I stumbled down the street. The air had that putrid smell all too common in cities. I wasn’t aware of it too much at the time. The pavement was uneven and thus losing my footing was all too easy. I had face-planted. Great.  A night full of graduation celebration drinking had done a number on me. Somehow I managed to find my way home without getting myself killed. I distinctly remember myself fumbling for a good few minutes at the apartment door, trying to get the key in the lock, it just kept slipping. Falling was the last thing I remembered before hitting the bed.

The last night of my old life was fun, if a bit painful. 

I awoke with a thundering headache, the light that crept in through the windows stabbed my eyes with their brightness. 

Groaning, I turned over to check the time.

10:05

I had slept in but it was of no matter, school was finally over and my new life could now begin. I pulled out my phone, no doubt to scroll endlessly on whatever social media site was popular at the time. I don’t remember. My phone was dead. I plugged it in but it wouldn’t charge. Had I remembered to pay the electric bill? No I definitely did, it’s not because of me. Then what? A problem with the building maybe?

Well it was probably good for me to be offline for a while. I stood up and stretched and then it hit me, like a wave. My stomach. Oh god my stomach. I ran to the bathroom before throwing up. I would have to take things slowly. After having showered and put on a fresh set of clothes, I took some aspirin to try to lighten the headache. I lay on my bed for a solid half hour waiting for the damned things to work. They didn’t. Nothing had  seemed to be going my way.

And then to make matters worse, my neighbor began yelling. It was so loud. Like really really loud. It was unbearable. My neighbor was a shut-in. He spent all his time on video games. I’d only seen him leave his flat once and that was to go fetch a delivery for him that had been left just outside the door. He was probably upset because he didn’t have power like me. It was understandable how someone like him would find a power outage to be annoying. But jeez he yelled as if he had been murdered. I was going to give him a piece of my mind. I knocked at the door. No answer. Trying again got me the same results. A groaning sound came from beyond the door. Wait. Was he having a heart attack? It would explain the yelling and why he wasn’t answering the door. 

“Hello?” I called out.

Again no answer. Trying again, even louder this time.

“HELLO?” I yelled, “Are you alright in there.” 

The groaning continued, but there was something else now. A scratching. Shit.

Was he trying to crawl to the door?

I couldn’t just leave him like this, my phone was dead so that rules out calling emergency services. I was gonna have to do this myself. Moving away I eyed the door, it was very similar to my own, made of light, cheap wood. The air whipped past my face with a great rush of speed before suddenly stopping. The door swung open and the lock had busted off. My shoulder ached but that didn’t matter. It was dark here, and it smelled. The man really needed to open a window and air the place out. He was barely visible because of the lighting. As suspected he was on the floor. Unmoving. I rushed over to him, but what to do in this situation. 

‘Well in the movies they usually do CPR.’ I mumbled to myself.

The scratching sound came again from across the room. The startling noise made me quickly move away. 

What the hell is that?

A shadow moved closer, through the darkness only its shape was visible. It was small, about the size of a child, a dog maybe? 

He doesn’t seem like the sort of person to keep a pet.

Then the creature jumped at me. Instinctively I kicked out, my foot landed and the creature flew back and hit the wall. It managed to tangle itself in the curtains and pulled them down filling the room with light. 

It was a mess, rubbish everywhere, the bed unmade, the table littered with old cans and the floor covered in chip packets… and the body. The body that was surrounded by a pool of blood. The body that was missing a head. 

Oh god no. Wh-what happened here? Did that…thing do this. 

The curtains which had fallen to the floor shifted and from which came a monster. That was the only way to describe the thing. A monster. Only going up to my hip, covered in greenish-gray leathery skin. Long scarred ears and an equally long protruding nose. Dark black beady eyes that locked onto you. And in its hand was a knife. 

I backed away even further, my back facing the hall from which I had just come. The monster ran towards me, letting out a sharp screech, it slashed forward with its blade. I put my arms out to protect myself, and a long cut appeared across them. 

God damn, it hurt, it stung like hell. What is this shit. Why does it have a knife? Why am I just standing here?

 In its slash the monster had left itself exposed, I rushed the monster. I slammed it to the ground and landed myself on top of it. The knife fell away, out of reach. In that moment my mind was empty. I didn’t see the thing below me as alive, or if I did I didn’t think it deserved to be. My fists came down like a barrage Each one landing firm upon the monster beneath.

Eventually it stopped moving. But I had not stopped, could not stop. I was not in control at that time.

When I regained my faculties, I was sitting upon the beast staring blankly at the words floating before me.

Congratulations! You have defeated 1 ‘Goblin’.

-15 EXP has been awarded to you.

-3 Gold has been awarded to you.

You have awakened the ability to use the ‘System’ interface!