He pulled his gun out and pointed it at the two women. “Who the hell are you?” screamed Ayudh. He had woken up in this strange place. It looked like a room of some sort, except there were no walls for miles. The place was white, well, the floor was white, he couldn’t see the walls, nor the ceiling. There were no chairs anywhere, no stool, no table, no nothing.

As he turned round and round, looking for something, he heard a strange noise. It came from somewhere up. Seconds later, two women materialized before him.

Spotting Ayudh, the girls pulled guns, big guns. “Who the hell are you?” asked Aadhira, one of the girls, calmly.

Ayudh pulled a gun out of his own, on instinct.

“Calm? You’re doing calm?” asked her friend Mohi. “Why don’t you sip a Mai Tai while you’re asking him that?”

“I’m pointing my gun at him, aren’t I?” said Aadhira, rolling her eyes.

“Well, point it at him some more.” said Mohi.

“I… I don’t know what that means.” said her friend. “Look, I just want to know why I’m here, suddenly, and what he’s doing here, pointing a gun at us.”

“This is fun.” said Raj, reaching for his brother’s samosa. Rehman slapped his brother’s hand away. Neither of them had heard, rather, paid attention to the strange sound that had repeated. Two more people had just materialized.

Both Aadhira and Ayudh turned to new entrants and pointed their guns at the duo. Mohi still kept her gun pointing the gun at Ayudh.

“Who are--“ began Aadhira and stopped abruptly. “Holy crap, you’re Raj and Rehman.”

“What?” said Raj, taken aback. “How… how do you know?”

Rehman continued munching his samosas.

 We’ve read your comics.” said Mohi, still pointing her gun at Ayudh.

 “You want to, maybe not point that thing at me?” said Ayudh, pointing his own gun at Raj and Rehman.

 “That’s alright.” responded Mohi.

 “Our what?” asked Raj, incredulously.

 “You guys are characters, in a comic.” said Aadhira. “You’re detectives and you solve crime. We’ve read your comics.”

 “How the hell is this possible?” asked Mohi.

 Aadhira lowered her gun, as did Ayudh.

 “This is, this is confusing.” said Ayudh. “You guys are in a comic?”

 “No, we’re not.” Said Rehman, finally speaking. “We’re Raj and Rehman, and we solve crime.”

 “That’s what I said.” said Aadhira.

 “She did say that.” responded Aayudh.

 “No. No, no. no.” responded Rehman, losing his patience. “We are the Raj and Rehman. We are real people, not part of some… comic.”

 “No you’re not.” Said Mohi joining her friend. “You’re characters in a comic.”

 “Wait a minute,” said Ayudh. He was looking at the girls funny. “I think I know you guys.”

 “Shut up psycho.” Said Mohi, still pointing the gun at Ayudh.

 “No, you’re in a comic. You’re Aadhira and Mohi, aren’t you?”

 “What the fuck?” exclaimed Mohi.

 “Yeah, yeah! You guys are comic book characters. I’ve read your comic.”

 “Hmm.” said Rehman, calmer now. “if we are comic book characters, and you guys are comic book characters, and we’re in the same situation as this young man, it only goes to prove that you, boy with a gun…”

 “I’m not a boy, I’m a man.” mumbled Ayudh.

 “…are part of a comic too.” finished Rehman.

 “No. No! I’m not a comic character.” said Ayudh defiantly.

 “So,” said Mohi, finally lowering her gun. “We’re all comic book characters?”

 “I’m not a comic character,” Ayudh repeated, not very loudly this time.

 “Certainly seems like it.” said Rehman. “The question is, are we here because of him.” Rehman pointed to the man lying on the table, dead to the whole world.

“How the heck did he come here?” exclaimed Raj.

 “He’s…” said Aadhira. “He’s… dead?”

 “Tap him.” said Mohi.

 Aadhira did. She tapped the man lying at the table. When that didn’t work, she began shoving rather rudely.

 All the shoving woke the man up. “Whhhat the hellll?” he mumbled, eyes groggy. “Who are you peop--”

 His eyes shot open. “You’re… you’re… you’re…”

 “Want to finish that sentence?” asked Rehman.

 “I made you all.” said the man-boy.

 “You, made us?” asked Ayudh.

 “Ayudh, Raj, Rehman, Aadhira and Mohi. I made you guys.” he repeated.

 “What do you mean made us?” asked Ayudh. “What are you, god?”

 “I’m not god, no. I’m Ashwin. I wrote all your stories.”

 “What stories?” asked Mohi.

 “You’re comic book characters. I wrote your stories -- Bhaji of the Dead, Beast of Vihitrapur, The  Decay, Ghost of Gharshanpur, I wrote it all."

 “You write those things?” asked Rehman, incredulously.

 “Yeah, yeah I wrote it. I made up those stories and I put it in comic book form. But… how are all you guys alive? Am I dreaming.”

 “Doesn’t feel like dream to me.” said Aadhira.

 “Feels more like a nightmare.” mumbled Mohi.

 “My life is miserable.” cried Ayudh. He was angry. He raise his gun. “You’ve given me hell. You gave them lots of money and you gave me hell.”

 “Hey.” screamed Aadhira, “He screwed us over too. He made me an orphan, he made my to-be-husband leave me at the altar, and he killed Mohi’s parents.”

 “I don’t care!” screamed Ayudh. “He made my life hell. I’m going to kill him.”

 “Wait, wait, wait.” said Ashwin. “I didn’t… I didn’t know you guys were real. All I did was write a story and--”

 Ayudh emptied his gun into Ashwin, all seventeen rounds of it. And with that, Ashwin fell to the floor, bloodied and very dead.

 “Well, shit.” Said Mohi, walking to the dead body. The rest gathered around too. “He’s dead.”

 Rehman grunted in approval.

 “What now?” asked Mohi.

 “Now, we find a way out of here, and go live our lives like none of this ever happened.” said Ayudh. For some reason, he seemed more sure of himself.

 So they went, all them. They phased out of the bleak white floored room, and they lived their lives as if none of that had happened.

 But the second they all left, Ashwin woke up.

 “Fictional bullets” he chuckled. Fictional bullets couldn’t kill anyone living in the real world.

 So Ashwin returned to his computer. He returned and he started typing. He typed, and typed, and when he was done, Ayudh was… let’s just say he wouldn’t be doing any more harm.

 “The next time one of them decides to step out of line and stand up against me, I’m going to make their lives hell.” He chuckled.

 Ashwin then went and drank some sheep eyeball juice he kept in his fridge. He loved how disgusting the thing tasted.