The frozen lake cracked beneath his feet. A sinister smile spread across Max’s face. Finally! 

With one last crack the ice was broken and soon his body was plummeting downwards into the serene frigid wasteland. 

Max opened his mouth to let the piercing water enter his system. Soon he was consumed. When he reached the bottom he allowed himself one last look at the surface. Only one look mind you, the surface was his past. He would never go there again so it was time to focus on his future.

He was on a mission. He marched across the bottom, in search for the tunnel. After hours of fruitless searching he was infuriated. Sarah had told him where to look, she had promised she was telling the truth. And now she was a liar. He would make her pay!

Angry that he would have to go back to the surface after all Max punched the ground with all of his might. A loud thunderous sound nearly made him fall over. Quickly regaining his composure he looked in awe as the lake’s bottom began opening in front of his eyes. The opening revealed a giant cavern filled with wonders and treasures. He saw gold and countless precious stones such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires. His eyes were wide with wonder and his pulse was racing. Finally, everything he ever wanted. However, it was not the gold or stones that got his attention. It was the weapons. Knives, bombs, guns. Everything you could ever need if you desired revenge, power and even better: World domination. 

Max properly entered the cavern and made his way to the army of sleeping killer robots. He found the controls and entered in the password that Sarah had given him. He then pressed the on button. All of the robots opened their eyes. “Clap,” he commanded. And they did. It was a marvellous sight. 100 million killer robots and all of them were under his control. With them he was unstoppable. Now everyone would have to listen to him. He would be the most powerful person who had ever lived. 

The robots were big enough for him to go inside so he chose the largest robot and went inside its cockpit. 

“Surface!” He commanded. All of the robots walked out of the cavern and began to rise upwards through the water. A thrill of excitement coursed through his body. He was finally doing it! After all these years of longing and dreaming he was finally achieving his ultimate goal.

He gave a victory cheer when all of the robots burst through the ice and reached the surface of the lake. He commanded them onto shore and then him and his robots started the walk to the nearest city.

He laughed when he saw people’s reactions. Each face was the same. First confusion, the panic and then sheer terror before they ran as fast as they could. Some people were fast. But the robots were always faster. 

When he reached the city he turned around and gleefully looked at the destruction he had left in his wake. It was beginning! Time for his first destination. He and the robots stormed over to his old primary school. The school day was just beginning and he spotted his most hated teacher Mr Johnson walking into the school grounds. He ordered one of the robots to pick Mr Johnson up. Mr Johnson started screaming and a spot on his pants got darker causing Max a lot of satisfaction. 

Max pulled out his loudspeaker. “Mr Johnson, it’s Max. Hi.”

Max felt a rush of exhilaration as the sound of his name caused Mr Johnson to turn pale. 

Mr Johnson started begging. “Please Max, I’m sorry.”

Max just smirked. Yeah right. If Mr Johnson was sorry then he would have changed. Instead he had always stayed the same. A cruel vindictive teacher who loved doing everything he could to turn the lives of his students into living nightmares. Well not any more. It was time for the tide to turn. And Max knew just how to do it.

He spoke into the loudspeaker again. “Remember the writing assignment you gave us where we had to tell you our deepest fears?” From the fear on Mr Johnson’s face it was clear that he did remember. “Remember how you told us not to worry about revealing our true fears to you. How you told us your deepest fear in order to lure us into your trap of trusting you with our deepest fears. Only for you to then exploit them and terrorise all of us with our deepest fears. Well now it is your turn!”

Mr Johnson was quaking by this point but Max felt no pity. It served Mr Johnson right. He was enjoying this and soon it was about to get even sweeter. He turned to the girl sitting next to him in the cockpit of the robot. He gave her the nod.

Sarah grinned as Max passed her the loudspeaker. “Mr Johnson,” she said. 

Mr Johnson froze as a look of pure horror washed over his face. “Sarah?” he asked. Sarah said nothing.

“Sarah?” Mr Johnson asked again. When Sarah said nothing Mr Johnson’s face became filled with rage.

“Max, you stop this at once. Have your revenge but let Sarah go. She has done nothing to you and doesn’t deserve to be a part of this.”

Max laughed. Mr Johnson really had no idea did he?

Sarah grabbed the loudspeaker again. “This wasn’t Max’s plan. It was mine.”  

Mr Johnson’s face paled. “What?” He asked in disbelief. “How could you do this? My own flesh and blood, why would you do this to me?”

“You know why,” Sarah said coldly. She put the loudspeaker down and turned to Max. “Did you get that recorded?” Max nodded. 

Sarah sighed. “Let him go now. I have got my revenge.”

“Are you sure?” Max asked softly. “After everything he has done?”

Sarah smiled at Max. “He has now experienced true terror at least once. Something I experienced every day living with him. Now that is done I can forget about him and move on. I don’t want Dad to consume or destroy any more of my life.”

“Ok, darling,” Max said as understanding washed over him. “Let’s go and watch a movie.”

“Good idea,” Sarah said.

The two of them marched the robots back to the lake. They stood on the lake as it cracked beneath their feet and they sank down to the bottom of the cold watery lake. They commanded the robots back into the cavern. They turned the robots off. Max and Sarah slowly rose back out of the lake and swam to shore. And then the two of them walked to Max’s house and curled up on the sofa as they watched Sarah’s favourite movie with a bowl of popcorn in between them, the two of them finally happy and content.