Book 1 - Second Chance

Chapter 0 - Prologue

[2 A.M] [Battery 1%]

'Shit, I forgot to charge my phone again'

"Thank you, come again!"

Albi walked out of the grocery store after buying some food. Dressed up in a dark hoodie, and baggy clothes.

Slumped back, baggy eyes, and with no bounce in his steps, he started heading back into his apartment.

'Aaah, I still have a few hours to finish up on that project'

On his way home he suddenly hears a scream coming from a nearby alleyway.

"HELP!"

He pulled out his phone to call the police, but the battery had died on him.

'Damn it. That's none of my business' Albi put his phone in his pocket, and kept walking trying to ignore the screams.

"Someone, plea-"

"Shut up!" Albi could hear a hushed voice coming from the alleyway.

'Help them' A thought popped into Albi's head.

'No way, I'm not going there'

'Help them' The thought reappeared in Albi's head. He tried struggling with these thoughts.

'No! Why should I? It's dangerous, and it's none of my business'

'Help them'

'No! It's their fault for getting caught'

'Help them' Albi tried to rationalize not helping them in his head, but these thoughts kept popping into his head, and he started to feel guilty.

'N-No!'

'Help them' the thoughts relentlessly kept popping into his head.

'I-I don't want to, I'm scared!'

'Help them'

The feeling of guilt, and self-hatred kept growing in Albi's heart...

Albi rushed towards the alleyway where the screams came from.

"H-HEY! W-What's going!" Albi shouted trying to scare whoever was there, but the cracks in his voice made it apparent, he was terrified.

He saw a woman lying on the ground, crying. A man frothing at the mouth sitting on top of her with a knife held to her throat, and his hand covering her mouth.

The man turned around with enlarged, unblinking eyes, and dilating pupils, and looked at Albi.

The man suddenly started laughing "Ooh! We have a hero here~".

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'Shit, that guy looks like he's on something, now what...' thought Albi terrified. The man was high on drugs, being caught wasn't enough to let him run away, instead it made him angrier.

'I should at least get him to let her go, I'll figure it out from there'.

"L-Let her go y-you piece of shit!" Shouted Albi still hoping to scare the man with words.

"Oh, I'll let her go alright, I'll get what I want from you instead, hahaha" The man started to laugh maniacally while walking towards Albi.

The woman seeing the man letting her go immediately started running away in the opposite direction.

"Hey lady, are you alright?" Shouted Albi while keeping an eye on the crazed man charging him.

"We're gonna have to team up on this guy if we wanna get out of here, you got a knife on you, or a pepper spray, or someth-" Albi was cut off by the sound of heels running away.

He turned only to see the woman was running out of the alley, her back turned to him, not bothering to look at him, or give him a reply.

'S-She's gonna call the cops, she must've run to safety first'.

The man reached Albi and suddenly swung the knife towards him. Albi tried to block it with his arms.

'Aaagh, shit that hurts' the knife stabbed, and slashed through his hoodie, cutting his arms.

Albi wanted to run, but his instincts told him to not turn his back towards the man, he can't outrun him. He tried to move back while facing the man, trying to get to safety, to somewhere with more people.

"Where are you trying to go, little boy. I thought you were a hero~" the man licked Albi's blood off of the knife, and stared at Albi, his eyes larger than before, red veins pulsing through them, and a giant smile across his face.

Albi tried to back off even more, until the man lunged at him, and stabbed with his knife, Albi trying to dodge, tripped, and fell on the ground. The knife scratched his face instead.

'Shit...This is what happens when you try to help people!'

'I- I need to run away, I'm at the edge of the alleyway, if I just go out on the road, someone will see me'.

Just as Albi tried to get up, the man jumped on him, and stabbed the knife through his thigh.

'Aaaagh!'

Sharp pain coursed through Albi.

'Shit, that hurts bad!'

'I've been stabbed before but this knife hurts more than anything else. What the hell?!'

Albi hadn't noticed it at the start, but the knife's design was a sadistic one. Serrated blades interwoven with each other in twists, and turns. This type of knife was effective for one thing, and one thing only. Ripping apart anything it touches. Unlike a knife that slices through, this knife was designed to rip through, and grab everything it touches, tearing it off. Maximizing damage dealt to others, and making sure even a scratch would cause more harm than a regular clean cut of a knife.

'P-please...tell me someone heard my scream. Tell me the cops are already around the corner'.

"You got a pretty face on you, let's make sure you can't run away on me" said the man smiling menacingly.

Suddenly a shadow covered the face of the crazed man, as he looked up, he caught the eyes of someone else who crossed they alleyway's entrance.

It was a man in his late 40s, dressed up in a cheap business suit, carrying a bag of liquor. The middle-aged man turned when he heard the scream, and locked eyes with the crazed man.

"What are you looking at?" shouted the crazed man.

The middle-aged man looked at the scene with disdain, fear, and a hint of apathy.

"N-Nothing." The middle-aged man said hurriedly, as he started to speed off.

'T-that piece of shit!'

"Haha. Now little hero, let's see what we're working with, shall we?" The crazed man started to slash away at Albi's hoodie exposing his body. Albi's body was slightly emaciated, old scars, and bruises around his chest, and cigarette burns on his collarbone.

"Get off of me!" Albi swung his grocery bag at the man's face, hitting him in the head with a tin can slightly knocking him off balance. Albi tried to jump away, and start running when a sharp pain came through his thigh stopping him from running. The man steadied himself, grabbing Albi, and throwing him back deeper into the alley.

"Ooh, we have a fighter here. Good, I like'em rough!" said the man rubbing the slight bruise on his forehead. The man jumped on Albi slashing off his hoodie, stabbing him in the process.

...

Albi started to feel his body lose all its strength, and growing colder. He felt wet, and sticky from his blood all over his body. The smell of blood, trash, piss, and other foul odors made one's head grow dizzy. Albi just lied there, body wracked with pain, and cold, but no strength to do anything about it. His vision started to dim, he just lied there, and closed his eyes.

'I guess this is it. A shit ending for a shit life. What else did I expect? Looks like everything 'they' said was true. I am trash, and I'm dying here next to it. Cycle of life, I guess.'

Suddenly, Albi lost all feeling in his body, everything was black. It wasn't cold, it wasn't hot, it was just...nothingness.

Right as Albi's consciousness started to fade away, suddenly...

'L-Light!?'