At least five minutes had passed since he abruptly ended the call with his sister, and he was still kneeling, staring at the floor.

The expression on his face was indescribable. Not because it was strange, but because it conveyed no emotion at all. It was as if he suffered from alexithymia or was simply dead inside. That emptiness in his demeanor was terrifying.

He was so overwhelmed by a flood of thoughts that he didn’t know what expression he should wear. The only thing his mind could do at that moment was try to rationalize what had happened.

Well, it’s all over, right?

There’s nothing else I can do.

The police will surely come and take me to a court or precinct where I’ll have to give a proper statement… and then I’ll end up in jail.

So, this is where my life ends…

He let out a trembling sigh as his mind continued to wander.

If I’m lucky, I might get a short sentence. How many years do they give someone accused of touching a girl against her will?

Unfortunately for him, he had no idea.

Not that I even want to know. Either way, I’ll find out when the time comes, right?

What bothered him most wasn’t the uncertainty of his future but the fact that she had won.

She made it all up, came out on top, and on top of that, I’m sure my father gave her a lot of money to stop causing trouble.

He sighed again, this time out of exhaustion.

At least it’s all over now, and I don’t have to worry about anything anymore. That’s a relief.

With his will completely broken, Ezechiel remained in the same spot. He had nothing else to do.

He stopped kneeling and stood up.

He wasn’t even bothered by the idea of going to jail anymore, but at the very least, he wished she would pay in some way for having made everything up.

Suddenly, his stomach growled again, reminding him why he had gotten out of bed in the first place.

“Right, I was going to buy something to eat. I’d completely forgotten I was hungry,” he said in a weary tone.

What’s the food like in jail? From what I’ve seen in movies and stuff, it’s not great, but over time you get used to it. At least that’s one good thing… or so I think, he thought.

With that in mind, he had an idea that brought a faint, seemingly fake smile to his lips.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The idea was to go to the nearest shop and buy his last meal as a free man. Even though he considered it a whim, the truth was that he had planned to carry it out from the start.

It was his last decent meal; he couldn’t let something like that pass him by or waste the opportunity so easily. Now, he was determined to fulfill that small, final wish at all costs.

Ha… It’s amazing how I can feel happy about something so simple, something that until an hour ago was just part of my daily routine.

It’s impressive how a person’s life can change with just one phone call, he thought, letting out a long sigh.

After reflecting on that, he removed most of his clothes, tossing them into the sea of garbage that littered his room. Then, he headed to the bathroom. The first thing he did was splash water on his face several times, but once he was done, he stayed there, staring at himself in the mirror.

Wow, I'm really horrible!

"My face has nothing cute about it," he thought as he lightly touched his face.

Hmm… I've got nipples like a woman's, and on top of that, an enormous belly, he reflected, patting the part of his abdomen that hung over.

He sighed deeply.

"I knew I didn’t stand a chance when I confessed, but… with this look, I shouldn’t have even tried. There’s no way any girl would accept me. In fact, most of them probably ran the moment they saw me."

He sighed again, resigned.

"I’m seriously horrible. A damn monster in human form. Not even I would date myself."

Suddenly, a voice interrupted him.

“Ha, I’m glad you’ve finally realized something so simple, you piece of trash.”

He quickly looked around but saw no one. His heart began to race as worry crept in. Was he hearing things?

“I’m here, monster,” the voice said again.

He turned his gaze forward, and to his horror, he saw his own reflection in the mirror speaking to him.

“Finally, you notice me, monster,” his reflection said with a mocking smile.

“Great, now I’ve gone so crazy I can hear my own reflection talking to me,” he muttered in disbelief.

His reflection stared back at him with disdain.

“Look at us. We’re horrible.”

The reflection continued, its tone bitter and reproachful.

“I don’t understand how you could be so stupid and let all this happen. You should’ve kidnapped that damn bitch and taught her a lesson. But no… you were a damn coward.”

A shiver ran down the young man’s spine as his reflection continued.

“You had several options to fix this, and all you did was lock yourself in a room, jerking off, while others tried to clean up the mess you made.”

The reflection let out a bitter laugh.

“Seriously, what a useless monster I am.”

The young man lowered his gaze, unable to face the distorted image of himself judging him from the mirror.

“We should’ve died when we were born, not our mother. A disgusting creature like us should never have been allowed to live.”

“That’s right! It’s our fault our mother died!”

“It’s our fault we were so naïve and got involved with that damn bitch!”

“Shut up!” Ezechiel screamed at his reflection.

“It’s our fault we ended up like this. There were so many ways to fix it, but you decided to lock yourself in a room and become a filthy, gluttonous pig.”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Ezechiel yelled, losing his mind.

“That’s right! That’s right! That’s right! It’s all our fault. It’s always been our fault. Even fighting with our sister was our fault, you damn monster,” the reflection spat with a twisted smile.

“Die, damn monster!”

“Die, damn monster!”

“Die, damn monster!”

The reflection kept repeating those words, and Ezechiel was losing his grip on reality. It felt like his head was about to explode.

He couldn’t take it anymore and punched the mirror in front of him with a fist full of rage and frustration, shattering it into pieces.

"SHUT UP!" he exclaimed, his face contorted in anger, his breath ragged, as his hand bled profusely.

He had no doubts: he had lost his mind. There was no other way to explain what he had just experienced.

Talking to his reflection in the mirror? Yeah, it was insane, and he was worried about himself.

Part of him knew his reflection was right. It had all been his fault. And, in short, yes: he considered himself a monster.

-TO BE CONTINUED-