Chapter Two

The Suffering

A year ago.

A mild October day.

A man.

A girl.

Destined for marriage.

Why did you have to take that pathway, young man? Why?

The Pain.

The Suffering.

The Darkness. My god the darkness.

Flashback

The warm sun beating down on the sandy shore, the sound of the waves crashing in the distance. A man and a woman strolled hand in hand, enjoying each other's company and the breathtaking view.

As they reached the water's edge, their playful energy took over and they began to chase each other along the beach. Laughter filled the air, their carefree spirits lifting with each passing moment.

But the joyous scene was interrupted by the darkness taunting the boy for remembering the glory days he shared with Olivia.

The man stood at a distance, watching Olivia, who was enjoying the view. Little did she know that a shadowy figure was lurking behind her.

The man was startled when the darkness called out, "Look away, boy! You don't want to see what happened to her again. Do you, boy?"

However, before the darkness could do anything, Olivia called out to someone named Edward, asking him to come and take a look at the beautiful view.

The happy memory was short-lived as a gunshot echoed the sound of thunder in the distance, bringing him back to reality.

Present Day

Edward was standing outside "Gerald's Pawn Shop," a building that was cluttered with random junk and garbage that no one wanted.

Inside the store, the air was thick with the smell of stale cigarette smoke and old furniture. The shelves were crammed with secondhand items, such as electronics, jewelry, and musical instruments.

At the front desk, Gerald was busy counting the day's profits, with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

“The fuck’s that noise?” Gerald noticed an unusual figure standing outside the door. “Piss off we’re closed!”

The tapping noise was repeated.

“Listen fucker! I just said we’re closed! Go find somewhere else to spend the night! Godamm freak.”

The tapping noise was repeated.

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Gerald pulled out his gun and started walking to the front door and yelling. “HEY! HEY! ARE YOU LOOKING TO GET”

SMASH!

The glass window for the door began to fall onto the floor allowing Edward to enter the shop.

“THE FUCK!” Gerald stumbled back and fell on the floor dropping his gun to the floor.

“Suddenly I heard a tapping sound as if someone was tapping. Tapping on my chamber door.” Edward said announcing his arrival.

“You. You. You owe me a new door dickhead.”

Edward looked back at the door now missing the glass peace in the middle.

“I’m looking for someone. Someone I think you know.”

Gerald slowly reached for his gun. “Yeah. I think I know who you're looking for, it’s a fucking coroner.”

Gerald fired a shot at Edward causing him to jolt back but not affected by the bullet.

Edward gave Gerald an evil smile.

“Oh, fuck me!”

Edward picked up Gerald and threw him over the front desk.

The darkness adjusted one of the chairs lying around the shop and took a seat watching Edward’s confrontation with Gerald. “This should be interesting.”

Gerald pulled himself up from the floor only to be met with Edward right in front of his face.

“Mr. Gerald. You're making it very hard to cooperate with.”

Gerald swung for a punch, missing Edward who responded by grabbing Gerald by the head and smashing his face on the display case shattering the glass.

Edward made sure that Gerald wasn’t going anywhere by taking one of the knives that where in the display case and stabbing Gerald in the hand pinning him to the wooden floor

Edward made his way to the storage room and began trashing the area. “Mr. Gerald! Don’t you know how this game works?”

“AAA! What game? Help yourself to anything you want, okay. Just don’t kill me.” Gerald said while trying to remove the knife lodged into his hand.

Edward thanked Gerald for his generosity and began searching the area for anything that could be of use for his revenge, two handguns caught his eye.

“Oh, what do we have here? Two handguns. Does the boy think he’s in a Hollywood movie?” The darkness notices a shotgun hanging on the wall. “Oh, now this is what you need boy. A classic bullpup Shotgun. Think you can handle its firepower boy?” The darkness threw the gun at Edward.

Edward caught the shotgun and began inspecting it.

“I can handle it.” He proceeded to kick open the door knocking over barrels full of gasoline that started to cover the floor of the shop.

Edward pointed the shotgun at Gerald. “Hold still! Now your gonna tell me where Thin Boy and his little buddy pals hang out!”

Gerald eventually pulls out the knife lodged into his hand and starts to wrap a piece of cloth around the hand. “Ecstasy. They all hang out at Club Ecstasy. Thin Boy, he lives there upstairs.”

The name Thin Boy gives Edward flashbacks to the horrific October day and how much pain he caused Edward.

“Party Boy spends most of his time in the VIP room.

Edward has another flashback when Party Boy is mentioned.

“As for B Dawg he spends most of his time in his office. Usually looking at himself in the mirror the egotistical prick.” Gerald continued with.

Edward pointed the Shotgun away from Gerald. He instructed Gerald to deliver a message to them,

"Good. Now your next task is to tell them that death is coming. Tell them that Edward sends his regards."

After delivering Gerald’s next instruction, Edward turned around and started leaving the shop.

While leaving, Gerald started hurling insults at him, calling him "Nothing but street trash."

However, it would be Edward who would have the last laugh.

He turned around and raised the shotgun, aiming it toward the puddles of gasoline on the floor of the store. He then said,

"Is that gasoline I smell?"

The question sent a chill down Gerald's spine as he scurried towards the nearest exit. But it was too late.

BOOM!

The entire store was engulfed in a blazing inferno, destroying everything that Gerald had. The flames were so fierce and intense that the heat could be felt from a distance.

The sound of the explosion echoed through the streets, causing people to look in the direction of the store.

The explosion was so loud that it could be heard for miles. Edward, on the other hand, had already disappeared into the night, leaving no trace of his presence.

The darkness began praising Edward for blowing up Gerald’s shop.

“Marvelous boy absolutely marvelous. You always continue to surprise me. So, who’s up first.”

“...Thin Boy.” Edward said with evil intent.