Xard Randex walked the path to school for the first time in a while. After the funeral a week ago, which he couldn’t bring himself to go to, his parents had wanted him to return back to his regular schedule. However, the school’s faculty insisted that he take more time off to ‘grieve and adjust’. They had eventually compromised that he should stay at home until the beginning of the month, and since it was now the first of Bipriber, it was time to return.

Xard wasn’t really excited to have to socialize again after everything that happened, but the idea of getting back to a ‘normal’ life was appealing. He was a senior at one of the various high schools in Constead, and lived just outside the city proper. It was about a twenty minute walk from his home to the school, so usually he chose to go on foot instead of taking the bus. Up until just recently, he had someone to share the trip with, but it just felt lonely now.

Xard was wearing his school’s uniform. It consisted of a black blazer with white trim, a white dress shirt, khaki pants, and black casual shoes. He was wearing white dress gloves that weren’t part of the uniform, but there was nothing in the rules against them; he had double checked the handbook several times to make sure. He wasn’t happy that the necktie he usually wore now perfectly matched the color of his hair. Both were crimson red.

Over the past several days, Xard would fiddle with strands of his hair, still not used to the color. His hair was quite short on the sides and back, but long on top, and slicked back. Every strand had suddenly changed color recently from his original dirty blonde, but he didn’t understand why. He also felt like his hair would suddenly pulsate a slight shimmer every now and then, like it was going to explode.

His eyes had also suddenly changed color. They were originally blue, but now they were a glimmering gold. If he had money to spare, he would have bought colored contacts to cover them. However, he only got a small monthly allowance from his parents to pay for meals and any school supplies he needed, and asking for more was definitely out of the question.

On top of that, his parents would now have to replace the several things he had broken over the past week. He didn’t know why things kept breaking, but lately things just felt more fragile. His parents never actually expressed their annoyance over this in words, but he could feel their tension with just one glance at them.

As Xard walked, he carried his school bag in his left hand, and a book for his language class in the right. He had never been an amazing student, but he wanted to get through these next few months until graduation as quietly as possible. He wanted to maintain at least average grades so no one could complain, so he was trying to read as he walked to help catch up on all the schoolwork he missed.

He was doing his best to read thoroughly, so he wasn’t paying too much attention to his surroundings. As he passed the train tracks that bordered the city limits, he couldn’t help but catch something in the corner of his eye. Three people were sitting on the train tracks. They had laid out a blanket, had a picnic basket, and seemed to be enjoying a nice meal while conversing and taking in the nice day.

What the hell are these crazy people doing?! Xard yelled in his head. He stopped walking to fully examine them. There were two girls and a boy. Both of the girls had crazy colored hair, but he was more drawn to the hooded boy who seemed about his age, his eye drawn to the small animal poking out of his hood. That’s not important now! Xard berated himself. Their hair is strange like mine, maybe they know what’s going on with me.... But they are doing something insane right now, so it’s probably best not to get involved with them.

Xard also wanted to question their fashion sense. The outfits of the boy wearing the black tunic and white-haired girl wearing the blouse were a little strange, but he found the outfit of the tanned girl to be the weirdest. She was wearing a blue competitive swimsuit that matched her hair, black and white breakaway pants, and flip flops.

The jacket was what stood out the most. It was an unzipped silver jacket that had been purposefully cut off around the middle of her torso. There was a red trim around the hood, with white triangles poking out from it. He guessed that when the hood was up, it was supposed to look like a shark head, but guessed she didn’t have it up due to her overabundance of hair.

Xard had a ton of questions he wanted to ask them, but restrained himself. These people are definitely not conducive to a normal life, and I definitely don’t want to get involved with them, he reassured himself. Just as he was about to continue his trip to school, the train crossing lights behind him began flashing and the unmistakable dinging noise began. Surely they will move now, right? Xard thought not wanting to look back because he felt he knew the answer.

He slowly creaked his head around to check and was dismayed at the sight. The trio was still just sitting there, not even acknowledging that anything was amiss. Xard walked over to them, getting as close as he could without passing the safety barrier, and said as politely as he could muster even in this bizarre situation, “Err, excuse me, I don’t mean to bother you, but the train is coming. Don’t you think you should move?” The three of them stopped what they were doing, stared at him for a few seconds in silence, then went back to their merriment, completely ignoring him.

Xard could hear the rumbling of the train approaching, prompting him to speak up again while dropping all the niceties this time. “Look, I don’t know if you’re thrill seekers, part of some weird suicide pact, or just plain crazy. But this will only end with your bodies getting splattered everywhere, and that would be a damn inconvenience for everyone else. I know I’d hate to be the person who had to clean it up, so maybe think of them when deciding whether you should stay there or not!”

The three of them just chuckled at him for a bit. Xard was instantly regretting what he had done. He didn’t know why he felt he needed to get into their business. For as long as he could remember, he wanted the world to stay a peaceful place to live in. Lately, however, he had been having impulses of wanting to correct anything that impeded that peace, or any injustices he couldn’t bear to witness.

“You should probably run along if you’re worried about what might happen next,” the white-haired girl suddenly said to him. “Although your hair and eyes are particularly shiny, perhaps you want to see what you’re made of and join us. Either way, you’re welcome to watch the show, or you could go call the police if you want.”

Xard really didn’t know what she was going on about by ‘seeing what he was made of.’ He really didn’t get them at all and didn’t understand what they were planning to do. The time for thinking was rapidly coming to an end as he saw the train approaching. It was swiftly heading right at the three of them, and they showed no sign of evading it.

All of a sudden, his body started moving on its own. What the hell am I doing?! he screamed at himself as he dropped his belongings and leapt over the railing. He stood on the tracks between the three of them and the train, held one hand out in the direction of the train, and pointed the other straight up at the sky.

The moment the very front of the train touched his extended hand, it stopped moving completely. It had been going nearly 100lph, but now it was at a dead standstill. A second later a loud blast came booming out of his other hand, sending a concentrated shockwave up into the air. Both of his gloves were instantly ripped to shreds, exposing what Xard had been hoping to hide. On the back of his left hand was a tattoo of a black hole, and on the right, an explosion.

After the ringing in his ears subsided, Xard looked down at his hands. “How did I do that?!” Xard questioned out loud. “And how did I know that I could? It was just…”

“Instinct,” said the white-haired girl who was suddenly right beside him, scanning him all over. “So, I guess you really are one of us... Tell me, who did you kill? It was someone you cared for deeply, right?”

How the hell does she know that?! blared in Xard’s mind. He was suddenly filled with the overwhelming urge to be anywhere else. “Uhh excuse me, I’m running late,” was all he could get out of his mouth as he ran over to grab his things.

“Have a nice day little-red. I’m sure we’ll meet again!” The woman yelled at him as he dashed away. He couldn’t help but feel that the way she said it was almost sinister, and it made his heart race way more than the cardio did.

Xard didn’t stop running until he was a block away from school. Surprisingly, he hadn’t really run out of breath, nor was he fatigued even though it was probably the most exercise he’d gotten in years. The jog had given him time to cool his head a little, and didn’t know why he was so scared of that person knowing the truth. It was the first time we met, so she must have just been going off conjecture, he tried to convince himself as he leaned up against a wall to take a break.

He went to wipe his sweat, even though there wasn’t really any there, and panicked a little after finally noticing that his hands were still exposed. I really hope no one I know saw them, he thought as he rummaged through his school bag. He had brought a spare pair in case they got stained or something along those lines. He had never expected them to practically explode.

Now that he was resituated, he felt a bit better about heading into the school, but that was short lived. The entire time he walked through the halls he heard several whispers along with his name many times as people stared. When he got to his homeroom, he hoped that he would be able to get to his desk without anyone noticing. However, that was unlikely since his desk was in the far back in relation to the door.

The moment he stepped into the room, the various casual conversations that had been going on stopped immediately, filling the room with silence. Xard did his best to ignore their gazes and not make eye contact as he took a few steps. As he continued walking, people began talking again, but much quieter than before, mimicking most of what he had already heard in the halls.

The trip to his desk felt like one of the longest moments of his life. When he finally got there, he slumped down into it, put his head down on the desk, and put his bag up in front of him in the hopes that it would impede anyone wanting to stare at his hair. After a couple minutes, the murmurs returned to a more normal level of talking and most people had moved on.

Xard was contemplating taking a short nap until homeroom started, but someone came up and spoke to him. “Hey Xard, how ya doing?” the bob-haired brunette girl said. It was one of his classmates named Jordi. She was normally quite peppy, so their personalities didn’t mesh too well, and they hadn’t spoken too much.

“Fine, I guess,” Xard replied. He felt that it was a little nice that someone was willing to speak to him normally and hold a conversation. However, she was the type who tried to be friends with everyone, so most of the novelty was lost on him. He guessed that her niceness must get her into trouble sometimes. He definitely had no interest, but assumed that a lot of guys probably mistook it for something more.

Jordi sat down at the desk in front of him, which just happened to be empty at the time, and spun around to look at him. She spoke in as compassionate a tone as possible, more than anyone else had during this whole ordeal. “I know Warig’s death must have been hard on you, and I just want you to know that I’m here if you need someone to talk to. I really mean that okay.”

“Thanks… I, uhh, appreciate it,” Xard replied, not really sure how to feel about that. He hadn’t really been looking at her this whole time but decided it’d be rude if he continued. When he looked at her, she didn’t really meet his gaze. More like her eyes were wandering all over him. Eventually, they wandered to his eyes, and she jumped a little when she found him staring back.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to stare,” Jordi apologized. “It’s just, you really did change quite a bit. I mean, you look the same but the new colors are quite the contrast. I guess people deal with grief in a bunch of different ways, huh… If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were one of those Fiends everyone’s going crazy over.”

“Fiends?” Xard asked with zero idea what she was talking about.

“Y’know, those people with crazy hair and eyes that do insane things. How do you not know about them?” Jordi questioned in a slight joking manner.

“Sorry, I don’t really keep up with the news or anything,” Xard answered, trying his best to sound light-hearted as well.

“Well, you should look them up sometime. You also may want to consider dyeing your hair back to normal, or else people may confuse you with them,” Jordi said with seemingly genuine concern. “Oh, the teacher came in so I guess homeroom’s starting soon. I’m serious about what I said before, so don’t forget.” After that, she got up and went back to her usual desk. When she sat down, several of their classmates swarmed her, likely to ask about what they’d discussed.

Fiends, is that what they were? Those three from before. Is that what I am now too? Xard pondered. His mind drifted off for the duration of homeroom with thoughts like these. Before long, he found himself staring at the empty desk a few rows away in the room. Flowers had been placed on top of it and had begun to wilt, so he guessed they had been there for a while. The fact that they were there at all caused conflicting feelings to stir.

The first class of the day was a computer lab, so Xard spent his time ignoring the lesson and looking up all he could on Fiends. It didn’t take him long to find Drim and Phon’s names with accompanying pictures. Even though he wasn’t someone who typically paid attention to world events, the name Drazah was one he knew.

He watched the footage from the Prosper incident, as well as the museum. He felt he’d get in trouble if he put headphones in, but fortunately they were subtitled. Cosdamn, they really are crazy. He felt a little bad having associated with criminals, but felt that their crimes at the museum were minor. They really didn’t hurt anyone and that gem was basically useless junk in his mind.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Next he found the article reporting on Vinlot’s murder. Now he was furious with himself that he didn’t report them to the police after all, and thought about possibly doing it later. Although he wasn’t sure whether he still had the right to anymore. However, the article continued and reported on Vinlot’s corruption. They killed someone evil, that can’t be denied. But are they evil themselves? Am I? Thoughts like this bothered him for a while.

Lastly, he found the interview, also subtitled. After watching it, he was convinced that he was definitely a Fiend. A Curse huh? They definitely worded that right. But I guess I can live with that. It was worth the price… Warig HAD to die! Xard could almost feel his hair pulsate as rage built up in him, thinking about everything that had happened.

◆◆◆

Two weeks ago, Xard didn’t even remotely feel Cursed. He lived a mostly happy life. While he wasn’t on great terms with his parents, he had someone whom he could count on and enjoy life. He and Warig had been best friends for basically as long as he could remember. They had met in elementary school and been friends ever since. They would later find out that they lived close together, and from then on spent almost every day with each other.

During their time together, they stumbled across an out of the way junkyard. They turned this into their regular hangout spot since there was a lot of interesting stuff to mess around with and kill time. The owner rarely showed up. He was an older gentleman; a bit crotchety but kind-hearted. Originally, he was annoyed at the pair playing there after he discovered them, but once he saw Xard’s tendency to tidy things up as they played around, he decided to let them stay since it wasn’t really an inconvenience to him.

Even now during high school, they would hang out there after school almost every day. Neither of them were in any clubs, or really had any commitments that made them need to rush home. They also didn’t have much spending money between them, so going to places that required it was mostly out of the question. So, they would spend their days hanging out in the junkyard until it got dark. Even if it rained they would go, having built a sort of makeshift fort out of some of the scrap there where they could take shelter.

It was a regular sunny day in the middle of Monarchber 2077. Xard and Warig were walking down the sidewalk of a street near the city’s limits. School had just ended, and they were heading to the junkyard like usual. However, this time Warig had insisted they take a different route. This wasn’t too unusual; they would often mix up the way they went to add a little bit of variety, but Xard noticed he seemed a little pushy for some reason.

As they walked, they just chatted about random things: school life, homework, shows they’d watched, and so on. Their conversation came to a bit of an abrupt stop when Warig spotted a kid near the end of the street. The boy couldn’t have been more than ten years old, and he was staring at Warig intently. “You know him?” Xard asked.

“Uhh yeah, just give me a minute,” Warig said as he headed over to the kid. There was a small conversation that Xard couldn’t make out, but he did manage to catch the item exchange between them. Warig had handed the child a small red envelope and the child had given him some money. Warig trotted back over when he was done and casually remarked, “Sorry about that.”

“What was that about? That kid gave you money?” Xard questioned even though he immediately felt bad about asking. He didn’t really want to pry too much into personal matters. They had been friends for a long time but never talked much about their home lives. Xard had things with his family he didn’t want to talk about, and wanted to give everyone the same courtesy. However, something about this just felt off to him.

“Oh, yeah. He’s a friend of the family... Well, his parents are anyways,” Warig said as if he was almost out of breath for some reason. “He stayed over a few nights ago since his parents have been busy lately. So, the money was repayment for that. And the envelope had a key to our house in it so he could drop by whenever he wanted… Anyways, let’s head out, shall we?”

Xard got that Warig wanted to drop the subject. Even though something was still bothering him in the back of his mind, he decided to leave it for now since he didn’t want to bother his friend. The two of them then headed to the junkyard like normal, played around with some random stuff they found, did their homework in their fort, and headed home.

◆◆◆

Xard found himself alone heading home from school the next day. Warig had mentioned he had somewhere to go and took off on his own. Xard had wanted to ask where he was going but still felt bad about prying too much yesterday, and didn’t want to do too much of that too often. It was pretty rare that he would be on his own. Even on weekends the two would meet up, so this was definitely a rare occasion, one that only happened once every couple of months.

He looked up towards the sky and felt a little depressed. He wasn’t sure if it was due to the overcast or the aching sense of loneliness in his chest. Warig had been his best friend for so long that he hadn’t felt the need to make any other friends. When he was on his own, Xard really wasn’t sure what to do. He definitely didn’t want to go home already, but he didn’t really have anywhere else to go. He thought briefly about going to the junkyard, but felt it just wouldn’t be the same.

In the end, he decided to just wander around near the outskirts to kill time. He walked around for about an hour, regretting having not gone to the inner parts of the city; at least there he could window shop. He was in the middle of deciding whether to keep wandering or give in and head home, when he finally focused on the barking he had been hearing for a while. He had noticed it some time ago but tuned it out until now. This whole time it had been loud and constant.

Can’t that thing take a breath for two seconds, it’s impossible to think! Xard rambled in his head. He felt the sudden need to scold it for causing such a ruckus, so he decided to follow the noise. It took him quite a while to trace the barking back to its source. It was farther away than he expected, which attested to how loud it was. He wondered why no one else in the area had gone to check it out; figuring that either the people living here were used to it, or were mostly still at work since it was early afternoon.

He eventually found the dog causing the disturbance in a back alley. He was about to yell at it, but couldn’t get out the words when he saw why it had been barking so incessantly. There was a child slumped up against the alley wall, seemingly unconscious. Xard rushed over to check on the boy. As he crouched down next to him, the dog nuzzled its nose against Xard’s arm then took off running. Guess the dog felt it performed its duty, Xard thought before turning his attention back to the boy.

He tried shaking him, but there was no response. His eyelids were closed so Xard pried them open only to see them glossed over. Already fearing the worst, Xard checked his pulse. The boy was still warm to the touch, but there was no pulse to speak of and he wasn’t breathing; without a doubt in his mind, the boy was deceased. Xard figured it must not have been long, likely happened right after the kid got off school.

He took out his cellphone, and was about to call the police. That was until he saw a twinkle of red between the boy’s fingers. He pulled out a small red envelope that he recognized instantly, which made him flashback to the day before, remembering Warig handing it off. Xard now studied the boy. He hadn’t looked closely before since he didn’t feel like it was too important, but now he recognized it as the same boy from yesterday.

Xard started to panic a little, wondering how this possibly could have happened. He took the envelope and opened it. An orange powder was coated on the insides. It seemed that the envelope had been full of it before, but was now almost entirely empty. Xard had a hunch as to what it was, but needed to be sure. He took a small dab on his fingertip and gave it a slight lick.

He was certain now that it was a drug with the street name ‘Orange Julius’. Xard wasn’t a junkie or anything, but he had studied up on drugs in general. Orange Julius was an ingestible narcotic with artificial flavoring added to it to make it go down smoother. The tangy taste also made it more appealing to children. A small dose wouldn’t do much, but larger amounts would produce crazy side effects, and if too much was consumed it could be lethal; as was evident by the situation in front of him.

Xard’s head started to feel a little funny. It wasn’t as a result of the drug, but rather the new tirade of emotions swirling inside of him. There was definitive proof that his best friend, who he had known for a long time and would do almost anything for, was a drug dealer. What’s more, that was now the cause of this child’s death. He was still feeling panicked, but now also extremely sad. However, none of it topped the unbridled rage.

What… What kind of bastard would sell drugs to kids?! What monster would do that knowing it could kill them?! He must pay… He needs to pay! He needs… to die! At that thought, all of the emotions suddenly subsided. Xard was now completely calm, his eyes with a similar glossiness as the child's, almost as if he was in a trance. He had a mission now, and nothing was going to stop him.

Xard stood up and looked at the corpse. He knew he couldn’t just leave it there but didn’t have time now to deal with it. He took the red envelope, and wiped the parts he had touched with his shirt to hopefully remove his fingerprints. Then, he bent down to place the envelope back in the boy’s hand.

When he got up he started shouting “Fire! Fire!” repeatedly. Once he heard footsteps approaching, he slunk away into the shadows and headed out. Xard didn’t go home that night, and he didn’t get an ounce of sleep. The next morning he called Warig to the junkyard on the premise that he’d found something interesting.

“Hey dude, what could possibly be so interesting that you’d call me out this early in the morning,” Warig said as he strolled in with a yawn. He took one look at Xard, whose appearance was pretty disheveled with large bags under his eyes, and asked. “You look terrible man, did you spent the night here?”

“Yeah, I had a fight with my parents. I didn’t want to stay at home, and I didn’t want to bother you since it was so late. So, I just crashed in the fort here for the night,” Xard said as calmly as he could. In truth, he had rehearsed what to say over a hundred times throughout the night.

“Well, you shouldn’t do that again. If it happens again, let me know right away, got it? It doesn’t matter what time it is. I don’t know if my folks would let you crash at my place, but we'll figure something out. I mean it,” Warig said as if he was genuinely worried for him.

Xard wasn’t sure if he was being sincere, or if he was just faking it. Either way, it made his rage spike up again for a moment. He took a breath, calmed himself, grit his teeth and said, “Thanks man. Anyways, what I want to show you is over here.” Xard waved towards an area further in and started walking over.

Warig followed close behind, looked around, and said, “Wow this place sure looks different. You must have been in some kind of mood to mess around with this much stuff.”

“Yeah, I had trouble sleeping and wanted to clear my head,” Xard replied trying to brush it off. Eventually they reached an old car surrounded by a heap of junk. “This is it,” Xard said as he opened the door to the car and made a motion as if ushering Warig inside.

“Really, this hunk of junk?” Warig said as he clambered into the back seat and Xard closed the door behind him.

“Yeah, I think it used to be an unmarked cop car or something,” Xard mentioned. The back was completely sealed off from the front. The windows were also quite durable; he had made sure of that earlier by trying to smash them with all the strength he could muster. He also made sure to rig the locks so that the doors could only be opened from the outside. Unbeknownst to Warig, he was now completely trapped in there.

“So, what’s so special about this thing?” Warig asked as he looked all around the backseat.

“Oh, nothing really,” Xard said, speaking entirely in monotone. “Now let me ask you something... When did you become a drug dealer Warig?”

“Huh, what are you talking about?” Warig questioned as he tried to jiggle the car handle to get out. “What the...? It’s locked. Hey Xard, let me out.”

“I’ll let you out if you answer the question,” Xard said with a bit more intensity this time.

Warig began trying to push on the window and yelled, “Hey this isn’t funny man, let me out.”

Xard bashed his fist on the window and yelled back, “Answer the damn question!”

“Alright alright, chill geez. I’ve been doing it on and off for the past couple of years. My parents stopped giving me an allowance so I needed someway to get money. I’ve actually saved up quite a lot. I was planning on splitting some with you anyways so let me out and I’ll give you your share,” Warig offered, implying that he thought this was a reasonable proposition.

“So, why kids then?” Xard asked once he calmed himself again.

“Oh that. Originally I started off with adults. Kids though, they get addicted way faster, and they’re way more careless with money. So they’re way more profitable. So that’s more money for us, y’know,” Warig said, like he was almost proud of himself.

“And do you give a damn that the zjik you sell caused one of those kids to overdose and die?” Xard asked.

“Damn, that’s terrible,” Warig said remorsefully. Xard almost had a slight glimmer of hope for a moment, but then Warig continued. “Now I’m going to have to find another client. Anyways, I gave you your answer. Let me out of here and I’ll split the money with you. I understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore after this. But know that even though you locked me in here, I still see you as my best friend. I hope it can stay that way.”

“Sorry Warig, that won’t be an option,” Xard’s mind had gone and tunnel vision set in. He was focused on the button hidden amongst the pile of junk in front of the car. Xard had spent the last night moving that car to that exact location, and surrounding it with all the scrap he could manage to make it not look out of place.

He looked back to Warig who was banging on the window again, glared for a few seconds until the stalling was unbearable, and pressed the button. A loud whirring sound started coming from within the junk pile, and the car began moving forward. It was set up on a rolling car crusher that turned any inserted vehicle into pancakes.

The car slowly began being crushed from the front. The noise from it started to drown out the screams and pounding coming from the back seat. Xard just stared intently at the scene without blinking once. A shard of glass sprang out from the machine and flew at him, cutting his cheek, but he didn’t even flinch.

Shortly after the car vanished fully into the machine, every source of sound stopped. There was no more screaming, no more banging, no more crushing, and the machine had gone quiet. It was utter silence for a moment, until Xard saw the blood pooling out from the scraps of junk. It was then that he snapped out of the state he had been in for the better part of the day, and his screams now filled the air.

Xard finally realized what he had done. He had killed the only person in this world who cared for him, but he had also killed a terrible criminal who didn’t deserve to live. Almost every emotion conceivable surged through him: happiness, sadness, joy, despair, pain, elation, and so many more. However, there was one thing that trumped all the others. It prevented him from noticing that the blood from his cheek had turned golden, didn’t notice the flash of golden light, didn't feel the burning pain on his hands.

Xard clenched his chest. What was dominating him now was heartbreak. The truth was, even though he had never acted on it, he had always hoped that he and Warig would someday become something more than friends. It took him a long time to realize his feelings, and he spent even longer suppressing them, but they were always lingering in the back of his heart.

Xard didn’t know how long he sat there crouched on the ground before he could bring himself to move again. It was approaching noon when he finally called the junkyard owner. He did his best to act panicked like something he couldn’t understand had just happened. When the owner showed up and saw the damage, he told Xard to go home and that he would handle it.

Xard spent the majority of the next week and a half holed up in his room. He didn’t go to Warig’s funeral and barely spoke to his parents at all, aside from them informing him that the police were most likely going to bring him in for questioning. His parents also mentioned that one officer in particular was putting pressure on them to take him to the station. He guessed that he was their prime suspect, but when it was discovered that Warig was a drug dealer responsible for a child’s death, the case was all but dropped.

◆◆◆

After school ended on the first day of Bipriber, Xard started walking back home. He had barely spoken to anyone the rest of the day, and spent most of it thinking about everything he’d discovered online. He passed back over the train tracks where he had seen the three Fiends earlier that day. He was relieved that the train was gone, but a part of him wished that the three of them were still there. He had a lot of questions he felt only they could answer.

Oh well, it’s probably best I don’t associate with them. They would do nothing but cause problems for me obtaining my dream… Well, I guess that actually doesn’t matter anymore. Even if it was never proven that I did it, I’m a murderer, and I don’t deserve to pursue my goals anymore. I guess I should try to live as quiet of a life as possible from now on. I doubt I’ll see them ever again anyways.