A Chance

Silence immediately flushed through the room. It was like time had frozen, making Zero already slightly regret his actions.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Cole said slowly in disbelief, but also fueled with rage.

"Did you just speak back? You dog!" Kane retorted.

"I--all I'm saying is that it's enough! She gets the point. You don't have to hit her anymore."

Another few seconds of silence filled the room before the two brothers suddenly burst out into a laugh.

"Hahaha! When did this retard get so smart, huh?"

"I know, right? What a fucking moron." Cole replied to Kane before suddenly punching Zero straight in the nose.

*Crunch!*

Blood immediately began to gush out of Zero's now crooked and crushed nose, and tears began to fall from his eyes.

He could barely see due to the dizziness that assaulted him after the punch, but now all Zero could feel was a barrage of punches being thrown in his direction.

He was quickly pummeled into the ground by the two older boys, powerless to do anything.

Punches, kicks, slaps, he endured it all. He was used to the abuse, but even Zero hadn't even felt this amount of pain before.

They were extremely enraged.

After Zero spoke back, their stupidly high egos were hurt a little, and so they decided that they were going to teach the slave a lesson about speaking back to its owners.

After cracking his rib and bruising his forearms, which he used to defend himself, the boys finally stopped and stood back up, leaving Zero almost lifeless on the ground.

The two high-fived each other and grinned, panting heavily and proud of their job. Let alone talking back, they were sure that he wouldn't even be able to walk properly again.

However, to their wildest surprise, the scrawny boy slowly stood back up in front of them.

His clothes were ripped and his face was completely busted up, almost unrecognizable from before.

"Pleaf! Leaf her alonf!" Zero managed to yell through his swollen and cut lips.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins as his heart nearly beat out of his chest. He wasn't thinking straight anymore, and the pain he felt all over his body was excruciating, but he was going to fulfill the promise he made and the purpose he gave to himself.

If he didn't even do this, what was the point of living?

Seeing him still speak, the boy got more angry than before. Their egos got further damaged.

"Shut the fuck up! Don't think you can talk loudly just because you stood back up!" Kane loudly barked.

"You made the wrong choice, fucker. Now you're gonna regret ever getting back up. You're dead!" Cole followed up.

"What the hell is going on here!?" John suddenly entered the room, confused as to why there was so much screaming going on.

Daisy was close behind him, equally perplexed. This amount of yelling wasn't normal, even in this disturbed household.

As soon as he saw the scene in front of him, he realized exactly what was going on.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" John yelled before being cut off by Zero.

"You don't havf the right to assault her! Jen says how she hatesf you guys bullying her, she's jusf like me!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, risking it all in an intense moment.

When thinking about it, he was risking it all. This was all he had left, the only reason that he was living other than the fact that he was too afraid to leave.

For some reason, an unexpected silence filled the room. This one felt different from the first one.

The first one was mockery, but this was… Zero couldn't tell what it was, leaving him confused.

"...Pffft! Hahaha!"

A feminine voice behind Zero began to laugh out of nowhere, making his heart sink to the bottom of his chest.

Disbelief… he was in utter disbelief. Then, he started to make reasons as to why she was laughing.

Why?

…

Why?

…

WHY?

Just then, smiles began to form on the faces of everyone else as well.

The smiles were evil. Everyone in front of Zero's eyes turned into blood-thirsty demons.

He didn't know what to think, and at that moment, Jen spoke.

"How pathetic! You actually think you're the same as me, you freak?" Jen said maliciously before continuing to laugh maniacally.

Kane and Cole also broke out into laughter, as well as did the parents.

Zero remained frozen, not knowing what to do or think. All he knew was that the pain he felt in his mind outweighed the pain in his body by thousands of folds.

Despair flooded his mind, but for some reason, he still had an ounce of hope.

He felt betrayed, but, just maybe, Jen had an okay reasoning behind her actions. He wanted to believe this more than anything.

Seeing Zero in this state, Kane decided to speak.

"Ahaha! You're such an idiot. Did you actually think Jen--" As he spoke, John tried to butt in, even while laughing.

"No! No, don't tell him that." He said with half effort, the other half dedicated to laughing his ass off.

"--Cared about you? That dumbass is just pretending to like you so that you don't get any stupid ideas like running away or fighting back."

It felt like a bullet had pierced straight through Zero's heart. That was it, the final word he needed.

He had finally had enough. Zero's gaze turned towards the door, and everyone else was too distracted laughing the hairs off their heads.

He no longer cared about how scary the world outside of that door was, even if he was to die, so be it.

Right now, all he wanted was solace. To get out of the situation he was in and to just run away from everything.

He didn't want any more despair and negative emotions, and he didn't even want happiness.

All he wanted was to run away.

Before hesitating any longer, he darted out of the door. He didn't care that his ribs were dislocating out of place as he ran, or that his vision was completely blurred and almost fully blocked.

As soon as he stepped out, his eyes met with the bright light of lampposts and a busy road full of cars under the dark sky.

He made his way into the road, with the others trying to stop him, but failing.

After reaching halfway, his body finally gave in and he fell to his knees, succumbing to the injuries he had.

By that point, he was already a goner. The running had caused a dislodged rib to puncture his heart, and he was bleeding out rapidly.

*BEEP*

*SCREECH*

"Hey, kid! Move out of th--"

*THUD*

…

It all happened in the span of a few seconds. The road was covered in a spray of blood as ambulances and police vehicles quickly pulled up to the scene.

Zero didn't even feel any pain, obliterated instantly by the truck that slammed into him at nearly full speed.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, he had lost all senses. His body no longer hurt anywhere, but his mind was still in pain.

He opened his eyes to see a sight no different from if they were closed. It was pitch-black darkness that stretched on for infinity all around him.

Right now, if he were to have an expression, it would be lifeless.

'The afterlife?' He thought to himself.

He closed his eyes once again, finally resting in peace after all the trauma he went through.

Did he have regrets? Sure. Failures? Indeed. Happiness? No, not at all.

Still, he didn't want to have anything else but this. Peace, forever...

*Ding* [Welcome host, to the Creation System!]

'What?' He thought, suddenly awakened by an odd voice.

At that moment, large and slimy worm-like things the size of anacondas began touching and slithering around all crevices in his body, freaking him out.

That's when he realized that he still had a body, and began to hear his heartbeat.

Out of nowhere, the tentacle-like things gripped him tight before pulling him in a certain direction.

That direction? Light! There was light in the infinite darkness. Zero didn't know what to think of this. Was it a bad thing? Was his eternal slumber of peace getting disturbed? Or was it a good thing? A new chance at life, perhaps?

Quickly, the beam of light began to get larger and larger before he was suddenly pulled into the light completely.

*Female wails*

"Congratulations! It's a boy!"