уАКCompilation of short storiesуАЛ


 I see(part1/3)

    Huh?

    Where am I?

    I opened my eyes, the scene didn''t change.

    It was dark, pitch black, cold the same.

    "Hello?"I cried out, scared and afraid.

    There was no reply.

    No one.

    Nothing.

    Trembling, I stood up and headed forward. Where was forward? I didn''t know.

    "Tak tak" the empty sound of my footsteps resounded towards nothing.

    There was no echo. Meaning there was nothing nearby.

    Why am I walking ?

    Where?

    How long more?

    Meaningless questions flooded my brain. As a sense of emptiness perpetrated through my body.

    Who am I?

    At the thought of that, my body stopped. Wait, did I have a body? What am I? Who am i ? Why am I here?

    This desperate sense of urgency rushes into my body as i meaninglessly tormented myself with all this questions.

    I kneeled, my head hurting from my own questions. My desperate search for an answer, in the end leading to nothing but a sense of desperation that swept through my very being.

    Keep moving.

    Why? I questioned myself.

    I had nothing. I stand on nothing. There was nothing near me. I have no goals, no name, no home, no light, no warmth, no memories,no anything. Just nothing.

    As I gave in to despair and crumbled on my own to the face of the reality of nothing ,wallowing myself in self pity. Slowly, I faded. My consciousness faded. My vision faded. Did it? I couldn''t see nothing after all.

    .......

    ...

    ..

    Once again I awoke.

    Setting a goal of reaching something.

    I headed forward.

    I carried on.

    I advanced.

    Time passed, days , hours seconds?

    Did time exist?

    Was it nothing but a concept?

    What''s a concept?

    I headed forward towards the nothingness from nothingness.

    When I tire I''ll lay down to rest.

    Each time I awake, I hoped for something.

    Each time I slept , I hoped to dream.

    Dream of what?

    Of something.

    Time passes by quickly. Each and everyday. As yet again I headed forth towards nothing.

    I trudged.

    I ran.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    I sprinted.

    Slowly but surely, the nothingness etches itself into my very existence.

    Why do I run?

    Why do I seek ''something''?

    Why do I try?

    As time passes. I gave in. Just suddenly, out of the blue. I laid down and didn''t want to move. Just lying down there as time slowly passes.

    MOVE!

    My insides screamed.

    Who was it? I know. It was me.

    Why did I want to move? I was searching.

    Searching for something?

    No I was searching.

    I have to find it.

    I want to find it.

    I need to find it.

    Dragging the body I dwell within, I headed towards where my legs could carry me.

    ..бнбнбнбн

    бнбн

    бн

    Dominic woke up.

    The sun shone through the peaks between his curtains as he headed towards the toilet.

    "Have a nice day!"he waved at his parents as he made his way to school.

    It was the breeze of spring as Dominic felt the winds rushing against his face as he ran towards the train station.

    ~~~

    "Bизtur station, now arriving at bизtur station".the automated train announcement resounded through the buzzling train.

    Dominic got off the train and headed towards his school.

    "Hey hey late as always aren''t you?"teased his classmate as she floated next to him.

    Dominic who was running with all his might had no time to respond towards her.

    "Gate closes in 5,4"the PE teacher announced at the front gate.

    "Iron man is in charge today?!"exclaimed Dominic in his mind.

    "3"

    "2"

    "1"

    Dominic barely slipped into the closing gate. His head filled with sweat perspiring at an unusual rate in this cool spring breeze.

    "Nice one Usain Bolt" laughed the annoying childhood friend next to him. Katie.

    Without replying, Dominic sighed and headed forwards towards his first class in highschool.

    ~~

    "Stand"

    "Greet"

    "Good morning Mr David"

    The monotonous class begins with the usual monotonous greeting.

    "Alright, seeing as this is our first lesson and all, how about an introduction?"the happily smiling teacher with the bedhead and untrimmed hair announced.

    "Alright!so starting from index number 1......"

    His voice faded as Dominic looked out of the window, hoping for something interesting to happen.

    "My name is Katie! I specialize in telekinesis"the bright and overflowing smile emitting from a certain brown haired girl, causes the attention of everyone to be drawn towards her.

    Then it was his turn.

    "Dominic,"he bowed and said his name in a low and dull voice.

    No one really paid attention anyways, due to the certain attention a certain Brown haired girl was drawing.

    ~~

    "Ding dong" the bell went off.

    "Remember to submit your club application form this Friday"reminded Mr David.

    School''s out.

    "Hey,hey,"a certain Katie stuck herself on Dominic''s arm. "You wanna see the clubs this school has together?"asked in her usual happy tone.

    "Sure?"replied Dominic in his usual dull voice.

    This scene drew the attention of most of the boys in the class.

    Noticing their glare , Dominic thought it would be better to make up an excuse to run off now, but was dragged off by Katie shouting:"let''s go let''s go!"

    ~~

    At the basketball club, Dominic was glared at.

    At the soccer club, Dominic was glared at.

    At the game creation club, Dominic was glared at.

    While being oblivious to all of this, Katie happily dragged him around by his arm , visiting from club to club.

    "Hey hey! That looks nice !" Katie said as she pointed at the planetarium made by the art club.

    Dragging Dominic along, they made their way inside.

    And while admiring the image of stars in the night sky of the planetarium, Dominic was once again glared at.

    "They are pretty aren''t they?"smiled Katie as she held on tightly on Dominic''s arm.

    "Ye.. yeah"he replied.

    And he was once again dragged out by Katie yet again.

    The whole afternoon was spent as Dominic was dragged from one club to the other.

    ~~~

    The scene changes as two people took a sip from their coffee at a nearby cafиж.

    "So.. I think that the art club is the best! What about you?" Like an energetic child, Katie pressed on towards Dominic while being excited and moving up and down along with the bouncing of her breasts.

    Trying not to look at the mountains, Dominic endured his urge and looked straight to her face.

    "Well I think so too"Dominic,replied.

    Having not actually placed any thoughts into it.

    "So let''s join it together!"said Katie as she hurriedly took out the club application form.

    "Dominic you too!"said Katie as she took it out from Dominic''s bag and filled in for him.

    "Really...just like a young child"thought Dominic as he smiled at Katie.

    Noticing his smile, Katie brightly smiled back.

    ~~~

    ~~

    ~

    "I''m home!" Announced Dominic towards his mother cooking in the kitchen.

    "Would you like dinner?"

    "Sure"

    Dominic sat down on the dining table.

    Opposite sat his little brother at the young age of 4.

    "Brobro attack!"Said the brother of a different father as he boarded Dominic''s head.

    Having been influenced by way too much robot anime, the younger brother,paul, commanded his brother on top of his head.

    "Bang bang" Dominic played along.

    ~~~

    "Let''s eat!"the energetic father announced.

    Everyone in the family of 4 started to dig in.

    ~~

    "Ahhh" Dominic made sound effects as he got his brother to open his mouth.

    "Plop" as the food went inside.

    Of course, what he fed him was porridge. Seeing as only his front two teeth had developed.

    Which was rather slow for his age.

    ~~

    "So hows school?"the father asked Dominic.

    "You know it don''t you? Right David?"the son teased the foster father.

    An awkward silence permeates through the atmosphere.

    The innocent Paul broke the silence by announcing for more food.

    "Ahh! ahh! Brobro moarr"the innocent brother tugged on the sleeve of his brother''s uniform.

    "So still won''t call me dad huh?"the father sighs to himself.

    ~~~~

    Dinner ended and Dominic went back up to wash up and sleep.

    ====

    "Bang!bang!" The clouds thundered in the middle of the night.

    Dominic awoke and got out of his bed. Only to discover he wasn''t at his house anymore...

    It was a plain empty grass field, in the middle of the forest.

    Other than him, others too, were starting to get out of their beds...

 I see(2/3)

    "where are we?"

    "where is this?"

    the background mutters with people who just woke up.

    This is strange. Indeed .

    "Are we in some sort of prank show?" a person wondered out loud.

    For a moment, Dominic agreed with him. After all there were many shows of this nature. However, most are usually pre planned, and the whole show itself is a hoax. There was none which would forcefully drag its participants out. Especially not out here in the wild.

    "brobro? Mama?" a distinct child like sound could be heard admist the various mummerings of the people.

    Especially to dominic. The voice was as clear as day to him.

    It was after all the voice of the person who allowed him to feel accepted into his new family back at home.

    The 4 year old Paul.

    For a while, the crying of his brother grew louder as the people in the surroundings acted more and more aggresively, raising their voices towards the skies and demanding to get back home.

    Then, it stopped.

    The crying sound of paul gradually changed into laughter, as though he was having fun.

    Dominic then quickened his footsteps as he rushed forward towards where the sound of his brother''s voice.

    "Could it be a kidnapper?" Dominic thought, his mind filled with worry.

    After all perverts were aplenty from the town he came from.

    For a second, his mind wandered towards David who would marry someone 10 years older than him.

    Just for a second.

    ~~~~~

    Dominic arrived to see Paul happily playing with a familiar face.

    Katie.

    "Hey! Is that you Dominic??" the familiar, cheereful child-like voice was directed towards Dominic.

    "well who else?"he replied back.

    With his reply, Katie realized how stupid of a question she had just asked. Her face flushed red, as she hit Dominic with her fists out of embarassement.

    "Shuddap Idiot!" Katie screamed at him.

    .......

    ....

    ..

    "Brobro attack!"the younger brother shouted as he mounted yet again on Dominic''s head.

    Without Dominic''s knowledge in fact, the stealthy younger brother had already floated onto his head.

    As they played around together, they failed to realize that their surrroundings had already mostly been cleared out.

    People who were fed up with no one answering their calls, left to find a way out of the forest. While only a handful stayed back either going back to bed nonchalantly as though it was a dream, or were too scared to enter the forest at night.

    "Well, all said and done, I am glad at least you are here with me" Katie said to Dominic.

    The impact of her words caused even Dominic to flush red.

    And Katie too, realizing how her words could be easily misconstructed, flushed into a bright shade of red.

    However, for some reason, she does not take back her words.

    "To ma To! ahahahaha!"

    the younger brother laughed.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~

    ~~

    The Day arrived as all of them decided to rest the night before as they connected 3 of their beds together.

    Dominic opened his eyes to see Katie right in his face. Her nose was so close, it was pratically touching his face. Her smooth tender lips were right next his, seemingly like it was intentionally placed there to tempt him.

    At that point in time, Katie too woke up.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    "ahhhh!" she screamed.

    Her scream awoke the surrounding neighbours as 3 other people who were left, lazily got out of their beds.

    Katie once again flushes red in shame as she recalls the earlier incident.

    "Ahh ahh"paul cried out as he climbed aboard dominic''s head, demanding for food.

    Dominic lazily grabs a bag of children''s biscuit underneath Paul''s ned and gave him one to bite on.

    .....

    ..

    "Dominic, this is strange,"Katie called out to him, in full alert. Indeed it was.

    The people from last night never returned. The forest was strangely quiet. Lacking the usual sounds one can hear from the insects or birds.

    .....

    ..

    A heavy silence dominated the atmosphere as everyone else started to realize the unusual situation.

    Then, a nearby bush rustled.

    A man, with his one eye missing, his body in tatters came out, dragging his body towards them.

    "RUN!" he screamed.

    The others were still shocked and confused.

    Dominic with his brother on his head, grabbed Katie by her hand and started to run towards the opposite direction from where the man came out from.

    Seeing their actions, the man smiled and in all of his heart, wished for them to survive.

    The others, after a small pause did the same as well. However, it was too late.

    The small pause had caused them their lives.

    They found themselves surrounded ny multiple beast of all sizes. Howerver all from the same breed.

    Their duo headed dog-like faces and the serpent used instead of a tail, this terrifying characteristics of the beast, was enough to place fear directly in their hearts.

    Then, as though they were a single entity, the beasts charged towards them.

    ............................

    .....................

    .............

    .

    .

    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" a huge scream could be heard as dominic continues to run forward with Paul and Kaite.

    They had to escape.

    Instinctively, Dominic knew he had no chance against whatever was now hunting him down behind them.

    He had to run.

    He had to escape.

    where? anywhere would be much better than the place they were at before.

    Dominic thought.

    So they ran, and ran.

    In the end, only to be surrounded by the beasts at the cliff on the edge of the forest.

    "theres no way out...."Katie muttered, her voice filled with despair.

    "Brobr Attack!"the cheerful brother unaware of the situation shouted out towards the beasts.

    Maybe due to that, the beasts were cautious. They didnt dare to make a move towards them.

    However, it was just a matter of time.

    The first beast stepped forward, and pounced.

    "its now or never!" Dominic shouted to encourage himself.

    He grabbeed onto Katie tightly and his brother too as they jumped off the cliff.

    ~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~

    "woooooshhhhhhhhhhhh" the air exclaimed as the three of them fell forward towards their demise.

    "before we land, use your telekenis alright?" Dominic pleaded with the crying and screaming Katie.

    "theres too many of us!"Katie screamed back.

    "Yea so take care of paul for me will you?" Dominic replied back.

    He closed his eyes as he counted to three before he would reach his end.

    A foolish boy whoese life will end at the age of 16. An eternal wizard, a virgin. Dominic mocked himself as he was going to hit the ground.

    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

    \\\\\\\\\\\

    \\\\\\\

    The wooshing sound stopped.

    Yet he was still alive. His eyes opened, wishing he was dead. Yet the bright sun shone above him on the grassy plains where he resided.

    Katie...

    was next to him.

    Paul..

    was flying around with his own telekenesis.

    "again! again! ahahahhaha"his cheerful brother announced.

    At the sight of this, Dominic started to sweat in his eyes.

    "ahahahhaaa!"he laughed out with his brother.

    Then, he felt a slap on his cheeks.

    With similiar sweat dripping on his body, a certain brown haired girl was on top of him.

    "IDIOT!"she screamed at him.

    Then, she laid down upon him and squeezed him with her arms. She screamed and cried in his chest as she did so too.

    "kat kat attack!!"the younger brother''s voice cheerfully resounded in the background.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~

    ~~~~

    ~~~

    ~~

    ~

    "Paul..Dinner''s ready." Katie''s voiced called out towards a certain 7 yearold.

    "yea yea comming!" paul replied as he waved goodbye to the other kids in the village and flew back towards his house above the hill.

    It had been 3 years since they first came here.

    While wandering around, they stumbled across a peaceful little village.

    The villagers were kind and caring, immediately welcoming them to the village without knowing of the past.

    They fed and cared for 3 hungry youths in the wild with no kin nor friends in this world.

    Hence, causing the 3 to develop extremely high levels of affection for this village and its people.

    "Idiot blacksmith, its time to eat" Katie''s voice called out towards Dominic.

    "yes yes, comming dear"Dominic came forth and hugged Katie from behind.

    Paul watches emotionlessly as this husband and wife carries out their romantic comedy in front of him yet again.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~

    Like all good things do, they come to an end.

    ~~~~~~~

    ~~~~

    2 weeks later, the demon army invaded the country.

    The village having been already surrounded, had no one who could escape.

    Dominic, with his hurculean strength stood as the sole defender of this village where the young and old resides.

    Of course, many children around paul''s age volunteered. But for their safety, they were to hide in the underground shelter.

    ++++++++++++

    "foolish human surrender everyone of the people in this village and we will spare you your life"the cliche demon general stepped forth towards Dominic.

    "As the only sole villager left, I refuse." Dominic replied, as he went forward and with a swing of his own crafted blade, lopped off the head of the demon general.

    This caused the army behind to break out in outrage as all 1 million soldiers charged towards Dominic.

    He clashed.

    He killed.

    He slaughtered.

    He was slashed.

    He was shot

    He was stabbed.

    Dominic once again having fought through the army and redirected their attention as far as possible, found his back facing towards a cliff yet again.

    His whole body was bleeding.

    Various holes bore through by arrows were all over his body.

    A blade of a remarkable soldier was stabbed in his shoulder.

    His condition was at the worse it could be. But, he could still see it.

    The bright future where he would laugh with his family yet again.

    With Paul playing around and Katie mischieviously playing with him.

    What a great future wasn''t it?

    With a final yell, Dominic stabbed his sword onto the ground. With all the might his body could be blessed with.

    The cliff collapsed along with him and the demon army.

    All sent to the deep dark oblivion that awaited below.

    ~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~

    ~~~

    That day, a legend was born where a man took on an army of a million.

    And on the same day, a man awoke in complete darkness.

 I see(3/3)

    back to the first part

    why do I run?

    What do I seek?

    Isn''t this all pointless.?

    Its pointless right?

    Do I seek myself?

    Do I seek ''something''?

    Or is it a person? A place ?

    I don''t know.

    But I run.

    I don''t know.

    But I searched.

    "Bang" for the first time in forever. I felt physical pain.

    I heard a sound. I heard I touched I smelt I felt a wall.

    I know it. What I want resides beyond this.

    My body knows it.

    My legs arms and head smashing itself against the wall.

    Seemingly to want to get out.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    My head went.

    Again and again.

    Then, a crack appeared. And for the first time in forever. I saw light.

    Desperately I jumped on the little bit of warmth there is present as my arms and legs moved faster and faster.

    Smashing

    Hitting

    Digging

    Clawing

    Against the wall.

    "Bang"

    I came out.

    Into the light. Surrounded by skeletons of various shapes and sizes, I came out.

    What happened here?

    Who did this?

    None of that matters.

    I cried as I kneeled against the gloriousness of light itself.

    .....

    As it appears, I was stuck in a ravine. Slowly, I clawed against the wall.

    Slowly.

    Slowly.

    I made my way out.

    ....

    "Tak tak tak" my footsteps finally echoed in the forest full of life.

    There a young man in his twenties saw me.

    He kneeled down.

    He cried.

    "Why are you crying Paul?" A women comforted the man by his side.

    He does not reply. And he continues to shed his tears.

    My heart ached.

    For some reason, witnessing a grown man cry caused my heart to ache.

    But I carried on.

    Moving through the forest.

    I arrived at a house above a hill.

    .....

    ...

    There I saw a middle aged women with brown hair.

    Emotions weld up inside of me.

    What was this?

    I didn''t know.

    And as her hand cradled her child who just came out of the house.

    Something inside me broke.

    ..

    I don''t know what.

    Wwhy?

    Why?

    WHY?

    Do I cry?

    Why does it hurt so?

    The women approached me.

    Her eyes too in tears.

    Yet without hearing her speak, all my energy in my body went towards my lips.

    A crooked voice. Not used in many years came out.

    "I see."

    I muttered towards her .

    I turned my back, and headed off towards where my legs could carry me.

    ~~

    ~

    I found myself in a silent forest.

    My one eye bleading. My tattered body moved towards a place I sensed life.

    Through the bushes. I saw a group of youths on cotton beds.

    Instinctively, I shouted "RUN"

    Why?

    I don''t know.

    There I saw a group of three young youths. My heart tingled for reasons unknown.

    With all my being, I wished dearly for their survival.

    Then, a group of beasts appeared before me.

    That was when, I truly could lay down to rest.

 Little by little (1/23)

    "Mmm?"

    My eyes opened.

    Before me layed the celling, with a single lightbulb driven into the middle of it.

    Sitting up, I looked around the living room where I slept. It was both my living room and my bedroom.

    The usual morning routine began, from the packing of my matress to the changing of my clothes. What can I say? Another day in the unchanging world I guess.

    I wrapped the scarf around my neck as I headed out in the cold winter morning.

    18 and studying for the entrance exams next year. Today, I''m going to begin my part-time job at a convenience store.

    "If you are going to live alone in the city, you have to work for what you eat!" I recall the angry words of my grandfather as I made the decision to live the countryside.

    Heh.

    For some reason, it brought a smile to my face.

    Arriving at the convenience store, I brushed off the snow that had piled onto my body, and entered via the backdoor.

    The boss, or more acurately, the manager was already waiting for me. His the only other person that I''ll be working with in the store as of now.

    A rather particular man in his 30s. But he had a nice pleasent aura going on about him. He handed me a fresh set of clothing with my name tag.

    "The name tag goes above the left breast pocket" he gave a gentle reminder.

    "Yes" I nodded in response.

    "Hurry on to the counter later, I''ll be showing you the ropes!" he declared.

    "Yes, sir" I acknowledged.

    Without a second to waste, I met the manager at the counter.

    "And so , the last thing you need to remember is to always smile" he added on after finishing with all the buttons and their functions.

    "Also, I heard you''re trying to get into a university... you''re not a blessed one right?" he asked.

    "No,sir" I replied with a wry smile. The blessed ones huh?

    The automated door slid open, a few working adults headed on to grab the breakfast in the store.

    Rule Number One.

    Always welcome the customers.

    "Welcome!" I greeted with a smile.

    The first customer filled up his basket as he walked towards the counter. The packaged meal and drink floats into the basket as if it was natural.

    As fast as I could, I began to key in the accounts into the cashier, allowing him to tap his card on the automated payment system.

    It really wasn''t hard. All i had to do was to scan the goods and press the ''end'' button to end the transaction.

    I watched as more and more customers came into the store in the morning hustle.

    Rule Number Two.

    Be prepared.

    "Thank you!" I thanked the customer as he hurriedly left.

    It soon became more and more repeated, so much so that I found myself automatically repeating the actions.

    As the clock struck 10, the crowded store was replaced with a desolated landscape. Free of any humans other than me and the manager.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "Good work" the manager smiled.

    "Thanks" I replied.

    Standing at the counter, I stared outside the transparent glass windows.

    Groups of teenagers were wondering around to the nearby shops, enjoying their winter break. I notice a certain group of students consisting of 3 guys and 2 girls, they are wearing a black jacket with the logo of the university sewed onto it.

    "Time''s university huh? Judging from how they look, they''re probably in the pre-university. Blessed ones." the manager speculated right next to me.

    The logo of an hourglass went past me, as the students walked across the street.

    And then, the door slid open once more. A girl, around the same age as mine, crept stealthily into the store. She had flowing brown hair, and half the face hidden under her scarf.

    It was really interesting to watch, as she took a basket and attempted to levitate snacks into it. Little by little, I watched as the small pile of sweets grew into a tiny mountain.

    "Yes!"she let loose a small jump for joy, as her scarf loosely drops onto the floor. It revealed a pretty ordinary , and yet somehow, charming face. Her small sharp nose, natural double eye-lids that highlighted her eyes. A pleasently straight row of teeth, and also her embarassed and shocked reaction as she noticed me staring at her revealed face.

    Embarassed, she hurriedly left the store.

    Rule Number Three. Always say your farewells.

    "Please come back again" I said.

    A few minutes later, I saw the strange girl returned once again. She was wearing a different colored scarf this time. A different colored scarf doesn''t exactly hide your identity you know...

    Picking up some sweets, she headed to the counter.

    "Welcome!" I greeted.

    "!"

    She seemed nervous, or more likely, she was simply shy in nature. There are so many people that are so afraid of speaking to strangers that it someow puzzles me in general. And before me stood another prime example.

    "That''ll be 5 dollars and 12 cents" I smiled.

    "Please, come again" the door shut once more, as I saw the strange girl run to wherever she came from.

    "That''s one cute girl right lad?"the manager spoke.

    "Yea..."

    I stopped.

    I just realised that I had misspoken.

    "Oho, now really, don''t you hope she comes back again?"the manager teased.

    "Its not like that!" I attempted to rebutt.

    With that, came a small lunch break.

    A small stream of customers came every now and then, before the night attacked with a dozen more at once. Buying water, snacks or packaged food for overtime workers, the store, once again became a battle ground.

    Little by little, I got through it.

    For a strange reason, I was reminded by the sweets piling up slowly this morning.

    "Alright, I''m going to restock, you can go home already boy" the manager chased me out of the store.

    It was 10 p.m. So much for a part-time job huh? It was practically full-time until someone else joins the store.

    Little by little, I know that things are changing. I headed back home, towards the one room apartments. Small flats rented or bought by students and single adults. Cheap and sufficient.

    For the first time, I notice that there was light in the neighbour''s room.

    Maybe someone finally moved in?

    With that in mind, I pushed open my door, and entered the apartment. Keys were already a thing of the past. Automated fingerprint scanners are present on the door knobs, a step for laziness in mankind. The same as how money was the replacement for trade. And finally online financial transactions replacing money.

    I wonder how things will change in the future. Little by little huh?

    With that, I closed the door behind me. Layed out my matress, took a bath and slept.

    The same old celling looked down from above.

    And then, when I opened my eyes, sunlight was comming in from the windows.

    "Tok, tok,tok" I heard a knock on my door.

    "Comming" I announced.

    Opening the door, I see an older women probably in her 30s, and a familiar girl who was looking down on the floor. Still, a scarf was covered around her face.

    "Hi there, my name is Diane, and this is my daughter Elly, we are pleased to make your aquaintence" she spoke in a pleasent tone.

    "Actually, my daughter would be the one staying here, so I hope you can look out for her as well" she presented me with a small gift. A wrapped up homemade sandwich. I guess that''s breakfast.

    I looked towards her daughter Elly, who was being fidgety. Our eyes met, and she scampered behind her mother.

    I should prepare a house warming gift.

    To have her mother help introduce her to the neighbours. Just how shy can a person get? I''d be lying if I said that it didn''t pique my interest.

    "Of course, and you seem awfully young to be her mother" I complimented.

    "You''re a real sweet one boy, so, I guess I might be seeing you around sometime" Diane said as she left to visit the other neighbours.

    Time for work I guess.

    Heading to the store, I stood at the counter, mentally and physically preparing myself for the incomming attack.

    "Get ready" the manager chuckled.

    "Go"

    A flood of people entered and left, as I struggled to scan all the items quickly. Let''s not give up shall we?

    And then, came the stale and peaceful 10.

    "Good work and... today we are getting a new worker, it might suprise you, you know?" the manager smiled.

    "She''s the daughter of my friend, so I''m taking care of her under the pretense of work, please treat her nicely, she has been through quite a bit" he gave a gentle smile.

    "Okay" I nodded.

    "Come here" the manager beckoned.

    My eyes widened, as once again the familiar brown hair filled my vision.

    "G-gg-good Morning, I- I-m..." the shacking , strange girl who suddenly became my neighbour. I thought internally.

    "Hello Elly" I smiled, causing her to look up in suprise.

    I was suprised as well, she was still wearing a scarf with her work clothes.

    "Ah!"she exclaimed lightly.

    My heart trembled. For some reason, I felt happy.

    A happy coincidence I guess?

 Little by Little (2/23)

    Time flies. It had already been a week since Elly came to work at the store, as did I.

    " To my grandfather living alone in the countryside.

    How are you doing today? "

    I stopped the pen.

    A traditional method. One kept purely for the sake of a reminder.

    Letters.

    I blanked out, there was nothing that came to mind. Leaving aside the letter, for now, I began to pile the layers on my body. The wrinkly clothes mattered little to me, as they served their purpose all the same. The skies were still dark, as the sound of my door shutting behind me rang out in the neighborhood. Time to start.

    My feet began to move on their own, as I passed the time looking on my phone. Swiping through the latest news as well as those little images that brought a small smile to my face. It was a daily routine. So much so, that it began to feel familiar, like a part of my life, the same as how we need to eat and sleep. Carrying on with the redundant monotoned speech to myself, I made my way towards a small convenience store in the city. The lights were already on, as the now 24-hour store had its back door opened.

    The manager stood dazed at the counter until the moment I lightly tapped on his shoulder. It was time for a shift change.

    "Oh, you''re here" the old man made a warm smile.

    Tapping me on the shoulder like he was passing the baton, he made his way past. Between us, he shared the secret of his ability. Though it really wasn''t something much for a gifted, for us regular people, it was something we only told those we trust. Though, the ability to repeat a specified action as you slept really isn''t that big of a power. If anything, it was small compared to mine.

    I wonder when it was. When did we get close enough to become friends? It had only been a week, hasn''t it?

    I smiled in wonder, as the old man in his 30s made his way out of the store. If anything, his real ability would be how he can make anyone trust him in such a short span of time. Though, I never did tell him about my ability, nor did I ever tell anyone. A secret can only be a secret if only you know it after all.

    My work hours extended from 7-10 to 5-11. It pays more, that''s for sure, but at some point, it slowly began to feel normal. I start to trick myself, lying that I wouldn''t mind staying this way for the rest of my life.

    Customers slowly began to trickle in, like the small leaks before the floodgates open.

    "G..g...ood Morning!" a flustered and shy girl greeted, as she came to stand next to me. Her name is Ellly, apparently, she''s the same age as me. I don''t really know anything else about her, other than the fact that she''s my neighbor and works here. However, I do know something interesting.

    She''s shy, but she''s a cashier.

    That small fact never failed to bring a smile to my face.

    "Is there something wrong?" she caught me in a daze.

    "No, good morning" I returned her greeting.

    She''s a good co-worker. Never complaining, doing as told. We never really talked, but this sense of distance and familiarity felt comfortable. Its been a week, and so far, I can say that things are going as normal. Life never really changes does it?

    We can only accept change little by little after all.

    "Get ready" I warned.

    The floodgates opened, as swarms of hungry workers rushed for the packaged food and warm drinks that they grab and go in a hurry. As chaotic as it was, people still formed a line for the counter. Maybe one day, this scene we see as normal will be gone as well.

    People could be carrying goods out of the store as it automatically senses and deducts from the person''s card as he exits. At least, that is the technology that is currently being tested out. The fail-safe of the technology, however, doesn''t really warrant a return on the damage it would cause in the case that the technology fails. I guess, as long as they are continuing to work on that, my job is safe for that period of time.

    "Thank you for your patronage!" Elly bowed down as the customers who made payment left. I watched, as the last drop of water left the store. Once again, the floodgates were closed, building up for the next wave.

    "I''ll be taking a break first," Elly told me, as she left to the back.

    "Enjoy your time" I replied.

    It was courtesy. Nothing more, nothing less. Each of us is allowed up to an hour for lunch and dinner respectively. However, the only condition is that one of us has to be at the counter. I wonder when will we get another employee? The poster had been up since long before I came. It was a surprisethat none of the students would take on this part-time job.

    "Welcome," I greeted, as the door slid open. A bunch of students entered the store, as they looked around to perhaps get a drink? They were shifting around nervously, maybe not so obvious, but there were tell-tale signs. For instance, the girls all decided to play with their hair at the same time. The boys were silently watching them from the corner of their eyes.

    I notice a man with a lot of interest in the store, staring over here with a side glance, as he pretended to read a newspaper.

    Isn''t this great?

    Pretending to not be watching, I carried on my usual actions, staring into nothingness with a blank look, pretending as though I was in a daze. The eyebags that I had developed really helped me on this one. Not that it was intentional or anything.

    Seemingly random, the boys approached with a few drinks and boxed lunches. Watching closely, the girls grabbed a few products for the face, a concealer, mascara, two foundations, four lipsticks: Mayselinebrand, rose-colored.

    "Are you paying together?" I asked, monotonously.

    "Y..yes!" they nervously replied.

    Are they even trying?

    Adding on the price of the products the girls who left the store stole, I began to scan the items.

    "Henry, we''ll wait for you outside!" the other guys hurriedly left.

    "O...Okay!" he panicked.

    "That''ll be 128 dollars and 72 cents" I silently said.

    Without even listening, he grabbed the drinks and left after scanning his card. The automated door slid open and closed, as he left

    Oh boy.

    "Please come again," I said.

    The students ran across the street and presented the products that they stoled to the man across the street. There were hardly any cars in the city anymore, but such actions are still dangerous you know?

    "Uhm...." a cute little voice called out to me.

    "Are you alright? You seem a little...disappointed... did I take too long?" Elly asked, with a somewhat heavy heart. I was sure that my face never changed. Yet, she could tell.

    "No, not at all" I smiled.

    "Ah, that''s great!" she made a small exclamation, before feeling embarrassed for god knows what and silently returned to her counter.

    "Well... I think I''ll be going on my break now" I said, as I left to the back. "Have a good break" she bowed her head once more. You don''t have to be so stiff all the time, but I guess that''s what makes you,you.

    Now then...

    <hr><hr>

    "Well done kids" a certain man who was standing before the street of a certain convenience store congratulated the students.

    "Now then, here''s your reward" he pulled out a small flask of blue colored liquid.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Carefully receiving the small glass container, Henry slid the flask into his pockets, treating it as though it was something extremely valuable.

    "I''ll be seeing you guys" the man smiled.

    "Like hell, you are" Henry cursed silently. "Come on Henry, let''s go" the other students beckoned him. "This will be our only time doing this" they silently stated, nervous and worried. "With this, our class will definitely win" another guy clenched his fist. "The ''Smiling Angel'' is a really addictive and dangerous drug! I''m... I''m just worried" Henry muttered. "It''ll be fine, we can handle the urge" the others smiled. They had known each other for years, he knew he could trust them. Reassured, Henry began to move.

    As they walked, a man dressed in thick winter clothing rammed into them.

    "Watch where you''re going!" the grumpy man who was definitely in his 30s based on the voice alone staggered as he walked ahead, seemingly drunk.

    "Crazy bastard" the others cursed, however, they continued back in a hurry. Along the way, for some reason, Henry felt thoroughly relieved, it was as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

    <hr><hr>

    "Welcome back" Elly greeted.

    "I''m back," I responded without a thought.

    "Was it cold outside?" Elly asked.

    "Not really, if anything, it felt quite warm" I replied.

    "Eh? But its winter isn''t it?" Elly muttered to herself.

    "I bought something nice, you can find it on the bench at the back.Queen''s was having a one for one sale" I announced.

    "Eh?" Elly seemed surprised.

    "Yes?" I asked.

    "Th...thank you" she answered.

    "The second one on break is supposed to get dinner you know..." I stated.

    An awkward atmosphere enveloped the two of us. Turning back to face the counter, the strange little girl seemed to be feeling flustered. Anyways, she looked like she''s growing as well, considering how much she just spoke to me at the very least.

    I caught myself smiling once more as I stationed at the counter, preparing for the incoming disaster. The doors slid open...

    And then came the end of the day, as Elly was the first to leave at 10 p.m. an hour earlier than my time, but it was still really late at night. The manager entered, looking to be completely refreshed. I guess his sleep schedule might be the complete opposite of a normal person by now.

    Looking around, I see the overtime workers rushing towards the train station. The last train is at 10.30 after all. Watching the flock of people pass by, without noticing, the clock struck 11.

    "Thank you for your hard work!" the manager slightly bowed. I lowered my head in thanks for his appreciation and went to change in the back. Dropping the dirty clothes in the automated cleaning machine, I watched for some strange reason as it began to wash, dry and iron the clothing before shooting it out in a neat and tidy folded manner, onto a slot at the side. The good thing about these kinds of old machines was that they allowed you to see how your clothes are being washed, not like it really mattered since its the fact that they come out clean that truly mattered. The end result is all that truly mattered after all...or not really. There is a strange charm in seeing the process as well.

    Walking out of the store into the cold harsh winter, I notice some small drops of blood...

    They were dropped as if someone was holding it with their hands before it finally spewed over and leaked. The irregular size of each droplet informed me of that, as well as its consistency. As cold as the winter was, the blood wasn''t completely dried up. The air here wasn''t humid in the slightest, meaning that if it wasn''t fresh, the blood would have been dried by now.

    Following the trial of blood, I know I should be minding my business, but something told me that I must go. You could call it a sort of a 6th sense I guess.

    "Hey manager, could you call the police?" I tapped on the door and announced. There wasn''t any reply. The sound of a telephone beeping inside, however, informed me that it was done. As carefree as my voice sounded, it was strange that anyone would even bother to take me seriously.

    Following the trial of blood, I ended up next to a dark alleyway, at the entrance, a familiar bag which I bought from Queen''s was dropped onto the floor. My guess was that a certain girl who was innocently waiting to thank her certain co-worker found herself dragged out here for some reason that even caused her to bleed.

    Walking at a fast and silent pace, I see Elly, surrounded by some not so nice looking girls.

    "So, is this all youreallygot?" a tanned girl with dyed hair smacked Elly in the stomach, as the others held her down by the wall. In her hands, was a light brown purse, imitating the owner''s hair.

    "We aregood friends right Elly? Why didn''t you tell us that you''ve come back? HUH?" she continued to hit her in the stomach. It was close to the liver, not good. If a punch landed on the liver, that would be...it. I needed to make a move. Creeping up next to them, I was sure not to make a sound.

    "Who''s there?!" a shout came towards my direction. They weren''t ordinary, they could sense my presence huh? Backing away, I found myself restrained by telekinesis. Gifted little bitches, that''s just great. Elly''s eyes widened, as she looked at me.

    "Oh? What''s this? Is this your friend?" a wry smile emerged on the face of the tanned-skin girl. There was still no sound coming from the police sirens. What''s taking them so long?

    Watching, I see the girl slowly approach me.

    "You seem awfully calm, if this leaks out, I''ll make sure you won''t ever walk the streets at night again, understand?!" she swung her hands to the right, causing a huge dent into the wall, without touching it. Slowly, she came closer and closer.You know? Telekinesis is able to be broken by brute force you know? As she attempted to take a swing at my face, I broke free and swung at her''s, causing her concentration to falter. There''s no way I''d stop there, kicking her in the liver with my knee, she went out cold and dropped to the ground.

    "You bastard!" the other two shifted their attention to me.

    "RUN" I shouted, as Elly slowly made a run for it.

    "Hoo? Playing hero I see" one of them taunted, as she stretched her hand out, causing my body to be frozen. Her hair was black and tied up in a ponytail. A pretty face, but it was such a shame about the personality. The other one was also similar, other than her brownish hair color. Is there a trend for pretty girls to become bullies now? Is that what''s trending? For some reason, the lackey I had assumed, had more power than the outspoken dyed-haired bitch. I don''t want to make any conclusions, but I feel like I''m about to be in a world of pain.

    I felt a cut on my leg. Blood began to spew.

    Ah. I see.

    <hr><hr>

    In a certain alleyway, a certain boy stood beaten by two certain girls. Cuts and bruises appeared continuously as the girls attacked the guy. He began to vomit out blood, as he was kicked in the guts. Without stopping, the girls pulled at his hair, ripped it out and mercilessly attacked.

    "AHHH" the guy screamed, as the girls continued to hit him.

    Without stopping, they continued to hit the poor soul, until he stopped moving.

    "ha...ha...ha" the girl with a black hair panted.

    "did...did we go too far?" the brown haired girl nervously stuttered. "Come on, it''s not like he''s dead or anything, he''ll shut up with this I guess" the black haired girl replied. As calm as she was, her insides were screaming as well. It was the first time that they had taken it this far. Guilt began to build up inside her.

    "Hey, you!" the brown-haired girl moved the bloodied mess of a man with her telekinesis. Shaking him without stopping, the man continued to remain motionless. "Hey, stop pretending" she shook him faster. "WAKE UP" she shook him more and more.

    However, not a single sound came from the man in question.

    Slowly moving closer, the brown-haired girl placed her finger under his nose. There was no breathing. Touching his wrist, she felt no pulse. It felt cold.

    "Ah...ahhhhhhhhhhhh" she screamed. The body was removed from her control.

    Murder. They had done it.

    "What''s the matter?" the black-haired girl nervously uttered. Her words were choppy and forced. "he...he''s...." the brown-haired girl shivered. "he is....?" the black haired girl approached the lifeless body. His eyes were open, as he laid there without blinking. She touched his neck. Blood wasn''t moving.

    "ah....ahhhhh!" she screamed.

    "no...no...I just wanted to fit in, not this!" she panicked.

    "Stop right there" a stern voice warned. It was an older, more mature man in blue uniform. A police officer. He walked up, and the two girls surrendered without a fight."Ah..." they looked at the officer palely.

    "He...he''s..." they trembled.

    <hr><hr>

    "He''s going to get compensation for his ripped up jacket," I said, as I stood up.

    "Eh?"EH?" the girls uttered in unison.

    "What''s wrong?" the officer asked, curious.

    "Beats me" I shrugged.

    Beyond the officer, I see Elly hiding behind the wall. Going forward, I picked up her wallet lying next to the unconscious dyed-haired girl. "Hey" I called out to her. However, she ran away, without saying a word. Where are you even running to? We live next to each other you know?

    With a sigh, I made my way back home.

    "you...you...how?" the girls passed by with a shocked expression.

    "I can take a beating you know? I just want to fit in right?" I gave a small laugh, as the girls were escorted into the car. As minors, I doubt that they''d receive jail time. However, they might possibly be expelled from their school if this were to leak out.

    "Oh right, the girl has already taken the statement for you, we know what''s going on, so you can head on home if you want to" the officer informed me.

    "Thank you" I replied.

    "Oh, how polite" the officer made a small joke.

    With that mood, I continued on my way back.

    With my jacket torn up like this, the way back felt like a long road ahead. I think I''m going to catch a cold. The small cut made on my leg still remained, exposed to the cold air, as I bought a plaster from the very convenience store I worked in. The manager didn''t charge me a cent, and just told me to take it home.

    It''s not like I''m going to be the only one needing this after all.

    Reaching back, I rang Elly''s doorbell. There was a panicked voice, as I could hear the shower being turned off in a hurry.

    "Its the landlord " I changed her perception of my voice and imitated that of the landlord.

    "Co...comming!" she nervously replied, as I could hear the sound of clothes being hurriedly put on. The door swung open in a hurry, as she bowed down and presented her card.

    "The rent is only due next month you know..." I sighed, as she looked up to see me instead.

    Her wet skin brought out her figure, as the clothes clung tightly to her body. As a man, it was hard for me to take my eyes off her. Resisting the urge, I placed the packet of plasters and her wallet in her hands.

    Walking away to my room, the door slammed shut, as she stood there in a daze.

    I heard the door open once again, the moment I reached mine.

    "I...I''m Sorry!" she shouted.

    "Its Thank you!" I shouted back, before entering my room.

    Sitting down at the desk, I began to write the letter.

    " To my grandfather living alone in the countryside. How are you doing today? I''m doing fine, life has been changing, little by little it has been. And today, I think I might have just seen my co-worker grow. She is a really cute girl, maybe she is what you wanted me to be, before I was born at least...well... that''s that. My daily life here has been rather normal, but there are these small instances that make it ever so extraordinary. Also, I''m beginning to think, that it might be time for you to stop sending me money for the rent. Enjoy your retirement. If you send in money, I''ll return it back. Well, that''s all from me. Sign- Elton "

    I stopped my pen.

    Sealing the letter in an envelope, I took off my clothes and laid down on the soft, comfortable mattress. The jacket went into the trash, and the flask of ''Smiling Angel'' was taken from my pants.

    Now then, what do I do with this? I stared at the liquid powder in the bottle.

 Little by Little (3/23)

    I found myself staring at the skies, watching the clouds slowly drift by. A small little epiphany dawned on me. Do we fear death because of how much we love life? Perhaps that fear isn''t to fear itself, but the vulnerability we feel at the moment. Fight or flight, I''d say fighting would be the most disastrous outcome. "Hey" a voice cut of my trail of thoughts, be it with or without a purpose, my boss in his 30s somehow managed to come back in the afternoon. This is because a certain girl going by the name of Elly had decided to fall sick on this particular day. When knocking on her door this morning, there was merely a weak and timid "I''m sorry, but I''m not feeling well today..." as a response.

    "Who knew that girl would have such problems, I mean, who would gang up on such a harmless girl, it''s not like she would have harmed them somehow in anyways right?" the manager lamented, as he nearly took a cigarette to smoke, before holding back from breaking the rules of his own store. Noticing my gaze, the manager let out a light chuckle, for whatever reason, only he would know. "Anyways, you''re going to be going to Time''s university through the academic route right? So here''s a little Trivia, how many types of blessings are there, and which are used for what?" the manager asked. It was a little surprising, because of how ridiculously easy the answer to them was.

    "Six main types and others. Telekinesis, teleportation, telepathy, clairvoyance, empathy, mind and others. Each of them are split into their various sub-types as well, or levels of their strength as they get stronger. For instance, in telekinesis, there''s the basic, advanced, master and ultimate level, or even the legendary omnikinesis. Do you really want me to explain it?" I asked the manager who was seemingly beckoning me to continue this mundane talk.

    "oh no, you don''t have to go into detail, how about this, let''s say the ''mind'' what''s their strongest advancement? They are a pretty unique one right?" the manager seemed to be lacking on his knowledge on this. The ''mind'' never had a strongest advancement, they were merely split into the hive, control, theft. How well they did in each one were kept a secret to each country''s military. "They are the one with only three classes" I answered the manager. "Oh, is that so?" he replied, seemingly astonished and maybe even embarrassed.

    The atmosphere died, as the manager gave a light cough, before announcing that he was going to be on break. Without much interest, I stared across the road, there were a bunch of students running about, questioning random people of something. I didn''t take much interest in it, it was probably just some sort of survey. The students seemed to be rather anxious, as I watched them rush up towards a man who was pretending to be reading his newspaper. When the students approached, I could''ve sworn that I saw him smile. Without my notice, a figure suddenly blocked my point of view from the front door.

    I watched as the door slid open, a really suspicious-looking person entered the store. His eyes shifted left and right, as he scurried for the drinks section. I noticed how especially scrawny he looked, and the loose T-shirt that he wore despite it being winter. As he approached the counter with bloodshot eyes, his cracked lips merely mouthed a small "how much?" before scanning his card and leaving with seven bottles of coffee. He disappeared the moment he stepped outside of the door. It was sudden and instant. To be able to teleport far enough to reach out of my sight, showed that he had some capability to him. As for not teleporting from the store, I guess he just didn''t want to be mistaken as your average teleport thief? A teleport thief is one of the menaces of society, they can''t be stopped, and the powerful ones can simply pull the object to them from afar, even with the best barriers made to prevent it. Apparently, there has been a rumor going around that there''s even a thief''s guild where thieves gather and share information, it goes far enough that they seem to be able to influence the politics of various nations as well. But that''s just a rumor.

    A light white trail of light in the form of gaseous smoke trailed towards me across the street, as the source of it being the man pretending to read the newspaper pointed his finger towards the store, making the students dive in furiously for the store. They should be careful, there might still be cars at this period of time after all.

    The door slid open, as I watched the students gather around me, well in front of me from the counter. Their eyes showed desperation and vulnerability. "Where is it?" they immediately asked, right to the bat without masking its content. "Where''s what? Did you guys lose something?" I answered with another question. "Stop with the bullshit, where''s the powder?" a feisty young man snapped. His face seemed pale as if all color was drained from it. "You don''t need to be so rude about it, you can find it on the shelf to the right" I answered, seemingly oblivious to their question. Immediately as I said that the students scrambled to the shelf where the white powder was located. "Not this powder!" one of them cursed. "Wait a minute guys, gather around here..." one of the girls rounded them up to the corner of a room, as far away from the counter as they could be. Leaving a mirage of myself at the counter, I walked right next to them to listen in on the fun.

    "Clairvoyance only told us that he might be related to the missing ''Smiling Angel'', not that he has it or maybe he doesn''t even realize that he came in contact with it" she started off the conversation. The students nervously glance at my mirage at the counter. "But...what if he was just pretending? I mean, there aren''t even other trails nearby!" a boy replied. "Come on guys, let''s just forget about it" a guy calmly stated. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU''RE THE ONE WHO LOST IT HENRY!" the pale guy got impatient. "Shut up!" another girl replied. The group consisting of 3 guys and 2 girls appeared to be in a disarray. They glanced at my mirage once again. "Anyways, he might have come into contact with that old guy...that''s why the trail led to him, and also this is a convenience store... there''s a high chance that the old guy came in here to get something" a very rational statement was made by the girl who gathered the group. "True..." the others had no choice but to agree.

    I quickly hurried back to the counter and ended the mirage. The group slowly approached once more and the girl spoke this time "Uhm, sorry about before, but our group has been working on a really important project, and yesterday, our final product was stolen! We suspect that it might have been this weird old guy in thick winter clothing, by any chance have you seen someone like that?" she asked with a small smile. The slithering lies of a snake in the making, her words were like water, flowing smoothly to eradicate any evidence of it being falsified. Naturally, I played along. "Oh dear, that''s... unfortunate, sorry but I haven''t seen anyone like that... but, if its so serious, I believe we should inform the police or at least your school about it" I replied with fake concern. "what? No! I mean no, we can''t do that, our grades are at stake here!" her response was perfectly valid and they seem all too real if not for what I know. "Please, anyone? Do you remember anyone suspicious?" she asked, pleading. "Ah right, just before you guys entered, there was this guy looking left and right, he didn''t have thick winter clothing or whatever, but he was wearing a single loose T-Shirt, grabbed a bunch of coffee and teleported away after paying. He was a rather strong teleporter as well from what I can observe... but he didn''t seem to be a weird old man?" I answered with that. "Was this item of yours heavily guarded in a locked room or something? If it is, it might be a teleport thief!" I stated, trying to ''help''. "TELEPORT THIEF! Oh my god why didn''t we think of this before?" one of the guys exclaimed. "Could it not have been the old man but the teleporter he met this morning?!" another one speculated.

    The door slid open once more, as a rather familiar girl entered. She had a black ponytail and shifted around nervously. In her hands held a paper bag. Naturally, I would recognize her, after all, we only met last night. She ran towards the counter and threw the paper bag into my hands. "I''m sorry for last night!" she shouted as she left. I peeked into the bag to see a brand new jacket of a rather high-class brand. Without knowing why, I broke into a small smile. Perhaps the gift was so good that I can''t help but feel happy about it.

    I felt warm gazes coming from the students. "You''re wrong" I replied to them without them asking anything.

    The students ran out after that, as they gathered around the newspaper man across the street. The white trail disappeared from the store, as it began to lead elsewhere, before instantly being cut off. Things change, little by little, everything does. People learn from their failures, they give up and move on. The students gathered around for a bit more before they left. The manager came back from his lunch, as I began to leave for mine.

    "Did anything interesting happen?" he asked. Showing him my bag with an expensive jacket, he was simply puzzled as I left to the changing room

    What should I grab? I entered the lonely streets, as lunch dictates that many people and their company found the restaurants fully packed.

    Being a single person, I was allowed to seat at the counter with the other single customers. With my order, the yellow noodles came with its soup and some ingredients. "Hey, have you heard of this, it turns out that the ''Angels'' have been sighted in the city"

    "No way!"

    "That''s what I said until I heard this weird noise near my house down at Freiya''s, so being a curious person, I went to investigate. There, I saw a girl being forced into a van by people in hoods with a wing design! I told the police, but they refused to listen to me, saying I was deluded... but it isn''t just me, there were a lot of other sightings all around the city as well."

    "You always do tell the most ridiculous and interesting stories! Hahahahaha"

    "I''m serious!"

    The customers to my left began their chatter, as some parts of their conversation caught my attention. Rumors, those are how they spread.

    Finishing my food, I drank down to the last drop of the thick soup and left the restaurant. Not forgetting to takeaway dinner at Queen''s once more, I made my way back to the convenience store. Thus, the day passes by without any activity, the rush hour was as busy as usual and after the clock struck 11p.m, I made my way back to my one-room apartment. It was uneventful and as dull as it ever was.

    I took out my textbooks and began to study. Going through history, war tactics, the methods, and definite ways abilities were being used and the others alike. Math and sciences weren''t a big part of things, as ''command'' was the course I wished to pursue. It was rather useful, I graduate with a sort of degree that allows me to prove that I have management capabilities, as well as signing up for the army for a suitable post. Naturally, this degree was super popular among those who were going through the academic route and those that were gifted alike.

    The mundane period passed by, as I found my eyelids beginning to shut. Laying down, I chose to take a small nap.

    <hr><hr>

    "tak"

    The sound of an opening door awoke me. Being in a single room flat, the only other door was my bathroom. It was without question that someone was breaking in. I noticed a white gaseous trail sneaking its way towards the corner of my shelf, where a familiar blue powder was placed. They were on to me.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    People being kidnapped huh? I wonder how much of that was true.

    I waited calmly, continuing with my sleeping posture, pretending to be asleep. My eyes were slightly opened, but in the dark, I doubt that they''d notice. The door swung open. Footsteps, heavy and hard came into the room. I notice a huge figure approaching the flask. With haste, I changed his perception. The white gaseous trail led towards my fridge instead, he hurriedly turned and approached the fridge. Grabbing a bottle of water that looked to be the flask to him, he carefully attempted to place it in his small pouch, hung by his waist. Of course, the bottle fell from his side, making a loud thud on the floor. It didn''t matter, it wasn''t as if he was going to hear it. Tricking his hearing required a bit more of an effort, as manipulating his sense of touch, smell and sense of the atmosphere caused my nose to slightly bleed.

    I watched as he closed the door gently, before making his leave. The white trail of smoke disappeared. For a clairvoyance to track it down to such a degree, it must either mean that the user is extremely skilled, or that there had already been things done to the flask beforehand. I went over to the flask and emptied its contents into the bottle after drinking a bit from it. The powder nicely dissolved in the water. Opening the window, I threw the now empty flask into the snow below.

    Sneaking the bottle of water into the toilet, I hid it within the toilet tank of the toilet bowl. The upper portion where it usually fills up with the water needed to flush. Washing my face after wiping off the bloodied nose, I heard movements outside of my door once more.

    "This is the place?"

    "Yeah"

    Small whispers, but multiple footsteps.

    Quickly exiting the toilet, I went back to lying on the mattress. I fear that my noise would have already alerted them. But it was a worry for nothing. I waited a few seconds. Nothing. There wasn''t any sound from my door. A minute, I hear the sound of metal, of someone picking a lock. The gentle sound of a door being swung open, but still no footsteps. My eyes opened slightly, but there was no one in sight.

    "MMMMHGGGHG" I hear muffled screams. It was coming from the right. That''s Elly''s room, isn''t it? Just as I was about to move, I hear my door being forced open. I made the blanket into my mirage, as 3 men, all dressed in black with a hood and wing symbol grabbed my blanket forcefully.

    I snuck behind them while erasing my figure from their sight. My nose bled once more. Outside, I see the clear figures of 5 hooded men and Elly and ''me'' being carried away. The brown haired shy girl appeared to have been knocked out as her head dangled up and down. I followed behind quietly, careful not to make too much sound. As they made their way down the stairs, I considered screaming to wake the neighbors, but wouldn''t that just make them run away, and who knows if by the time our neighbors opened their doors, would we already be taken away? Would they just ignore it? I don''t know.

    Sneaking into the van with them, the hooded people remained silent. They didn''t seem to be carrying weapons...what should I do? Blood continued to leak from my nose as I pondered meaninglessly. I sat behind them in the dark, I couldn''t hold it, I needed to rest a little. My illusion broke, as the hooded people just stayed there silent, not noticing my presence nor the fact that the boy became a blanket. I should be calling them ''Angel'' instead, but the term sort of distanced itself from me, it just felt wrong to call them that.

    Silently, the van ride continued.

    I made the blanket into my mirage once more and pretended to make it struggle. They immediately moved their hands in a grabbing motion, using their telekinesis to knock me out. Naturally, my mirage fell silent. The van was covered in absolute darkness, if not for the lights coming from the street at times from 24-hour shops, I wouldn''t even have realized that there was another person in the passenger seat next to the driver.

    The van finally came to a stop, as the door slid open. A mirage was much easier to maintain than the perception of others. After all, a mirage only required me to pull a sort of cover over the original object, that way, everyone can see it. Perception, on the other hand, required consistent effort.

    "Well well well, if it isn''t my favorite group of angels" a person dressed in priest robes, unironically said. His voice held joy and pleasure, as a distasteful look flashed across his face the moment he laid eyes on Elly, and even ''me''. Our bodies were mercilessly thrown to the ground, as the priest handed over a card, it was payment for the transaction. There was no doubt about that.

    I wanted to take the card off their noses, but as I glance around the room, there were at least twenty people located here in this abandoned factory. It was too risky, there might even be someone I can''t see.

    I made myself appear transparent. It wasn''t anything hard, it was simply casting an illusion over myself. My nose continued to bleed. Holding the blood and wiping it onto my pants, a small sound caught the attention of the people around.

    "what was that?" their eyes shifted around, as they became alert. Ah well. Wait a minute, there''s no one looking at our ''bodies''. I noticed as the members of the group began to move to check out the noise. "It must''ve come from the entrance" they figured, as the van was parked near the entrance. Taking this God-given opportunity, I took off my jacket and threw it on the floor and disguised it as Elly. Casting a mirage over her, I dragged her body along with me.

    "THE BODY MOVED?!" the priest shrieked. "Huh?" the members appeared to be confused. I watched as the priest glance over to check once more. "Nothing, it must''ve just been my imagination, dear me, I''m really getting old...kekekkekeke" the priest laughed to himself. Taking it as his usual nutcase rambling, the other members of the group began to block out the entrance.

    I slowly dragged away Elly''s body, as the blood dripping from my nose found itself onto my shirt and pants. It wasn''t just a little, it was to the point where I felt dizzy.

    "Hmmm?" Elly seemed to have been awoken, as she appeared confused.

    "Wh..." "Shhh," I silently whispered as I covered her mouth, cutting her off. "We can talk later, right now, we got to escape" I whispered. She was probably panicking. After all, she can''t even see herself. "Elton?" she replied. My blood dripped onto her shoulder. I felt like I was going to faint. "Let''s hurry" I urged, as Elly stumbled, unable to find her feet. I held her hand and guided her through the entrance, where all of the members were on the lookout. She seemed pale. My strength wavered, as I cut off the illusion on the blanket and jacket.

    "SOMEONE SNUCK OUT MY BABIES RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE!" I heard the priest scream from inside. "FIND HIM, HIS DEFINITELY STILL INSIDE!" he ordered.

    The members obliged, as they made their way back in. Moving away as far as we could, we broke into a small sprint, as my vision blurred. It was as far as I could go, I didn''t know how long we ran, or how far, but my illusion shattered and all that was left was me, staring at a shocked and panicking Elly under the bright moon. It was blurry, and then it was clear for a split second it was.

    I saw shoes running towards us, they were normal civilian shoes.

    <hr><hr>

    I woke up to see a different celling this morning. It was white. Sitting up, I found my legs unable to be moved, as the head of a young girl pressed down on my right thigh. Her soft and gentle breathing showed someone who fell asleep waiting for me to wake up last night. There were curtains around me, meaning that this was the emergency room, with all the other people groaning in pain near me, I found it mysterious how she could be sleeping so soundly.

    As if on queue, she began to move. "Hmmm?" her eyes shifted around and rested on me. "You''re alright!" she exclaimed, delighted and nearly jumping in to hug me, nearly. She stopped halfway realizing what she was doing. A strange sense of pity overwhelmed me. It was as if I had missed a huge opportunity. The curtains drew open, as a doctor, young and handsome immediately made me open my mouth, stuck a wooden stick into the middle, shone a torchlight into my eyes as he forced it open, before declaring me healthy but with a need to recuperate from the loss of blood. "You shouldn''t overexert your powers like that!" he cautioned once more before leaving. I noticed the needle poking my arm connected to a sack of half-emptied blood pack. I wonder why I never noticed it before.

    "Ah, uhm..." Elly seemed to be finding it hard to start a conversation. "Are you alright? No, I mean uh... get well soon?" she tried her best. I couldn''t help but break into a smile, on the verge of laughter. "Yes?" she asked, genuinely concerned and unsure of why I reacted this way. "Its nothing" I responded.

    "Ah right, have you reported this to the police yet?" I asked. Elly nodded her head. "They said they''ll look into it, but so far there''s nothing, not even bothering to ask us questions," Elly answered. That was really weird. I could almost smell a huge conspiracy. Then another important question haunted me.

    Do I have insurance? I can''t afford to pay this... I need... I need to get out of here.

    Attempting to try and pull off the needle, I realized that my other hand was connected as well. In fact, I could hardly move them without moving the machines. I was trapped, a prisoner of my own healing.

    "Thank you!" Elly suddenly intruded my thoughts. "Ah don''t mention it, especially about me turning invisible alright?" I told her. "Mmm I won''t" she responded obediently. It was just so... so... I can''t explain it. I felt like rubbing her head... if only I could move my arms...or just a hand...

    "Uhm... my mom says she wants to talk..." Elly said. As if it was on queue once more, her mother, Diane walked into the area from the curtains. "Oh my, the sweet-tongued young man, what in the world happened to you?" she pretended to not know as a joke. After all, we aren''t close, in fact, we would be near strangers. In short, she was breaking the ice. "Let''s get to the main point, what happened? Why haven''t I received any reports on this yet?" Diane felt strangely powerful. "Mom''s the new head of the police department in the city, she was just transferred here" Elly explained. Wow. Just. Wow. Who could ever guess?

    "So, speak," Diane said.

    "Well, it was the middle of the night, I heard...."

    After the interrogation, Diane confirmed the location with her daughter on where we were found. She didn''t probe into my power either, as many others wouldn''t as well. It was a secret, a little of it has been spilled, but it is still my secret. One I wouldn''t want to share.

    "Ah, if you''re wondering about the hospital bill, I already got it covered, just sit back and relax" Diane settled my innermost worry before leaving.

    Elly stayed by my side awkwardly. At that moment, my stomach began to growl. She chuckled a little. As I got a little embarrassed, her stomach resonated with mine. Her face flushed red, as she made an excuse to go get us breakfast and ran off. The silence remained, as I stared at the red curtains around me with boredom. A few minutes passed, as Elly returned with Queen''s. They were a fast food chain. And without a doubt, they sell the best burgers. "You always buy this for dinner so..." she justified her reasoning and sat down eating her burger next to me. Watching her chew, my stomach responded for me. "Why aren''t you eating?" she asked, curious. Only to look at my arms and awkwardly come to a realization. "I''m sorry! Here!" she moved her half-eaten burger and shoved it into my mouth. Reluctantly, I took a bite. And her actions repeated, slowly feeding me her burger, before realizing that she fed me her burger. "Can we share this one?" she asked innocently.

    "Of course," I smiled.

    The burger went one bite for me, one bite for her, as she soon began to start teasing me. Moving the burger away right before I bit into it. "Heheheehe" she would laugh until she realized that I began to take bigger mouths. The curtains swung open, as a familiar manager in his 30s appeared as Elly took a mouth of the burger, and automatically brought it to mine.

    "Here I was worried about my dear junior employee and here he is, having the audacity to be flirting with another right in front of me!" the manager exclaimed. "Fl...Flirt!?" Elly blushed, as she took another bite of the burger. "And you, don''t you feel anything at all, sharing a burger with him?" the manager questioned as he pointed at Elly. "hmm? Ah! No worries, I''m not saliva conscious!" Elly brimmed with her innocence as she made a determined look and a fist with her other hand.

    "Is this... the legendary generation gap?" the manager went into his own melancholy. It was a calming scene to look at. In all honesty, I think this is how the manager is trying to bridge the gap between us. "So, I''m guessing the store is closed right now?" I asked.

    "Oh no, apparently we got a new employee. She had a bit of problem in the past, but she''s earnest and appears to be interested in joining our crew!" the manager delightfully announced. "We are just part-timers..." I brought up the fact. "Yeah, and my very first few part-timers" the manager smiled. It felt... gentle. Elly moved the last bit of the burger to my mouth, and I finished it off.

    "Well then, rest well! I have some other things to attend to" the manager waved goodbye. "I need to get ready to go to work as well!" Elly stood up before thanking me once more before leaving.

    "You really aren''t scary!" she mysteriously announced before she left. A weird thing to say, I''m probably the nicest man to ever exist. Little by little everything''s changing. The world somehow seemed to have a little more color in it.

 Little by Little (4/23)

    Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

    The day started off as dull as mundane as ever. I see the small trickles of light, embracing my body, as the sun rose to greet me while I stood behind the counter of a certain convenience store. I just love the way the sun makes the building across the street glow. Truly majestic, what a glorious sight to behold. As usual, I watched as a man pretended to read his newspaper in the same exact spot. Between two buildings and in its alleyway, with the shade providing cover for him from the sun. It was a wonder how he could afford to wear so little despite it still being the winter season. And how that no one else suspects anything about him despite being so ridiculously suspicious. An old grandmother greeted him as she passed by towards the market. He waved back. He actually waved back. It was in a way, I guess he was blending in by being suspicious or something like that.

    "Hey" I heard a voice next to me. It was unfamiliar, I never heard that voice before. "Ah, you must be the newcomer..." I stated as I turned around to greet her. And then I stopped. It was a person I was very familiar with. "So it''s you" I smiled, as I stared at the black haired girl. The first time I saw her, I guess you could say that she looked a lot worse, with thick makeup, excessively used pink powder and ridiculously long eyelashes. Her ponytail still remained from that time. But it didn''t make her look bad, in fact, it brought out her looks that were hidden behind that thick layer of makeup. A sharp nose, eyes that looked rather seductive, enhanced by her double eyelids and a nice gentle mouth that didn''t spread too wide or too little. "Stop staring so much, its embarrassing," she noticed me scrutinizing her face. "Don''t misunderstand, I''m only here because of the pay" she declared for some reason, despite throwing a bag containing an expensive jacket just the other day. "Ah right, I never got your name," I asked, as I realized. "What''s it to you?!" she replied defensively, as she ignored me. I caught a glimpse of her name tag with "Raelynn" wrote on it. "It''s nice working with you Raelynn," I told her, causing her to turn furious, complaining about how the name tag shouldn''t be a part of the uniform and things like that. Naturally, with a female cashier, the number of customers that took a while at the counter grew, it couldn''t be helped, she was a budding flower that contained so much latent potential. Of course, only looking at the prospects of her being a beauty.

    If I''m not wrong, her powers were quite strong as well. I wonder why she isn''t studying at any higher education. I doubt her family''s poor if they could easily afford an expensive jacket for repayment. I took a few other glances at her, as I worked to scan the goods. Giving mysignature smile, the customers flowed in and out in the usual early morning rush hour. As the rush hour finished, I looked over and at the same time, Raelynn turned her head, causing her to catch me looking at her. Her face seemed to be tinged with red, as her blushing look enhanced her prospects of being a natural beauty. "DON''T STARE AT ME!" she covered her face for some reason. Forcing me to face forward with telekinesis, she continued to fume for an unknown reason. Be it Elly or her, I just don''t understand the way they behave and react.

    As the uneventful times came, where little customers even entered the store, I found myself staring outside as usual, with the occasional person coming to the suspicious newspaperman, talking for a bit, and leaving to go off to somewhere. One of these days, I just feel like following them and seeing what they are up to. Maybe I can even find a place to sell that ''Smiling Angel'' to earn some money...or not. If this job goes well and I successfully get selected for the university, living will be kind of a problem with the school fees being priced so ridiculously high. If only I had gotten a scholarship in high school... Well, whatever. I''ll just think about the future when it comes.

    Raelynn seemed to be bored out of her mind, at this time, it was her that was sneaking peaks at me from time to time. "Yes?" I asked as I timed my turn with her, causing her to turn flustered and then angry? After she settled down, she seemed to have a question to ask.

    "Hey" she began.

    "What is it?" I replied. "What kind of power do you have?" she asked, curious. As one who had come into contact with it, she definitely felt like something was of. "Its a secret" I replied. "But Elly told me you told her" she seemed to be annoyed as she said that. If my memory served me right, they were supposed to be enemies right? Did they make up during the time I was in the hospital? "Then I guess she also told you that it''s a secret, now have some common decency and don''t pry" I answered. "Sorry" she replied, catching me off guard. She sounded a little sad as she said so. "Ah no, it''s alright" I replied, flustered.

    "She said that you guys were kidnapped but you rescued her once again. Are you trying to become her hero or something?" she mocked as she chuckled. "Its just a coincidence" I replied in all honesty. To be fair, if it wasn''t always at the right place at the right time, I don''t think that she''d be caught up in so many incidents. This city felt far more dangerous than it was spoken of. In the short time I''ve been here, there was already the distribution of an illegal drug and even kidnapping done by some crazed madman. Not forgetting the theft of the ''smiling angel'' at night as well. I suspected that it was done by the same organization, but if it was so, they could''ve just made me cough it up when kidnapping me. I already spoke to Diane of the possibility of having a lot more children than just us being kidnapped, but so far, there was no response from her. According to Elly, her mother could easily crush a tank with her telekinesis alone while enjoying a cup of coffee, so I highly doubt that she''ll be in some trouble that she can''t handle.

    "Is that so?" Raelynn responded in disbelief. She also seemed to be feeling annoyed. I decided to leave her alone and continue to ponder on things as I glanced outside. Ah right, there was the rumor of the thief''s guild. I''d say, I wonder how I can get in contact with those guys. Do they trade things among members?

    As useless thoughts flood my head, lunch came and went as well as dinner. Raelynn and I exchanged few words as the day came to a close. 10 p.m. she exchanged places with the manager.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    "How''s my favorite employee that keeps getting into trouble doing?" the manager was being awfully passive-aggressive. "hahaha" I let out a weak laugh. "So, what''s on your mind?" the manager asked, curious. "Well, there''s been rumors of a thief''s guild in the city" as I said that, I could''ve sworn that I caught the manager''s eyes widen for a split second. "Nah, I''ve been living here for so long, rumors are merely rumors, who''d believe in such a thing in this day and age?" the manager replied. "So why are you thinking about this?" the manager questioned. "I was thinking that if I don''t manage to save enough for the university, I might become a member" I joked. "Why join the thief''s guild when there''s a simpler solution right in front of you! You can just fail the exam and work with me for life!" he laughed.

    With that jolly atmosphere, my shift ended and I made my way back.

    As I opened the back door and left, a very familiar scene was laid before me. Blood, wet and moist were dripped in a path before me. In the cold harsh winter night, I once again found myself being led by trails of blood to the depths of the back alleyway.

    "Well well, look who''s here again" an antagonistic voice greeted me, as I see a familiar tanned girl with dyed hair, but this time, she was being levitated in the air and held down by Raelynn. "You''re pretty brave to try and ambush me alone" Raelynn taunted her, as she tightened her grip on her neck. "You think I''d really come here alone? I was waiting for that guy there all along!" Raelynn was suddenly pushed back, as 3 figures emerged from the dark. "Oh man it''s been a long long time hasn''t it, come on boys, let''s have some fun!" I noticed all 3 of them with spiky hair, dyed yellow, red and green. They reminded me of... "traffic lights?" I blurted out. "Fuck you" they cursed. As predicted, I made a mirage of myself and matched it to be assaulted by the yellow guy.

    Running for Raelynn who was being held down by the tanned bitch and green and red, I slammed the tanned bitch in the liver once more with my kneecap. Hopefully, she gets hospitalized this time. The sudden assault made the guys shocked, as I made my mirage pretend to use telekinesis while punching them with my fists. I aimed for their family jewels, starting with yellow, before delivering a finisher to his jaw.

    "You bastard" the other two randomly fired their telekinesis, forcing my real body to be blown back. I slammed against the wall at the back, as my mirage faded. "Teleportation?!" they seemed shocked, as the illusion disappeared. I could feel the pain from slamming into the wall. It was a good thing I covered my head, allowing my body to absorb the impact. The two of them were considerably strong. Why are there delinquents like this? Well, they might be strong to me, but out there, they might just as well be air in the face of truly strong ones. I noticed Raelynn stretching her hand out, catching them by surprise and forcing the two of them to hit their heads against the wall. Without stopping, she mercilessly dropped them onto the ground in an instant, without giving them the opportunity to retaliate. I dragged my body and pretended to be completely fine as I slowly walked over.

    "Do you guys give up?" I made a fake smile as I threatened with nothing to back my words. Their eyes were fuming. I made a mirage of myself and made it walk towards them, marching forward without fear. I hid as far away as I could, while the two''s attacks did nothing to my illusion. I don''t have the concentration to manipulate their hearing. So my illusion couldn''t ''speak''.

    "DAMN IT WHY?!" they screamed as my illusion got closer. Come on Raelynn, do something. As I hoped, she sent them slamming into the wall once more. Without confirming if they were truly down, I made my mirage disappear from the lack of concentration. I could almost feel my nose itching to bleed.

    Walking back to where Raelynn was, her face had a small cut and her body was obviously bruised as it was reflected on her light skin. "Are you alright?" I stretched my hand out. She didn''t reply. She slowly stood up and leaned against me. "So this is how it feels to be bullied..." her words sounded brave, but it was trembling like the vibrato of a violin. I hear the sound of liquid hitting the wet snow, as her shoulders followed her words. Without much thought, I embraced her. I could feel how close we were, as she slowly came to a stop. Her body felt soft, even though she wore a jacket. I could feel her breath hitting my chest, as the last of her tears came to a stop. "Don''t you dare tell anyone about this" she warned, as she separated from me. "The fight or..." I made a smile, as she lightly hit me in mock anger. "IDIOT" she shouted, as she parted, gone just like the wind.

    I looked around at the fainted youngsters on the ground. It was kind of a bad idea to leave them lying around, they might actually die from the cold. Dragging them towards the front entrance of the store, the manager sighed once more, as he began to make a phone call upon noticing me.

    I''m really really sorry about this. I sighed in my heart, as the manager continued to be troubled by yet another incident. Do I really have some sort of affinity with these kinds of things?

    <hr><hr>

    As I was dropped off at my apartment block in the police car, the friendly officer warned me to stay out of trouble and to report anything suspicious, as he drove away. Apparently, it was dangerous to let a young man like me walk home alone at night. It was just an excuse to offer me a ride.

    As I opened my apartment door, I stripped naked and deposited my clothing into the automated cleaner. Enjoying a nice warm bath, I rewarded myself by falling asleep the moment I laid down on my mattress, with a new blanket that was thicker and bigger. I should really spend less on such luxuries.

    <hr><hr>

    Elton found himself dreaming. It was the sort of dream where you know it is, and at the same time, the absurd situation leads you to believe that it is a reality. In this case, for one who dwells and mixes with illusions, Elton had an especially hard time doing so.

    "Elton!" a familiar voice called out to him. A young boy with natural blonde hair was reaching out to him as he seemed to be hiding from something. The red curtains drew in the background, as Elton found himself on stage. He was naked, placed up in the middle of a spotlight, as cheers and bids came in the dozens. A rather happy host was dancing in joy, as the number of digits that flashed on a large screen continued to rise.

    "ELTON!" the familiar voice screamed out again, as Elton found himself trapped in a steel cage. He watched as the blonde haired boy was dragged away, as he was happily received by a fat and obese man. "NO! Arth..." the scene faded, as Elton found himself face to face with the lifeless body of a blonde-haired boy in the same steel cage. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

    <hr><hr>

    "NO!" I awoke, screaming for whatever godforsaken reason. I don''t know, neither do I remember. Perhaps I had a nightmare.

    Slowly, I began to prepare for the day. Doing a little bit of studying, before heading out to work. For some reason, I felt a lot more lethargic than ever. Yesterday must''ve been getting to me.

    I don''t know why, but I felt like things were changing yet again. Little by little.

    "Are you Elton?" I see a man appear before me. "Yes?" I replied. And that was the last thing I said before I was bounded and gagged from behind.

 Little by Little (5/23)

    The unorthodox pattern of the walls called to me, as the outlandish ornamentation of the room brings but an impertinent thought to the taste of its owner. The walls were endowed with inexplicable writings, with imitated letterings appearing around in an irregular fashion. There were red streaks of paint splashed mercilessly against the writings, appearing to attempt to imitate the same nature of dried blood. What made it so overbearing and ridiculously horrid to look at, was the cute little soft toys that were thrown around the room with cutesy little ribbons tied onto each and every one of them. It was eerie, disgusting and totally off the theme of the room. The floor felt...soft? As I looked at it, it was covered in fluffy, ineffable and empyreal cushions. They were nice to the touch and rather comfortable to be on, but it was completely off from the dark and gruesome nature of the walls, wasn''t it? The room was dimly lighted, but I couldn''t help but notice a bed with curtains and a beautiful chandelier hovering in the middle of the stone-based celling.

    "Welcome!" I hear a light-hearted voice, sounding high-pitched and cutesy in this damnable atmosphere. I was bounded by my hands behind my back with my body thrown to rest on the nice and comfortable cushions. "You don''t have to be so shy! I know you''re in a girl''s room for the first time in your life and all..." the cute little voice continued to echo around the room, as the disgusting mismatch of the entire place created goosebumps all over my body. I thought it was a place created by a sick psychopath with a love for soft toys. "Oh, you''re still bound up! my bad, my bad" I felt the rope that tied up my hands loosen, as well as the rope around my ankles. Only then did I realize that they were the same exact pink ribbons tied upon the soft toys around the room. "Where am I?" I asked. The ribbons didn''t seem to have some sort of mechanism to them, meaning that it was highly probable that it was with the use of telekinesis. "You''re in my room! What do you think of it? I decorated it myself!" the voice sounded extremely proud of her accomplishment. "Its..." I hesitated. What would happen if I were to lie here, what if I pissed her off?

    "Come on, just be honest!" the female voice squealed in delight. "Yeah, be honest...ahem" I heard another male''s voice. "Shut up Gabe!" the female seemed to be talking to the male named Gabe? "Well, it''s pretty...unique it''s like I''m in a room of..." "a sick psychopath right?" the male voice cut in. "Yep yep" I instinctively agreed. "You guys are so mean!" I heard the sound of an angry female, as I felt a slap on my face. It was a slap, not telekinesis. I could feel the touch of the hand as the impact came. "Show yourself Gabe!" she shouted in anger, as I could hear the laughter of a male''s voice. These people, they are...invisible. I was sure of it.

    "What is this place?" I asked as I stood up. "We''re in my room of course!" the female voice said with pride. "No, I don''t think he meant that" Gabe laughed. "Well, let''s just say, we are in a pretty secure spot...but that''s not the main point is it, I believe what you would want to know, is who are we?" he spoke. "Hey guys, I got breakfast from Queen''s!" I heard the sound of a door open, as the wall directly ahead of me opened up, revealing stairs, leading up to what seemed like the insides of a wardrobe.

    "Yay!" the female voice shouted, and revealed a young looking girl with golden hair, as she jumped at the man with blonde hair that appeared.

    "..." Gabe remained silent.

    "Oh, Gabe, are you doing the whole mysterious thing again," the man asked casually. "Hurry up and introduce the new member, the food''s going to get cold," he said, as he sat down and ate on the floor with the cute little girl. I know this doesn''t really mean anything, but I couldn''t help but notice that the little girl had rather large breasts.

    Gabe appeared to have given up, as he showed the form of the man who greeted me this morning. "I''d have to apologize for the rather crude meeting this morning" Gabe stated, as he bowed his head. "Well, it was supposed to go normally, if not for somebody who decided to show her love for tying things up" Gabe sighed. The girl in question tilted her head, unsure of why Gabe was glaring at her. "You want some?" she offered a single french fry from the packet in her hand. Gabe sighed once more.

    "So, let me introduce us, I''m Gabe, that''s Lily and John, obviously this isn''t our full names, but that''s what we''d prefer to be called. We are an organization that takes unauthorized property and return it for a price. In short, a thief''s thief or any other criminal organization" Gabe began his explanation. "Anyways, we only choose a selected group of people, mainly those that can turn invisible, as you can tell" as an example, Gabe disappeared in front of me. "And also, those that we deem worthy. We were there when you rescued that girl from that factory, it was mainly by chance anyways" Gabe guaranteed it.

    "we are the invisible guild!" the girl, Lily, happily declared in the background.

    I''m really late for work, aren''t I? Why am I always getting caught up in these kinds of mess? Seeing as they weren''t hostile, I figured that I wasn''t in any danger. "What time is it?" I asked, seemingly out of the blue. "Wait..." the blonde man, John, checked his watch. "Its 6.30 a.m." he answered.

    I immediately cast an illusion of invisibility. "Sorry! I''m late, I''ll join this guild and whatever as long as there''s money to earn!" I declared as I left for the stairs. The wardrobe that was shown ahead led me to the insides of a popular luxury fashion store "Invisiblin", I was in the storeroom. They usually focus on the sale of designer clothes, shoes, and other apparels. A single shirt could cost up to as much as a few tens of thousands. They were a notorious startup that devastated the market with their ''ultra-premium'' quality goods with their famous ones being the bulletproof blazer that was known to be comfortable to wear.

    I was on the first floor of the shopping mall I frequent. Running as fast as I could, I embraced the cold winter morning as I reached the convenience store as the clock struck 7.

    "You''re late..." the manager stared at me, as he saw me being out of breath. "Sorry!" I bowed. "Whatever, just get going," he said, as I joined a certain brown haired girl in the fight against the early morning rush hour.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    As the final boss was defeated and the world came to peace, Elly and I stood at our counters as I found myself staring at the newspaper man across the street once again. Today, he didn''t seem to have many customers. "Hey" Elly started the conversation. "Have you heard? The manager said that because of the overwhelming business, his planning on opening another store in the city!" "Really? That quickly? It''s barely been a month since he opened this store" I replied. "He said that a great man must take great risks! Or something like that, I''m not really sure..." she answered. After that, the atmosphere became stale, there wasn''t anything much to talk about. "Has your mother tracked down the ''angel'' group yet?" I spoke, breaking the ice. "Uhmmm, she said that there were some complications? Something about fighting against the internal strife in the city or whatever she was ranting about hahahaha...." she let out a weak laugh. If I were to guess, it would be that while her dearest mother was ranting to her, she could only pick out some of the content while doing her best in pacifying her.

    "So, what was your deal with Raelynn and those other girls?" I asked, inquiring about her situation."That''s... well, it''s not a really pretty story to talk about...and it''s pretty stupid" she muttered. "Well, if you want it to be a secret, fine" I probed deeper while pretending to have given up on it. "Eh? ah no no no no, it''s not really a secret..." she panicked. "hmm?" I made a questioning sound.

    "Well, it was the summer of middle school..."

    <hr><hr>

    A girl in her youth was humming to herself, as for the first time in her life, she was invited to go to the beach. The beach! A wonderful and unimaginable eutopia for young people to play...for those who have never been there, it was envisioned as such. She never had many friends, all those that had approached her were only attempting to break her out of her shell. Once they did that, they never really talked to her again. She never really clicked well with others. She was just a normal, bashful girl who never really left a lasting impression on anyone. When interviewing her classmates, they would merely say that "she''s okay, a good and quiet girl..." and such would be the responses. For the first time in her life, she might make actual friends.

    Having been brought to the beach by Johnathon, the popular guy in the class, she was well received by his clique of other popular people. Maybe out of the kindness of their heart, or by the sheer enjoyment they received as they teased this particularlypure girl. She was innocent, so much so that even the girls of her same age would hug her and call her cute. With such mix feelings of wonder and curiosity in her heart, the girl who was naive by nature was brought to the beach as she blushed from the fact that most of her skin was exposed to the naked air. A white bikini with drawstrings left her with an inapprehensible reaction that was one for the taking as she walked out to greet the half-naked bodies of the guys. She covered her face as her blushing behavior took the hearts of the guys, especially that of a certain popular one.

    The jealous looks of a girl by the name of Tiffany who sneaked glances at Johnathon from time to time, noticed him doing the same to a certain shy girl. She was furious, brimming to the edge with resentment. At the end of the day, as the group played with fireworks by the beach, a few guys called out a few girls alone. A premeditated plan that the guys have been working on. A single "I''m sorry" stood out among the others, as Johnathon had his heart broken on that summer day. Tiffany, who was once rejected by the one she adored, exploded in hypocritical rage. With her clique of ''bad'' students that included Raelynn, the days of the bullied students became an urban legend at the end of their term in middle school. From the vandalism of her table to calling her out after school, it wasn''t long before Elly managed to move out of the city with the change in her mother''s job. Having been found out by Johnathon of her horrible acts, Tiffany was expelled from their clique and her bias anger for Elly peaked, swearing to make her life hell when she should ever see her again.

    <hr><hr>

    The story was pretty much as plain as I speculated, it wasn''t really anything remarkable. As Elly ended her story there, she blushed as it was as if it was created by her teenage fantasy, having the popular guy fall in love with her and all the drama after that. "I guess that''s that" I replied, seemingly uninterested. "See? I told you it was stupid" she sulked. Stupid or not, having been able to go through that and making peace with her aggressor, showed that she had ''something'' within. Petting her on her head, she stared at me. "What are you doing?" she inquired. "I have no idea myself" I replied. As a certain group of students walked into the store, they looked towards us and jeered. "Get a room" they complained while teasing. Elly merely tilted her head in the same fashion as a certain golden-haired girl this morning. "Why?" she wondered out loud.

    "This girl.. she''s so bold!" they replied, astonished.

    "Wait a minute, wasn''t there a black-haired girl as well... this guy, what a beast...." "Player, disgusting" "She''s being fooled!" the group of students with their uncouth comments openly slandered me right in my presence. It was at times like this that I begin to forget that they were around the same age.

    Just as I wanted to regard them on their misinformed judgement, the door opened once again, a familiar man walked into the store. Gabe. He headed for the drinks section, as the students held their breaths. I came to realise that him and all the other members were extraordinarily gorgeous. He bought a single can of brewed coffee, as his mouth muttered "10pm" as he made the purchase at my counter. "I end at 11" I sighed as I replied. He was insistent on his cool and mysterious demeanor, as he exited without saying a word.

    "Your friend?" Elly asked. "Well... not really" I replied. "His friend but not really, could it be?!" the girls began to gossip among themselves, as the guy''s faces turned green among the students.

    "Hey hey Elly come here" the female students beckoned. "No she isn''t."I pulled her back to her counter. To think that these students were about to step into the point of no return just a few days back... It''s almost astounding that they can just forget about that incident. On another note, did they win the tournament?

    "Don''t you guys have things to do other than bug the cashier?" I lamented, as the students spent the time talking while the occasional customer came and left. They purchased a single can of coffee, as they treated the place like a cafe, talking about the various things in their lives and gossiping about various nonsense. "The kidnap demon" about a humanoid demon who would ask if it was your name. If he''s right, both him and you will dissappear. "Bad santa" a story about santa claus stealing instead of giving. The angel and thief''s guild were a common mention, but not much was to be said about them. Eventually, the students found their leave, they wasted their entire break in a convenience store. I''m not really sure what to think about that.

    Night came, as I took my leave. The vast and empty night sky laid out above. Not a single cloud drifted in the skies. I headed for the 24-hour shopping mall, with only a few fast food chains open.

    "Turn invisible" I heard a whisper next to me. It was Gabe. Doing as told, I saw a secret door open, as "Invisiblin"''sshutters popped opened like a door in the middle. I entered and closed the door behind me. Heading for the storeroom, I entered the wardrobe and closed the wooden plank acting as a door behind me.

    "You''re here" there were 5 others in the room, two of which I don''t recognise. "Let''s begin"

 Little by Little (6/23)

    "Would you like to microwave it or bag it?" I ask the aloof customer who stood in front of me. He stared at me in wonder, as if he couldn''t comprehend the meaning behind my words. "Would you like to bag it or microwave it?" I repeated myself, as he continued to stare at me. "Kue?" he replied in words beyond my comprehension. "Pfft" Elly spat out, laughing at my inability to differentiate between a local and a foreigner. It was in another language, one I couldn''t understand, but it''s meaning was clear, he was asking and telling me he didn''t understand my words and had to be transmitted in a way other than speech. Moving my hands in an exaggerated manner, I pretended to move the packed meal sets into the plastic bagand pointed to the microwave instead. He pointed at the bag, nodded his head and left.

    "Ahem" I pretended to cough, as Elly straightened up. The news was going crazy, the right eye of Falorn, a legendary jewel with unknown origins, in both meaning and material went missing from the Time''s Museum last night. It was a massive jewel, weighing fifty kilograms of its own unique makeup, and it was gone, stolen away in the blink of an eye. On the same exact night, Kifton, a celebrity was reported to have every single item in his mansion stolen away, what was unprecedented was that the house was lit on fire after the thieves left, hinting that it may be more than just theft, but also an attempt on his life. Thefts weren''t uncommon, but what was, is that the teleport detectors never went off. I''m not sure about the first one, but the second one, on the other hand, was a different story on its own.

    It was just last night.

    <hr><hr>

    "Alright, as this is your first mission, ''Louis'' over there will run you through on the first mission. One of the unknown members stood up straight, as he headed for me. "Welcome to the club" he greeted me, without a need for introducing himself, Louis brought took out a strange box from his coat pocket. He had curly hair in a mess of its own. Their brown shade complemented the smiling baby-face he had. Once again, I found him to be of a certain standard in terms of appearance. Could it be? Am I of their standards as well?

    Not happening, unless I pulled a mirage over my entire face, I''d guess I''m about as good as a normal person can get. Of course, my natural look would probably be part of the upper echelon of normal society if I were to say so myself. I mean, who would call himself ugly? I prefer to imagine myself as above-average.

    Ignoring my inner monologue, Louis threw the blue box with a strange sci-fi design over it into the air, where it floated and began to shine against the wall, exactly how a projector would. A picture of a rather popular actor, ''Kifton'' showed against the wall. "This is our target this time, I''m pretty sure he doesn''t need to be introduced" Louis began to speak, as the projector changed images based on the movements of his hands. "Our friend Kifton here has been enjoying his time on some of the finest wine in the world, of which, coincidentally coincides with what went missing in the ''Jurnian Wine Cellar'' just a few days back. That''s not all, with wine comes women. And also the reason behind his quick rise to stardom in the industry. There are pictures, not so nice in nature, of him and the director and owner of the major film industry,''CVI''''s daughters and well... wives. Obviously, such things are to be expected in every industry out there, but here''s the catch. The women continue to visit him, but after his rise to fame, they spend their time at home, shivering and begging for something while occasionally having strange outbursts... I''ve personally extracted the blood of one of these women and discovered the Smiling Angel in her blood. With these results, our client who doesn''t wish to be named wants him dead. But we don''t deal in that, the cleanup is worth more than the cost. So there''s another proposal. We would steal every single piece of material evidence he might have and expose him. The husbands and fathers of the respective victims can''t exactly safeguard their reputation, or their loved ones if it was a simple case of cheating. The industry would lose all respect for them to fall for blackmail now that it has already reached this stage. Kifton as well, if this was to be exposed, his career would end. So they need to dramatize how they were helpless as their loved ones were poisoned, held against their will and raped with the potential of their videos being posted online. Gaining sympathy and attention from the mass media." Louis ended the presentation dramatically. "He has a maid and a guard serving him in the mansion, so please, do be careful" Louis finished off.

    It was rather standard. A simple request. Though I''m not sure why someone as rich as him would stoop down to steal premium wine, the job was simple. Sneak in, get the evidence and get out.

    "With that being the case, I would like you to show me what you can do" Louis looked towards me. "Yes?" I asked, curious. "You see, invisibility doesn''t come on its own. For me, I control light, so what you see here..." he disappeared for an instant. "is the refraction of light" he stated as he came back. "Gabe there can turn things perfectly transparent" "John, can mimic his surroundings so perfectly, he blends in" "Lily is just well, she ties up? We aren''t sure how she works, but she can tie things up and her presence?" "Over there''s Joi, she manipulates shadows. Not completely invisible, but perfect in the dark, she basically hides in shadows, apparently, she talks of another world down there where she can transverse other shadows, with how she is, I have my doubts about that". Louis easily summed up the powers of those in the room. None of which fits the common criteria. I guess I should show mine, just a little. Not everything, but enough to gain their trust.

    "I can well, turn people and things invisible, by pulling a layer over them. Not really sure how to explain this, but it''s like an alternate layer piled up against our one..." I answered them without holding back, unsure of its workings as well. "Other than that, I can do this," I said, as I created another one of myself from nothing. "Woah" the others opened their eyes, surprised. "Can you... create other people?"Louis asked, curious. "Not really" I lied, it wasn''t really a lie but it wasn''t the whole truth either. Creating another person without flaws like this was impossible! How would I know what scars they have hidden beneath their clothing? "ah, but I can make my illusion move" I moved the fake me and walked through Louis. He shot a small beam of light through the illusion, it didn''t have any effect. "Interesting..." he attempted to touch it. "This is the same as Vivian''s! She calls it unreality manipulation... if her power is strong enough, she can create illusions of dragons, monsters beyond this world. Well, I suppose it defers from each person seeing as she can''t create anything small" Louis told me. "She''s not here?" I asked. "She''s on vacation... and she isn''t suited to small places. Her powers tend to turn everything around her invisible as well" he answered. I highly doubt that they all revealed the true extent of their powers, but it''s good to know.

    "Well then, it''s time to go" Gabe beckoned as Lily and Louis stayed behind. "They aren''t coming?" I asked Gabe. "Information team, and besides, they need to work early tomorrow" Gabe explained. But I also needed to work early... and every day at that. Going through the whole process, I forgot the most important question and my sole reason for joining the guild. "What''s the pay?" I asked.

    "90,000 minimum. Heh heh, and this is one of the easier missions as well" John laughed a little. Saying that, they passed me a pair of gloves.

    Walking through the cold winter night, we made our way to the gates of a bizarrely large mansion. I notice sensors placed above the gates around the place. They were probably infrared sensors from the look of things, detecting the heat and movement in the surrounding areas, providing a grid for it to work with. It was strange, I predicted for electromagnetic or ultrasonic sensors to be put in place instead. Wouldn''t a random bird flying through trigger the sensors this way? I looked around and saw a sign, cautioning that serious harm would be inflicted if you attempted to climb above the gates. The dead bodies of birds layed around the area, with their heads and parts of their wings completely burnt.

    Picking up a stone nearby, I threw it over the gate where it landed with a loud ''tssss'' sound against the wet grass. That wasn''t a sensor, it was clearly a weapon. Is this even legal?

    "Alright, so how are we going to enter..." I silenced myself, as I watched the others openly used a blowtorch on the lock. "..." The blowtorch melted off the metal connected to the automatic gate that triggers when it receives a signal. We were all invisible under John''s powers, but somehow, we can see each other. Strangely enough, there wasn''t an alarm as we safely entered the house. "Looks like we are burning this house down after the mission" Gabe announced something ridiculous with a cool pose, as he looked at the cameras around. "Yup" the other two nodded their heads in unison. Was I missing out on something, or have they gone completely nuts? I imagined us to be sneaking around, finding out the evidence and leaving without a trace...

    I guess that isn''t going to be happening. I watched, as they kicked down the front door of the mansion. "Go, knock him out, bind him up and gag him" Gabe gave orders the complete opposite of a secret guild. As I followed the other two to his bedroom, Gabe was opening and flipping through the drawers, making as much sound as one could make. He has a guard and a maid you know...

    As the maid opened her door while flashing a torchlight to check things out, I saw as Gabe knocked her out from the back. The guard arrived and rushed to the unconscious maid, only to be dealt with in the same way. Through this, I went into the master bedroom with the other two, only to see him sleeping in his king-sized bed openly with his two arms and legs spread out. In his hands was a bottle of the wine he stole. Thinking that the others would knock him out the same way as Gabe, I found myself to be completely wrong. The gagged him with his blanket and smacked his head with random objects found in the room. He struggled as he was mercilessly beaten up while being held down in a ridiculous fashion that was both crude and reckless in nature.

    "Fucking bastard child!" "Faint already!" "I heard you love to use this thing don''t you!" the two of them smacked his head and nether regions as they attempted to make him faint. Could it be... they didn''t know how to knock someone out? Signaling the two of them to hold him up, I smacked my knee on his liver and twisted my waist to deliver a fine strike to his jaw. Tying up his body after that, the two of them looked at me with newfound respect.

    "You... are you an expert at this?!" "It''s my first time remember?" I answered. "Oh right, good job for a newcomer!" the two of them went back to their ''senior'' demeanor, as they expertly dragged his body down the stairs with each step making a ''tak'' ''tak'' ''tak'' sound as his head bounced on the steps. Gabe made a pose as he seemed to be deep in thought, staring at a piece of paper. "Hmph... it seems that I can''t find anything that looks like evidence" Gabe stated ironically. "Let''s just take everything back for the others to check through" he declared. "Joi, if you would" Gabe signaled her. Watching as she threw everything into her shadow, we went to work by throwing every single painting, wardrobe and even the entire bed into her shadow that expanded and swallowed everything. Isn''t this ability ridiculously powerful? Can''t you just swallow up someone and get it over with? Apparently, she can hide in there as well... why are you even being a thief? I guess the pay''s good. I could probably do this job for a bit and retire for the rest of my life.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Dragging the bodies out onto the streets, the entire house was set on fire as the everything inside was destroyed. The gates... Gabe was climbing up to destroy the cameras with a blowtorch. The lasers installed on the top was destroyed as they exploded from the fire, waking the entire neighborhood.

    After that, we deposited everything for Louis to sort out the next day...

    <hr><hr>

    Well, that was that. It didn''t have the mysterious aura around it, in fact, the guild felt a little silly. The way they act and conduct their business were on completely different ends of the spectrum. A small chuckle escaped my lips, as I recalled the events last night.

    "What''s so funny?" Elly asked me as I stood there laughing to myself. "Nothing" I answered.

    The store had its regular influx of customers, where a few students dropped by once again during their break. Buying a drink and hanging out around the front of the store, as they spoke their usual nonsense about teachers and how the school should be abolished. The regular amount of customers strolled in frequently and before I knew it, the day turned into night.

    The manager noted on the appearance of students and was considering to set up a sheltered table and chair, situated right outside so that students can spend their time talking and spending money. People can read the news while having a nice cup of machine-made coffee as well. Saying his piece, he announced that the store will be down for construction works the next day. So I wouldn''t have to come the next day.

    As my night shift ended, I found Gabe waiting for me at the back door. I was slightly surprised, as he stood there, motionlessly waiting for me to come. I noticed that his jacket was covered in snowflakes, something that wasn''t possible unless you were standing out here for a long period of time. "Did you wait long?" I ask, out of courtesy. "No, I came to pick you up" he smoothly covered over, despite the evidence littered all around his body. "Ah.. right" I agreed with him with my voice.

    "So, is there another mission or..." I questioned him on the way. "Not really. It''s just the continuation of the event from yesterday. Apparently, he wasn''t just your ordinary degenerate, we found evidence of him being connected to a certain group you might want to hear about" Gabe answered, as we made our way into the secret location. I watched, as the wooden plank closed up behind the wardrobe, admiring the way it functioned so smoothly. Come to think of it, the stairs leading down were plated with solid marble, and it was slightly glowing as well. The stairs were so well designed, marked with a resplendent ''I'' in the middle. It made the room down below look like a joke in satiric comparison. While commenting on the workmanship of the stairs, I reached the fluffy mess of a place, where everything seems to scream "NO!" at each other. None of the things here complements each other. Resisting the urge to complain about it, I greeted the others who stood around, staring at the projection on the wall.

    On the wall, a video of the man who was brutally tortured in an attempt to make him faint was displayed. He seemed to be sneaking around in the park, in his arm, was a very large bag. I watched, as he suddenly got on his knees. "Increasing the volume here, listen..." Louis hushed the already silent room. "Oh, dear Angels! Grant me the path ! the path to the glory to be, grant me joy! grant me ecstasy! here, I lay, my flesh, my blood, mysoul.I offer myself to thee, Iyield!" As he said that, the entire video seemed to shake. Static covered the screen for a brief moment. In the next, a white creature, one that can only be said to be an angel floated and stood before him."For my solicitation, for my price, I offer thee a sacrifice"as he uttered those words, the entire room was filled with disavowal, as the bag was thrown aside, revealing a young girl, whose age doesn''t even seem to reach the double digits. The skin of the angel ripped apart, as a black stick, one that wasn''t straight and bent at all angles, shot out and stabbed through her heart. From the angle, it looked that way. "Haaah" everyone held their breaths, as they saw a pair of devious and grotesque teeth bare itself from the ''angel''. The scene was so eerie, goosebumps covered my entire back. Just like that, the life of the girl was gone, leaving a blue colored stone where her blood splattered against the floor, as she ascended in her bloodied manner to ''heaven'', with the angel. It felt surreal. "This..." as Joi was about to speak up, Louis silenced her. "There''s more" he stated. A crazed priest-like person, one I couldn''t help but recognize, came into the scene. "Bishop Kifton, how nice of you to visit this city" the priest-like person smiled like the nutcase he was. "Ah, bishop Brendon! A wonderful night isn''t it?" Kifton spoke to Brendon as if he hadn''t just mercilessly killed a child. The entire scene felt incongruous, it was as if I was watching a play on a drama in some sort of fantasy world. "It appears that you were careless," I notice as the bishop ''Brendon'' looked towards the direction of the camera. After that, it was all static.

    "This was a recording from the park 3 months ago before Kifton starred in his first ever blockbuster ''Kifton the incredible''. The time of this recording matches up to before the incident. Also, this..." Louis said as he passed a piece of paper to everyone. It was obviously photocopied, but the contents screamed an abhorrent danger. I see the pictures of children and young adults, all of which were either orphans or living alone. Their address was stated as well. I saw my name. I saw Elly''s. There was a big happy sign written for the location of the child to be delivered. "This...so you''re saying that people have been going missing the past few months, and no one did anything? Was no one even remotely suspicious?" I questioned the silent group. So many people are dying, be it whether I know them or not, it just felt wrong, and most of them were just children children. "We should tell the authorities" I hastily suggested. "Oh, my sweet child, they know. They know," he saidin a derisive tone. The meaning of his words was simple but painful. "Well then, as much as I wish to stop them, we don''t have the capability to do so..." Louis stated as he looked solemnly. He was right, we were just a bunch of people in it for the money. Then why bother searching it up and showing it to us? My senses told me there was more to this than it meets the eye.

    "Well then, if there''s no money to be made, I''m out of here" John walked out first, he was oddly quiet. "Same here, I''m leaving," Gabe said nonchalantly. "Come, Lily, let''s go get supper" Joi left with Lily who was humming to herself. "Ah right, before you leave, can I have your bank number?" Louis asked.

    After leaving Louis with my bank number, I walked on the streets, clutching that piece of paper in my hand. It felt wrong. I walked past a police station, I was tempted to enter with the paper in my hand but common sense dictates that it was futile. After what Louis just said, who am I to trust that the report would even be made. I imagine children, students from the countryside, aiming for a chance to make it big in life, coming all the way here. All the way, just to meet their end. The thought of such a monster caused me to shiver. There''s no way I''m dumb enough to fight against people related to that thing. Why would I risk my life for a bunch of people I don''t know? I felt irritated. This isn''t me, I''m more decisive than this!

    Walking along the street, I found myself at an abandoned factory. It was but a coincidence that the factory was the exact same one I was brought to, and the exact same one written on the paper. It was just a coincidence that I took a kitchen knife from a supermarket with gloves. Turning invisible, I entered the factory.

    Why did I even come here? I found myself at a lost at what I''m doing, as a normal person entering a university soon, I should be using my time to study. I looked around, noticing children and young adults, they were hanged on a cross, with the wrist handcuffed and legs bounded up to fit the shape. A tube was connected to them, as was a strange metallic cylinder. My guess was that it somehow restricts the power of the people. There were 12 people here. 3 children and 9 young adults. All of them appeared to be weak and frail, as they were so thin, they looked pale. Their lips were cracked and dry, as even the children seemed to have developed eye bags. How long have they been here?

    "Hehehehehe my cute little children, fear no more, your time of awakening will soon come!" a crazed bishop danced around naked. His little son down there, was completely on the edge, as he waved it around. I resisted the urge to slice his dick off in that instant, and instead focused on the surroundings. There were 7...no 12 people around the area. All of which were wearing their hoodie with a winged design. They were on the second floor of the factory, looking down and grinning at the bishop, or at their own perverted fetish. I notice one of them leaving the others, as I made it up the stairs. "I''m gonna piss," he said, without a trace of elegance. Following closely behind, I watched as he unzipped his pants while facing a window in one of the rooms. "Ahhh" he let out a sigh, at that moment, all sound vanished from the room, as I hit him in the liver. Finishing him off with an uppercut to his jaw, his entire pants turned wet as the body fell on the floor.

    Mimicking his appearance while maintaining the invisible knife, I headed back to the group. "What''s up Hig, or what''s down, heh " making a dirty joke, the guy began to speak to me. I don''t know how the other guy sounded like, so I pretended to grunt and ignored him.

    "Quite cold aren''t we" he chuckled. I walked around, checking if there were others I haven''t spotted. "It''s starting! It''s starting!" I heard the others exclaim as they looked down. A guy around my age was thrown before the perverted bishop, as he began to chant "Oh, dear Angels! Grant me the path ! the path to the glory to be, grant me joy! grant me e..." I stopped listening, as the others were mesmerized by the bishop''s chant. Turning invisible as I stepped back, I began to push people off the ledge. Their bodies made a loud crack, as 4 people suddenly found themselves on the ground. Still, the bishop didn''t stop chanting.

    The others began to turn wary, as they looked around. "I yield!"the priest screamed from below as the entire factory shook. I watched as an angel appeared from nowhere. The hooded members all got on their knees. As the angel glanced around, I found that it was staring at an empty space to it''s right.

    "My angel! My savior! Take away my intruder!" the bishop shouted, noticing the angel''s notice of something strange. I watched as the invisible foe was chased away by the angel, leaving the rest of the members vulnerable as they got into their trance. I threw them off, one by one down the ledge, as the breaking of their bones failed to wake them up. I didn''t forget the man in the room, as I threw him with his piss-stained pants and all down as well. The bishop didn''t even glance twice at the men and simply uttered "impudent" as he continued to pray. It wasn''t long before the ''angel'' came back. "The enemies are too crafty, they can run and run only!" the bishop seemed to console the angel who failed at its task. Though it could detect the others, it couldn''t detect me. I cautiously erased my presence and sound from their perception while heading down the stairs. Instead of a mirage, since there were only the two of them left, I erased their sense of ''me'' in all aspects of their perception. "For my solicitation, for my price, I offer thee a sacrifice" the bishop continued without caring. The angel split open. Changing the angel''s perspective of the young man to the bishop instead, I watched as the bishop screamed out in horror and agony, his anguish as he stared at the ''angel'' in despair before dying in mere seconds.

    Releasing my mirages, I failed to realize how much my nose bled. The entire floor was stained, as a throbbing headache came upon me. But I still needed to fulfill my task. Using the knife, I began to slice off the ropes tying up the victims. Cutting off the pipes by pulling it out of their body, I watched as they looked around confused. Turning myself invisible once more, they could only see a floating knife cutting their legs free and plugging out the pipes.

    I struggled my way out of the factory, as my stained jacket blocked the blood from spilling on the floor. I threw the knife at a corner and walked on the streets. Sitting down on the ground, exhausted, I see a bunch of familiar faces near me. As expected, they appeared were here.

    "You pas-" "You want to get supper?" Lily asked as she stretched out her hand, cutting Gabe off.