Jake sat at the edge of the roof, his feet dangling above the void. His newfound sanctuary filled him with a sense of relaxation and calmness. Something that was rare to come by in the tumultuous city.
Out of the blue, he saw how more and more of blob shaped humans disappear from the school yard. Assuming that their break had ended, Jake stood up and made his way towards the barricaded door.
The piece of wood still held the door firmly in place, blocking the entrance to the roof.
He pressed his ear against the door:
“…”
Hearing that there was nobody there, Jake wedged the wood out of the handle and began making his way down.
After what seemed like half an eternity, he finally reached the first floor again.
Before opening the door, Jake again carefully listened to sounds on the other side. He would rather avoid another confrontation with Bard’s group on his way back.
***
Returning to the class, Jake instantly spotted the group staring daggers at him.
As Jake walked past them, Bard whispered menacingly:
"Hey, Jake… you think you're so smart, finding your little hideout, huh?"
“…”
"You better watch your back after school, loser," Bard threatened, his voice dripping with malice. "We've got something special planned for you."
Jake just blatantly ignored the threat, and made his way back to his seat, waiting for the next class to start.
***
Ding Dang Dong
Finally, the last period of the day concluded.
Jake felt as though his brain was melting from the constant barrage of information. Catching a quick look outside, he noticed the sun dipping low on the horizon, casting a breathtaking orange glow across the skyline.
Countless neon signs flickered to life, resembling multicoloured stars suspended in an orange sky.
Jake walked through the school building. This late in the day, it was eerily empty, providing a welcomed relaxing and quiet atmosphere.
Es he left the school, his thoughts turned towards dinner. Walking down the familiar path towards the station, Jake deliberated whether he should make curry or soup.
However, his thoughts were interrupted, before he could arrive at a satisfactory answer for his dilemma.
Looking up from his phone, Jake saw Brad and Mike blocking his way and abruptly came to a stop. Not because he was surprised by Brad, he had expected this much. No, he was caught off guard by the sight of Olivia walking in the distance.
Her golden-brown hair gently swayed with each step. The setting sun's rays seemed to dance around her, creating an ethereal aura.
"Hey, little rat, where do you think you're looking?" Brad snorted, irked by Jake's apparent lack of focus.
Jake turned his attention back to the wannabe delinquent, his golden eyes piercing his.
"You better make this crap worth my time," Jake said, his tone bone chilling.
Before Brad could respond, Eric barked in from behind "What do you think you are doing, you little dipshit?!"
Ignoring the voice behind him, "Why don't we take this to the side street?" Jake retorted, ”You surely don't want any spectators… am I right, Brad ?"
“Hrmph.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
***
Olivia neared the grocery store.
Looking at the distance, she was enthralled by the golden light of the setting sun enveloping the city, casting a mesmerising glow on the skyline.
The neon signs flickering to life on the countless skyscrapers seemed like a firmament of colourful stars.
It was then that she caught sight of Jake leaving the school building.
Thinking it would be a pleasant opportunity to say hi, Olivia walked towards him.
All of a sudden she saw how Brad and his gang cornered Jake. Her heart dropped, and she couldn’t shake off the bad feeling that somethings was about to happen.
Watching the situation unfold, Olivia saw how they retreated into the side street. Just as she was about to tail them, her phone started to vibrate.
Seeing that the caller-ID was her father’s, any thought about hanging up disappeared from her mind.
With reluctance, she accepted the call, her gaze still fixated on the side street where Jake and the group had vanished from her sight.
***
Jake stood in the dark alley, facing the four bullies.
The walls were adorned with graffiti and grime. Broken glass and discarded items littered the ground, reflecting the sparse light from a nearby flickering neon sign. Shadows danced ominously across the damp pavement, and the distant sound of sirens wailed in the evening.
“So, what do you guys want from me ?!” Without the group noticing, Jake’s demeanour had suddenly changed quite drastically.
“All the money you have with you and an apology for what you did to us, as well as your future service” Brad spit back.
"Hahaha!" Jake burst into laughter, unable to contain himself. "On what basis should I service you guys? Are you fucking delusional‽"
"Who do you think you are?" Mike sneered, his face slowly turning red from anger.
At that moment, Eric stepped forward, a smug grin plastered on his face. "You should be careful, bastard. Boss Brad’s brother is a member of the Iron Wolves, you don't want to mess with him.”
The atmosphere suddenly shifted, and an icy coldness enveloped the group. Jake's eyes, once warm and golden, now seemed to burn with an otherworldly intensity. His voice, calm and collected, sent shivers down the spines of everyone present.
"You ask who I am?" Jake's voice was cold and unforgiving.
The surrounding temperature plummeted further, causing Brad's breath to cloud the air around him. The darkness of the alley seemed to grow thicker, swallowing the dim light that struggled to penetrate the shadows. The air grew heavy with tension, and Brad could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"I am not someone you can just mess with” Jake whispered.
Time seemed to stop for an instant, the world holding its breath as the bullies - Brad, Tim, Mike, and Eric - stared at Jake. Their expressions were a mixture of disbelief, fear, and ridicule.
The air crackled with energy, as if the very atmosphere itself anticipated the impending chaos.
And in a heartbeat, the violence erupted.
Brad threw the first punch, his face contorted with rage and fear. His fist swung wildly, aiming for Jake's face.
Dodging Brad's punch effortlessly, Jake abruptly moved forwards. The surrounding shadows seemed to respond to his will, amplifying his counterattack. Brad's jaw shattered under the force of Jake's blow, and he crumpled to the ground, disorientated.
Moving with inhuman speed and grace, Jake orchestrated the fight with the finesse of a skilled dancer.
Tim lunged at Jake, but an unseen impact threw him off his charge, flinging him crashing into a nearby dumpster. The impact cracked ribs and punctured lungs, leaving him motionless on the cold pavement, lifeless.
A nearby streetlight flickered, casting an eerie, yellow glow over the scene. The distorted image of a smiling woman on a billboard above seemed to be mocking the violence below.
Mike, trembling with fear, and tried stabbing Jake with a sharp, broken piece of glass he picked from the ground. Jake smoothly evaded the desperate attack and extended his arm, gripping Mike’s hand and twisting it into the wrong direction.
Crack!
Before Mike had the chance to scream in pain, Jake delivered a sharp elbow strike to his throat, the impact shattering his windpipe. Mike's body crumpled to the ground, a strained wheezing sound was the last sign of his struggles.
Seeing how his two friends were violently murdered, Eric desperately attempted to flee.
Noticing his escape, Jake closed the distance between them with incredible speed, his movements fluid and elegant.
Jake grabbed Eric by the collar and lifted him off the ground. Eric's eyes widened with terror, the pressure around his throat mysteriously increased, making it even more difficult for him to breathe.
"Please, don't!" Eric choked out, his voice barely audible.
But Jake was unwavering. His expression remained cold as he stared into Eric's eyes. With a fluid and decisive motion, he effortlessly slammed him against the brick wall. His skull burst under the pressure with a sickening cracking sound.
Blood seeped down the wall as his consciousness faded, never to return.
“You…will…regret…this…”
Bard finally recovered from the hit to his jaw. Blood flew down his face and throat, dying his shirt in a deep red. He barely managed to speak with his shattered jaw.
“I’m not sure about that.” Jake answered calmly, turning around to face Bard.
As Jake approached him, Bard barely moved. The combination of shock and trauma leaving him powerless.
Although, he had yet to give up all hope.
“Urgh…”
In a list ditch effort to save himself, Bard waited until Jake was within striking distance, and then, the moment he was, he instantly threw a handful of dirt at his face, attempting to blind him.
Mustering all his remaining strength, he bursted into a sprint, but before he could cover even two meters, he fell over Jake’s swiftly extended leg.
Flying face-first into the dirt, his already broken jaw disfigured even further. It now was a gory mess of blood, bone splinters and ripped muscles that hang off his face.
Bard almost passed out from impact, the pain was horrendous, but it was also what kept him barely conscious.
“What a need little trick.” Jake added and bend down to Bard, whispering:
“But I’m sorry it didn’t work on me”.
“S….s..t...o..p”
With a precise hit of his elbow, Jake broke Bar’s spine, ending his suffering forever.
Standing up from the ground, Jake looked over the scene.
Looks like something straight out of a horror story.
A solitary rat scurried across the pavement, its beady eyes reflecting the dying glow of the holographic advertisement as it picked its way through the chaos. Its tiny feet splashed in the puddles left by the last rain.
Jake disappeared into the night, the lifeless forms of Brad and his friends lay sprawled across the cold, damp pavement. Their bodies were broken and battered, their reign of tyranny brought to a swift and brutal end by Jake.
The flickering holographic advertisement continued to cast its eerie glow on the scene, the smiling woman's image now appearing almost sinister in the aftermath of the fight.
In the end, the alley was just another dark, forgotten corner of the city, a place where the harsh realities of life played out in the shadows, hidden from the eyes of the world.