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Sue hated this kind of weather. Water was pouring from the sky in torrents. When she was leaving for work, she hadn't expected her car to break down on the way home, and she hadn't brought an umbrella or a raincoat. Besides, she hadn't expected such a heavy downpour. She was wearing a thin jacket, which, as she walked down the street, no longer resembled the expensive, designer one it had originally been. It looked like a plain, soggy rag with buttons. In any other situation, Sue would have been concerned, but now all she could think about was getting home quickly, changing, and taking a taxi to the office. She had a meeting she had to make it to. As luck would have it, her cell phone had died, so she couldn't call roadside assistance for her red car. "It must have broken down today," she thought bitterly, "and they say their cars are reliable. Bastards."

A few days ago, she had managed to settle a difficult court case. And as the rain poured down her hair in waves, she still managed to smile. She knew few lawyers could fool Judge Ramsey. She had succeeded, and she had joined that ranks of the few.

There was no doubt in her mind that her client was guilty. This man was a sleazy old man who, whenever they met to discuss their defense, would casually stare at her cleavage. She was fed up with the man, but he promised her a hefty bonus for a quick win, so she somehow managed to endure his nauseating presence. He was accused of financial embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion, defrauding his former company, and the like. The indictment ran to a considerable number of pages. Sue had known from the outset that the trial would be hellishly difficult. But she wasn't deterred and put everything on the line. Either she won now, or the trial would drag on for months. She liked a quick resolution and wanted to do everything she could to make it the same this time. Her client, despite his age and lifestyle, enjoyed excellent health. However, she had to ensure that Judge Ramsey deemed him so gravely ill that he wouldn't last a day behind bars. It was worth having doctors on hand, doctors she had once helped and now expected to be repaid. And so, during the trial, Sue spoke with a sad and resentful voice about her client, who was nearing death, sitting beside her with a grave expression, laughing heartily.

She was truly good, carefully observing the judge's facial expression and knowing she couldn't overdo her legal presentation. She had managed to perfectly read the limits of her abilities, and as she concluded her speech, she felt she had succeeded. Judge Ramsey stared at her intently after she finished speaking. Sue never looked down, holding his piercing gaze, searching for any ambiguity. Her client coughed discreetly from time to time, just as she had instructed. It was as effective as peering into her cleavage. Judge Ramsey took another look at the medical reports she had provided, which described her client as having at most a year to live. As always, Ramsey was searching for the slightest flaw, some tiny sign that he was being duped. But he found nothing.

The reports were impeccably crafted, and even a judge like him couldn't find anything in them that would undermine Sue's masterful performance. When he returned after a short break to deliver the verdict, she was calm. She felt she had the upper hand again. Her client had been cleared of all charges. The verdict was final. The prosecutor was close to lunging at Ramsey and strangling him with his bare hands. Instead, he merely told Sue, as he left the courtroom, that it was outrageous and that he had seen through her deceitful and dirty game.

But both she and he knew he couldn't prove it. Her client kept his word and handed her a check, the amount of which was supplemented by the previously promised bonus. It was a truly substantial sum, enough to quell her guilty conscience. Although Sue couldn't recall ever having felt it.

The rain was getting heavier, but Sue, lost in her thoughts, didn't notice. Instinctively, she quickened her pace and, without seeking any shelter, proudly strode to her fashionably furnished apartment (thanks to this last trial, she had finally bought herself that dream couch and two armchairs). "If I've managed to outwit Ramsey, then I'm out of the question," she said with a broad smile. Oceans of raindrops were already pouring from the sky, and she herself was already one giant raindrop, but despite this, already thinking about her next case, she proudly strode toward her street.

As she was composing another colorful defense speech in her head, she saw a strange figure in a coat and hat about thirty meters away.

She might not have noticed her if it weren't for the fact that she was standing still, in the middle of the sidewalk, instead of heading out of the downpour like she was. She seemed to be looking at Sue, though she couldn't see her face, as the high collar of her coat and the hat pulled low on her forehead made her invisible. Sue slowed slightly and decided to turn around and take a different route. She knew she'd have to make a detour, but she felt she shouldn't pass this strange man. She wasn't a timid person, and the self-defense course she'd recently taken made her feel safe, but she still preferred not to pass this rain-soaked figure. She was about to turn back when she suddenly saw the man—she was now almost certain it was a man—starting to walk toward her. Now she had no doubt he was staring at her. She felt she couldn't avoid confrontation with this man, who, it seemed to her, must be some kind of lunatic, pervert, thief, or something borderline. As she was getting into a defensive position, something her self-defense teacher would have been proud of, she finally managed to see the man's face, and in the next second, she turned on her heel and began running as fast as she could.

The sight of this man's face suddenly made her lose the will to test the skills she'd learned in self-defense. She didn't know how much the pouring rain could have caused it, but what she saw made her want to run. She didn't even scream; she simply knew she had to run and avoid a confrontation with this man. His face was horribly deformed, as far as she could see in that brief moment. It was hard to even tell how much of a man it was. However, his posture and clothing convinced her that he must be a man.

When she turned around, she realized with relief that the man was no longer behind her. "He gave up, thank God... I think I surprised him a bit with my quick reaction and he wasn't prepared for it. It's a good thing he didn't feel like running after me," Sue thought.

What happened next, however, shocked her like nothing she'd ever experienced before. It was a combination of shock and terror, which was already making itself felt at that moment. Sue simply couldn't take a step. Not from fear, but simply from her legs refusing to obey the commands coming from her brain. Her feet felt as if they had been cemented into the pavement. It felt as if her lower limbs had been replaced by bags of cement. "What the hell is this!" she said to herself, and tried to bend down. She couldn't. It looked as if her shoe soles were made of metal and she'd stepped onto a section of pavement beneath which was a fiendishly powerful magnet. That's how it looked, but the thought didn't amuse Sue at all. Something was holding her in place, preventing her from taking a step. She was already soaked to the skin; she felt the water seep into her underwear. She tried to jump and nothing, tried to lean over and couldn't, because whatever was blocking her movements kept her upright. "I think I'm going crazy, I feel like the heroine of some fucking half-baked cartoon," she thought. She gathered the last of her strength, pushed as hard as she could against her immobilized legs, and...nothing. She still couldn't move an inch. Slowly, tiny threads of panic crept into her mind, but like a lawyer of Sue's caliber, she managed to control herself. She took a few deep breaths and blinked vigorously. Raindrops were already streaming down her cheeks. She thought she could handle it, that she was truly strong and wouldn't panic. This situation was so absurd it couldn't be real. "One more minute and I'll start screaming, damn the myth of the strong, modern woman." If I don't get this out, my head will burst," Sue continued her internal monologue. Her legs felt as if they were stuck, like two sticks driven a good few inches into the ground. The difference, however, was that her feet weren't UNDERNEATH, but rather ON the sidewalk. "Hehe, I'm really starting to go crazy with such absurd and twisted thoughts. Fuck it, I have to..." she formulated another thought and, taking a deep breath, gathered herself to scream. It could hardly be called a scream, though, because she only opened her mouth wide, and not a single sound escaped. "No, no, no...this is some nightmare, what does this mean, what is this...NOOOOO!" Sue screamed. It only seemed that way to her, because this scream, like her previous statements to herself, took place inside her. Not only could she not move, but she also couldn't utter a single sound. Apparently, whatever was holding her there was also beginning to affect her vocal cords. She knew she was close to madness, but she tried not to succumb to it just yet. Suddenly, a powerful bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and Sue jumped in fright. Or rather, she flinched; normally, she might have jumped.but now it was obviously impossible.

She realized that other drops besides rain were beginning to form on her cheeks. Tears of helplessness. Sue began to cry, and she couldn't remember the last time this had happened. She tried to wipe the tears, along with the raindrops, with her jacket sleeve, but it was like a soaked rag, just like the rest of her clothes, so it was no use.

She began to shake all over. She couldn't stop it. It was caused by both the terror welling up inside her and the fact that her body was only now reacting to the cold of the water pouring from the sky. She knew she was about to faint in this absurdly upright position. "This is going to be something, fainting and still standing straight," Sue thought, but it didn't seem funny. She took several deep breaths again, only this time with her head raised, and she choked as rain entered her open, gasping mouth. As she tried to control her coughing from the rainwater, she heard an inhuman laugh behind her. It couldn't possibly be human laughter, she thought. She'd never heard such a horrific sound. She automatically turned her head as far as possible in her position and immediately regretted it.

Behind her, a few meters away, stood HE, the figure in the dark coat and hat she'd been trying to escape from. It seemed to Sue like it was ages ago, not just minutes ago. Her tormentor stood behind her, roaring with that inhuman laughter. He did this with his head raised, and Sue could see that his entire neck was covered in hideous scars. There wasn't a single smooth spot. His entire neck was covered in scars. It was a macabre complement to his deformed face.

Suddenly, his laughter stopped, and he looked at Sue. Only now did she notice that the whites of his eyes were covered in a network of broken blood vessels, giving them a chilling red hue. She had to turn her head back because the unnaturally forceful twisting was making her neck ache. She had no idea what to do. Fear paralyzed her completely. Then she heard the voice of the man in the trench coat. The sound made her realize beyond a shadow of a doubt that what she was dealing with couldn't possibly be a human being.

"So you think you're a great lawyer who can fool everyone. Am I right?" You think you can wrap any judge around your little finger, giving you the ability to defend even the most guilty client. You're so confident in your own abilities that you probably think of yourself as an "invincible lawyer." You see, I used to think I could acquit even the worst mafioso. I was a well-paid lawyer for bigwigs in mafia circles. I was really good at it. I proved their insanity, supposed terminal illnesses that gave them a few months to live... and so on and so forth.

I was good at it. At that moment, Sue felt his cold breath on her neck, chilling her to the bone. "For years, in various parts of the country, I played a game with judges in which they were doomed from the start. I had such a high opinion of myself. I was swimming in the dirty money the mafia paid me, and I was happy with it. I couldn't complain about a lack of clients." She saw his silhouette emerge from behind her and, walking slowly, stop about two meters in front of her. Then he turned, looking at her, and continued his interrupted speech. His deformed face seemed to be contorted into a mocking smile. Sue stared at him as if hypnotized. She simply couldn't turn her head, even though she desperately wanted to. The sight before her was horrific, like a scene from the most terrifying horror movie, the kind that makes you want to hide under the bed and not come out until the end. And even long after. Deformed Face continued his argument, and the terror on Sue's face seemed to encourage him.

"And you see, it would probably still be that way. I would defend those shady characters and collect a fortune from them, inflating my self-satisfaction. But someone up there..." As he spoke, he took his right hand out of his pocket, both of which had been hidden in his coat pockets, and pointed at the black, storm-clouded sky, where another bolt of lightning had cracked. "...decided that enough was enough." Before he put his hand back in his pocket, Sue noticed the unnaturally contorted fingers covered in dark scars. As did the rest of his hand. "So, apparently, my ego had swollen to such a terrifying size that it threatened to explode soon, and it had to be prevented. That's how I explain it to myself, but if someone had said something like that to me back then, I would have laughed at them and recommended I see a psychiatrist." In any case, you could say I bid farewell to this earthly world in truly fireworks fashion. Sue thought she'd misheard, but the certainty with which he said it chilled her even more, and if she could have, she would have screamed at the top of her lungs.

"The other day I was driving my beautiful, brand new, obscenely expensive car to meet another 'innocent'..." he winked at Sue, intensifying her disgust and horror, "...client. I had well over a hundred on the clock. I must add that this wasn't a highway at all, but an ordinary built-up area. It was quite late, so I didn't hesitate to use the gas pedal boldly. I was driving along, enjoying the speed, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge truck came around the corner. I knew I wouldn't be able to brake. I swerved sharply to the right, drove onto the lawn, and hit a lamppost with full force. And since I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, of course, you understand. I'll spare you further details. I couldn't have survived it, anyway. Where I found myself next is hard to put into words. To put it mildly, what is instilled in people during their lifetime bears no resemblance to the images they have once they get there. Believe me, you don't want to know the evil you might witness there. At a certain point, the screams of those being burned alive become as natural to you as a rooster crowing in the morning here on Earth. Sue felt that in a moment she wouldn't be able to stop the madness seeping into her mind. Another moment and... HE continued. "My actions in life were properly classified there, and accordingly, day after day—in the earthly sense, because time is relative there—I was 'taken care of' in a specific way. Suffering became my constant companion. I received it in various dimensions and in the most sophisticated doses. I wasn't a murderer in life, and the evil I committed was of a completely different nature, although those who were pardoned thanks to me had murders on their consciences and likely inflicted pain on others later on. However, I hadn't inflicted mortal pain on anyone, and that gave me, in a place of horror, what I'll call it, an "opportunity." That's what they call it there. Every non-murderer is given one opportunity there, which consists of returning to the world of the living for one day to deliver the greatest possible dose of fear to one person of their choosing. It's a form of game allowed in a place from which, for me, there's no return.

Sue began to lose track of this cursed story; her body had been shivering from the cold for a long time, and she was fighting with all her remaining strength not to faint. She didn't want to think about what HE would do to her then. "I was a lawyer, so before I received the 'opportunity,' I already knew how I would use it. I knew that through me, someone in the same profession would receive the dose of fear I had prepared. And when I arrived here, I had no doubt it would be you." Sue began to shiver even more. And now, it wasn't just from the cold. - You can't faint, you can't... - she repeated in her mind.

"This weather suits me perfectly today. There's a certain dark power lurking in the storm, lightning, and pouring rain. This landscape today is very conducive to my 'opportunity.' You're probably wondering why I chose you and how I know about you. Hence," he said, taking the slightly damp newspaper from his pocket, opening it to the chosen page, stepping closer to Sue (she desperately wanted to back away, but couldn't), and pointing to the title of one of the articles. "Ambitious attorney Sue Morgan emerges victorious once again." Sue was familiar

with the article; she'd even considered framing it today. "I read it and knew right away that you were a lawyer of my caliber. For now, you're still defending low-class scum. Embezzlement, embezzlement, tax fraud... but just wait until one day a man in a perfectly tailored suit visits your office. Someone with a good following. In other words, a member of the mafia. And then a completely different game will begin." You're the kind of lawyer I was. You can turn off your conscience, and for a fortune, you'll be willing to create a story for the court that will make your final defense argument seem like a white lie. Sue felt she couldn't bear to listen to or watch this person any longer. Or maybe something? A thought flashed through her mind. It was hard to name the person she now had practically at her fingertips. "So I'll get to the point, because my time of "opportunity" is slowly running out. I thought that once I'm here, I won't focus on simply delivering fear, according to the rules of the game I have to stick to. Nothing will help me now; I don't know if I deserve something like this, such a harsh punishment for my earthly life. But nothing will change that. I can see from your face that I've fulfilled my dark mission. I delivered a masterful dose of fear, one might say. Before I leave you, I thought I'd bend the rules a bit. The only thing I might face for this is, let's say, a slight penalty from my "hot" guardians." With that, he pointed a crooked finger of his right hand at the sidewalk. It seemed to Sue that a tiny crack appeared in the sidewalk for a moment, and someone's terrifying scream erupted from it. It happened because she couldn't have seen it. It couldn't have happened. Right? It couldn't have happened... she thought with all her strength, already controlling what little sanity she still had.

"So, I bent the rules. You shouldn't have heard my voice at all. I couldn't tell you what I said. But I did. And how you use it depends entirely on you. Believe me, you don't want to be where I am. I don't know why I bent the rules of my "opportunity." Maybe my human side showed up for a moment. Because it's not about remorse. Where I am now, there can be no question of that. The first thing they do is get rid of your conscience. They had an easier time with me, because even when I was alive, I had a residual amount of it. What drove me, I have no idea. Or maybe SOMEONE did? I'll never know. Use my words and consider whether this is how you want to lead your life...there will be no second chance. Remember -." Then HE approached Sue and, with that inhuman smile on his deformed face, touched her cheek, wet with tears and the still-falling rain. When she felt the touch of his icy, scarred hand on her skin, she couldn't resist. Darkness engulfed her. Finally... Sue thought, and, oblivious to everything else, she surrendered to the soothing blackness.

When she awoke, she was surprised to find herself sitting in her car. Her head rested against the front door window. Her clothes were dry, which surprised her as much as the fact that she was sitting in her car. The car was parked next to the building where she had her apartment. More precisely, in the parking lot where she sometimes parked her car. She looked up at the sky. "Not a single cloud," she noted with a smile. She glanced at her watch. It was 2:22 PM. This meant she hadn't gone anywhere yet, and her overworked body must have forced her to take a nap. A nap tinged with a twisted nightmare, she thought. She still had a good two hours before her meeting with the new client. Sue started laughing. "I'm incredibly tired; dreams like these can only be the result of overexertion. I'm not getting enough sleep, I'm not eating enough. These are the effects. I need to get myself together," she thought.

She inserted the key into the ignition, just to be sure. The car gave a pleasant purr, signaling that everything was fine.

"If I tell anyone this, they'll tell me to see a specialist right away. A dream like that is truly rare. It was so tangible. So real," she said to herself, still laughing. She stopped when her stomach muscles ached. "Okay, enough fun. We'll think about relaxing and taking a warm bath later. Now we have to pop into the office for a moment and then quickly meet with... What's his name... Damn... I forgot. She had so many clients that it might have been a bit of an excuse. Something that started with S... Smornton, Smornon, Sm..." As she tried to remember, she involuntarily glanced at the passenger seat and... froze. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

On the passenger seat was a dripping, dark hat, with burnt letters visible on it. Letters spelling out the word REMEMBER.