Sinner

My eyes opened and my mind began waking up. I checked my surrounding and realized I was in an alleyway. A dim light from a street lamp was the only source of light in this dark alley.

My clothes were tattered and completely soaked and the wind caused a chill over my skin, causing me to shiver. I stood up and things started coming to me.

'This alleyway is where I died, right? But I have no wounds... Did they heal? Or was I hallucinating the whole thing? That wasnt a dream, was it?'

I was very disoriented and staggered as I stepped out of the alley. My thoughts churning within me like a endless storm. I just wanted to go home, take a shower and then figure things out from there.

My body felt stiff at first, but as I walked it felt like I became more limber, and my mind seemed to clear up a little.

I got to my run down apartment and immediately threw the tattered clothes into a waste bin and then showered. After that I laid in my bed and closed my eyes. I didnt fall asleep right away, instead I sorted through all the events of the day as well as my circumstances that led me here.

I was born as the third child of a prestigious family, but was considered a black sheep due to my potential. Most people in this world awaken a power in thier childhood and I was born a normie. My older brother and sister both had rank S powers and I never awakened any.

My father spent alot of money to have tests done and have professionals look at my condition but everything said I was just a normal person with no potential.

My position in the family became the same as trash. After graduating high school my parents bought this crappy apartment and kicked me out of the family. They didnt want me to stain thier reputation with my weakness so they cast me away.

My siblings only smirked when I packed my bags and left. To be honest I didnt mind it much. Living with them was awful and I was happy to get away.

My apartment was prepaid for an entire year and I was able to get a couple of minimum wage jobs and even pay tuition to college. It wasnt easy but I was determined to succeed on my own.

But me being powerless attracted the attention of bullies. I was often hazed by my peers in college as well as my workplaces. It hurt alot but I kept thinking I would be able to forget all this once I've graduated college. I could get a good job and move out of the ghetto and maybe even meet someone and start a family. It was a simple dream but it kept me going.

I thought I could endure it all but I guess I was wrong. I severely underestimated the cruelty of others. After classes ended and I was about to leave campus, a girl approached me and asked if I could help her move some things at her place. Which wasnt far from where I lived.

Like an idiot I agreed to help her after she flirted with me a little. We took a bus to our neighborhood and she was leading me to her apartment. Or so I thought.

"This is the trash? The normie from your school?"

The girl didnt seem surprised by the group of guys outside her apartment.

"That's right. Estelle said he was an outcast from her family and it wouldn't matter if he disappears."

My brain was overloaded at the moment. I could tell something bad was going on and this girl led me here. And my sister was somehow involved. But I asked anyway.

"What's going on? Didnt you need help?"

The girl smirked disdainfully at me and said, "My boyfriend wanted someone to test his power on since it went up a stage. Won't you make a good target dummy?"

I didnt waste any time and I turned and began running. But one of the guys was very fast possibly due to his power and was right beside me before i could get far. I was pushed down and the other guys dragged me into an alleyway.

I can still remember how each kick felt and how painful each ice needle shot at me felt like searing pain and then a cold burn. My hands were pinned to the side of a building as the girls boyfriend pelted me with ice needles.

Once they had their fill they left me barely hanging on to life. The needles pinning my hands melted and I fell to the ground, where i bled out and then... I met her.

I tossed and turned as I lay on my bed. Every painful memory surfaced in my thoughts and kept me awake. I felt anxious and didnt know why. It was a feeling like I've forgotten something I was supposed to do.

I couldn't shake the feeling off so I decided to get some fresh air. I put on pants and a hoodie and then left my apartment.

I just had a nagging feeling like I needed to be somewhere. I walked aimlessly down the streets, letting my instinct guide me.

After walking down a few blocks, I felt my attention being drawn to the back of a rundown building. It was not occupied and looked to be in a state of disrepair. It likely that homeless have been using it as a place to sleep on occasion.

The area was bad and I didnt feel comfortable being there but still, I pushed further to the back of the building. I crept silently along the side and then peeked at what was behind the building.

There was nothing. The back had some broken down vehicles and there was garbage littered around but I didnt see anything out of the ordinary.

That is, until, I heard a rustling sound coming from some bushes further behind the building. I immediately ducked behind one of the broken down cars and observed.

A skinny man wearing blue jeans and a black hoodie covering his face walked out of the bushes. He was pulling up his pants and fixing his zipper.

After I saw him though, something strange happened to me. A murky darkness covered my eyes and caused them feel like they were burning for a second. After that the darkness creeped back and revealed a new change to my irises that I had yet to notice.

The man began walking away but before he did I started to see something different about him. A red halo hung over his head. But that wasnt the scariest thing. Above him were grotesque shadows of what looked like women. These silhouettes were following the man and each one of them was pointing at him. At least a dozen of them.

'What the fuck?!' I was panicking and jumped back in fear. The women pointing at him all looked at me at the same time and began screeching.

My mind went blank and torrents of horrible images burned into it. Each was of a young woman begging for him to stop, crying out for thier loved ones, or were desperately trying to defend themselves. The images were gruesome and bloody, and not to mention vulgar.

I snapped out of it when I heard a voice.

"Who's there?! Come out, I know your hiding back there."

The man had heard the sound I made when I jumped back from fear a moment ago. Now he was wary of me and calling me out.

'What do I do? This guy is pretty much a serial killer. Should I run or try to play dumb?'

I decided to try playing dumb and then running if things got bad, since I didnt really know how to fight. I slowly stepped out from behind the scrapped car and into the light.

"S-sorry, I was j-just uh... going to the bathroom. Yes! Just going to the bathroom. Well I'm all done here so I'll just..."

"You think I'm stupid? You were spying on me weren't you?!" He didnt buy my excuse as all and then brandished a knife. It looked like it had some blood still on it.

I had thought for sure he would fall for that. But it seems my luck is bad. The man began sprinting at me, with clear hostility and bloodlust in his eyes.

I turned on my heel and ran, but ran into an issue. The other side of the building had a 8ft wooden fence I didnt notice before that left me cornered. My only option of escape would be to jump over it.

I made it to the fence and began climbing it. But because my athletic ability is so low it took too long to climb it and the man caught up too me.

He grabbed my hoodie and pulled me down to the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of my lungs and stunned me.

"Argh!" I grunted when a knife was plunged into my chest. Blood poured out as he removed the knife.

"You should've minded your own business. Now you'll die." He picked up a piece of rebar that had a large chunk of concrete attached to it. He lifted it high above his head. I could only look regretfully and think I was just destined to die. I fucked up my second chance only hours after dying once and being resurrected.

The man swung down and the concrete crushed my skull into paste and my body spasmed for a second and then stopped moving.

"Dumb bastard. Ha looks like I got 2 for the price of 1 tonight. Hahaha..." The man chuckled and then left the scene quickly before anyone else found him.

But something happened he didnt expect to happen and neither did I.

I floated in a sea of murky darkness, endless waves thrashed me about and I was powerless within it. However some of that darkness seeped out of my corpse and began piecing me back together like a puzzle.

Brain matter reformed, followed by bits of skull fragments. Dark tendrils pulled all the pieces together and then melted to fuse them in place. Since they dissipated when my body was repaired, the darkness disappeared and did not re-enter my body, as it had been used up.

After a horrifyingly disturbing scene, my body was whole again. My eyelashes fluttered as I opened my eyes, my body struggled to move and my head was pounding.

I didnt need to question what happened to me as I already knew. I was killed and resurrected again.

'So is the power given to me makes me immortal?' I thought so but I could feel the sea of darkness within me had decreased by a small margin. What would happen if I died again and again until the darkness ran out? It wasnt hard to imagine, it would be a permanent death and I probably would fail the test the Goddess gave me.

I clenched my fist in anger at myself for how weak I was to get killed twice in 24 hours.

'Help...'

"Huh? Is someone there?" I shivered as the voice sounded creepy while out here in the dead of night. I looked around and saw nothing and when I was about to let it go as nothing more than my overactive imagination I heard it again.

'Please...'

I turned toward where the sound was coming from. It was the bushes the man who killed me had come out from. I walked toward it cautiously, I kept all my senses at full alert as I approached.

Once I had reached the bush, I called out, "Hello?"

No reply.

I moved into the bushes and thats when I saw it. I almost puked on the spot but luckily I was able to swallow enough saliva to quell the rising bile.

My eyes returned to the gruesome sight and I kept my hand over my mouth so as not to puke. The body of a young girl lay sprawled out on the ground. Her throat was slashed and her eyes were wide open and were glassy and unfocused. Her clothes were torn open displaying her in a shameful manner.

I recognized her. She attended the college same as me and worked at the convenience store down the road from here. I think her name was... Grace?

Her body was in a terrible state. She had bruises all over her body and her clothes were completely torn. I didnt even want to think of the kind of abuse she had went through but unfortunately for me, my powers decided otherwise.

A shadow rose from the girl's body, like a perfect silhouette of the girl herself. I was frozen in fear but at the same time strangely I felt a feeling of affection. Like a parent looking at thier child. It was a very weird and conflicting experience.

The shadow reached out and touched my forehead. The same as before happened where a scene of memories played in my head.

A girl working her shift and getting ready to head home. The same girl walking down the street. A man grabbing her and covering her mouth. Then...

It was all too vivid and painful. Like I was experiencing it firsthand. It all made me so... furious. The girl was a sweet person who never did anything bad to anyone. She had a weak power and was also bullied like I was. She wanted to graduate and open her own flower shop.

I couldn't be sure if these feelings were mine or if they were influenced by her shadow. But I didnt need to differentiate between them. I was going to avenge her and myself as well as the others.

The shadow seemed to understand my feelings without me saying anything and she grabbed my hand and pulled me.

As I walked down the empty and dark streets, I thought about what exactly I was going to do. The shadow pulled down many streets, we walked for what seemed like forever. The sun would be up soon but we finally stopped.

The shadow girl pointed to a house in a nicer side of town. This area houses upper-low to to middle income families. The house was nice with a second floor and blue paint with neatly cut grass growing in the yard.

'The serial killer lives in the suburbs? Does he have a family as well while he's out there ruining lives?'

It all just made me angrier. He has more than most people and yet he takes everything away from those just trying to survive, preying on those weaker than himself.

I typed the address into my phone so I wouldn't forget it. The sun would rise soon so I couldn't make any moves right then. Instead I decided to head home and get some rest. I planned to investigate him so I could kill him more efficiently. After all I dont have a grip on my what exactly my powers are and I have no idea what power he has. Since he didnt use one when he killed me before.

But I was definitely going to kill him. No matter what!