Laying down broken and bruised on the cold pavement in front of the orphanage inexplicably carried a calming effect. The world was silent, and both my body and mind felt light, as if someone had finally removed some weights on me.  
  
“It’s a beautiful night tonight.”  
  
I heard a quiet shuffle from my right. Rotating my head, I saw a pitch black cat holding a dead mouse in its mouth. And then it struck me. The answer had been right in front of me the whole time, yet I have not been able to see it until now. I now know what must be done.  
  
I arrived in front of the orphanage as one man and entered it a different man. My exterior was the same, but the interior was now coated in a different, darker color.  
  
I slept soundly that night for the first time. The originally damning cold temperatures now felt hospital for me. It almost felt like home. Blessed with purpose, I became a zealot of my grand plan.    
 
 
 
 
 
—The next morning— 
 
I woke up energized and focused. It was time to fulfill my being’s purpose in this cold world. One of my favorite sayings was “Haste makes waste,” and now more than ever, I had to make sure to do everything perfectly.  
  
I left the orphanage early before most of its inhabitants had woken up. I needed to prepare for what I will be doing tonight.  
  
 
 
 
 
[Toby Longbottom’s Perspective]  
  
“Hahaha! We beat up Azrail last night pretty good. Want to do it again? I heard Sister Madeline is busy outside the orphanage and won’t be back till evening today,” One of my lackeys said. 
  
I grinned. I liked the idea. Something about that Azrail boy pisses me off deeply. Especially his eyes. Every time I see them, I get this nasty feeling, a feeling that wouldn’t go away until I unleash my wrath upon him. While saying so, we headed towards the orphanage’s common room to look for Azrail.   
  
—In the common room— 
  
“Where is he [Azrail].” 
  
I looked behind at my bitc-- *ahem*, followers, to see if any of them had a clue. However, they, too, had no clue of where Azrail was. 
  
I leered at them, and they knew what I wanted them to do. My followers began roughing up the many other orphans in the common room to see if they knew where Azrail was.  
  
“Hey Toby! Come here! This four-eyes says he knows,” one of my followers exclaimed.  
  
My crew and I all started surrounding the little boy with glasses. He was but merely half my height. Maybe ten years old? Anyways, with all of us surrounding him, I could see him quaking in his shoes. Seeing his fidgety look of horror pleased me immensely. Azrail could wait; for now, I had a new toy to play with.  
  
“What’s your name dipshit?”   
  
“A-a-aaron,” the little boy squeaked  
  
“What did you say? Speak up. I can’t hear you.”  
  
“A-a-a-a-aaron,” the little boy said in an even more quaky voice.  
  
“Are you fucking deaf? I said to speak up!”  
  
The little boy’s legs gave up, and he collapsed onto the ground, tearing up. Beneath him, a puddle of yellowish liquid started spreading in all directions.  
  
“Did you fucking piss yourself?” I said in a mocking tone.  
  
The boys and I all started laughing. As our laughter grew louder, so did the boy’s crying.  
  
I grasped the boy’s head and pushed it into his puddle of piss.   
  
“Stop crying. It’s fucking annoying.”   
  
The boy immediately covered his mouth tightly with his two hands. The boy was trying his hardest to prevent any sounds from escaping his mouth, but I could still faintly hear his whimpering. It was good enough for now. His name was Aaron, right? I must do this again sometime soon. This is too much fun.  
  
“Alright, let’s go now.”  
  
“Weren’t you going to ask him about Azrail?” One of my followers asked.  
  
“Oh yeah, you’re right,” These morons actually proved to be useful for once.   
  
I turned around to see that the boy was still tightly covering his mouth.   
  
“By the way, do you know where Azrail is?”  
  
“H-h-he w-w-w-went o-o-out-outside.” The boy said while stuttering and crying at the same time.   
  
“Well shit. We’ll never be able to find Azrail outside in the city. Guess we’ll have to wait for him to come back. That’s too bad.”  
  
 
 
 
 
 
—A few hours later— 
  
A few hours have passed, and Azrail’s still hasn’t come back. My patience was running thin. I promised myself to punch Azrail in the crotch when I get my hands on him.  
  
Since my followers and I now didn’t have anything to do, we headed toward the convenience store we usually steal alcohol from. While one of us distracts the cashier with some light talk, the rest will sneak in from the back door and steal the alcohol in the storage area. It works every time.   
  
—Several hours later, nighttime— 
  
“OooOOooooOO... LOook aaAt meee GoooOoo,” one of my followers said drunkly, holding beer cans in both hands 
  
“Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!” The rest of us cheered him on.  
  
The person in the limelight, Tod, opened another can of beer and drained its contents into his mouth.  
  
There were many empty beer cans spread out all around us right now. We had been drinking a lot, maybe a little too much. This secluded area was our secret hang out spot. You had to make several turns in the back alleys to get here. Due to the several layers of walls separating us from the road, no one would be able to hear us, therefore, we didn’t have to worry about the cops showing up.   
  
BRRrrrrrr! 
  
Tod started vomiting suddenly.   
  
Some of the vomit splashed onto my shoes.  
  
“Ehhh! Fuck off Tod! Go vomit elsewhere.”   
  
Tod nodded drunkly and wobbled down the alley, almost tripping a few times, and made a turn in the end.  
  
“Fuck! That bastard got vomit all over my new shoes! Couldn’t he have faced a different direction before vomiting? Bastard.”  
  
—A few moments later— 
  
“Where the fuck is Tod?”   
  
“Don’t know. Could Tod have passed out from being too drunk?” One of my followers answered.  
  
“Could be. It wouldn’t be the first time this happened,” another one of my followers added.  
  
“Who’s going to go check on him?”  
  
Me and Jordan, a member of our crew, hastily announced, “Not me!”  
  
The only one left was Andy.  
  
“Fuck you two.” (Andy) 
  
Andy shrugged his shoulder in defeat and headed down the alley where Ted had gone earlier.  
  
—Ten minutes later— 
 
Andy hasn’t come back yet. Jordan was starting to feel anxious.  
  
“Oi, oi, oi! Why haven’t Andy and Tod come back yet? Nothing could have happened to them, right?” Jordan said with a panic filled voice.  
  
“Must be playing a prank on us.” I then yelled down the alley, “Hey Tod and Andy, if you guys are playing games with me, it ain’t funny. We still got some alcohol left. Come on, let’s finish it.”  
  
Silence.  
  
I glared at Jordan, who was acting timid.   
  
“Go look for them,” I said in an assertive tone.   
  
“W-what? You go instead. I’m not going.” 
  
“You a fucking wuss?”  
  
“...no.” 
  
“Then fucking go bitch!”  
  
Jordan reluctantly followed my orders. He walked down the alley under the dim, flickering lights above.   
  
Just when Jordan turned the corner at the end of the alley.   
 
*BASH* 
  
At the end of the alley, I saw a figure collapse and then rolled over facing me.  
  
It was Jordan’s lifeless body. The entire left side of his head had caved in. Jordan’s blood and brain matter were spread out across the pavement like a modern art display.   
  
I couldn’t breathe, or rather, I stopped breathing. The only things I can hear and see were my heartbeat thumping in my ears and the corpse of Jordan not far in front of me.   
  
At the end of the alley, a leg wearing black clothing revealed itself and stomped onto Jordan’s smashed head, disfiguring it more. After twisting their feet in Jordan’s head a few times, causing more damage, the owner finally stopped and stepped into the alley I was in.   
  
The person was donned in black attire and wore a motorcycle helmet. Grasped in his right hand was a bloodied bat. Bits of brain matter were still loosely hanging onto it.   
  
The person turned in my direction and started approaching me slowly while dragging the bat behind them.   
  
I was overwhelmed by a plethora of emotions right now. The sound of the bat scraping against the concrete floor getting closer terrified me.   
  
“W-W-WHO ARE YOU! WHAT DO YOU WANT! STAY AWAY FROM ME!”  
  
The person kept moving.  
  
“PLEASE!!! SPARE ME PLEASE! I’LL BE YOUR BITCH! I’LL DO ANYTHING YOU WANT. JUST DON’T Kill ME!”  
  
No response.  
  
Right in front of me, the person lifted their bat, which dripped in blood, and attacked me. I desperately wanted to get out of the way; however, my body didn’t respond. It was petrified with fear.  
  
*CRUNCH* 
  
Looking down, I saw something sticking out of my leg. No, wait, that was my bone.  
  
When the realization struck, so did the pain.  
  
“AAAAHHHHHHH! IT HURTTTTTSSSS!”  
  
But it didn’t stop there.   
  
*CRUNCH* 
  
My other leg suffered the same fate.  
  
I was crying in pain, my nose was stuffy, and I continued to beg for my life. I didn’t know just how pathetic I looked right now.  
  
The person finally removed their helmet.  
  
The face beneath shocked me to the core. It was Azrail. He stared at me with those same irritating eyes which housed bottomless darkness, except now it wasn’t annoying; it was terrifying.  
  
“THIS IS WHY YOU’RE DOING THIS!? BECAUSE WE BULLIED YOU!”  
  
Azrail lifted his bat again, but this time aiming for my head.  
  
“No Wait! Don’t! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have bullied you. I was wrong! Please forgive me! I’ll never bully again! I promise! Don’t kill me please!”   
  
Azrail paused for a moment.   
  
I let out an emotional sigh. I was sav--  
  
*CRUNCH*