CHAPTER 6:

Entering my apartment I quickly took off my shoes and went into my room. Closing the door behind me, I gently set my backpack down on the floor, positioning it neatly beside the recessed edge of my closet.

“That was phenomenal,” Lucifer said, floating behind me. “I just love how you brought misery to those humans.”

“That wasn’t the point,” I said, sitting on the side of my bed. “I was just having fun.”

I stretched my arms behind me and let my upper half drop to the bed, bouncing slightly on the mattress.

“So, how do I unlock my second skill?” I asked Lucifer as I stared at the ceiling.

“Oh, ready to unlock the next skill now?” He said in an amused tone. “I think you’re about ready. You have gotten relatively proficient with telekinesis, but then again your telekinesis is still weak.”

“I’ll get stronger with it, don’t worry about that,” I replied. “I’m ready though, to unlock my next skill I mean.”

“Alright, just know this next skill demands significant mastery, far beyond what telekinesis required," he smirked, a smile pulling back his thin lipless mouth. “Have you been practicing with your third eye?”

“No, I haven’t,” I said, sitting up. “What do I need to do?”

“Keep practicing with your third eye until you can see with your eyes closed,” he said as he closed his eyes, still grinning. “Once you can do that you’ll be able to use your next skill.”

Lucifer nodded, his eyes still closed. "It's about focusing your inner senses, tuning into the world around you in a way you've never done before. It's not just seeing in the literal sense, but perceiving."

“Okay,” I replied, opening up my status window.

I clicked to view my skills.

Ability: Devil’s Hand

Skills: [Demonic Guide], [Third Eye] Level 1, [Telekinesis] Level 2, (Hidden), (Hidden), (Hidden)

Clicking on the first hidden skill, a new window popped up:

[Hidden]:

Requirements to unlock:

[Third Eye] Level 2

[Telekinesis] Level 2

It seemed all I had to do was get my third eye to the next level, I guess Lucifer was right. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to focus. At first, all I saw was darkness, but I remembered Lucifer's words about tuning into my inner senses. Gradually, I began to concentrate on the sounds and smells around me, the feel of the air in the room, the distant hum of my humidifier.

This practice became my routine for the next week. Each day, after I woke up I decided whether or not I wanted to go to class. Oftentimes, I would just go for a little bit to mess around with telekinesis. Then, I would go down to the gym to practice lifting heavier objects with telekinesis before dedicating hours to sitting in my room, eyes closed, reaching out with my mind. Progress was slow and often frustrating. I started on Thursday, and even by the end of the weekend, I still wasn’t able to see anything but darkness.

By Monday, something started to shift. It wasn't vision in the traditional sense, but a new kind of perception. I began to sense the area around me within the distance of about two feet, a vague awareness of where things were. My hands, which were resting in my lap were dark blue, the same color as my third eye. My sheets and bed were a dull gray. Everything was fuzzy and indistinct, but it was there.

"Lucifer, I think... I think I'm starting to get it," I said, excitement creeping into my voice.

Lucifer, who had been watching me silently, looked at me intently.

"Good," he said. "That's the first step. Now, refine it. Sharpen your focus. The skill you're about to unlock requires precision."

Motivated by my gradual improvement, I continued to practice each day. The world around me in my mind's eye slowly became clearer and I started seeing further. By Wednesday, I could make out the shapes of objects in my room with a fair amount of accuracy. Walking out on the streets I noticed it was people that were colored dark blue and the surroundings the dull gray. I had also improved my telekinesis to be able to casually lift and manipulate 7.5-pound weights.

Each day brought more clarity, and by Friday, my perception had sharpened significantly. I could 'see' my entire room with my eyes closed, the shapes almost as sharp as with my eyes open. A couple windows popped up in front of me:

Skill Updated: [Third Eye] Level 2

Skill Unlocked: [Soul Manipulation] Level 0

Clicking on [Soul Manipulation], a new window popped up:

[Soul Manipulation]:

The ability to speak to and control human souls.

I sat there in my bed, puzzled for a moment. What did this new skill really mean? Did I just unlock the ability to control every human on planet Earth?

“Lucifer, I just unlocked the ability to manipulate souls,” I said, looking up at him. “Does this mean I can just control people now?”

Lucifer cackled, floating just below the ceiling. “Congratulations. It was about time you figured out how to see with your third eye.” He paused for a second, thinking about my question. “Well… I can’t say for sure since these people are still alive, but in the underworld I have full control over every soul that enters my domain. I can rip them apart and torture them to my hearts content.”

“I see,” I scratched my chin as I stood up from my bed. “I guess I’ll have to go test this out.”

It was a Friday at 9:39 pm, so the place filled with the most people I could go to, while staying inconspicuous, was probably one of the bars. I threw on my boxy, light gray, Fear of God hoodie and a pair of thick, baggy, dark gray sweatpants. I then donned my mid-tone gray Canada Goose parka and slipped into my white Airforces. I wasn’t dressing to impress anyone, rather I was just trying to fly under the radar to test my new skill in peace.

As I walked out into the brisk night, I pulled my hood over my head for a little bit of warmth. The closest bar was probably one called Scorekeepers Sports Grill and Pub known to us students as Skeeps. It was one of the most popular bars in Ann Arbor, usually packed with people. I always preferred quieter bars where I could easily chat with my friends, so I hardly ever went out in Michigan, especially since my friends out here tended to favor livelier spots like Skeeps. Walking down State Street, I took in the pleasant view of my surroundings. The streets glowed softly under the faint illumination of streetlights. Aside from the sidewalks, a blanket of snow, several inches thick, enveloped everything in a serene, wintry cover. After a short, five minute walk, I arrived at Skeeps. A line was already forming outside filled with chatting students in various sized groups. Following the rope that formed the line, I went to the back to wait my turn. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, excited to be going out with their friends. Realizing I was here alone, I started feeling slightly anxious. It took me a moment to shake the feeling off and I rolled my neck, quietly clearing my throat. Glancing over my shoulder I noticed Lucifer was floating there patiently.

“I guess I might as well test out my new skill,” I thought to myself, looking at the back of the guy standing in front of me.

I focused, imagining the boy’s soul leaving his body. As I did this my eyes unconsciously widened and darted slightly to his right, as if I were removing his soul from his body with my eyes. It didn’t seem like anything happened. The boy kept talking to his friends in front of him.

“Oh, hoh, look at that,” Lucifer chuckled.

Confused I looked around, searching for the boy’s soul, but it was nowhere to be found. Then I heard the boy’s voice inside my head. The voice was faint, as if it had its volume lowered, even though he was speaking in a normal tone.

“Woah, did I get superpowers? Is that me?” The voice laughed excitedly before pausing. “Wait, what the fuck is that thing?”

“I am Lucifer!” Lucifer roared, floating over to my right shoulder. “I’m here to torture your soul, young one!”

I took a step backwards, glancing around. Everything looked normal, nothing was out of the ordinary. It seemed as if Lucifer was talking to nothing, but I could hear the boy’s voice.

“Wait a second, let me try seeing with my third eye,” I thought to myself, closing my eyes.

Seeing with my third eye, I noticed the boy in front of me was a dull gray and floating a few inches off the ground to his right was his exact copy, in the dark blue that correlated with humans. The dark blue body was facing me, looking up at Lucifer.

“Y - you - you’re Lucifer?” the boy’s soul stuttered. “What’s going on, am I about to die?”

I laughed internally, watching the boy’s soul.

“Who are you? Why are you laughing?” The boy’s soul said, turning to look at me. “Holy shit, are you the grim reaper? Wait, why is the grim reaper a human?”

I paused for a second, realizing the boy’s soul could hear my laugh.

I then talked inside my head, “You can hear me?”

“Yeah I can hear you. What’s going on!” the boy’s soul yelled, trying to grab physical body. But his hands just phased through, grasping at air. “Holy shit, I’m about to die aren’t I.”

“Be quiet!” I tried to yell in my head. “I can’t think straight with you talking so much.”

The boy, who had just been rambling, immediately went silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “What the hell, I couldn’t speak just now. What’s going on? Someone help me!”

“Stop talking.” I commanded, this time focusing more intently on my command.

The boy’s soul went silent once again. I waited a few seconds, watching him as his body moved erratically. No words left of his mouth.

“Hmm, I guess that worked,” I thought to myself. “Stop moving.”

The boy’s soul immediately stopped moving, locking into place in a weird position with his hands on his head. I noticed the line moved a few spots so I moved forward, eyes still closed. I tried moving the boy’s soul, the same way I would with telekinesis, up next to his physical body. In a blink his soul quickly moved, seemingly disappearing and reappearing where I had placed it. Suddenly, the boy’s soul started speaking again, though his body was still locked in place.

“Fuck, dude, can you at least tell me what’s going on?” he said, panicked.

“Fine,” I responded. “You’re a soul. I’m talking to your soul. I’m not going to kill you and I’m not the grim reaper. You don’t have superpowers either… well at least I don’t think you do.”

Remembering the ‘System’ gave me the ability to ‘appraise’ other Chosen Ones, I focused on the word ‘appraise’ in my head. A window popped up.

Error:

Human is not a Chosen One.

“Yeah, you don’t have superpowers,” I chuckled. “But I guess you would have already known you were a Chosen One without me telling you.”

“What?” he questioned, his body unlocking. He seemed to have calmed down, no longer flailing about. “Okay, so you’re not going to kill me. Wait, are you God? Am I speaking to God right now?”

“Hmm,” I paused, grinning. “Something like that. Maybe I have the power to send you to heaven or hell depending on if you’re obedient or not.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yes! Please send me to heaven!” he smiled. “Oh, God, please send me to heaven, I’ll do anything you ask.”

“Alright, if you want to go to heaven, shut up and let me focus,” I replied sternly.

“Okay, okay,” he was still smiling. “Holy shit, I’m talking to God right now. Wait, why is God Asian?”

Lucifer cackled, hands on his stomach. “Ah, this is too good.”

“Let me try to turn down your volume,” I said, imagining a volume bar appearing over the boy’s head.

The bar was at 50% leaving room to go up or down. I imagined the bar lowering to 10%.

“Speak,” I commanded.

In a barely audible voice, the boy’s soul spoke. “Hello.”

“Hmm, that seems to have worked,” I thought to myself. “Keep speaking. Tell me about yourself.”

The boy’s soul kept speaking, telling me about his girlfriend and his job working at the Chipotle on State Street. Within a minute or two his voice went back to its original volume.

“Hmm, seems I don’t have great control over my commands. They wear off after a short period of time,” I thought to myself, scratching the side of my head.

“Wait,” I grit my teeth, worried. “I wonder if he’s going to remember this when I put him back in his body. I guess now’s a good time to figure that out.”

The line had moved again, and I kept pace. It seemed we were roughly ten people from the front of the line, I would have to make this quick. Focusing on the boy’s soul going back in his body, the boy’s physical body became a dark blue again. Then, the soul split from the body and popped back out.

“Woah, that was weird, I was myself again for a second,” he said, feeling his body. “Damn it’s cold outside. I’d almost forgotten since I don’t feel cold when you take me out of my body.”

“Shit,” I thought to myself, focusing once again on putting the boy’s soul back in his body.

Once again, his physical body turned dark blue for a couple seconds before his soul popped out. After a few more repetitions of this nothing had changed, I still couldn’t get the soul to settle in it’s body. I noticed the boy and his friends were about to enter the bar so I opened my eyes. The bouncers started motioning us forward and I reached into my pocket, taking out my wallet.

“ID,” the bouncer said through his double chin.

I pulled out my ID and handed it to the bouncer, noticing the boy and his friends walking into the bar. The bouncer studied my ID before bending it slightly with his fat fingers.

“Alright, you’re good,” he said, handing me back my ID.

In a slight rush, I headed inside, trying to catch up with the boy and his friends. Upon entering the bar, pop music blasted in my ears, drowning out the sound of chatter from the seemingly hundred people inside. It wasn’t a super luxurious bar, though it was big. High ceilings with big fans and a second story filled with tables and people lounging on the railings. I looked around for the boy and his friends, seeing them walk up to the bar to order drinks.

“This is so cool, I’m at Skeeps with God right now,” I heard the boy’s soul’s voice in my head. “My friends are never going to believe me.”

Closing my eyes and glancing around I noticed he had followed me inside. I opened my eyes again and walked over to the bar, pushing my way through the light crowd that had gathered around it. Waiting patiently for my turn I surveyed the crowd which was mostly gathered on the densely packed first floor. The energetic atmosphere was palpable, with groups laughing, dancing, and enjoying the night. Amidst the sea of faces, I spotted the boy and his friends leaving the counter, each with a drink in hand, animatedly talking and gesturing.

“Shit, I’m gonna lose them,” I thought to myself, slightly gritting my teeth.

“Hey, what do you want?” I heard someone say.

Turning back toward the counter I noticed one of the bartenders was looking at me expectantly.

“Oh, I’ll have a Moscow Mule,” I responded.

“Alright,” he said, taking out some bottles out from under the counter and pouring my drink. “Card or cash?”

“Card,” I said, looking back over at the boy and his friends.

They had just reached the edge of the mass of people and were pushing their way inside. The bartender walked back over to the cash register and quickly typed something in. He then walked back over to me and handed me my check. I put down my card, looking back over to try and find the boy and his friends. They had disappeared, nowhere to be seen. I tsked, realizing I had lost them. The bartender handed me my check and I signed off, putting my card back in my wallet. Grabbing my drink, I headed up toward the second floor. I figured I would have a better chance of finding the boy if I had the high ground.

“So God drinks Moscow Mules,” the boy’s soul said. “Not really my preferred drink, but not bad.”

“I don’t drink very often,” I replied as I went up the wooden steps to the second floor. “They’re pretty good though, and they don’t have caffeine. I can’t drink caffeine this late at night.”

Sipping my drink, I walked over to the railing to get a better view of the mosh of people on the first floor. There must have been a hundred people all packed together, barely any room to dance. Most people were huddled up in small groups, chatting. Scanning the crowd, I couldn’t find the boy and his friends. Resting my forearms on the railing, I closed my eyes. Scanning the crowd once more, I looked for a human who wasn’t colored dark blue. I found the boy, huddled up with his friends near the corner of the room. I willed the boy’s soul infront of me and it appeared, floating near the ceiling. I tried forcing the boy’s soul back into his body again, but he popped back out as he did before.

“I guess what I was doing outside wasn’t working anyways,” I thought to myself. “Might as well try something different.”

“I’m going to heaven, right?” the boy’s soul’s voice sounded like a whisper in my head.

It seemed that the further away I was from a soul, the quieter the voice would get. Ignoring the boy’s question, I stood there, pondering my next move. It seemed that visualizing things like I did with the volume bar seemed to help me control the soul. It was also weird that I was able to speak to the boy’s soul through thought alone.

“It’s almost like I’m connected to the soul telepathically,” I mused inwardly, envisioning a single, undulating line that resembled a radio frequency wave. This imagery symbolized a subtle, yet profound connection, much like an invisible thread of thought linking two minds. “Maybe if I close off my connection to the soul it will go back to the body.”

I imagined two hands pulling on the ends of the wave like a string. As the wave pulled taut, the boy’s soul disappeared. Looking back at the boy’s physical body, I noticed it was once again glowing dark blue. I waited a few moments, expecting the soul to pop back out. But it didn’t, the boy’s body seemed to be holding in its soul. It also didn’t seem like his soul going back into his body caused any reaction from him. He merely went on with his conversation as if nothing had happened.

“Hmm, I’m not sure if I can control people with this power,” I ruminated. “It doesn’t seem like the soul and body are connected. It’s as if they’re two different entities.”

As I was thinking about the boy’s soul, it popped out of it’s body, appearing before me.

“Hi, God,” the boy’s soul said.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to do that,” I thought to myself. “I guess while I have you, let me try something. What were you just talking about?”

“Oh, we were talking about this movie we watched the other week,” he replied.

“Okay,” I responded. “And what are you talking about now?”

The boy’s soul paused for a moment, glancing over at his body. “Well… I’m not sure.”

I quickly put him back in his body and pulled him out again. “What were you talking about just now?”

“We’re talking about the same thing,” he answered. “Do you want to hear about the movie?”

“No,” I said. “But this is helpful. It seems souls have memory of everything the body does up until it gets pulled out. Interesting, let me try something else.”

“Okay,” the boy’s soul replied. “So I’m going to heaven, right?”

Ignoring him, I moved his soul back into his body.

As his body became dark blue again, I issued a command. “Stop moving.”

The boy’s soul froze in place, overlapping his body which was still making small gestures with his hands as he talked. I moved the boy’s soul back into his body and tried again, this time with more of an authoritative inner voice. Once again, the soul froze in place but the body kept moving.

“Okay, I’m pretty sure I don’t have the ability to control people,” I thought to myself, severing the connection between me and the boy’s soul. “At least, not yet. Maybe with enough practice I’ll be able to.”

For the next hour or so, I stood up on the second floor, practicing taking souls out of their body and putting them back in. I also kept trying to control people’s physical bodies, but nothing seemed to work. During this hour, my ‘Soul Manipulation’ skill hit level 1. I had gotten better at severing the connection between myself and a soul and had also gotten better at utilizing commands, they now seemed to last several minutes.

Amidst the bustling bar atmosphere, nobody noticed my quiet experimentation. Or at least, no one seemed to really care. To the casual observer, I was just another patron lost in thought, gazing over the crowd. But in reality, I was engaged in a deep exploration of my new skill, a power that blurred the lines between the physical and the spiritual realms. As I stood at the railing, eyes closed and sipping my drink, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Opening my eyes and turning around, I noticed a small, average looking girl had come up to me.

“Hey,” she slurred through her thin lips, “Are you okay? I’ve seen you standing over here by yourself for a while now.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” a slight fake smile peeled back my lips. “I guess I have been over here for a while.”

She giggled, looking me in the eyes. “C’mon, somethings got to be wrong. I’ve seen you standing up here by yourself since I came in the bar.”

“Really, don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” I replied with a short chuckle. “I’m just waiting on my friends.”

“Oh really,” she rolled her eyes. “You’ve been waiting for your friends for the past hour. They’re not coming you know.”

I paused, glancing away from her and then back. “Yeah, I’m not sure what’s taking them so long, maybe they did bail on me. Why do you care so much anyways?”

She smiled drunkily, “I don’t know… You seem interesting I guess. Lost in thought and all. Here at Skeeps by yourself.”

“Hey! Megan!” A boy said, coming up the stairs. “Finally found you, where have you been? Let’s get out of here.”

The girl’s eyes opened in surprise and she turned around. “I’ve just been here talking to my new friend.”

The boy stared at her angrily, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her to his side. She let out a slight yelp as she stumbled next to him.

The boy then looked up at me, scowling. “Who the fuck are you, dude? Hitting on my girl?”

I chuckled, taking in the situation. “Woah buddy, if anything she was hitting on me.”

I studied the boy in a split second, analyzing whether or not he was a threat. He was a few inches shorter than me, but he was bulkier. The boy definitely looked like he worked out but didn’t seem all that athletic from the way he moved. He also had some fat on him which likely meant he didn’t do much cardio. He would probably burn out within a couple minutes of fighting. Even though he didn’t seem too dangerous, I didn’t want to get in a fight. There was no point in whooping some kid’s ass when I didn’t have a problem with him.

The boy took a couple steps forward, getting right up in my face. “Fuck you bro, you were definitely hitting on my girl. I saw it.”

I could smell the alcohol on his breath, a few drops of spit hit me in the face as he talked.

“Listen bro, I know how to fight. You don’t want to do this,” I said, a slight smile on my face.

“Shut the fuck up, I’ll beat the shit outta you.” The boy said, shoving me.

“Alright, it’s on then,” I thought to myself as I took a step backward to mitigate the shove, my back lightly bouncing off the railing behind me.

“Zander, stop! He didn’t do anything wrong!” Megan yelled, grabbing his arm. “You’re always doing this.”

“Shut up, bitch!” Zander growled, shoving her to the side. “I only do this because you’re always flirting with other guys!”

Zander squared up but his hands were low at his chest and his feet were close together, telltale signs he had no training as a fighter. I threw my drink to the side, the plastic cup bounced off the ground and spilled my nearly empty drink on the floor. I then rolled my shoulders back and Zander rushed at me, throwing a looping, techniqueless, right hand. I could see it coming from a mile away. I quickly raised my left arm into the punch’s path, blocking his punch with my forearm. I then twisted off my back foot, shooting my own right hand straight down the pipe into his nose. Zander stumbled back a few steps, holding his nose in his hands. Megan let out a short scream, hands on her mouth. Pivoting away from the railing I circled to Zander’s left, gaining some space behind me to work with. Blood poured from his nose as he squared up once more, staring at me infuriated. I smirked at him and motioned at him to come at me with my hands. He charged again, this time with hands low, seemingly going for a takedown. I threw a front kick, landing square on his stomach. Zander stopped in his tracks with a surprised expression, his right foot stepping backward. Lunging forward I threw a jab into the void between us, barely missing his nose. Reacting to my jab, Zander threw his arms up in front of his face. As he did that I threw a right hook, my fist smashing into the side of his head. He stumbled a few steps to the side, landing on one knee.

“You done?” I chuckled, lowering my hands. “I told you this would happen, didn’t I?”

In a daze Zander stood up, swaying a few steps left and right. Megan ran over to him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

“Better get out of here before the cops show up,” I thought to myself, glancing around.

Everyone’s eyes were on me. It seemed like the everyone had frozen, a sea of shocked and wide-eyed faces staring in our direction. Zander, still swaying slightly, leaned into Megan's supporting hands. His expression was a mix of pain, confusion, and wounded pride.

As I walked toward the stairs, some guy held his hand out for a fist bump.

“Damn you’re good at fighting, my guy!” he said, grinning.

“Yeah,” I responded as I bumped fists with him and headed down the stairs.

As I made my way through the crowd of people partying on the first floor I heard someone call my name. Looking around, I noticed a familiar face with short dark brown hair. He had slightly droopy facial features, though he wasn’t a bad looking guy. It was one of my friends out here, Luke. He and I were on the same floor of our dorm freshman year and quickly became friends through our shared love of weed. We then roomed together in an apartment sophomore year, but junior year he moved out to live in his fraternity house and we slowly started to hang out less often.

“Yo, Atti!” Luke yelled, maneuvering his way through the crowd over to me.

I gave Luke an upward nod and a grin as he came toward me. “Sup, Luke!”

“What are you doing out here?” He said, dapping me up. “You should have told me you were going out tonight.”

“Yea, my bad bro, I’m getting out of here though,” I responded. “I just beat some kid’s ass, so I gotta get out of here in case the cops show up.”

“Oh shit!” He laughed, “Well we gotta hang sometime soon. Let’s hit the hottub at your place or something.”

“Yeah for sure bro, I’d be down,” I nodded. “You wanna come through tomorrow? Maybe Borkon can pull up too.”

“Yeah, I should be free,” he replied, taking a sip of his drink. “I’m sure Borkon would be down, I’ll ask him. He came out with us tonight, he’s back over there.”

He pointed back where he had come from. From the looks of it, Luke had gone out tonight with a bunch of his fraternity brothers. The few times we had hit the bars together it was always with that big group of guys. I was friendly with them but we weren’t friends, so it wasn’t all that fun. Borkon was cool though, he was also one of my friends out here. Borkon was actually his last name. For some reason the boys in his frat called each other by their last names, so I just went with it. He and Luke became close friends during sophomore year so he was always coming over to hang with us at our apartment. I made eye contact with Borkon and his eyes lit up. He made his way through the crowd over to me and Luke. He was a shorter guy, probably around 5 foot 7, but stocky. He had short curly hair and studs on his ears.

“Atti-- what’s up bro!” Borkon said, dapping me up. “Let me get you a drink.”

“Yo, what’s up, Borkon,” I grinned. “Nah, appreciate it though. I gotta get outta here, I just beat some kid’s ass.”

“Damn bro, what happened?” he laughed. “Where is he?”

“He’s up on the second floor with his girl,” I smirked. “Dude thought I was hitting on her so he tried to press me.”

“What did you hit him with?” Borkon grinned.

Borkon had a little bit of training in jiujitsu and had recently also started taking Muay Thai classes. We always watched the big UFC fights together and he was just as big of a fan as I was, if not more so.

“I hit him with a right hand to the nose, then he charged at me and I hit him with a front kick and a right hook to finish it,” I responded, playing back the fight in my head.

“Yooo-- nice,” he laughed as he turned to look at Luke. “Wanna go see this guy?”

“Sure,” Luke chuckled, “Alright, catch you, Atti. I know you gotta go.”

“Yea, see you guys, let me know about tomorrow,” I signaled a slight wave goodbye as I turned around to head out of the bar.

I walked outside, studying my surroundings. The bouncers didn’t seem to care about me and if the cops were coming they hadn’t yet arrived. Throwing my hood over my head I headed back to my apartment through the wintry streets, my breath like smoke in the cold.