Hope

Through the darkness came an image and voice, they were both cloudy at first but gradually they cleared up. Standing before me was that same muscle-bound man I saw in my dream before, he was standing next to a bar counter and was holding a tumbler filled with what looked like whiskey. He took a sip and smiled at me.

"Why do you keeping taking these jobs Eks? They're all so small, we could be making some serious cash elsewhere."

"If we don't take these jobs and look after these fringe worlds and minor transport routes, then who will? Its never been about the money, it's always been about the people and helping those who we can" these words came from below my eyeline, so I assume it must have been me talking, yet these words were not mine.

"Yeah, but can't we leave this stuff to the smaller groups to take care of?"

"No, they can't handle the size of most these raiding parties and the civilians can't raise enough money to hire the level of hunters they actually need. If we don't take these jobs, then these people will suffer, and I can't allow that. I've been around for a long time Jon, I've been both routes, the one we're on now and the cash money one. The cash never gave me a sense of purpose like helping those in need did."

"I guess that's why your so respected, huh?" Jon said with a wry smirk.

"Haha, I don't know about that" I chuckled.

As quickly as it came, the image faded away, and the darkness embraced me once more.

The light slowly crept through my eyelids bringing my back to reality. After I rolled and stirred in the warm light, I slowly opened my eyes. Much to my disappointment, everything was just as it was before I went to sleep. The darkness had embraced me, but it didn't keep me, no matter how hard I tried.

I was stuck in the worst of all worlds, I was stuck here without her and I couldn't join her.

My emotions welled up with a mixture of hatred and despair. I looked to the ceiling and shouted, as if I was shouting at God "Why won't you let me die! Why are you making me suffer! I just want to be with her."

My screaming was interrupted by a knock at my door. Begrudgingly, I dragged myself from my bed and stumbled down the halfway putting on the first pair of shorts and a shirt as I went. I took a deep breath and opened the door. As the door creaked open, I was immediately assaulted by fist straight to my chest. Strangely, I didn't feel anything as it hit me. I watched it make contact, but I felt nothing. My eyes traced their way along the arm and worked their way to a familiar face. It was Paul, but his face was screwed up in anguish and he had tears in his eyes.

"What is wrong with you! Why do you want to die!" he choked.

"Because without her there is no hope, no light in the darkness" I replied sorrowfully. Paul looked at me with a mix of sadness and concern in his eyes and then he embraced.

"It's going to be ok. Do you remember you told me, when Emma cheated on me, left and my whole world fell apart?"

"No."

"You said that it sucks right now and it's gonna suck for a while but there is always a light in the darkness, sometimes it's just a little harder to see and you need to look harder. There is always hope. Things will get better. She wouldn't want you to be like this, she would want you to move forward and keep living."

"I know….but it's s-so hard, she was my reason for living."

"Then you need to find a new reason, you have so much life still to live."

"I don't know how" I mumbled as I hung my head in shame.

"It's ok, I'm here to help. Don't forget that, there are so many people wanting to help you, you just need to let them" Paul said with a smile on his face as he let go of me.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, now how about we go get a drink and get your away from here for a bit. You could do with a change of scenery."

"I think that would be wise, this place is haunting me a little too much."

"Good, but first we need to get you cleaned up, shaved and trimmed, because damn you look like shit" Paul laughed. After I had a much needed shower and shave, Paul dragged me to the local barber and got my hair cut. As the barber was doing his thing, I stared at myself in the mirror. It was the first time I had really looked at myself in the mirror since everything had happened. I looked so different, the surgeons had completely reconstructed my face after the accident. Gone was my average man looks, the surgeons had given me a strong square jaw, a refined nose and well-defined cheek bones. My eyes were the same deep green and my hair was the same golden brown that they always were, but everything else about me felt new. It felt appropriate, I was more or less a new person with a now unknown path in front of me, yet my soul was the same as it had always been, albeit slightly darker.

One Paul was satisfied that I no longer looked like a hermit that hadn't been outside in a long time, we headed into the main bar district of the city. By the time we got there the sun was starting to set and sky was filled with a mixture of beautiful reds, oranges and pinks. We went to one of our favourite bars, Ol' Red. It was a country themed bar with plenty of good beers and bourbons, a mixture of upbeat modern country and pop music and a large dance floor with plenty of beautiful women on it. Paul knew that I loved the soul of country music, even if he didn't quite understand it himself, he was more of an alternative rock kind of guy. That said, he did seem to appreciate all the women on the dance floor. The night passed in a flurry of drinks, reminiscing about the trouble we got into and fun we had when we were younger and the occasional dance. We kept drinking and laughing late into the night.

"Thanks Paul, I really needed this."

"No worries, you were spiralling at home and needed to get out and remember that it's ok to still have fun. Life doesn't need to end because things have changed, you just need to keep moving forward."

Before we could finish our heartfelt conversation, we were interrupted by a scream for help. We looked at each other, there was no one else still around and no one else to help or investigate. As if realising that we were the only options, Paul ran towards the scream and I quickly followed. I followed him to an alleyway tucked away from the main roads and streetlights. Down the alleyway were two women crouching next to a man that was slumped over on the ground with blood streaming from his nose. His shirt was torn and bloodstained, he looked as if he was clutching his side before he passed out. The women next to him looked to be trembling in fear. Opposite them stood four men, they were all black jeans and shirts. Each of them had an opposing figure and looked dangerous.

"Leave them alone!" Paul shouted before I could stop him.

"You best leave now boy and forget you saw anything" growled one of the men causing the women to look at us, their eyes were filled with fear and silently pleaded with us to help them. A strange feeling washed over me.

Before I could come to terms with my feelings and answer myself, my legs started walking forward of their own volition. The man who growled at us motioned towards the man closest to me, who nodded an understanding a withdrawn a knife from his side.

"Wrong choice" he sneered at me. Still my legs kept closing the distance. When I was within his range, he swung his knife at me. I watched his knife as he swung, it appeared to move in slow motion. It was moving so slowly that I was easily able to step out of the way, I moved to his open side and punched him as hard as I could in his chest. As I made contact, I heard the distinctive crack of bones breaking and I felt them give way under the pressure of my punch. His eyes glazed over as he fell to the ground and began coughing up large amounts of blood. He coughed twice and then went limp.

I thought about it for what felt like a lifetime, only to realise that no time had passed at all.

"You're going to regret" growled one of the men. They all looked at each other and pulled out their knives and charged towards me. The one on the left and the one on the right each held a 30 centimetre knife, the one in the middle held two slightly smaller knives. I reacted to their charge out of an instinct I didn't know existed. I closed the distance between us and launched my knee into the sternum of the one on the left hearing a loud crack as I made contact. Before they had time to react, I spun on the spot as I landed and greeted the man in the middle with a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. Without giving the last man a chance to react, I landed a push kick straight to his sternum and sent him flying across the alleyway and into the wall behind him. With the three assailants lying crumpled on the ground, I walked over to the two women cowering next to the unconscious man.

"Are you ok?" I asked as I extended my hand to them. She grasped my hand and I helped her to her feet. She was still trembling, but who could blame her, she just went through a hell of an ordeal.

"It's going to be ok, they're not going to hurt anyone anymore" I tried to reassure her. "My name is Zack, and this is Paul. We'll stay with you until the police and ambulance get here. I won't let them hurt you." She nodded that she understood me.

Paul called the authorities and before too long the police and ambulance crews were on the scene. We were questioned by the police about the night's events. Apparently the two women were Valerie and Stephanie and they had been out celebrating Andrew's new job. Andrew was the one that was unconscious when we arrived, he was Stephanie's partner and Valerie's older brother. They had been walking back to their apartment when they were set on by the four men, who were looking for a little bit of female entertainment. Andrew had tried to protect them and was mercilessly beaten for his efforts. All this happened just before we heard the screams and went to investigate. Luckily, we arrived in time and the women were unharmed albeit a little traumatised. The police informed me that the paramedics had discovered that the four men all had multiple broken bones and were quite frankly lucky to be alive. The police told us that the four men where known criminals and that this incident would be viewed as self defence, so we had nothing to worry about from a legal perspective. I gave my mobile number to the police in case they had any further questions and to Valerie in case she needed to talk to someone about it. After the excitement had died down and everyone left, Paul turned to me.

"What the hell was that? Where did you learn those moves? When did you get that quick and strong?" a flurry words flew out of Paul's mouth.

"Slow down Paul, one question at a time. I don't really know what just happened, but it felt strangely natural."

"When did you get that quick?"

"No idea, it just felt like they were moving really slowly. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the findings from the hospital."

"Ok, that's weird. Last question, did you know that was the first time I've seen you smile in the last three months."

"Haha, that's odd. I've got to say, that it did feel strangely fulfilling"

After we finished chatting, we each took a taxi home. I stared aimlessly out of the side window.

<I've got so many questions now. What is happening to me? How was I able to do any of that? Why did it feel so nature and fulfilling?>

All that I did know was for the first time a while I felt somewhat hopeful about the future. The light in the darkness was hard to find, but I found it, I found hope and now I just needed to let it grow.

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