to no good.

Suddenly, the man emerged from the bushes and my heart stopped for a moment. Shielding my eyes from the dimming sunlight, I soon noticed that the man appeared to be around the same age as me, which was around the mid-20s. He wore a black cloak and was tall, muscular and handsome with a pair of piercing emerald eyes.

As I sighed with relief that the man wasn't some murderous lunatic, I was fascinated at how god-like he appeared to the point that it seemed rather unnerving. His physical beauty would effortlessly put every male model to shame. Trembling with awe within his presence, I averted my eyes from his immaculate face and briskly walked away from him.

However, his pale hands immediately clutched onto my arm and prevented me from walking away. He stared at me intently with his piercing emerald eyes as I effortlessly tried to let go of his tight grasp.

"Where do you think you're going?" the man asked as the muscles within his cheekbones clenched at every moment I've tried to free myself from his grasp.

"Uh....home...I guess? Now let me go!" I stuttered.

"Not so fast. You either have two options. One, I can leave you alone but my presence shall continually permeate every aspect of your life until you die. Two, you can grant me any wish to your desire and I shall leave you alone and get it over and done with. Now what shall it be?" said the man.

I couldn't think logically at this moment. The man's hand clutched onto my frail arms even tighter as I struggled to think of a suitable response to this dilemma. All I wanted was to do was to go home.

"I'll pick option two," I said as sweat poured down from my forehead.

"Wise choice. This is the only opportunity that you'll receive in this life. After all, I was one of God's holiest angels and it was His purpose to send me here on Earth to serve the will of man. Without me, you humans would live a life with no purpose. All the wise men throughout history have listened to my wise words. Tell me any wish you like and I shall grant it to you in an instant," remarked the man.

A strange thought entered my mind when I heard those words come out from his mouth. Something in my mind was telling me that this man could actually grant me my wishes, like he knew every aspect of my life. It seemed weird at first but eventually, I decided to give it a chance.

"I wish I could restart my life over again, especially after all the troubles with my wife. We've been through alot and I was hoping that you could change this tragic situation for the better," I said whilst never regretting at every word I've just uttered.

"Wish granted," said the man.

The man soon walked away from me but when I looked back, he was gone. That was strange, I thought to myself. I eventually reached home when I felt the veins within my pale arms popping up. There was a sudden feeling of excitement and intense passion for something that I've suppressed within my psyche for many years.

As the sounds of footsteps creaked against the floorboards of the front balcony, I unlocked the door and swung it open. Emerging from the kitchen, my wife merrily greeted me whilst my two children raced downstairs to wrap their arms around both of our legs.

I tried to forgive my wife of all the troubles I've inflicted upon her and thankfully, she accepted my apology. I looked at the clock and realising that it was nearly dinner time, I decided to help her set the dinner table to cheer her up. I couldn't risk losing my wife.

Whilst I cleaned the glasses with a towel, one of the glasses fell onto the floor. I immediately bent down and cleaned up the glass shards that laid scattered on the floor. The intense passion within my suppressed psyche grew the strongest at this point and soon, I decided to release it.

Grabbing one of the glass shards, I approached my wife and viciously stabbed her in the abdomen several times. I loved the luxurious feeling of the blood of my wife splattering against the soft, silky surface of my skin. As my wife's lifeless body slumped against the surface of the stove, I ran to my children and stabbed them deep in their little beating hearts.

However, those lucky bastards survived from their wounds and tried to crawl to the telephone to call the police. I couldn't let that happen. Today was MY day. I immediately taught them a lesson by throwing both of them into the stove behind their dead mother. The sounds of their screams in the presence of the burning heat eased my unapologetically depraved soul. It was even more satisfying when I mesmerisingly watched their burning bodies reduce into fine ashes.

The police eventually arrested me the next day and I am currently in prison, awaiting my life sentence. Whilst the police investigated the crime scene, they captured a photograph that disturbed and even scarred some of them for the rest of their life. I even heard rumours that one of them was now in a mental hospital as a result of looking at that particular photograph. I couldn't fathom why this would happen, especially when they're the type of people who would encounter heinous crimes every day.

One of the police officers averted their eyes away from me the whole time whilst they gave me the photograph. They knew I was a sick, twisted soul walking on two legs but I didn't mind it. In fact, it was now my badge of honour. In the photograph.  I saw a black, cloaked figure standing amid the bloody crime scene. It didn't appear to be Photoshopped in any way. It was 100% legitimate. The hands of the figure were completely pale and my face turned completely pale when I noticed a pair of distinctive emerald eyes staring back at me. Then, the inmate next to me uttered under his breath,

"John 8, 44, 8, 44, 8, 44, 8, 44, 8, 44, 8, 44"

I was confused at first by what the inmate meant but a prison guard who walked past my cell immediately threw a Bible onto my feet. I never read that book in a while and I was hoping that it'd be provide me answers.