John sat on the wooden bench in the mall looking at the device he held in his hands. The device never looked any different, even after he used it to vaporize hundreds of people. Or was it thousands. He stopped keeping count after the first dozen or so. It seemed funny to use the term vaporized, but what else could you call it. The device never beeped, buzzed, vibrated, or even shot a beam of light. The button you pressed to activate it didn't even make any noise. It just vaporized people. Of course television wasn't accurate it was never like science fiction shows. There was never any smoke or screams or aura of light or laser beam, the people he used it on just vanished like magic. That was the reason he could use the device. It didn't even seem like they were dead, just magically gone like a magician's trick. No guilt, no remorse the people just vanished. Of course they would turn up missing after awhile. Police reports were issued, search parties conducted. Nobody figured it out yet. John wondered if it would be better if they did. At least if he was accounted for the murder of several thousand people he would certainly be given the death sentence and the device would be taken away. He would be imprisoned and nobody else would vanish. The device would be part of submissable evidence stored in some evidence room in a clear plastic bag.

The device was the basic shape of a flashlight. One end was large and bulbous and the rest of it was cylindrical except for one button in the middle of the device just past the bulbous end. It was dark gray in color and made out of some kind of rubber type material that always felt warm. There were no openings or seams, there were also no screws or bolts or anything that indicated it could be dismantled. It definitely was not made by humans. But John didn't believe in aliens or God, so who else could have made it? It didn't matter, the device had one purpose and John was using it for that purpose.

So this was his destiny, or so it seemed, to kill thousands of innocent people by pointing the device at them and pressing the button. So he spent the last five months since he found the device, driving from place to place, mall to mall, theater to theater, restaurant to restaurant. These were always the places to use the device, there were always crowds of people and nobody noticed when people disappeared. Maybe it was part of how the device worked or just part of the reality of how little people are aware of what is happening around them, but nobody ever noticed that people around them had vaporized. For John that was almost reason enough to use the device on people. Still the thought of killing people was difficult for John to think about. But the device made it easy, no blood shed, just "blip" and they were gone. Maybe that was why the device was made so simply and worked so easily, so even John could use it without feeling like he actually killed people. But how did he know it actually killed these people he used it on. Maybe it just teleported them to California or Siberia, how was he to know. All the people he used the device on could be wandering around in San Francisco wondering how they got there. At least that is what John hoped, he did not want to be the one who's destiny it was to "remove human kind". But it was him, it was his destiny and the device was made for John specifically. Or at least that was what the note attached to it said, "Dear John, please use this device carefully. It is meant to be used to remove humankind from the world."

None of it made sense. He found the device on a bench similar to the bench he sat on now. Just sitting there with the note wrapped around it, secured with a rubber band. He always sat on benches. In malls, parks, and other public areas. It is a great way to pass the time and observe people. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, he just liked to watch people. Malls were always the best. Malls always have the best mix of people. Young, old, ethnic, plain, and flamboyant. John would watch people move about and interact with each other. He was always amazed at how little people where aware of their surrounding. People would knock over children as they weaved through the crowds, step on items that have been dropped on the floor, walk into walls and doorways, and bump into people randomly. It was hideous to watch. To see the amount of negligence, or lack of awareness. If people would just be aware of their surroundings. There is great information to be had if one just played attention. The subtle expression of a store salesman as people ignore him as they walk by, the way a person just looks at people as they dart from store to store, the way a person selects an item from the shelf and carefully puts it back into it's proper place. It was all fascinating to John. That's why he could spend hours and hours just watching people. Nobody else cared. He would try to explain it to friends and family. But nobody has the time to just observe people and soak in the wonders of their peculiarities. Friends would just stare at him disapprovingly. John knew what they were thinking. More often then not the conversion would cumulate into the friends deciding John needed to spend more time with people and less time alone. But people were a distraction from watching people. He couldn't go to dinner with somebody and carry on a conversation, eat, and observe people at the same time. Well, at least not easily. It was much easier to go the mall and just watch.

Nobody else understood. They were all too busy deciding how far ahead of their family and friends they were. Or worrying about whether so and so was going to get the promotion they deserved. John had lost faith. Faith in humanity. If people don't care enough to revel in each other's beings, then what else was there to have faith in. Maybe love. Love, what was that. John had been in love. "Married and divorced", as they say. Like you hadn't lived until your "married and divorced". It was a status that the thirty-somethings passed around, wore on there chests. Most always these relationships were based on high school sweethearts. Often they failed because as people mature they evolve into different people. These differences are always too much to overcome. Then you got your normal busy life to attend to while your growing apart. Most relationships that John knew about were hypocritical. On the surface both parties agreed that they have achieved something special, something unique. But in reality, they both knew of the boredom and tedious work that restrained them both from expressing their true selves and appreciating each other for what they were. John saw these things in people. These things that you discover in people when you are at first infatuated with them. John saw all these things, all the time, in people he did not know. This was John's form of love. He truly loved all that he watched. He knew more about the people he watched then their spouses. He appreciated them for what they were. Only when people are alone, unhindered by others do they truly show their real selves. This is what John observed. And it was fascinating, intoxicating even. It was a form of true appreciation for something unique and beautiful ... real love.

His marriage was far from his form of love. Like all the rest, when the relationship became tedious, they was no time to appreciate each other for what they were. Then like a vicious circle, the less you revel in each others uniqueness, the less interested in each other you become. The relationship turns into a formality. Something to get added to the daily list of things to do. Get the groceries, drop of the dry-cleaning, and interact with your spouse. It didn't take long for John and his ex-wife. It was four years, three months and six days. John could only appreciate people when they weren't restrained by other people. Evidently this included his ex-wife.

John, wrote down the name of his ex-wife in a small worn notepad. Just in case he forgets to vaporize her again. He didn't write down everybody's name. That would be impossible. He didn't know all the people he vaporized. But it was nice to keep a list of people he frequently forgot, that should be vaporized. That would have to wait though. John came here to accomplish a task. A predetermined destiny. A task dictated by a greater cause. John stood up, his legs weary as they always felt before he vaporized people. He walked down the long corridor to a store front where he contentedly stared at the rows of greeting cards inside. There was a women inside looking at the selection of anniversary cards. It was her anniversary. John knew this not because of the cards she was selecting but because of the conversation that she had with a man three stores down. Three stores down was a smoke shop full of exotic cigars. The conversation was of the effect that the man didn't want to exchange anniversary gifts this year as four previous anniversary presents had revealed ties, golf balls, and sweaters. He was determined to not let such misfortune become him this year. So he suggested that he each of the go and buy themselves presents, and that he would spend his time in the smoke shop. To this the woman replied, " ... well all right then. If that is the way you want it. I will meet you at the greeting card shop three doors down in fifteen minutes.". "Fine." the man said sternly. At that the man, bumping into John's shoulder as he stormed passed, entered the smoke shop. And the woman left the store front for the greeting card store. John, looking at his watch determined that the man should be coming any moment now. John was still looking at the woman smiling at the anniversary card she had finally chosen to give to herself, when he felt the presence of the man. Looking at the store front glass, he could see the reflection of the man beside him, also looking at his wife inside. The man let out a disapproving sigh as he realized what she was buying, and why. He turned around and pressed his back against the glass next to John. John, slowly positioning the device in his hands, turned slightly to allow the device to be pointed in the mans direction, and gently pressed the button ... and the man was gone.

John walked to the bench where he sat before and sat down. He watched as the woman exited the greeting card store looking up and down the corridor for her no vaporized uncaring, self-absorbed, jerk of a husband. He won't be missed much thought John. After seventeen minutes of waiting patiently the woman left the store front. She probably figured the husband went on without her. John was sure that it was a typical senario with this couple. She is better off without him anyway, thought John. Sure she will miss him, but only briefly. John knew all of this. He wasn't sure why he knew these things. Occasionally John thought the information was gathered from observations and he somehow, at an unconsious level, he used this information to guess at what people where like and how they react. It seemed better then "guessing" though. Somehow more concrete and beyond doubt. Maybe it was a gift. Maybe everybody had this talent and John was just making assumptions. John was not the kind of person to second guess himself, so he was satsified with the theory that somehow he was different then other people, other Johns.

John thought about his next target. The problem with malls is that they are usually filled with teenagers. John never vaporized young people. It wasn't right. Young people still had choices to make. To become an uncaring, self-centered, unaware zombie, or somebody that reveled in the wonders of the world. Thier futures had not been set and that was reason enough to let them be. John's instructions where clear however, and they didn't discriminate against young people. This was a reality of John's new found mission that he was unwilling to face. Deep down John hoped that whomever or whatever dictated this mission to him would at the last minute show up and deem John had done a good job and John could move on. Move on to the higher ground, or whever people that do this kind of biding go. Heaven or space probably. Then he would never had to face the task of vaporizing the people he did enjoy, the people that had a chance to change. The people that were open-minded enough to change. The people that could be taught to be aware enough to appreciate the things they now take for granted.

Whomever made the device probably didn't share the same reasons for exterminating mankind as John. This bothered John the most. The device was just a tool and the wielder was the one who made up the reasons to use it. But if the entity that made the device had different motives then John, why was he given this device and this mission. The argument was pointless.