I screamed.
And screamed.
And screamed till all the air was out of my lungs as I dropped to my knees and took in the scene before me.
The robber had half of his face smashed in against the alley floor. Blood spilled and spread out, making a map like a wine stain on a light-colored shirt.
The gun was on the ground a few meters away from his now motionless body.
I dropped the brick my hands had somehow picked up in the chaos. Its edge stained with the same blood as the man spooled on the ground.
'I don't...'
What did I do?
Oh fuck
Fuck!
I have to get out of here now!
My feet somehow developed a mind of their own as they staggered forward, heading towards the bike, now slumped sideways against the floor. I pushed it upright despite the pain in my knees from the earlier fall.
I looked back one more time to see the results of my actions.
I had killed someone.
I had murdered a human being.
Should I call an ambulance?
The cops?
The hero hotline?
Even then, what do I say? Tell them that I had bashed someone's skull in?
Hell no.
My hands shook on the handlebars, my eyes darting across the scene of the murder.
I found the brick once more and remembered.
'He was running from something,' I thought, and left the bike to slump on the ground as my eyes turned to the brick on the ground.
Fingerprints.
Fuck.
He might have been running from the cops or worse, a hero. If they tracked me down using that, I'd be thoroughly fucked.
Before I could think twice, the brick was already in the pocket of my black jeans, bulging out as I sped away.
I arrived back at Tony's in a daze. Something had been flickering at the edge of my vision, but I was so out of it I couldn't really focus on it. My mind kept replaying the incident over and over and over.
"What the hell happened to you, kid?" His question cleared my daze. I had been staring at Tony across the counter. The helmet was discarded somewhere outside the shop. I took in my disheveled appearance and managed to speak.
"I..."
My mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
"I fell"
"The rain...."
I kept talking, stringing together one weak excuse after another on how my appearance resembled someone who had just survived a street brawl.
"Okay, okay. Fine, you fell whatever, but you were late," he said, giving me that unsettling stare once again. I knew what the stare meant before he could utter another word out of his mouth.
"You don't have to say it." I laughed a bit at the entire situation.
"I know, I'll drop the uniform and the scooter keys at the back." I should have known this would happen. I headed towards the staff changing room, removing the red staff uniform of the shop.
My eyes drifted downward to the bulge in my jeans pocket. The brick. It was still there, a subtle reminder of what I had done. I sighed as I changed into my favorite black hoodie and left the scooter keys on the table in the room, along with the cash from today's delivery.
I could have taken the money since Tony hadn't explicitly said I should have dropped it as well, but he and Maria had been nothing but good to me. Sure, Tony might have acted like he had a stick up his ass most of the time; he still looked out for me by hiring me when no one else would.
I left through the back, heading towards the train station a few steps south of Tony's as my head throbbed. Whatever had been flickering at the edge of my vision continued- I don't know, probably a side effect of the head throbbing or something.
I swiped my train pass and waited till the train arrived as the throbbing in my head grew worse. 'I really need to get home and find a way to deal with this brick,' struggling to keep my eyes open as I boarded the arriving train.
I found an empty seat towards the back of the train as I stared outside the window as my mind went back to that alley.
I sighed.
I looked into the reflection coming off the mirror and barely recognized myself. My dark matte hair looked like a bird's nest. The crimson eyes I had inherited from my mother were weary from the throbbing in my head.
'I still had the awakening ceremony at the graduation service at school tomorrow.'
I thought with the ever-increasing throbbing in my head.
I stepped out of the train station a few minutes later, the throbbing in my head now at a concerning state. The sun had completely settled on Prolly, one of the poorer districts in Caviar City. Not exactly the slums but not exactly where you'd find the affluent people of the city.
Dogs barking, couples arguing, street lights flickering. Yup, home sweet home. At least it had been for the last three years since that incident. I headed towards a dilapidated apartment building a block from the station. I climbed onto the stairs heading to the second floor as I opened the door to room 203.
My vision was swimming now, as the throbbing in my head had somehow evolved to ringing, and my sense of balance kept twisting like a drunk.
I somehow managed to find the bed as my body fell like a marionette with its strings cut. The brick that had been bulging from my pocket and drawing strange eyes from various pedestrians all the way from the station to Prolly had slipped from my pocket and hit the apartment floor with a dull thud.
I groaned as the ringing in my head became unbearable; the flickering at the edge of my vision that I thought was a side effect from the head throbbing and ringing now started flickering with even more intensity and displaying something that looked like text?
Before I could read whatever had been flickering at the edge of my vision, my consciousness gave out.
Everything went blank.
[ Initializing....]
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