“Are you sure that she’s here?” she said as she was looking down from the roof of the building. The night was kept her from being spotted in the dazzling lights of the streets. You could hear the cheers and laughter of the people below as they let loose for the night.

  Panels highlighting theater plays and people walking in and out of bars, restaurants gathering attention with their fancy lights and showing off their place. And don’t forget the Gentleman's clubs and brothels that were hidden beneath the facade of those said bars and restaurants.

  The woman was hidden from all that, as if the night was embracing her wholeheartedly. Her black hair falling down, the ends merging with her shadow, as if the whole figure was embraced by the darkness itself. Her round glasses being the only thing that could reflect her a resemblance of light.

  “What~?Hahaha! Are you doubting me now?”

  The wrinkles on the old mans face were slightly moving with his heartfelt laughter, hitting the ground slightly with his cane as he supported himself. It was a comical sight to be honest. A woman whose only visible feature was her face and an old man that needs a cane to support himself standing on a rooftop.

  “Well, I can ease your worries with this.” he said while pointing his thin index finger at one particular window. The building was one of the biggest around, second only to the one they were standing on, with most people going in and out of it. The woman, confused, kept looking at the window. yet nothing happened for the first moment.

  “Or was it perhaps that window?”

  “Stop messing with me, sir. I can’t stay here for longer and you know why. I’ve got too many things to prepa-” The end of her sentenced blurred as she kept looking at the window to be surprised.

  The curtains that were hiding all of slowly opened, showing the figure of a slightly plump woman, wearing a pelt jacket over her seemingly naked body. behind here was a naked man visible on the bed, his limbs out wide as possible. At first glance, you’d think that it was yet again wasted minutes of disappointing sex but the she could see more than the obvious.

  “Damn it! How does she know to partially steal Will?” she said as her eyes widened at the men on the bed. It would seem as he was just tired but to the two on the roof, they could see far more than to the naked eye. Or at least thanks to the glasses she had on.

  She was about to jump forward when a hand was grabbing her wrist. The old man didn’t use much strength but she knew better than to do a contest of strength with him. Dazedly, she looked at him confused.

  “If you jump in like that, she will most likely die. She does not seem like a big shot so they must have implemented a fail save.”

  The woman knew that already, yet the amount that Thief stole already made her realize how many men fell victim to her. If she would be right, the amount would be way past 100 by now. And all of them will never be able to recover that initial amount.

  Her blood was boiling. But gritting her teeth, she held herself back. Like the old man said, she shouldn’t just jump down there and beat the shit out of the woman. She would die before she even gets a word out of her mouth. Yet she was struggling to hold her emotions back.

  Not because of the amount of men this woman must have stolen from but that this makes the number of thieves reach the two digits. And in this city alone. This happened not only in Berlin but in other bigger cities as well. New York City, Tokyo and Istanbul were the only other cities that had this happen in the double digits though.

  “They are getting impatient. Not surprising since not more than three months are left. Yet why so obvious?” The old man rubbing his chin as he thought out loud. The young woman knew what he meant with They but she didn’t understand why they needed to hurry. It’s not as if they are going to lose out on something.

  “Don’t think about it too much and instead start to think about how you find the ones right behind that. I’ll be leaving now.”

  “You’re leaving just like that? What, you won’t make heads roll now that I took your position?” The woman was slightly surprised that the old man left this matter just like that. She just knew he of all people wouldn’t let this slide.

  “I’m leaving all the fun to you and here you are complaining? Besides, I’ve got things to prepare for.”

  “Oh, I send people to build up the city along the Muritz lake but why were you so adamant about the location? not like it could have hurt if we built it near southern Sweden. Why northern germany?”

  “We know more about Germany’s state after new year. That way, we can play it safer. It’s not like we will run out of resources. But I’m not going out for that.”

  The young woman seems to nod as she let go of the matter. But she would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious about the last sentence. Yet she still shut up when the two looked right at the woman from the building who was busy to throw out the man and smoke on the small balcony that she went out to.

  “haaah… I’ll get going then. Please keep me updated with your ‘preparations’”

  The old man grinned before raising his cane and turning around.

  and in the next moment, vanishing without anyone noticing.

  The woman pushed her glasses back up before leaping off the rooftop with her hands in her pockets. her body accelerated further before seamlessly merging with the shadows that were about to vanish from the lights of the late night city.

  Tzzzzzzt

  Tak

  “haaaah… what time is it?”

  looking at the screen in front of me while fixing my glasses, I wiped of the sweat of my face. It’s just past 5 p.m. yet I’m already tired. What a pain.

  leaving the soldering iron and the board on the table, I took my mug and drank a bit of tea. looking out of the window, it seems to be raining quite heavily. People rushing back from work or cram school were all on the streets, some with their umbrellas while others with their bags over their heads. Cars standing in the endless traffic that never seems to move forward.

  I felt more at bliss then ever, drinking from the hot tea and enjoying the view as the ends of my mouth slightly curled up.

  “wow… If I didn’t knew any better, you’d be a villain from a spy movie~. Clean those fogged up glasses and come. dinner is ready.”

  I’ll be coming to feast whenever I want to! No one can just order me around like that! Who do you think y-

  “-ou are? Wow, I guess you need a bit of motivation, hm? The last one not enough for my adorably idiotic son, hm?”

  Pat

  Pat

  Pat

  hitting her palm with her right slipper as she stared at me. No, she wasn’t looking anymore. Her eyes were shut and her smile was mile wide noticeable. But so was that vein on her forehead as well.

  …

  PAAT

  “I didn’t even say it this time! Let me at least feel strong in my mind!”

  “You call that strong? Be strong to other people! You better be respectful to me, you rascal!”

  I dashed out of my room before anyone could tell but my mum’s pursuit was impossible to shake off! Who made her become such a bloodhound!

  The only option now is to reach the living room before she throws that thing. Swaying left and right, I tried to throw her off but before I could even reach the L of living room.

  Shit, now!

  I ducked slightly, feeling something brush pass the top of my head! Yes! I finally dodged it!

  Tk

  “Ah.”

  Bump

  falling down right on my right knee, I rolled up on the ground. Ah! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

  That stings!

  “…haaaah… at least be careful if you want to dodge it. Wait a moment.”

  going to another room, she soon returned with a band-aid the size of my knee. Pulling up the end of my pants, you could see blood dripping out of the scrapped knee that had more damage than one would expect. I just fell, but...

  “Here, wipe the wound first before putting it on. Seriously, you are already an adult yet still trip over your own feet. You got to be more careful and you know that.” She said while crouching and putting on the band-aid.

  “Is everything okay here?” said the man as he walked into the hallway, tying his hair that was falling down to his shoulders. At first glance he seemed worried. but of course, I know him better than that and…

  “I mean, who’d have thought that you-”

  “Don’t.”

  Mum stood up and glared at him, shutting him up from making any ‘funny’ remarks. Seeing her gaze, he could do nothing but swallow his words. Coughing, Dad just turned around and walked to the dining table next to the kitchen.

  “Anyways, let’s eat! I’m starving from all the waiting!” and as to prove him right, the growl of his stomach was loud and clear even from the hallway

  “Seriously! If I didn’t know any better, I’d bet that all you eat goes to your shoulders and back. How is that fair?”

  “Envy as much as you want! Makes me all the more hungry. Now, come on!”

  I stood up staring at the narcissist that is my father. He really does have been blessed somehow if all he eats goes there.

  Passing the tall mirror in the hallway, I could only lament at my luck. It wasn’t anything like ‘I wish I had a better nose’ or ‘I wish I had blue eyes’. Unfortunately, it’s much worse. for you see, I have a rare muscle disorder.

  My body just doesn’t like to build up muscles, making me look more like a skeleton than an average man. My height is alright and I would give my face even 7. But compared to that Casanova of a father , I’m just…

  “Here you go! I made your favourite.” Mum entered from the kitchen with a glass tray of a dish that’s popular in the Anatolian and is the Turkish version of dumplings. With the garlic yogurt and tomato paste sauce on top, it looked simply divine in my eyes.

  “Manti! Now that should cheer you up, eh?”

  “Don’t look at me like you won’t try to eat my share as well… And don’t start eating before the tray lands on the table! HEY!”

  “I dwon’d wknow whad yu ar twalkin’ about.” he said while stuffing his cheeks like a squirrel. This man in his mid forties would not stop behave like a child! And to top it all off!

  “Now, now. I have more in the kitchen so you two should eat to your hearts content!”

  There was someone to fuel that child-like behavior! How could I eat to my hearts content if he is eating all of it!

  But voicing my complains? Never! That slipper from before was quite tame for her and both me and dad knew that. For some reason she was all smiles, gleaming and giving a vibe of innocence. So why should I disrupt this rare time.

  “With what did you bribe her this time? Seems special.”

  “Bribing is the wrong word, son. I’d say… surprised her with a gift.” he said proudly, with his fist to the chest and everything. This action of his means he wants to be praised for it. But frankly, I’d rather praise a pig for eating than him for that.

  “Then it must be that special for her to be all smiles. Is it jewelry? She seems to like those a lot.”

  “No, but good guess.”

  “New books?”

  “No.”

  “Phone?”

  “No?”

  “Headphones! I remember she like those from the billboard around the corner.”

  “No… wait, let me write that down.”

  “Wait!… You went shopping?” I whispered, knowing how dangerous that topic is for us.

  “You want me to die?! I love your mother but you know I can’t handle her if I just suggested ‘Let’s go shopping today!’.” and he whispered back, trying not to give her even the chance of knowing about it.

  “Did I hear shopping?”

  “NO!”

  “NO!”

  HOLY SHIT! The both of us looked like we saw a monster from how mum just jumped out of nowhere. How well can she hear?!

  calming my racing heart down, I looked back at dad while trying to forget that traumatic event from 2 years ago. And it seems I’m not the only one that needed time. Who would blame him?

  My mum may not be bad when it’s about buying. And it’s not like we hate to go out and shop as well. The problem is just that she is so indecisive that you end up walking more than double of a marathon! At that point, you just wished she would buy all that she likes but no, she had to be very responsible with money.

  …why did you have to be that responsible?

  clearing my throat a bit, I continued to ask.

  “Then what is it? Surely not just flowers? That’s nothing special anymore.”

  “I can see why you still have no luck with the ladies. With that attitude, no one would like a gift from you. But no, it’s not flowers either. I bought us two a week long vacation. Remember how she ranted about her co-workers all going out on a trip with their partners? So she pressured me enough to make me buy the flight tickets and hotel for her.”

  He said it as if given up but his face was more honest than his tone, slightly smiling while his eyes peeked at the kitchen from time to time.

  “Wow~! Someone was fancy this time! Where to?”

  “Barcelona.”

  “Good. For a second I thought you’re going to say ‘Paris~! The city of love!’” I said, mimicking his usual eccentric hand gestures and tone that were similar to an actor of a Shakespeare play.

  “Beh! You mean ‘Paris~! The city of rats, trash and bed bugs!’. No, thanks. I stick with something better.” he said almost spitting.

  Tak

  And like magic, a new tray of Manti appeared out of nowhere. With mum now finally sitting down after washing her hands, I took a bit of food onto my plate. The steam was visible and the smell to die for! And I also wasn’t the only one thinking that si-

  “Hands off!”

  “… worth a try…”

  Get that wry smile off your face! You ate an entire tray and you still want more? Greedy, aren’t we?

  I took a spoonful of these small dumplings and just as I was savouring the taste.

  “I heard something about ladies! You got yourself a girlfriend?”

  PFFT

  I got attacked by a question I didn’t expect from mum. Spitting half the contents of my mouth on dad’s face, both me and dad had shocked expressions on our face. Maybe not the same reason, but shocked nonetheless.

  “Hah! If you were going to give me your food, I’d have preferred the ones from your plate, not your mouth.”

  Cough Cough

  “Oh wait! let me get you water.”

  “Helal Helal! Here! take my glass!”

  Chugging down the water from dad’s glass, I got to live another day and not choke to death. This question wasn’t as unexpected as it was annoying to deal with. The moment she hears anything love related, she gets all excited. But who can blame her? She met dad when she was my age and they were madly in love ever since.

  Of course she would wish for her child to be just as happy in love as she is.

  “Here, dear.” Mum came back with a glass of cold water and a paper towel, leaving the glass in front of me while going towards dad. He was about to take the towel but she was quicker, reaching out to his face and wiping the yogurt off his face. And he?

  “Mhm~ hehehehe…”

  “Oh, my~! Are you enjoying this?”

  “Maybe?”

  Forget resisting, he wanted her to wipe it for him, a huge smile plastered on his face. Wiping even his beard, of which he was very proud of, clean… that’s dedication. He must be feeling lucky that I spat yogurt over his face.

  “Sorry, dad.”

  “It’s alright.” He said without giving me even a look. I apologised because it was my fault but let’s be honest, I just said it so they don’t forget that I’m here as well. But his ‘blissful’ moment soon ended when mum went back to the kitchen for a moment.

  “Can’t blame you for being surprised… and scared…” he whispered to me in a lower voice than ever.

  “Yeah… If I ever get a girlfriend, don’t tell her.”

  “I’m not sure if I can keep that promise, Laith.”

  “you…”

  “Alright, fine! Just stop looking like that before she gets wind of it!” he whispered, scratching his head while looking away. I continued to stare at him for a bit before turning back.

  “Alright…”

  “and here.” Giving me a bit of his food, he turned back to eating. And I was shocked that this egoistical man-child could give me food when he would sometimes fight for more.

  He? Giving food? Is the apocalypse starting? Where are the cameras? If I look at his back, I may find a zip up for that costume…

  “Why that face? I only returned the favour! I could have such a good memory in my life thanks to you.”

  “Me spitting on your face is a good memory?” Why would that be a good memory? A bad one if not an uncomfortable one at that.

  “Observe, Laith. See a bit more besides the main point! Enjoy the little details. My hand gestures, the taste of the food, your mother’s interest in you. Take all of that in instead of just ‘spit on my face’. You keep analysing too much that you stop living for a bit. I know how you are since I was the same but I learned better from your mother. And maybe, you should learn this too.” His tone was steady and his eyes fixed on mine. Any trace of the egoistical man-child gone and all that was left was someone you could see as a father figure.

  He spoke in such a wise way for once that I felt weird. He had these times as well but not so often that I would not feel awkward from it afterwards. His approach of education was always with jokes. And with all that I…

  …just lost my appetite. So I kept playing with my food, pushing it from side to side with my spoon and looking at it. I wasn’t thinking of anything particular. Actually, my head was blank. I wasn’t busy thinking about what he said.

  I just took it in.

  just like that.

  taking a closer look, seeing my dad slowly moving towards the kitchen and helping out mum in the kitchen playfully, I tried to do what he said. Take the moment in. Saying that I don’t enjoy these moments would be a lie.

  Right, those two got their promotion just a year ago, making them both very busy. It’s a wonder that dad found the time to take off for a vacation.

  But when weren’t they busy? As long as I can remember, I only saw them on the weekends or at night throughout my teenage years. And they would usually be too tired for all of this.

  So I enjoyed it. Even if only for a bit.

  “Thanks for the food, mum! eline sa?l?k”

  “What? But I was just about to boil more.” Coming out of the kitchen with flour all over her arms, it was more evident to me that she was more tired than she wanted to show. Bags under her eyes and half open eyes were not the only signs.

  Your food was delicious, no doubt! So thanks and don’t worry. I just don’t feel like eating.

  “It’s fine, honey. He already ate. See? He even ate my part as well!”

  “Huh?”

  “Huh?”

  Both of us looked at my dad with confusion. I can guess why mum was confused. Dad sharing his food? He stopped that when I was eight. So it was unbelievable for her that he would share. But what’s more interesting for me is that…

  …both my plate and his were empty. There was nothing on them.

  Seeing this, I couldn’t help but smile and play along. Patting my non-existent belly, I yawned out loud. I just hope my bad acting won’t be noticed.

  “Ye-yeah, mum! It was delicious!”

  Please! Please! Please! Please!

  Look, even dad is hoping that you would buy it and not notice the yogurt stain on his beard!

  “…alright. I guess I will freeze these.” With a disappointed voice, she turned back to the kitchen only to be stopped by dad mid-way.

  “Why? Honey, I can just eat them now!”

  “You, my bio-degradable trashcan, ate enough. You should mind your weight a bit. Or what? Want to start dieting with me?”

  “Honey?!”

  Oh~! Critical hit! Dad is left with 1 hp! will he recover or will he fall to his doom?

  But eh… not my problem. As much as I want to see it, I can guess that he will just start to flirt with her again. And I can save myself from that. So my steps quickened and I found myself in my room in no time.

  CLICK

  I closed the door before falling onto the soft carpet as if I didn’t have enough energy to reach my bed. I just felt drained.

  “Uff!”

  laying down and staring at the ceiling, my mind went blank again. The touch of the fluffy carpet, the wind coming out of the tilted window, the last rays of light of the day. I just wanted to stop all of this and forget.

  What’s the thing that’s bothering me? Nothing, actually. I don’t have anything to complain about. But lately, I’ve felt this indescribable sense of emptiness. Am I procrastinating? No. Am I doing something worthless? No, I’m studying alright and my grades are the highest in the school by far.

  Then what could that be that I’m missing? Is it just that?

  Or am I still lamenting my pathetic body. I can’t do anything against how I was born but…

  TACK TACK TACK

  “haaaah… come in, dad.”

  I sighed, knowing that after his precious time with his wife, he would have to look after me. He may realized that something wasn’t right. From all the things he is good at, I’d pick his intuition to be one of the best. That’s how he saved himself from trouble numerous times.

  A tall man with an athletic physique, quite the handsome face that was hidden by his well kept beard and brown eyes that were reflecting the light like a mirror. Coming in with that sheepish smile as he tried to silently close the door, I could swear that life really could be unfair from time to time.

  CLICK

  without even turning around, this man was standing facing the door, probably facing down.

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “Mum doesn’t knock on the door.” I laughingly said. It was dry, but I felt too tense with this slightly heavy atmosphere. I didn’t look at him, never was. It was easier for me to guess what Dad was doing. Next thing he would do is slowly walk towards the bed and sit at the side of the bed, looking down at me.

  THUD

  There we go.

  And then he just sat there. I wasn’t complaining but I also didn’t feel like starting a conversation. Seems we both want to ask something but don’t know if we should. Or at least I thought so.

  “Sorry for interrupting… whatever this is. I just came here to talk. How is school going? Is everything goi- what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “That! The way you are right now is so unusual for you, it’s mildly uncomfortable.” I said, furrowing my brows and tilt my head to the side. Our eyes met yet we didn’t shy away from that. He, with eyes full of concern. And me, with eyes of shock and a tinge of annoyence.

  “What? You want me to joke around, not taking your obvious dilemma serious? Is that what you want?” now furrowing his brows as well, he retorted. His elbows now resting on his thighs as he leaned slightly forward.

  And silence came once I looked back to the ceiling. He didn’t stay tensed as well, leaning back but with his gaze still on me.

  “That’s not it.”

  “What?”

  “I said school isn’t the reason. I… don’t know why. I just felt like something is missing. Something very important is… but every time I try to check if I’m missing anything, nothing comes up. I’m great at school, my social life is fine and I know what I want to do later in life. But something… it feels like my very being is craving something, knowing it can’t get it.”

  I ranted on and on, not giving him the chance to say anything in between. But as it seem, he wasn’t keen on interrupting me, listening to every word carefully. This…. This was what’s making this more uncomfortable for some reason.

  “… You know that when even you get so serious about something, it feels like I seriously fucked up.”

  “No. I don’t joke as usual as you think. I can joke around and make fun of most of things because you two make it possible. But, your well being is not something I would joke around with.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  He said with his eyes shining with the final light of the day soon fading and we now found ourselves in the dark of a room that was too messy no matter which way you looked at it.

  “Now your love life, I can joke about that all I want!” He laughingly said as if the heavy atmosphere never was there. Wait, What the fuck did he just say?

  “What the hell you mean? What of it can be so funny?”

  “The fact it’s non-existent while you talk like it is? Kugh! If you only knew how bad I’m feeling from you wasting all the good genetics I passed down to you.”

  “Oh please, if I inherited your face, I’d wear a paper bag on my head for the rest of my life!”

  “And how do you think you get a solid 8 on your face?”

  “Oh no, you did not just call mum ugly!”

  “What?!”

  Comebacks flew left and right and the empty feeling felt like it shrunk ever so slightly. And when I could laugh with my whole heart did dad stand up from the bed. Walking to the door, he turned around one last time.

  “Laith, you better sleep on your bed.”

  “I will!” I said with a huge smile now lasting on my face.

  “And please… try to include us in your troubles. I can’t help so much right now but you of all people should know that sharing the pain is healing the pain.”

  “Ah-”

  CLICK

  And then he just left the room, leaving me with an open mouth. He dropped a last emotional bomb before leaving, huh…

  I stood up to get to my bed before falling down like a puppet whose strings got cut. Looking to the side, my thoughts spun.

  “Was I truthful to him this time?…”

  I know he had worries, but was I so ready to just tell him the other problems I have? Why was this feeling so easy to talk about?

  sighing, I closed my eyes, expecting to wake up tomorrow morning with an easier mind.

  Yeah… Expecting…

  “GAH!! ARGH!!”

  COUGH COUGH

  What the hell is happening here? Why does my head hurt so BADLY! FUCK!

  SHIT, THIS HURTS! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!!

  Millions of daggers scrapping my brain! That’s how it feels like! Clutching my head with both of my hands, I fell to my knees, curling into a ball instantly. I… I couldn’t think straight. No.

  I couldn’t think at all!

  “MAKE IT STOP!! MAKE IT STOP!!!”

  Was it my wish for a higher power that made me plea? Was it hope that this was only temporary? No. It was just…

  …pure…

  …agonizing…

  …pain.

  But this pain was never infinite, receding slowly and then I was left there. As if nothing happened before. What a sick joke! I want to show whoever thought of this what I’m thinking!

  But with less pain came curiosity. And when that hit, I opened my eyes. But maybe, I should have kept them closed. The view was just… unbelievable.

  Unbelievable horrifying.

  Everything was died in red at first glance. But that was just the huge flames mixed with the pool of blood that was burning this destroyed city to ashes. Rubble, old foundations and trash was the most common thing around me.

  Of course, after the countless bodies.

  human body parts. Torn apart. Shredded to little pieces. Lumps of meat hanging off the broken pieces of debris.

  URGHK

  Holding in what remained in my stomach would be a herculean task at this point. But would you blame me? You wake up with the worst pain you ever felt and found yourself… here.

  My vomit was the only thing giving this world some sort of colour besides red. Even the sky was covered by dark clouds. This… This is madness!

  GASP

  Breathe in.

  HUFF

  and out. There you go! Just keep going like that! Take in one thing after another. And please, Laith…

  …Don’t break down yet.

  I took a step forward, dragging my sorry state around. The street I was walking on was wide with multiple lanes visible. And weirdly smooth.

  Now that I realize it, I’m still in my pyjamas, a T-shirt and simple pants, with nothing covering my feet. But even then, it wasn’t uncomfortable to walk around barefoot.

  Awfully calm, I took in everything slowly. As if I just didn’t throw up. As if the thick smoke around the air didn’t try to choke me to death. As if this hot air wasn’t burning my throat with each deep breath I had to take in.

  This is a dream I’ve never seen before. It felt so realistic that I felt weird to see this well when my glasses where nowhere to be seen.

  If this is one of the lucid dreams I’ve heard about, then I could try to imagine myself in a better place. Yeah! Let’s do that!

  “The beach. The beach. The beach. The beach. The beach…”

  A place I’ve never been to. With a body that was as fragile as a wine glass, my parents would never let me near one, always making sure that I was in a safe space. So you could guess my envy for all those my age that came back from the beach with their friends, while I’m here all alone not even touching the b of beach.

  So closing my eyes, I tried to imagine the feeling of it. The soft little particles below my feet. The dust that was covering my feet. The cool breeze with the salt of the sea. The sound of the waves. The sun shining through my eyelids.

  I could Imagine the beach clearly.

  And that’s when I should have been suspicious. How could I imagine something so clearly when I never experienced it?

  RUMBLE

  The ground shook just as I became realized my mistake. What the hell is going on? My eyes opened up immediately, but that may have been too late when I found myself falling down to the floor. My eyes shook as I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing.

  The oh-so-tall mountain in the back of this world started to rise. And the more it rose, the more I could see ‘it’

  Two flaming red spheres the size of the moon, visible all the way from here. Those slowly shone brighter, moving ever so slowly towards me. Yet the most fearful thing here was that they were strangely focused…

  …on me.

  GULP

  My mind couldn’t comprehend what it saw, but my body was more honest in that regard, crawling backwards while never looking away. How could I? The silhouette of a mountain I’ve never seen before moved towards me with burning eyes.

  Its feet then took the first step into the flames.

  It took a step…

  GULP

  …towards me.

  The body slowly becoming more visible with the light of the blood red sun shining on its body. Feet as wide as a small town, claws that could pierce skyscrapers with ease and a height that hurt my neck just to look at, it pushed down the ground with its huge weight.

  each step

  BOOM

  heavy enough

  BOOM

  to create an earthquake.

  BOOM

  With the body structure of a lion, it boasted a height only the tallest of mountains could perhaps surpass. Its scales, which resembled rock splinters, were constantly moving around its body. The wings wide enough to cover the entire body with ease and a tail that could only be seen as the whip of a giant.

  BOOM

  Its head after all that movement was slowly moving down to the ground. Its bird-like feature became easier to see with a beak that was pointing towards its own neck, with no other features but its giant red flame-orb like eyes. It stood there, with the pride of the world not even touching a scale on its body. Its head pointing towards the ground.

  pointing towards me. and it came closer just like that.

  And its head came even closer.

  And closer.

  “…fuck.”

  How could I joke around now? I couldn’t even feel my lower half. Did I already piss myself?

  But my thoughts never stopped the head before it soon came to “Eye level”. Its gaze mocking my very existence. And the shitty part about this is that I can not refute it.

  We both looked at each other. One with pleasure, the other in total fear. Silence was the only thing keeping my sanity in check.

  But as to mock me even further…

  “ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR”

  …It just had to roar out loud. And with that, the last strand of sanity broke as I sat there, my mouth wide open. Its roar was louder than the greatest of thunders, creating shock wave after shock wave, hitting me so hard that staying planted to the ground was harder than to just fly away.

  Yet my eyes didn’t move away.

  Absolute fear is what I felt. Yes. How couldn’t I? The wings rising to the sky, protruding the grotesque majestic presence that is this monstrosity. I was sure the moment that would move down those wings, everything would be gone.

  And still, my eyes never left it.

  They were shaking around, but refused to part with what they saw. Refused to give in to those burning flames. As if this was a fight in itself. The giant eyes toom the fight head on, never leaving this puny figure. It felt as if they could burn me with just the gaze. It even felt hotter than before.

  But that wasn’t what was on my mind. No. My worries came from the fact that I did not feel as much fear as from the beginning now. In fact, it wasn’t only fear that I felt.

  My body was frozen from it, don’t get me wrong. yet…

  The ends of my mouth could never be so high. My face showed the biggest grin it has ever shown.

  Where did this excitement come from? Why did that emptiness that I’ve been feeling lately slightly become less? Why was I grinning at the face of death?

  I don’t know. That’s why I was so worried. Not because a gigantic monster was roaring at me, its roar filled with visible hatred. That would be silly at this point!

  Probably feeling my excitement, It stopped its roaring, moving its head all the way back with the beak wide open. This felt dangerous! I had to move now!

  So come on, body! Move! Why won’t you move?! Be as honest as my face was and move!

  Yes, dodging is pointless! But so what?! Just move away!

  MOVE, LAITH!

  FLINCH

  my feet finally listened to my brain, pushing me away from that spot. But the moment I got on my feet, it was already too late.

  BOOM

  or well… That was my thought. But that sound was not coming from the earth being ripped up by the beak shoveling the ground in front.

  “HAAAAAAAH!”

  BOOM

  It came from a silhouette that flew directly to its face, shining in golden light yet still covered by a huge darkness, as if to comprehend this figure was harder than the monster.

  Yet I could tell that it was human.

  She was human. I couldn’t see everything but the silhouette of hers was more than enough to assume that she was a woman.

  A woman with the power to throw back a giant monsters head all the way back to its starting point. Maybe she wasn’t human. Because I’ve never seen a human with golden light jumping out of her body like covering her in divinity, flying around the air with speed comparable to jets. And that giant golden halo behind her back, producing even greater light, you would think she was something akin to an angel.

  But what drew the most of my attention was neither the halo nor the mysterious figure with her monstrous strenght.

  It was the long sword in her hand, shining with a dark blue light. It was piercing through those scales like butter, opening wounds left and right.

  Something was pulling me towards that blade. It felt like that was what’s been missing in my life the whole time. Why did I feel that way? Is this how someone would describe love at first sight?

  I couldn’t make head or tail from my emotions. All I knew was…

  …that I needed that sword.

  “GIVE ME THAT SWORD!!!”

  As if possessed, I cried out with eyes wide open. Where did this greed come from? Was I even able to explain the feeling properly?

  But I just need that sword. What else do I need?

  As if shocked by my outburst, both monsters stopped and looked at me. With a pair full of curiosity and a pair full of mockery, two pairs of eyes were fixed on me. No earthquake, no explosions and no clashes. The fire was the only thing you could hear.

  What? Me screaming was the problem? Stop looking at me like that!

  “Heh! Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from this one, little lion. You can take care of the rest, right?” her distorted voice rang out clearly throughout this place yet it felt like she was only saying it lightly to herself.

  “WHY THE FU- Rest?!” I felt offended. As if she was looking at something cute. And what was that with little lion?

  BOOM

  Turning around, she immediately jumped towards the head, Golden lines flying around, cutting the monster here and there. And to respond to the attacks, it opened its beak wide and flames flew out like giant flamethrower.

  Swing after swing. Shock wave for Shock wave. Hit after hit. Blood for blood. These two fought relentlessly, countering each other like it’s a vicious, infinite cycle.

  “Fuck… What does she mean with re-!?”

  PAT

  Shit! That definitely was too weak to be coming from those two. Turning around, the excitement and slight anger I felt from before vanished. They were washed down by a new fear once again, freezing my body at this moment.

  PAT PAT PAT

  One after another, five of these… creatures… appeared and surrounded me in this limited space. Now that I looked at it more, this area was surprisingly open for a while before being surrounded by debris, fire and blood.

  ”SQUEEEK”

  “OH SHIT!”

  The squeal from one of these woke me up from petrification. Besides the missing wings and scales, those five resembled the big one extremely well. Even to the point of having red fur and moving scales seem alike in this environment.

  Okay, the height was also different. Instead of facing an impossibly tall monster, I get to have five Wolf-sized monsters instead. Nice, right?

  Fuck… I should stop taking this things lightly. One of them would be more than enough to rip me to shreds yet five of them…

  Life was unfair. Really. Giving me such a dream only to make me feel real despair.

  Each step they took, I flinched more and more. Uncontrollably shaking, sweat already covering my back and my legs unable to move any other way. I’m trapped, and they knew they got an easy prey. Then I took a step back, and they took two.

  I can already see their eyes filling up with greed. But what for? I’ve no flesh on me! I’m all skin and bones! Hey, I’ll let you eat me if you find any meat! That’s how confident I am about this!

  ‘You can take care of the rest!, right~?’ MY ASS! How do you expect me to ‘Take care’ of five of them!

  But did I even had time to monologue when one of them started to accelerate. Wait…

  SHIT! One of them was really running towards me. Seeing me flustered made it impatient, I could see that. But what can I do when my legs couldn’t take a single step to the side, shaking so much from the fear of death.

  Was this what true fear does? Was this what someone with one step into their grave would feel like?

  Was this the end?

  SCREW THIS! MOVE, LAITH! MOVE!!!

  “AAAAAARRRGGHH!!”

  SPLURT

  Tearing my lip, blood spurted out for a moment, waking me up from yet another petrification. Jumping out of the way, I felt my legs slightly grazing the beast that jumped up for my neck.

  “Argh! fuck!”

  Good… I managed to dodge it, but… what now? This place is a trap of flames and even if not, Going out further was suicide. There is still the Father of all monsters out there fighting that ridiculous woman…

  “…who still uses MY SWORD!!!”

  Maybe it was bitterness. Maybe jealousy. But did it matter when at least any weapon could help me out.

  ”SQUAAAAAK”

  At least give me some time to rest! Am I forced to fight now? With my bare hands?

  “Funny… one minute, I complain about my physique and now I’m forced to fight with nothing but my body. Funny…”

  BOOM

  What now? That sound didn’t came from far away but almost too close for comfort.

  “Stop whining and take this. I wouldn’t give you something impossible, little lion.”

  THUD

  She took something out of the rubble and threw it right in front of me, giving off as strong metallic sound as it penetrated the ground slightly.

  “What the?! Are you fucking serious?!”

  Was she seriously giving me a weapon? Wow, how generous! if it was a weapon, I’d be grateful. But seeing the metal rod with a bit of concrete on one side stuck into the ground, I felt like she was mocking my tantrum.

  “YOU DO KNOW THAT I’M NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO LIFTH THIS!!” I shouted back as she flew back to the monster, distancing rapidly.

  “Stop whining. I know how weak you are. But now it’s in your hands to show if you want to stay this weak, little lion~! Fight well!” She said with a smile that would make one feel like looking at an angel. But what kind of psychopath smiles while making someone fight.

  But that did not stop me from grabbing the metal with both hands, desperately trying to pull it out of the concrete street. the tip was the only thing penetrating the ground, something anyone could pull out with a bit of force. But for me, who had strength less than a ten year old child, my face turned red as I struggled to keep my grip on it.

  “Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! COME ON!”

  ”SQUEEEEK”

  CRACK

  Finally!

  “HAAA!” I screamed out as the rod finally loosened up and the instant momentum turning my body around. It was a move not even worth calling a sword attack. yet…

  THUD

  ”SQUUAAAA”

  Bullseye! It was worth taking this out of the ground as it hit the beast by surprise to the rights side of the jaw before falling back.

  The rest stopped in their tracks immediately when they saw their own comrade down on the floor, dazed by that one hit. Although it looks like they were retreating, that was just bad news for me.

  So they became cautious. Fuck, intelligent enough to judge the situation? This is bad. The only thing now is to hold the makeshift sword up, pointing it to them and hoping to intimidate them.

  Surprisingly, the rod became lighter as I pulled it out of the ground. Now it felt light as a stick. Was it her doing?

  Does it matter? Why am I overthinking everything when I’m going to fight for my life!

  Lifting my ‘sword’ with the tip towards that unlucky beast as it growled with hatred at me, I felt…

  less intimidated? How come? My stance must be awful, my body looks anything but strong and I must be looking like I’m about to pass out. Yet why…

  Why do I feel so excited!

  And just asI thought that, the one who now bleeds out of its beak is running up to me again while the other ones are just standing there watching. They are underestimating me. Well, calling it underestimating would be wrong since they are right at their assumption.

  I just stood there, looking at the one charging at me. It was running around me in a circle faster than a greyhound. If I didn’t turn around constantly, I’d have lost sight of it already.

  Think! It just keeps looking for an opening. It is definetly faster than you, but is it really just as intelligent as you, Laith! Come on!

  That’s it!

  I turned around just enough to follow it with my head and just as I’d turn around as normal, I swung my head to the other side, checking if it was on my left.

  And it wasn’t

  SWUSH

  BAAM

  HA! Take that! I hit it right to its eyes, with concrete falling off the makeshift sword but that bastard was definetly more hurt than this!

  My gamble of faking an opening paid off! It all came down to one crucial thing.

  This thing couldn’t change its momentum just like that. otherwise, I’d be dead before. So, I knew that it had to take a while for it before it could charge at me. Not much but enough for me to swing my body while stepping aside.

  Looking to the left as fast as possiblle was just to make sure if it got tricked and it did. Since it saw my back and underestimated me before, it must have thought that it had found its chance. And that was my second gamble.

  The last gamble was me being able to do all this in time before it went for my neck.

  But I did it! haha… hahaha… Ahahahahahahahah!

  “Ahahahahahaha! Take that you piece of sh-”

  SPLURT

  for some reason, my mouth stopped to move.

  Was it the numbness I was feeling on my right shoulder, followed by a burning sensation?

  Was it the fact that I for some reason saw one of the other monsters standing next to the one that got blinded by me all of a sudden?

  or was it that when I tried to lift my right hand, which was holding the rod, that I felt… nothing

  Blood.

  Just now I realised that the new one had blood around its beak.

  So there was that much blood around me and I just noticed now.

  THUD

  CLANK

  I didn’t want to believe it. No, I wanted to deny all of this to begin with! But seeing it infront of me, I couldn’t help but be shocked.

  It was hard to not notice my right arm, which was holding the rod, falling from the air along with the rod in front of me.

  It was hard not to notice that this… this BASTARD! HE!

  HE BIT OFF MY ENTIRE ARM!!!

  My other limbs went weak from all the blood loss and my body fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut. Spasing around with nothing to hold on to anymore, it finally came to me.

  the pain.

  “AAAAARRRRGGGGHH!!!”

  it hurt!

  it hurt so much that I wished they would have gone for my head!

  it hurt so much that I wish they would just end it now.

  it hurt so much that I wish I had a knife and end myself. I was ready to kill myself to end this!

  What use was all of my struggle here when I would die so easily! No, fending off wasn’t the problem.

  I got cocky. And that lead to me showing my back to them.

  But what use is regretting now, when everything is done. They weren’t even giving me the time to cry, pulling on my body with their beak.

  I can feel it slowly… I’m dead…

  so this is how it feels to die…

  …

  Why did I not die? What was going on?

  I opened my eyes to only see the five of them looking down at me, as if they were looking at something… tasty.

  RIP

  RIIIP RIIIP

  WHAT! STOP!

  AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

  I take it back, I regret everything! Because if I only acted better, I could have prevented this! This, which I would never wish on someone, made me want to puke everything inside my stomach.

  But I couldn’t puke when one of them had my stomach in its mouth, chewing on it slowly as the nerves around it was still somehow connected to my body.

  I felt every bite. My liver, my intestine, my muscles and my bones. I felt them going at my body piece by piece.

  “Get… away… I’ll kill you!”

  I wanted to fight back, but my tendons have been cut. I’d try to roll around but their large claws were digging into every part of my body as they bit off everything.

  Small bites. the size of a pea even. But they never stopped.

  Slowly, making sure that I would feel it as long as possible. As if they were savouring…

  …every bit…

  …of my pain.

  The only thing I had left whole was my heart, my lungs and my head at some point. So I shouted. Or I intended to but all that came out was nothing but a growl.

  “I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…”

  Piece by piece. That is what I saw when one of them gnawed on my leg as if it was a toy, not even eating it off and enjoying my flinches.

  “I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…”

  Blood by Blood. That is what I saw when they ripped at my chest, eating out the veins that were connected to my heart.

  “I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…”

  Organ by organ. That is what I saw when they dug deeper into my body, slowly leaving nothing to look at anymore.

  “I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…I will kill you…”

  During all of this, my emotions were conflicted. At first, I felt pain unimaginable to anyone for what felt like days but were mere minutes.

  Then came my wish for death. It was that simple. I simply wish to die. To end it all. To have stop them from enjoying my agony.

  And then, I was saying it over and over again. Like a broken record player I repeated it not only out loud but in my mind.

  I will kill you.

  I will kill you.

  I will kill you…

  and then again…

  Until the only thing left was my head. And a new thought came out

  Regret. Nothing about this anymore.

  It was regret of everything that I had in life.

  Yes, I was weak but was it all just due to my condition? I could have tried harder to find a solution.

  Yes, I did lie to people so that they would feel better. So that they would not have to deal with my problems. But was that the right thing to do? Do I have to keep this up only to ‘protect’ everyone?

  When am I supposed to feel better?

  My regrets kept on growing. It was a weight my heart was unable to bear. If I had a heart that is…

  But with all of this. All of these feelings and thoughts floating in my head, there was still one thing that felt like it had been branded into my very soul.

  I will kill you.

  Now it was time that they went for my head. I was done flinching, letting my eyes engrave this very nightmare.

  My head was open and as they eat my brain, my thoughts were beginning to blurr.

  I will kill you.

  [Yes, I was we__ but s it ___ j__t d to m co_? _ _ ha__ trüft harder tu f_ a solon.]

  I will kill you.

  [Yes, I ___ l__ to peo___ so that they wou__ feel betc. So that thi wong n_t ha_ tü dal with m? probl. But was_ was … was … what do? Do I … eh to do this only to __ everyone?]

  I will kill you.

  [I wash I w__ strength. or sp_t]

  I will kill you.

  With each bite they took of my brain, everything felt so disgusting. so unclear.

  except one thing.

  “I… will kill you.”

  And then it came. Darkness.

  This must have been it…

  …sweet death!

  OH! HOW I WANTED TO HAVE YOU FOR SO LONG!

  is what I’d love to say, but these last few thoughts made me want to wish for something more.

  A second chance.

  So give me a chance to correct everything that I feel guilty off!

  I will do better!

  I will live better!

  And I will be honest with myself.

  So give me a second chance!

  My eyes slowly opened as the sunlight entered my view from the window. Did I leave the curtains open?

  Weird… I feel like something significant happened… What is this feeling?

  It’s like I’ve forgo-

  No… NO!

  I rushed to the toilet as I felt something coming up.

  “UUWWWAAAAAAGGGHHK!!”

  Throwing up into the toilet, I felt like I was about to get my organs out of it as well. My heart was pounding, my fingers trembling and my mind unable to stop thinking about one thing.

  A second chance, my weakness, a weapon and…

  “I will kill you…”

  I must have had the worst nightmare ever. I can only remember these four things for now. As if they were etched into my very soul.

  I washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes bags longer than ever, my face full with sweat and my skin as pale as a vampire.

  Was this nightmare just a nightmare? I look like I’ve seen the dead.

  Hoping right into the shower, my thoughts slowed down with each moment under the hot water. I feel like I’ll be sick but the more I tried to remember, the more I forgot.

  So I kept these phrases in my mind, repeating them like a broken record player.

  “a second chance, my weakness, a weapon, I’ll kill you. a second chance, my weakness, a weapon, I’ll kill you. a second chance, my weakness, a weapon, I’ll kill you. a second chance, my weakness, a weapon, I’ll kill you. a second chance, my weakness…“

  leaving the shower, I immediately went for some paper and pen, writing down what I was repeating with my mouth like a check list.

  Looking at it a bit longer, I almost forgot that it was Monday morning.

  I wasn’t late for school, right? A nightmare is a nightmare but I should still keep my head straight…

  looking at my phone I saw that the time is… 7.20 AM?!

  FUCK! I threw on some clothes and rushed with my already prepared bag out of the house, the piece of paper inside of my pocket.

  CLICK

  closing the door, I was about to rush forward and run with everything I had. But, there just stood a sweet old lady in front of the door next to mine with a bag of freshly made bread.

  “Oh! Good morning, Laith! Early again, as I see. Are your parents already gone?”

  “Good morning, miss Angler! Yeah, they left a while ago.”

  like usual.

  SWUSH

  I passed right by our neighbour, the sweet old lady that would always bring some pie when she made too much for her grandchild. I’m sorry, but I must rush to school.

  I had no bike and there wasn’t a direct bus from where I lived. It’s not that I live far away but the way isn’t straight so it takes me more than 20 minutes if I walk at a normal pace.

  But weirdly enough, I felt like I was faster than usual. Like I could keep up just a bit more…

  Must be my imagination, I guess…

  “Hah! hah! hah…”

  Panting strongly, I felt the air in my lungs burning my insides. I feel better than before!

  The classroom was my final destination, and as I checked my phone, I could see the 7.40AM just right.

  Feeling relieved, I waited inside the empty room heavily. I felt ecstatic for some reason. I was way faster than usual. Can you become faster overnight?

  rummaging through my back, I was looking for my book… history was my first lecture, right? So after taking out my history book and my glasses case, I wanted to wipe my glasses clean but…

  “this…”

  I held the paper with the four things in my hand. I just stared at it without thinking much. What was I supposed to think about anyways? I can’t remember much so what’s the use of breaking my head over it.

  But for some reason, I can’t stop. It is haunting me. Not the nightmare but the thought that I will forget the nightmare.

  I felt so deep in thought that I didn’t realise the classroom became fuller and fuller by the minute. and it almost came to the point that almost everyone was here. Some seats were still empty, like the one next to me, but most of them here still talking with their friends.

  How funny. Everyone else here is thinking about their weekend or something nice while my thoughts spin around these four lines. But I have to say, that weapon is still in my mind so clearly…

  “Haaaaa~… I want it…”

  “Pffft! Did you hear that?” said a male student in a group left to me. These five were standing next to the windows, minding their own business at first but now, they were looking at me like I’m the weird one.

  “ ‘Haaaaa~… I want it…’ Buahahahahahha! What do you think he wants?” said another boy, wiping his bleached hair to the side like one of these ‘cool’ people.

  “You guys are disgusting!” said a girl this time with her face showing a different emotion than her words, smirking widely.

  “No, HE is disgusting. Just look at him. Mess hair, stick figure, dead eyes… who would ‘want it’ with him? Ahahahaha!” said the second girl in the group, holding her stomach from the laughter.

  “Who could it be he wants it with? I wonder~” said the third boy teasingly, looking at me as if he can see right through me.

  “What I want is for the five of you to shut up. I am sure you would have better things to talk about if your lives were at least remotely interesting but I digress. And look in the mirror first before thinking that ‘I’ am the disgusting one.”

  “What was that, dickhead?” Said bleached head, heading towards my desk as if to be intimidating. But when I stood up and looked down at him, his face flinched slightly from the height difference. He wasn’t short, maybe almost 6 feet but I’m at least 10 cm taller.

  But my height was all that could be intimidating. If you were to look down just for a moment, you’d laugh in all honesty.

  “Aw~. Not quick enough to understand what I said? I’ll be very slow just for you. Shut. Up.”

  “And what if we won’t? What are you going to do?”

  Wow! The girl that called me disgusting was looking fiercely at me. I’m so scared~.

  “Well, first of all I have nothing to lose from complaining to the teachers for harassment but it’s not worth using my time only to get you some warnings so how about I give you all a wake up call. Let’s start with you, bleached head.” pointing at the one closest to me, I was looking him up and down for a moment.

  “Bleached head?!”

  “You definitely have nothing better to you so you felt like bleaching your hair would give you something but poor thing destroyed his hair in the process.”

  “You dare?!” said that same idiot but I pointed my fingers to the next one.

  “You must have been playing football a lot since you’ve gotten hit too many times in the face with a ball. Or wait? don’t tell me your nose is that flat naturally? Oh no, I feel bad now~! But don’t worry, they don’t care about the face as long as your legs work fine.”

  “…that hurt…” said crooked nose looking down. You were the one making the implication that I want to do it with someone in the first place.

  “You, horn dog. Seriously, I’ve not seen you look directly at me and I don’t care but not even with your ‘friends’ you can’t stop staring at the chest of every female in the class. But I can see that looking is the only thing you’ll be able to do when you are so obese you’d pant when going up three steps.”

  “Bastard!” he retorted loudly, shaking his body slightly with that fat wobbling around, only proving my point.

  “You, little miss ‘You are so disgusting~!’, you are no better than that horn dog over there, trying to seduce the boys almost every week to only see the desperate ones come to you knowing that you at the end won’t say no. But congratulations! You, unlike the others, are the only one I can remember since you never stop your attempts to hit on Felix.”

  “HEY!” she screamed pathetically but my finger finally pointed at the last one.

  “And you…”

  Silence for a moment. The commotion we created made the whole classroom look at us but I wasn’t the one that cared much. Not like that was out of the norm anyways…

  “…number two? Honestly, I have nothing to say against you. But you called my looks out and judged me by just that so here I can do it to you. And before you even try to say something, please spare my ears rest from obnoxious voice, that haughty attitude and all of you. but look wise… I can’t put it into words so here…”

  Pulling out my phone, I opened my camera and put the front camera on.

  “…so I can show you instead just how ugly you are. You see~?”

  She didn’t respond, turning red with anger and making a face that really proved my point more.

  Oh?

  She was so full of anger that she clenched her fist. Really now.

  “I believe we all learned a beautiful lesson today. If you didn’t get the lesson, you should study more by thinking about what I just said. But here is a tip. Think more, talk less. Or you are going to end up looking like that pea-brain muscle head?”

  “What was that about pea-b~?!” Shouted someone right behind me but as the sentence ended, it sounded slower and slower.

  ?

  What is this? Am I seeing things?

  I was surprised. Not because I heard of the idiot rushing at me from behind. Not because the heavy heavy footsteps from behind were too close for comfort.

  And not because ‘Time’ felt like it stopped.

  No. What surprised me was this.

  These…

  Golden strings…?

  As if golden light strings were gathering together, forming a path that grew out of my left shoulder and made its way through the air. Ever so slowly.

  I, for some reason, instinctively stepped to the right, looking back that these strings started from the fist of the one shouting at me.

  and at that time, as if a switch was flipped, ‘Time’ began to flow like usual.

  And then I saw him. with his fist going just past my body.

  “James…”

  Did he want to hit my left shoulder? If those strings… if ‘Time’ wasn’t…

  I stared blankly at the ground, not knowing what to do with this weird feeling in my chest.

  Am I… still dreaming?

  “Fucker… now you dare and dodge?” James looked baffled at me with me returning that gaze. But that gaze was funnily enough to get my head back to the current matter.

  “Why should I block your way to your desk? That wouldn’t be very kind now, would it?”

  “Says the one wo calls others pea-brain with a pretentious smile, stick fucker!”

  “Touchee! The same goes for someone calling someone stick fucker, pea-brained.”

  James blocked my way back to my desk now, standing in front of me and looking down. I was tall but he was at least half a foot taller. Where the fuck did he get his genes from?

  And don’t mention on these unnecessarily bulging muscles that he shows off too much. if only his head would be just as impressive as his body, he wouldn’t be that bad of a person. But oh well.

  “I’ll be going back to my seat as I made my point. Anything to add, number two?”

  “…I’ll kill you…” she grumbled as she was still looking angrily at the ground with her face flushed. But did I hear that right?

  “You… Did you just say you will kill me?”

  Slowly stepping towards that girl that said something she didn’t mean, I looked at her with a blank face. I couldn’t see my face but seeing how her face crumbled when looking into them, I’d say they were terrifying.

  I will kill you.

  I will kill you?

  How can you…

  no.

  “How dare you say something like that without meaning it.”

  I stood in front of her, not even realising that James, the idiot who can’t read the mood, stepped aside for that brief moment.

  “Look at me and say that with your entire being. ‘I will kill you’. Do it or never even try saying it again. Because you have no idea what it means to actually mean what you say.”

  Trembling. Her clenched fist loosened and she stepped back in what I presume is fear. How easily shaken. I slowly approached her ear, whispering with the contempt that was hidden beneath my voice.

  “Let’s say you never even thought of that sentence, okay?”

  She, without even hesitation, nodded and went back to hear seat, putting her face into her arms, as if to hide from this.

  “I’ll be going back to my seat.”

  “…freak…” James’ usual response when I do something out of character in his eyes. He thought I would be more scared, more manipulated and more willing to give up.

  “You were the one trying to bully me. Don’t be surprised when I’m not letting you do that so easily.”

  Arrogance.

  No. Perhaps it’s a hint of pride that was showing when saying that but I never felt this much of it like during this whole drama.

  I sit back down and as if nothing happened, everyone except that one girl turned around and continued with what they were doing. Me being confronted and me retorting back was more like a normality in their eyes.

  That last part maybe not so much.

  But this whole situation was weird on its own. As if forced by something. So to take my mind off this and trying to relax before the class starts, I was looking to my left, where there was an empty spot.

  No, I do have a sitting partner but he, Felix, was not there for some reason.

  Weird, he should be showing up at this time. For someone that is strict about punctuality, this meant that something happened.

  [Yo, Where are you? Isn’t it time for your ‘bad habit’ to kick in?]

  [got the cold and feel like shit. TTYL] he responded to my text just as quickly as usual, but why text me later? there are still 5 minutes left and he of all people can’t keep his mouth shut.

  Looking at the note I had written before, I’m thinking now about the other points.

  Specifically, ‘a second chance’ is what gives me a thought. I have a vague feeling of what it was supposed to be.

  I could try to talk with someone other than Felix. And sadly, the only person that comes to my mind is Gina, the only other person here that doesn’t hate me or avoids me.

  But… There are more than just excuses of why that may be a bad idea. The first one bei-

  “Hahaha! Gina would have punched you for saying that!” said a boy at one of the front row desks.

  “She is always so protective that it gets annoying. Haha!” the girl next to the boy, leaning her head on his shoulder replied softly with a smile you could call true.

  “Come to think of it, where is she?” asked another boy that clearly felt lonely seeing those two being so close.

  “She got the cold. The poor thing couldn’t even speak a word without coughing.” said another girl, looking at her phone like her life depends on it. If I remember right, she is the one closest to Gina, being her best friend.

  “Not possible! Wasn’t she the one who bragged about how she doesn’t get sick so easily? What gives?” shouted the first girl. She even got her head up from the shoulder, being surprised by what she heard.

  “That’s what you call Karma! But it seems even our miss goddess is just human~!” said her boyfriend, shrugging his shoulders.

  “Hey… Who did you call a goddess now? What was that?” Oh damn, seems like he has a jealous girlfriend when she even reacts to that obvious sarcasm badly.

  THUD

  “Ack!”

  Damn it! Didn’t mean to hit my head so hard against the desk… will this leave a mark on my head?

  But I already felt so tired from all of this that I felt my energy leave my body. I felt… exhausted…

  huh…

  And what now? Now I feel lonelier with the only people that would talk with me not here…

  I don’t like it…