1 Freedom From The Past

"You're insane!"

"Maybe, but I'm free now."

John was a debt collector assigned to Cain due to a family debt that his father left behind, and he was not able to come to terms with what happened. Cain called him telling him he had this month and the previous month's pay and was waiting in his office. What he didn't expect was for Cain to grab him and jump through the large window, unfortunately, his office is on the 62nd floor.

The two of them were upside-down in free fall, John's face was contorted in rage and panic but Cain looked as if everything was right in the world. "See you in hell," Cain said as he smiled for the first time in a very long time, even his dull grey eyes revealed a slight gleam.

"You..!" John tried to hit him but was too far and could only seethe with rage. Not long after the street filled with screams and the sidewalk cracked under the impact, and that was the end.

Or so it should have been, as Cain opened his eyes to a world of white. "Too bright." is all he thought before shutting his eyes again. "...?" Cain's eyes snapped open and he looked around, "Is this hell?" he mumbled. It was a seemingly endless void of white and he was still falling, or at least he felt like he was still falling since it was hard to tell. It was also hard to tell how much time was passing and after what felt like a few days his surroundings showed signs of change. Wherever he was falling towards had a pin-prick black spot that was ever so slowly getting larger.

Cain had a lot of time to think over what happened and everything that led up to it. He grew up as an only child with no mother, his dad never told him what happened to her, nor did he seem to care. His dad only ever worked, drank, gambled, take loans from shady people, and often took out his anger on the house. Eventually, they were forced from their home because dad couldn't pay rent and kept breaking things without paying for it. They moved into a shabby motel and ate dry noodles and leftovers from a nearby restaurant. He was lucky the new landlady was too kind for her own good and didn't call the cops, at first, but when she finally saw him beating Cain she intervened.

Before they moved he never laid a hand on Cain, taking out his rage on his surroundings, but being forced to move and realizing he couldn't just break anything he wanted he decided to take it out on something that could recover from the damage. Cain figured it was only a matter of time before his dad turned on him, and eventually, he was numbed to the pain, and his vibrant silver eyes dulled to grey. His dad didn't even let him go to school, making him stay home and do everything from cooking to cleaning to running errands. But by the time the landlady saw what was happening Cain already had plenty of scars, cigarette burns, and even damaged lungs.

His dad was put in prison and he was put in an orphanage, where he was almost the oldest at eleven years old. The other kids didn't shun him but they weren't proactive in getting to know him since he was the 'Scary Scarred Kid' who didn't really talk or respond to anyone. Over the next few years, there were families that took pity on him and adopted him but eventually sent him back quoting he was 'scaring their other kids' and a 'troublemaker' despite him not doing anything. And when he found a family that truly did care for him, debt collectors came knocking informing him that his father died in prison and he had to pay in his stead. The family didn't have the money to pay the absurd debt his dad racked up and was forced to make a tough choice and let the debt collectors take him away to work for them.

And so from the age of fourteen to twenty-three, he was worked to the bone in various jobs from all walks of life. He was allowed to keep just barely enough money to live and the rest had to be given to his 'guardian' John at the beginning of every month. To add on to that John was pocketing part of the money so that it was even harder to pay off the debt. Cain himself never bothered looking for help, but many times good-natured people tried to help or call the cops, and they looked into it, but there was so much red-tape that there wasn't much that could be done.

Cain was thankful for the brief respite whenever someone took pity and helped by giving money but only accepted charity once from each person, he refused to let someone else shoulder the ridiculous debt or get dragged into the mess. He knew it was just an endless loop, he never got anywhere close to paying off the debt, and every now and then they would set him up to fail and arbitrarily raise the debt because of it.

In the end, even the extremely placid Cain got fed up with it and took extreme action, leading to where we are now.

Cain felt like his life flashed before his eyes, and by the time he focused back on his situation the black speck was much closer, now looking like a wall the stretched forever as if it were the edge of the universe. When he got even closer he could see ripples in the darkness, black waves that moved towards the spot he would land at. Following the ripples the were moving away he finally noticed other people falling into the black, but they were too far away to make out any features.

Soon he noticed the black substance was reflective and he saw his own figure; gaunt, shabby clothes, a near-shaven head, too many scars to count, and dull grey eyes as if his own soul was worn out.

With the sound of a rock falling into the water he passes through the black and ends up in a chair in a dim room.

"Hello, welcome to death."