Jules Arjent had always been proud of his kindness. It was one of his core values that he had always held in high regards. He was known amongst his friends for his benevolence towards others, which earned him the nickname of ‘Gentle Jules’. This trait of his had scored him his current girlfriend, Miranda, who in his eyes was the prettiest girl he had ever met. He had felt the connection between them right from the beginning. It quickly evolved from there, they went on numerous dates and before they knew it, they had moved in together.
Jules was a 20 years old student at university studying computer sciences. His parents had created a rather successful business in his childhood, and it could be said that they were quite well off. Which allowed Jules not to have to worry about living costs during his studies. Despite getting decent grades in the B range he was actually quite smart and would have bean easily able to get A’s if he put in the effort to study. Looks wise he was neither handsome nor ugly, the genetic lottery had earned him average looks and a greater height than average, standing at roughly 190cm. He had brown hairs and blue eyes and his body was fit but not quite athletic.
“Hey Jules! Wait up!”
Jules was on his way to his lecture as he heard a voice calling out to him from behind. It was his best friend Bobby; they knew each other since primary school. Although they had known each other for a long time, they did not become best friend until their first year in high school. From there on they were inseparable, they hanged out all the time and spent countless late-night hours playing video games together.
“Let’s go together!” Bobby called out.
By some matter of fate both friends had decided to study computer science. This could perhaps be attributed to these countless and sleepless gaming nights. With this it could be said that they truly walked the same path.
As the two friends were walking and talking Bobby asked a weird question.
“Hey, we’re friends, right?”
“Yeah, why?” Jules cautiously replied.
“Uh…. Miranda and I are now dating…”
For a second Jules thought Bobby was joking, however his expression remained unchanged. Taking this more seriously Jules replied.
“You better be joking.”
“Um…… I’m not… Sorry I wanted to tell you sooner but Mir…”
“Shut the fuck up! So, what you’re telling me is that my best friend and my girlfriend are now dating!?!”
Despite being a kind person, this news cut deep. Jules was still hoping for it to be a joke, although deep down he knew it wasn’t, the Bobby he knew wouldn’t lie about these kinds of things.
“Yes….” He said after what seemed an eternity.
Jules trusted Bobby and Miranda immensely, they were the two main pillars in his life. The destruction from this betrayal shook him to his core. Not yet fully taking in the situation, Jules did not reply. He stood still as he gradually felt the world get unstable. The intense emotions made blood rush to his face. He could hear his own heart beat loud and clear. The surge of emotions had completely overwhelmed his ability to think rationally.
He stood still for what seemed like an extremely long time to him. Once he had recovered enough, he took a long breath and started heading home. Leaving Bobby behind without a reply. Bobby had betrayed him; he did not even deserve to be talked to. As Jules was about to walk around the corner Bobby opened his mouth, seemingly to call him back to tell him something important, but slowly shut it, without having made a single sound.
Jules had been aimlessly drifting around town for over two hours. How could he go back home, knowing his now ‘ex’ girlfriend would be there? Over the past few hours Jules had been slowly processing the events of the day, trying to understand what he did wrong. Myriads of thoughts passed through his mind, but none of them could provide him with a satisfactory answer.
Nigh time was fast approaching. Having nowhere to go home to Jules decided to drop by a friend’s place that was nearby, hoping to stay there for the night. Following a short walk, Jules had arrived at his destination. He quickly glanced at himself in the reflection of a window. His hairs were messed up because of the wind and hours of crying had left his eyes strongly bloodshot. He tried to tidy his hairs however he quickly realised that was futile.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
He readied himself to knock on the door when it suddenly opened.
“I can’t believe you dared show up!” A voice shouted from inside.
It was his friend Rob. Jules stood there confused. ‘What the hell does he mean?’ he asked himself. A person stepped out revealing a raging expression on his face.
“How dare you do that to her! You filthy animal! You actually dare try and stay here for the night!?! I hope you rot in jail for the rest of your life!”
Rob promptly went back in and violently closed the door. Causing the windows of his apartment to rattle.
Jules was shocked, even his friends seemed to hate him now. ‘What have I ever done to them?’ He just stood there silently trying to figure out what to do next. He couldn’t go home and for some reason his friends hated him as well. ‘I have to find out why they hate me so much. But first I have to find a place to stay at.’
He eventually decided to stay at a hotel. Picking the nearest one, he bought a cheap room for a night including meals. After being given his keys, he went to his room, closed the door behind him and just laid down in bed. He unlocked his phone and connected to the hotel Wi-Fi.
A few seconds after he had connected to the network, his phone started buzzing and making quick beep noises furiously. The were all messages from people he knew as well as some of his ex’s friends and relative. However, after reading the contents of these messages his face quickly paled. All messages contained angry and hateful comments all of which wrongly accused him of having abused his ex. Apparently, she had recently posted a message on social media saying that he had abused her and more. On top of that it seems that his Bobby proclaimed to have witnessed it. Jules resented them from deep within his heart. The betrayal from his most trusted friend and the hatred from everyone he knew felt extremely painful to him. 'It's human nature.' he thought feeling depressed, a nature of greed and betrayal.
It seemed that they had filed a police report, trying to jail him and earn compensation. Jones was confused as of why his ex-girlfriend would go to such extent to get him in trouble. He did have an idea, although he hoped he was wrong. He suspected his girlfriend to want to gain some of his parent’s money. He had never given her any in the past, this was an ironclad rule for him. Finances were to be separated until marriage. He could not understand why she couldn’t wait until then. Not that she should have.
Jules did not know what to think, his world was crumbling around him. All he could do was watch, and see people hate him. Jules could not do anything, and he had never made any other good friends that could trust him over Miranda and Bobby. Due to this, and Miranda’s extensive network of connections, people were far more inclined to believe her than him. Leaving him with nobody to rely on and no options to get himself out of this hole. All the while his hatred for humans kept rising.
All hope was lost and there was nothing he could do about it. ‘What’s the point in trying anymore?’ He slowly stood up, put his phone down and headed out of his room. He locked the door behind himself and headed for the stairway. When he entered the stairway, he walked towards the stairs heading up. His steps were slow but resolute. For some reason the door to the roof was unlocked, he stepped through and headed towards the edge of the building.
He had been standing on the edge for over an hour, contemplating the idea of jumping. Although it held no meaning for him to continue living, he did not quite have the resolution to jump. After all, ending one's own life is no simple decision. He stood there quietly cursing at the vile nature of humans when the sky suddenly flashed white revealing a large explosion a few kilometers up. Out of this explosion shot out a white orb the size of a truck. The orb headed quickly towards him, easily reaching speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour.
The explosion startled Jules, causing him to lose balance and fall. The orb instantly changed direction and kept heading for him. As it was about to hit him, instead of instantly killing him he was absorbed by it. Jules felt like he was floating in a warm liquid substance. he suddenly heard a voice in a language he did not know yet could understand.
“[Beep! Last specimen acquired. Begining analysis.] [Analysis in progress. Status: 6%...... 57%......100%] [Beep! Analysis completed! Begining merging.] [Beep! Merging completed. Returning to ship.]”
As the white orb was about to leave a red light suddenly appeared in the sky. The red light was clearly headed for the white orb. It managed to intercept it before it could leave the city. Upon contact with the orb the red light suddenly exploded creating an explosion that transcended the limits of science. The explosion was thousands of times stronger than that of a nuclear explosion yet small enough to only destroy the city.
The explosion killed Jules before he could even realize it. However as everything seemed to go wrong for Jules, an instant before the light detonated, his phone vibrated back in his room displaying a message from Bobby that said ‘Hey man I’m so sorry for everything, Miranda blackmailed me. I’m gonna come clean tomorrow to everyone. I hope you’ll find it in yourself one day to forgive me. Sorry again bro.’
As Jules was waking up, he recalled what had just happened. ‘What the hell was that white light? Where am I?’ As if answering his answer, a vaguely familiar sound made itself heard.
‘[Beep! Host was retrieved as a sample for study. However, an interference resulted in death of host, destruction of probe and mission failure. Reasons for survival unclear. Host location is undetermined. Scan needed to determine location. Please authorize (Y/N).]’
‘What the…’ he thought ‘Authorize?’
‘[Beep! Authority invalid. Looking for nearest authorised personnel.] [Beep! No signals from personnel found within 1000 light years. Increasing authority of nearest member.] [Beep! Host has been granted full control. Scan authorized. Beginning scan.] [Beep! Host has been determined to be a bacterium. Approximate size: 2 micrometres. Location: Left arm muscle tissue. Several threats detected nearby. Immediate action recommended.]’
‘What the hell?!?’