Extra Story 1: The Oblivious Sin

Freedom. The first thought that I had after finishing my sentence and leaving prison. It was quite a happy feeling, no longer being trapped within concrete walls and seeing every other thing through steel bars. I could go and eat food that wasn't stale and see my parents and friends again.

A painful thought ran across my mind. I probably didn't have friends anymore. They probably hated me now. My chest tightened as I reminded myself of that thought even though I'd spent the last 10 years preparing myself for this moment.

I was probably going to be alone. My parents would ask me to move out of the house soon and find a job somewhere as they were in debt due to the damages they had to pay because of my actions. It would be hard for me to find a job, however, considering the fact that I had no proper education after 15 years of age and I was a former prisoner.

The city I lived in, didn't help my situation one bit either. Everything looked peaceful at a glance but whenever you took the time to look, you would realise that the rich ruled the city while the poor were akin to some pests that had infested the place where the rich lived.

As my mind was filled to the brim with such thoughts that only made me feel worse by the second, I eventually reached my house. I looked at it and expected to be reminded of the days when I used to live there with my parents. The days when we watched Television, played random games, argued, laughed, cried....

Instead of all of that, I was greeted by a heap of ashen waste. Broken chunks of concrete that were stained in ashes of the furniture that once adorned our house, plants that we grew in our backyard were now cremated alive.

All the memories I had with my parents of our fun and happy days flashed past my mind, but any hope of happiness was instantly crushed by the current state of our house.

What had happened while I was in prison?

They weren't allowed to visit me due to the constraints that our rotten government imposed upon us, but how much had happened while I couldn't even stand by to help?

I immediately rushed over to our neighbour's house and started banging on their door. How were my parents? Where were they now?

Questions flooded within me as my thoughts began racing past me. After a few seconds, the door before me opened. A man who was in his 60's opened the door. He wore white pyjamas and a brown vest over which he wore an orange sweater that he left unzipped. His white hair and beard were neatly trimmed short. His small eyes shrunk even further as he squinted to look at me.

He slowly rummaged through his pockets and brought out a pair of gold-framed glasses that he put on. He kept looking at me, and my memories of the man returned to me.

"N- Nathan?", the man gasped after he recognized me.

"Hi Uncle Walter.", I replied. "I know this is a bit rude of me to ask nothing else, but could you tell me where my parents are?"

"Ah....", Uncle Walter sighed. "Nobody told you in prison huh."

"Look, Nate.... I'm not gonna mince my words. You did something horrible to that poor girl 10 years ago, but what happened to your family because of it is far far worse. It is an act that I do not find a hint of justice in."

The more he spoke, the worse I felt about the answer he was about to give.

"The friends of the girl who you tried to kill came to your parent's house and stole the money they were arranging for the compensation. Your parents struggled to keep the money from getting stolen.

In the midst of it all, one of the thieves had gotten an explosive that he did not realise how potent it was...."

My heart dropped as I heard those words. I formed a hypothesis in my mind that I kept praying desperately to be proven false.

"When they checked the building for surviv-"

Before Walter could finish speaking.

"guh- urk!"

Before I could realise what was happening.....

I was inside Walter's house. My hands were clenched firmly onto Walter's neck.

A couple of seconds later, I heard a snap.

Walter's eyes, which always looked so small were now glaring at me, wider than they'd ever been. I released my grip, and Walter's frail, but plump figure fell to the ground.

"Ahahahaha! Uncle Walter!~ Lying is no good, you know! C'mon now, tell me where my parents really are.", I asked him in a cheery tone.

There was no reply. How rude.

Well, if Uncle Walter couldn't give me answers, then I ought to find someone who could. Hmmm, who should I ask next?

Right then, as if on cue, Uncle Walter's wife rushed down the corridor of the house to the entrance room.

"Walter, what was that loud thud? Did you order something?", she asked in a loud voice as she came into the room.

She wore a messy white apron that lost a lot of its colour over a casual house outfit.

"Aunt Bethany, how have you been!", I greeted her gleefully.

She stopped in her tracks as if she was frozen at the sight of me as an adult. "Auntie!!", I exclaimed happily as I ran to hug her.

"Wal-ter...?", she spoke in a defeated voice.

I grinned happily as I was 2 feet from Aunt Bethany, ready to give her a hug when she looked at me with a horrified expression.

"What the hell did you do?", she asked me in a dreary tone of voice.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?", she screamed at me as she slapped me across the face violently. My vision shook.

Why?

Why was nobody happy to see me?

Why was nobody telling me where my parents were?

Aunt Bethany continued to slap me. Again and Again and Again and Again.

Why was she so angry at me? I looked over at Uncle Walter who was lying down at the entrance to the door. The insolent sloth chose to sleep instead of telling me where my parents were. And then I realised why Aunt Bethany was slapping me continuously while crying her eyes out.

The Blasphemous idiot had blood flowing from his head! He must've hit his head hard when he fell down to sleep without any regard for his safety or my satisfaction with his answer. The impudence!

I realised soon what my mistake was.

"I- I'm so so so sorry Aunt Beth! This is all my fault! I'll fix it all right away!", I said as I rushed into the kitchen.

I returned a few seconds later, to find Aunt Beth sitting by Uncle Walter. I was right about what my mistake was.

"Did you call the ambulance? The medics? You just got out of prison, so I trust you don't want to return immediately right!?", Bethany complained in anger as she tried easing Walter into a proper posture.

"I'm sorry for my mistake Bethany. I shan't let my sins be repeated."

Bethany looked at me with a dumbfounded expression as I drove a knife into her skull. Blood gushed out from the freshly made wound and sprayed Walter's face.

"There! All good! Now you both are in perfect harmony!"

I lowered Aunt Beth beside Uncle Walter and smiled at the sight before me. Oh, how happy they looked together.

"I'll be borrowing some cash, by the way, Uncle Walter. Our house seems to have been renovated to a different place, and I don't know where yet so I need some money to get started."

I asked him for permission and considered his silence as approval and then took about 100,000 kibbs from his money stash.

"Oh, also I'm borrowing your phone and car. I'll return them later on once I've found my parents again. Thanks!"

As I was leaving the house, I saw both Uncle Walter and Aunt Bethany lying right by the doorway, still bleeding from their wounds.

The sight warmed my heart. I took a picture from their phone, which didn't have a passcode luckily enough. I set the picture as my wallpaper, to encourage me to find my parents again.

"See you later Uncle Walter and Aunt Beth!", I bid them goodbye as I locked the door.

"Such a happy couple they are. Hate how they never answered me though.", I muttered under my breath.