“NO!”
“Dammit!”
In a dark lit area, where shadows stay hidden, whoosh, a young boy runs. His path unknown as he crosses by trees, wiggling at every turn; never running in a straight line. Sometimes even hiding in bushes.
Huff huff haaa, after half an hour, sweat started pouring down the boy’s forehead. He was spent, both in body and mind. Being chased around endlessly is not a pleasant feeling. He stopped for a bit to take a breather.
“Fuck, what the fuck!” He started cursing, his fatigue made him somewhat irrational; but not stupid, clap. He pulled his hands up and smacked both his cheeks. He needed his full attention on running; stopping right now was not an option.
Dun Dun Dun, twenty steps away from him, a big boar looking monster stood there, getting ready to dash forward. It's shiny amethyst eyes glaring down at the boy, a glare used when seeing their delicious prey right before their eyes. The boar started activating an ability, but alas, the poor lad, who has come to this world only recently, was very ignorant.
It just couldn’t be helped, ugh. As he was about to get going, his heart started feeling odd. His feet felt rooted to the ground, he could not move an inch.
“...”
For the love of him, he could not spit out a word, this situation was just too unexpected. He had no clue what happened to him and also who would have guessed he would be transported into another world?
“This is shit, I refuse to die this way!”
When he started coming up with ways to survive, his brain started overlapping that with his memories; completely ignoring his command.
A few memories of before all this mess transpired; of his shitty and sickening life came flourishing down his mind.
- - - - -
Five years ago, in a certain city, which is popular and known to all as a great place to settle in; where celebrities live, rich people gather around, and where men after a long day of work can have a nice cold beer in a pub. Even on the news it is stated that the city has the highest percentage of happy people.
Clouds covered the sky, blocking the sunlight from entering. Near the outskirts of the city, lay the slums. Ugly to the eye houses crammed together; trash everywhere, loitering commonplace. Their were no restrictions here, any kind of crime committed was ignored, thus crimes were pretty common. In a particular alleyway, which is small yet wide enough to fit two cars side by side to squeeze through, a group of kids could be seen. Four are standing while one is laying on the floor shivering.
Bam bam thud, the four were continuously kicking the poor kid laying down. He couldn’t breathe properly and started passing out bit by bit every second, numbness could be felt, only the taste of dirt, sweat, and blood remained.
“Cough cough why are you doing this!” With dust in his mouth he continued "please...stop"
“Twerp ain’t it obvious, hand over all your money...NOW!” Once said, the guy kicked him in the stomach much fiercely, ugh, the boy felt that kick this time, pain ran through his body. However, his feeling of being incompetent wounded him much more than the kick itself though. The kick was like icing on the cake, helplessness was the main cause of his fear and dread.
...he was too weak, the young boy was not born strong nor smart, below average if everybody his age were all sized up and compared. He only had spare change but could not hand it over, how would he afford buying food than?
Right now, this alleyway was deserted. No one walked by, although houses were nearby, no one came out. Nonetheless, in this area, any misfortune suffered, nobody will sympathize. In fact, they would actually take pleasure from it, misery likes company after all. Even he himself would sometimes get a smile on his face seeing others in pain, though it’s rare.
“..Pwease..stop aready,” he could not speak properly anymore, but it was for vain, he was completely ignored.
...
Ten minutes later, they all got bored, he got knocked unconscious, it was not fun anymore. The gang began looting his clothes and money, then ran.
There he was, a 10 year old boy naked on the street without anyone batting an eye. Not even when someone walked by. He was without any clothes but his underwear, dirt covered and broke; like a vagrant.
...
“Haaaa” yawning while waking up, he stood up. Looked up and stared at the moonlit night, dazzling stars were seen everywhere. Seconds later, he stared down, he was basically naked, but strangely he did not feel cold, yet pain was felt, even more than before. The numbness has gone away it seemed.
“Tch,” he sneered. He was rather disappointed. Not much at the assailants but at himself; for being too weak. Groowl, weird noise began coming out of his abdomen, starving he definitely was, his original plan was to go to the nearby store for a sandwich. Even so, plans usually do not work out as planned. With pain, he walked home with a hollow stomach. What happened today was not surprising, this was definitely not his first time being beaten or mugged. At least a twice a month occurrence to put it frank. Gloominess, indignance, and a bit of anger swelled up inside of him.
- - - - -
He stared back at the beast, even though he was paralyzed, he did not flinch in the slightest. Vague feelings of helplessness came falling back to him like a curse, there was nothing he could do. Not even knowing what hit him, how was he supposed to resolve this predicament? His fists were tightly clenched, to the point blood could spill at any moment. What he recalled next was too much for him to handle, rage built up inside...
- - - - -
About a year after that mugging incident occurred, he started attending junior high. The school was not a known one, very small. The government constructed it to give slum kids education. It seemed like a good idea to the outsiders, but for the slum-dwellers in question, they knew it was built in vain. Most of them were no good troublemakers.
One afternoon, the sunlight pierced through the classroom window, enveloping the young boy who was reading a book. His pair of eyes started to burn thus they subconsciously squinted. At that moment, bam, his face was forced down to the desk, almost breaking a tooth. At the same time, sunlight left the room, the class returned to its dim and gloomy state.
“Yo Ryan, let’s not play with the mutt so rough or he’ll cry,” a tall skinny kid joked.
“Can’t you just leave me alone!” the boy cried out. He never looked for trouble, never bullied anyone, or did anything bad. So why is life treating him so unfairly? A few seconds afterwards, the kid who hurt him...did it again.
“Who allowed you to speak bro,” he said with a serious tone.
The boy was hurt again and again but he no longer felt it, he just stayed quiet through the whole process to make it end quicker hopefully. Which did end soon after getting beaten and his money taken away. It was no surprise that he started turning pale and bony, easily noticeable with a short glimpse of his face. All he had a lot of days was just fruit and vegetables which were given at school for free.
The worst part of it all was, nobody helped him. He did not get a knight in shining armor he so desired. No student talked to him, as to not attract the bullies' attention. Teachers did not support him either, because simply put, it was just something trivial in their eyes. Once something severe like an attempted murder arises, they would step in, since it would deeply affect their careers.
...
School ended for today. Clouds moved in slow motion, beneath them, kids are seen walking back towards their home or going to the store for a snack.
At the back of the school, where the school building defended the area from the heat and helped keep it nice and fresh, one little boy sat down, his back facing the wall. Only he was present there, no one else. His head facing the ground, one leg straight while the other was bent. With his thin light tan shirt and ripped jet black jeans.
He did not feel too well. He wanted to bawl his eyes out badly but restrained himself, it would not solve anything so why bother? He shut his eyes and started to ponder on his current situation. Little did he know a water droplet fell down to the ground.
He did not have a sense of belonging anywhere. School, home, in the streets, he felt nothing wherever he went. He did not want this, he wanted to live a normal life, just like everybody else. Sigh, thought after thought, he kept feeling worse. He could not think of any good memories to cling unto.
Cold breeze hit his frail face, making him look up a bit, staring at the bronze fence a good distance away from him. He took a deep breath amidst the fresh waves that hit him, which felt good. When suddenly pop, his pupils expanded. He got an inspiration, his expression turned from sulking to a joyous one, though went back to a gloomy one again, realizing how simple his idea was and why he never figured it out until now...
- - - - -
Emotions ran wild in him. He started feeling crazy, like he could explode at any moment. His previous pitch black eyes turned bloodshot. He just wanted to smash the monster into pieces right now. His legs were immobilized though so he was really out of options on what to do. Although ridiculous, swoosh, with the machete from his pocket he stabbed his shin, not too hard but not too soft either; he tried imitating a ninja show he saw on tv.
He was out of options and desperate, never was he pressured like this in his life. Usually when in a fight, he knew what to expect and was then ready for it but this time what happened to him was unknown. Like they say, the unknown can be very frightening.
He was not experienced fighting against monsters, so whatever came in his mind within this short period was his solution. The strange thing about it all was he did not feel anything really, just like getting a paper cut. The cut was quite negligible. ‘strange’ he thought. He tried a few more times in a much fiercer way, but it was all in vain, he could not be cut.
"Damn it, why wont this work!" He yelled.
He clumsily did not pay much attention to the monster, which was a bad choice...
In the last second, his legs suddenly went back to normal. He was perplexed and delighted. He did not know how exactly he went back to normal but it did not matter so he did not question it much, which was foolish of him. He heard an odd sound behind him, he turned his head around...and he finally noticed, he had fucked up badly... pfff.
The young boy was sent flying...
His last words were quiet, nobody but himself can hear them.
"Damn, I guess my shitty life is over..."
