Prologue (1)

A gleeful young boy skipped down a quiet street under the golden evening sun. A keen smile was plastered over his face, and he held the straps to the oversized scarlet red bag across his back that seemed larger than his torso.

The thought of just seeing his parents again, somehow, still filled him with joy.

"I hope dad's back from his work trip!" The boy thought, walking up the steps to his family's home.

Approaching his house's main door, he was confused by the slight opening it.

*creak*

He pushed it open to see his dirty-blonde haired mother on the ground. Her body laid impossibly still, and her face was planted in the floor with her hair wild and covering her head.

"Mom?" The kid asked.

There was no reply

Seconds later, tears started to well in his eyes.

"Mom?" The kid asked, with a broken voice.

The kid leapt down onto his mother's corpse and shrugged at it with all the little strength he possessed. He wailed and wailed, while ferociously shaking the woman. Each time he would shake her with the deep desire for her to awake, it wouldn't happen.

After shaking her body, it would move but then remain frighteningly still after.

"MOM!!!"

****

*GASP*

A teenaged boy with dark, large eyebags exploded up in his bed. With unkempt, scruffy black hair and a face covered in drips of sweat, he lifted to then sit on the side of his bed.

He shook his head before approaching his desk in the dimly lit room. The morning sun had risen but its pure, white light could only beam through the gaps around his window's blind.

He gave a quick glance to the door of his room behind him before slowly slipping open one of his desk's compartments. Behind a collection of books and notebooks, he reached for a bottle of vodka and another small box adjacent to it.

*pop*

Opening the bottle, a thin stream of visible cool air flowed out the top, and he reached for a small shot glass to pour out the transparent liquid.

Gulp!

Gulp!

After two shots, he opened the wooden box to roll a blunt of cannabis.

*click*

*click*

Whoosh!

With the tapping of a lighter, the end of the blunt ignited, and he took a long and slow inhale. Slowly breathing out the inhaled air, he felt a sudden feeling of calmness come across himself.

After both of his parents had been killed through unknown causes, dreams of their deaths haunted his mind like a vengeful revenant.

He simply took more puffs of his blunt, before lifting up from the spinning chair next to his desk. It had several holes in it and looked horribly discoloured.

"Death due to natural causes my ass." He whispered, before placing his alcohol and weed back in its hidden place.

He gave his head a quick shake and just laughed to himself after contemplating the entire situation he was in now.

He just left his room and was greeted by the voice of his drunken uncle.

"Hello no-life! Are you gonna do anything of substance today, Lycanos? Probably not!" He said, with a hostile tone.

"You sound like you've done substance." Lycanos fired back, without even glancing in his direction.

The man's eyes were glued to a box-like TV, and he had a dirty white vest on that had been pulled up to show off his gargantuan belly.

At a table in the centre of the living room, a kinder looking middle-aged woman dragged chairs to then place down plates of mouth-watering food.

"Sit down, honey. Don't mind your uncle." She insisted, with a comforting smile.

Her smile was contagious and Lycanos couldn't help but smile back, even with the sorrow from the death of his parents. It had happened merely years ago, and the razor-sharp dagger of his trauma still viciously pierced his heart.

Swiftly chowing down on the ration-like portions of bread and eggs on display, he quickly got himself ready and rushed off to school.

Leaving his apartment, he entered the streets and was surrounded by graffiti-covered buildings and the streets looked dirty and dilapidated.

Potholes were always in view, but Lycanos had learned to block out the discomforting scenery over time.

*rumble*

On his way, a kid that was about 2 inches shorter than himself started walking at his level.

"Morning, mate! Oh god, you've been on the weed again, haven't you?" He asked, examining his eyes.

"It's nothing, I'm just tired. Do you not see the bags under my eyes." Lycanos replied, trying to downplay the situation.

His name was Enzo, and he had a skinhead of brown hair. He stood at around 5'7, with a lean but somewhat athletic physique. On the other hand, Lycanos looked hollow and emaciated.

The buildings around them slowly looked more and more modern and well-maintained. Soon enough, they had arrived near the centre of Jonio City, where they lived. The city was somewhat large, with a population of around 1 million, and looked far more advanced in its central area.

Both students lived in the poorest area in the entire city, Kol Heights, that was known to be crime-infested and rundown.

They arrived at the mammoth entrance gates to their school with the words 'Eastwood High' labelled across them in bold, and their monotonous, routine school day began.

Lycanos remained totally zoned out of the lessons he attended and had no intention of absorbing the information being given to him. He would spend more time playing with his pen or doodling.

In the afternoon, Lycanos stood on the side of a football pitch as numerous students and parents were crowded around its edge.

On the pitch, was Enzo with their school's B-team. He had the number 11 across his back and received the ball to then explode down the right-wing. He wasn't extremely fast but was faster than a lot of the defenders attempting to contain him.

Passing out to a man in the centre, he rushed in the box to receive the ball shortly after. With a quick tap past the goalkeeper who had readied himself for his strike, the ball soared past him.

Fwoosh!

The goal net shook as the ball impacted it, and Enzo sprinted off to the corner of the pitch to celebrate.

Several teammates crowded around him, and Lycanos clapped his friend on with a cheer.

After the game, Enzo wiped down himself with a towel after the game and couldn't stop smiling after receiving praise from his manager for getting his goal.

Shortly after, he met up with Lycanos, as students were heading home with their parents.

"You did amazing out there, bro!" Lycanos said, as they walked on.

"Thanks, man. Why don't you get into football, you'd be pretty decent!" Enzo asked.

"Nah, I'm not arsed." Lycanos replied, making his friend burst out in laughter.

"Yeah, of course you aren't."

Enzo ended up heading home on his own, and Lycanos was in a meeting with a teacher at his school.

"Enzo, you must try harder here. Your grades are slipping and I am terribly sorry for your losses. Having no parents must be something terrible to live through but you must make life happier for yourself. Get a hobby, play a sport, do something!" The woman opposite him urged.

She had blonde hair and looked to be in her early fifties and had a face of true concern as she looked at Lycanos.

"I understand. I'll try." Lycanos dullishly stated.

After going to meetings like this so routinely, he found it easy to not take in anything they'd say.

"Fine. We'll go at your pace. Thanks for your time, Lycanos." The woman said, before giving a sigh of stress.

He had clearly been making no progress and his councillors felt like they were hitting at a brick wall when it came to advising him.

He returned home before the sun had completely set and had quite a pace to his walk. He wasn't willing to remain out in the streets of Kol Heights in the darkness. Only god knew the atrocities that took place at that time, and Lycanos wasn't willing to be at the centre of any of it.

Entering his uncle's apartment with his own key, he felt suspicious about the sudden silence that met him.

His uncle, Samson, remained on the same couch he was at in the morning, half-asleep with a can of beer that had already been spilt in his hand.

Not paying him attention, he was about to enter his room that was adjacent to his apartment's kitchen only to see his auntie hidden away, quickly wiping tears.

"Hey there, Lycanos." She said, with a slightly broken voice from sadness.

Lycanos could see red bruises across her face, and widened his eyes in reaction. He remained totally still as he inspected her appearance, then raced back to his uncle.

"What did you do, you maniac?!" He roared, making his uncle laugh.

"What are you going to do, you scrawny kid. Look at me now, after having to pay for the roof that's over your head, for the food that you eat, the clothes you wear!" He roared, hurling the half-full beer can at his TV.

As it hit the TV, Lycanos' auntie shook upon hearing it from the kitchen.

"Don't blame me for the life you live! You call me a no-life but you're just the same! At least as I have the excuse of being a child, you're a grown ass man!" Lycanos barked back.

The two quarrelled for a long time, and his auntie couldn't help but break down into tears. Lycanos eventually rushed past his auntie and slammed the door to his room shut.

Grunting in anger, he whipped out his bottle of vodka and began swiftly pouring and gulping shots.

"Idiot. Stupid idiot!" He whispered, before violently drinking yet another shot.

His eyes became red again as he puffed another blunt, with his head in his free hand. Staring into nothing ahead of him, he shot up and just wore a thick black hoodie before entering the dark streets.

His uncle had fallen deep asleep and didn't awake from his exit.