After breathing the cold night air in the square for a while, I began to perceive a strange smell. It was smoke, but definitely not cigarette smoke.

Looking around, I saw that a small group had settled on the grass some distance away from me. Even in the dead of night, you could see how they were sharing a couple of self-made cigarettes between them, the kind that didn't contain tobacco, and the large number of bottles on the ground beside them.

I am no one to tell others how they should live their lives; once in my youth, I also drank alcohol in a public place. But being found near this group by some patrol would be the last thing I needed today.

I got up from the bench I was sitting on and prepared to return to my house. Unfortunately, I had to pass near that group to do so, but since they were partying, I don't think they would say anything to me.

"Four houses, but only two had something of value; this neighborhood was garbage."

My walk stopped dead. When I was close enough to hear what they were saying, one of the group members blurted out that comment.

"Things don't always turn out the way you want. But hey, the van with the things has to be arriving at the next city; soon, we will see the profits."

They say that criminals always return to the scene, but to celebrate?

"Silence! Looks like we have company."

A bald man, somewhat larger than the others, stopped hugging the woman beside him and stood smiling in my direction. The woman and the three other men who made up the group put their bottles on the ground and followed his example.

"What are you looking at, fella? Continue on your way..." The bald man paused to meditate and then unsheathed a knife he was carrying. "Now that I think about it, better not. Join us for a while."

Apparently, the bald guy who looked like the group leader had decided that I had heard too much and was thinking about silencing me.

"In the first place, why did you come to drink and get high in the square of a neighborhood you just robbed?"

"…"

"…"

The group seemed to have trouble assimilating the question and looked at each other.

"Yes… Why did we decide to return?"

"I should be at my brother's house right now..."

"Wasn't I the one who was supposed to be driving the van?…"

At my question, everyone in the group began to babble in bewilderment; it seemed as if they suddenly did not understand what was happening and why they were standing there.

"Didn't you find a small dog in one of the houses?"

Even though I didn't understand what was happening, at least I needed to confirm that.

"Yes... yes, there was a little beast; it wasn't scared by my kick and continued making noise." A manic smile formed on the bald man's face. "But there is nothing that a good hammer blow cannot silence."

The group leader bent down, laughing, and picked up a blood-stained hammer from his backpack.

"A perfect tool for breaking locks and skulls; what more could you ask for?"

"That was all I needed to know."

As if my life depended on it (and it probably did), I started running in the opposite direction while I took out my cell phone to call the police.

Alexander, forgive me. I would love to avenge you with my own fists, but no matter how crazy they were, there were five of them, and they were armed.

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"Catch him!"

The leader's shout woke the members from their stupor, and they all started running after me.

I tried to lose them in the vegetation of the square, which was also the shortest way to one of the streets that surrounded it, but I tripped on a root in the dark and fell to the ground; my cell phone flew from my hand and landed away from me.

I tried to stand up as quickly as possible, but the two most agile thugs jumped on me and pinned me to the ground. In the distance, I heard an operator pick up my call, but the woman in the group looked at me mockingly and picked up my cell phone from the ground to turn it off.

"Lift him; I want to see his face when I cut his throat... No, if he knew the beast, he must be its owner. What do you guys think? Shouldn't the master follow his pet and go to the afterlife with a hole in his head?"

The two thugs who had me on the ground lifted me following the orders of their leader, who approached with a determined step and a mocking smile.

"I'm sorry, fella; we're good people; we choose uninhabited houses to rob." The bald man shrugged his shoulders but kept his smile. "In this case, we have no choice; you have seen our faces and know too much."

The rest of the group laughed; they seemed excited about the possibility of seeing blood. The leader raised the arm with which he held the hammer and licked his lips in excitement.

So this is what my end will be like?

Despite everything, I have never planned to take my own life; we must never lose hope that things will improve. But there was indeed no one left to mourn me; the only things I would be leaving behind were debts... My only regret would be being unable to put these thugs behind bars.

«So if I do something about these scum of human beings, you will have no regrets in this life? Wonderful! I knew this was the perfect day!»

Before the leader lowered his arm, I heard a woman's voice inside my head. It seemed as if time had stopped while she spoke. But once she finished, the hammer fell on me...

Or that would have happened if the arm holding it had not detached from the rest of its body. Soon, the leader fell to his knees, giving a heart-rending scream.

"Trash, I made you all return to this place so that you receive your due punishment in front of my father's eyes, but who would imagine that you would dare attack him? Such blasphemy deserves nothing less than death."

A female figure appeared from the darkness, but I couldn't distinguish her features; she looked like a shadow walking among humans.

The group of criminals looked at her, stunned; for the second time tonight, they seemed to have no idea what was happening.

"Aaaa… Aaa! Kill that thing!" Amid his suffering, the group leader managed to scream out an order.

Even the men who had me restrained let me go to draw their knives, but the dark figure didn't give them time to do anything; she raised her hand and made a slash in the air with her fingers.

The fingers of the dark figure left a trail of light that disappeared with a flash and reappeared with another at the beginning of each of all the thugs' limbs, severing them.

Both the limbs and the rest of the body of the five members of the group fell to the ground with a dull sound. The woman and another of the men had fainted, but the rest of the criminals were screaming in pain on the ground.

"Everyone deserves punishment equally." after saying this, the dark figure snapped her fingers, and the two who fainted woke up to join the rest in their suffering.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa!"

"What is this?! Aaaagh! Please! Nooo!"

"Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!"

"Make it stop! It's too much!" It seemed like I was in the middle of a horror movie; unable to bear the screams anymore, I begged the dark figure to do something. I don't know why she called me father, but I understood that she was doing this for me.

A new snap of the dark figure's fingers was enough for the thugs to stop screaming, but not only that, they had also stopped breathing. Only their divided and lifeless bodies remained.

"Father, each of those scumbags had committed quite a few murders for their benefit, no need to pity them. Even today, Alexander was not the only victim; the body of an older woman who lived alone in one of the houses still hasn't been discovered by her family..."

An older woman living alone, I may have seen her once... Wait, how did she know that? Or my dog's name?

"But all that is not of my concern; humans must solve their own problems. This punishment was for their insolence towards you, father." After saying that, she began to clench her fists furiously. How dare they!

It was a bizarre scene; I couldn't make out any of my counterpart's features. Her figure was completely shrouded in darkness, but I could still clearly see her movements and gestures. If I had to compare it to something, it would be a shadow show.

After a few moments, the woman calmed down and began to head towards me. Even though she got closer and closer, it continued to be just a shadow in my eyes.

"I wanted to ask... Why are you calling me father? Who or what are you?"

If my life depended on the dark figure having mistaken me for his father, these would be very dangerous questions. But, for some reason, I wasn't afraid. The only thing I felt was the dizziness of seeing people around me die so brutally. However, even that was already disappearing.

"I can't accompany you yet, but don't worry, we'll see each other again." The woman shrouded in darkness finally reached my side and, before I could react, placed her arms around me.

"I don't think I'm understanding anything..."

Ignoring my bewilderment, she removed her right arm from my back and placed her hand on my chest. At that precise moment, I stopped feeling my heart beating... But I was still conscious and did not feel any pain.

"Father, it's simple: your soul went to the wrong world this time." The dark figure brought her face closer and took advantage of my stupor to kiss me on the cheek. "But there is nothing to worry about; I'll send you back now."

Those words were the last thing I heard before a darkness similar to hers covered my vision completely.