Chapter 8 – Stress

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A mansion stood right beside the cliff. I believed the owner was a daredevil. But even I, an ignorant, had my jaw dropped by how beautiful the view in front of me was. I lacked the vocabulary to describe it. All I knew, even with my annual income, it won’t be enough to construct a house on top of such a picturesque landscape. No wonder they organized the party here. Truly worthy of ‘national treasure’ party.

Checking my phone, the message really directed me to the right destination as I saw multiple colorful tarpaulins hanging on the walls. ‘Congratulations, Sir Daimon!’, such words sickened me! Especially that my friend-cum-not anymore didn’t even bother to erase my name on his phone. An utter disregard, isn’t it? The message got sent to many. A thing that became a nail to hammer through my blank brain.

His negligence became my weapon, though.

Tsk. I’d prepared for the worst, but I still felt it. Stress—a nonsensical thing yet present, just invisible to the naked eye. Many considered stress a good thing.

But when one experienced stress throughout their life, then no one could ever complain. I am one, who didn't have a shred of time for relaxation. It was obvious even when I was partying. I only did it just for personal gains and not for the fun itself. And it was so stressful I always ditched the conversation midway to vomit in the restroom. Messing up meant destroying all our hard work, which we knew got destroyed in the end despite all our careful considerations.

To me, stress was the reason people didn’t have wings. Gravity was a bitch, and with a human’s body structure, it seemed impossible to carry wings around, I believed. I’m not a biologist, but driving to work was stressful enough. Imagine, using only a pair of feet, and yet we already felt stressed before arriving at our destination. Then, a human with wings was a creature that broke physics. Err, I’m embarrassed because I didn’t know physics, but at least such a creature broke my imagination. Maybe it was the reason angels in the bible didn't look humane at all.

I didn’t doubt many people turned into villainy due to stress. People underestimated, even took advantage of, the stress people were having. With such unfairness, no one in their ignorant mind would say a criminal was wicked from stealing to satiate his family’s hunger. The foul deeds only happened because they were human.

Only deplorable and rotten to the core, like Daimon, had to be stoned! I would applaud even on my deathbed if God gets him right this second!

Killing, in the name of religion, became an immoral action despite such many acts (proven in history) driving people to desperation, and ending in their deaths. It was similar to killing them with their own hands. Slow and painful. Yet, no matter how tragic, the general views painted such an incident as nothing but misfortune.

Misfortune my ass!!!

My father died because of the greedy corporates, working out people like him to dry! Authorities turned a blind eye as my mother got overrun by a car! I lived my life with no talent and no dreams!

Just clutching at smoke and clouds, not knowing where to walk forward. Many people were like that too. In fact, they might have it worst! Living became too grueling. Just scavenging food from the trash bin, filled with shit and spoiling food, wasn’t enough to fill their stomach. Sometimes even finding nothing. Thus, dreaming was a luxury for them.

So, who are you to say you have it hard? Even I wasn’t having it low that yet. I am just back to square one — nothing. But I still had bones to grind and blood to spill! It wasn’t the end of the world for me. I got a chance, and I didn’t want to lose it! Actually, I could turn my back and do nothing at this instant. Just change my face and identity, and viola, I would become a different person. A new life was waving at me.

But a chance to kill Daimon was too hard for me to miss! Just like a carrot, it rested under my nose and all I needed to do was to bite it!

Thus, I ventured through guests, silent but confident. I didn’t want to warn anyone or Daimon. No one noticed me, though. Maybe they have already forgotten me. Or maybe they didn’t bother to look at anyone wearing an inexpensive attire. They would only remember the 'person' who once had fun with them. I happily indulged them, if that were the case.

I went from room to room after trudging on the stairs. Most of them were occupied, hence I took a hard survey lest I overlooked my target. Despite running a check twice, Daimon wasn’t around anywhere. This exacerbated my stress even further.

“Where the heck is he?”

My growing irritation stopped when I heard a loud noise. Everyone also halted. The star of this party finally arrived and my lips lifted into a curve.

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