CHAPTER I: SINISTER

I WOKE UP FEELING NOTHING BUT PAIN CREEPING IN WITH EVERY SINGLE BONE IN MY BODY. Pain is not new to me. I've been dealing with it my entire life. But the pain I felt was not the thing that's inside my brain. It's more real, more pressing.

My eyes were so blurry and my head was spinning like crazy. For a while I could not apprehend where I was or why my body was excruciatingly painful. I was cussing hard in my head, hoping the words could drive the tingling pain away. And I laid on the bed wishing I was dead so the torture would stop but knew I was alive, very alive.

I could have stayed on my bed forever, wrapped in the comforts of my blanket, feeling like what Wick would have felt in his movies but Sonia would not stop ringing, it's a robot I used to monitor my house. And the noise it was making was starting to annoy me.

"Damn." I slowly went out of bed, careful not to add any more pain to what I was already trying so hard to bear. I slipped in a loose shirt to hide the wound on my lower stomach. Then I went out of my room in the basement. It's not where normal people would put their room but this is where I felt the safest to stay. I turned the light off for a while then went to the other room where monitors connected to the CCTV's outside where placed. I only realized that the sun was setting when I saw it on the monitor. I've been asleep for two straight days. "It must have been the morphine."

I was quietly taken aback when I saw a couple of policemen outside my house. This has never happened before. I had always been careful not to do anything that would involve policemen and their questions.

I had no time left to think things over so I went straight to the door. I left the door half opened, half closed leaving me with enough space to see them.

"How can I help you, Sir?"

"Can we come in?"

"Why?" I felt every cell in my body becoming alert and agile. The back of my mind kept whispering that I am not exactly in a very safe position right now.

"Are your parents inside?"

My parents? Funny. I haven't seen them for almost 11 years now.

"They're not here but they'll be back before dinner." I had to lie. Most people find it so unusual that a minor like me would live alone and I don't want to add any more trouble to what I have now.

"Can we come in?"

"If you could tell me why."

I saw some frustrations in the eyes of the policeman talking with me. They were probably thinking that I could easily be swayed away of their cap and uniform, then realized that I won't be. "Kid, just let us in."

"You have no-wait!" I could not do anything about it because one of the policemen grabbed my hands, put it behind me and pinned me down on the floor while the other one went into my stuff in the living room. He was trying to find something I don't know. It must have been very important.

He went over the things on my table, in the drawer, everywhere. "Hey, you're not policemen, are you?"

"You're so quick on figuring things out, kid. But you should probably try to shut your mouth now." I would have done something to the man holding me down but he is incredibly strong and my wound was starting to bleed again and the pain was starting to feel a little bit unbearable.

"Did you find it?"

"No." There was panic in their voices. I could sense nothing was going according to their plan.

"Move faster! You have to find it!"

"It's not here!"

He looked around for my room. "Where's your room?"

I just shook my head. He looked around, probably figuring out where my room was. While his eyes were busy looking for my room, I was busy looking at the most important thing on the living room, my

phonograph. "Where are your-?" He noticed I was looking intensely at the phonograph. Then walked straight back to me.

"I forgot where-"

"Where are the fucking keys?!"

"No."

He took a gun out of his jacket and pointed it straight to my head. "Where are the keys? Tell me or I'll plant a bullet straight to your stupid brain."

"I'm not stupid."

"Fine. I'll shoot this then." My eyes widened when he pointed his gun to my phonograph. It was one of my priced possession, the only reminder that my parents used to live in this house too. It was my parents' favourite thing. To hell with this man.

"One, two-"

"It's over there, inside that drawer." He went to the drawer where I was looking at then opened all the rooms he could and started searching again. Not finding whatever it was that this man was trying to find, he went over me and wrapped his hands on my neck. I felt his fingers pressing on my skin.

"Where did you put it?"

I felt the air leaving my body. It would be impossible to get away with this now. Just when I was about to give out what would have been my last breath, he let go of me and raised my head. I grasped for some air, feeling lucky that I could breathe again. Damn, I feel so weak.

"I- I don't know what you're trying to- uuuhrggh!" He punched me so hard I thought I was going to lose my teeth.

"Where is it?!"

"I don't know what you're trying to find. I don't even know you! Dammit!''

He looked at me straight in my eyes, trying to figure out if I was just lying. "He doesn't know."

They finally let me go. "He's going to kill us."

Who is going to kill them?

"We have to leave, now." They left me lying on the floor.

"Hey, who are you?"

"There's no need for introductions." Then they just left.

I stood up and locked the door. Whoever those people were, they were not here for good reasons. I went to the kitchen and cleaned my face, and my wound. I took off my shirt and threw it in the trash bin. I find myself something to eat. If I was in a more decent situation, I would have cooked a nice dinner for myself but I had no other choice than to eat a piece of cake I found in my refrigerator and a cup of yogurt. Not exactly the best combination but it's all I have.

"Would you like me to order you a food, Master?" Sonia asked quickly.

"No, don't bother. Have you recorded their faces?"

"I did. I tried running their faces on the search engine but nothing was appearing. No record. No print."

"Try again." I finished eating and throw the cup. I made sure that all locks were secured. I cleaned all the mess those two men made and put everything back to its proper place then went back to my room. I would sleep the pain out, hoping to feel better when I wake up. I was about to go to sleep when something crossed my mind. Those men were looking for something, something very important. Then it dawned to me. It must be that thing.

It was past midnight and I was on my way to the train station going home with a can of soda on my hand. The football game played by two of the best teams in the world just finished and I was one of the many people who watched the match. No, I was never one among any crowd. I was just out there alone, to watch the match. Football was one of the few things that interests me, along with Marvel Movies, Moby Dick, and Twenty-One Pilot's music. I was walking silently as I always do when I heard some noise on the corner of the street. I stopped for quite some time to see what was going on. Some men were trying to beat up someone. I stood there, hands on my pocket and watched them beat the man to death. I don't care. Things like that happen every day, to anyone. The fittest get to survive, the weakest get to say goodbye. To me, life was just like that. You fight, you live. You let them beat you down, you die. Plain and simple. I was about to continue walking when I heard someone call my name.

"Sin…"

I looked around. Nobody was there except me and those people on the street corner.

"Sin…" It was him. He wasn't just calling my name. He sounded like he was actually pleading for me to come and help him. It's the man getting beat up. How did he know me? I'm sure I don't know him. I could have just leave him there but something was telling me to go over him. I went for him and helped him out. I was surprised when I saw the kind of beings beating the man up. They were wearing masks with a symbol unfamiliar to me. I would have tried to figure out what they were but I had to save the man first. I knew how to fight, that's basically what I do every night. I gave one of them a kick but got surprised when he didn't even move a bit. Uuurgh. They're incredibly stronger than I thought. I got pinned down but managed to stand. I grabbed his head then used my forearms to make him lose all the air in his body. Then I run towards the other one who was mercilessly kicking the beaten man who was almost crawling on the ground. Tch. What a weakling. I grabbed his shoulder which forced him to stop kicking. He looked at me with blank expression. I gave him one big punch in his stomach but didn't even budge. Then he smiled like a crazy dog.

"You."

"You? I have a name, you dimwit!" Then I gave him a kick on his face, there was blood on his nose but he didn't look hurt. Then he moved too swiftly I didn't even saw him move behind me. Then he grabbed my shoulders and pinned me to the wall. I tried so hard to get away from him but his way too strong. I was struggling so hard when I saw him pull a shiny thing from his jacket. I felt cold, suddenly. This isn't good. Unfortunately, he stabbed me with his knife on my lower stomach. I froze for a moment. He let go of me then I fell down. The pain was excruciating but I had to get up. Nobody hurts me like this. I grabbed his hands when he wasn't looking and twisted it, making him kneel on the ground. Then with all the strength I could muster, I twisted his head. When I saw the last man fell on the ground, I went to the man who called my name. I could not help him up because I was having a hard time getting up myself. The pain was starting to feel more real, making me weaker. I sat beside him.

"Who are you? How did you know me?"

"That should be the least of your concerns now."

"I helped you out because you called. Do you think I got myself stabbed for nothing?"

He laughed. "I was right about you, then."

"Who the hell are you?"

He was about to answer when more of those men appeared out of nowhere. I started to feel more concern because the wound on my lower stomach is starting to bleed heavily. And I barely have enough strength left to fight.

"Damn."

"You have to go."

"What?!"

"You have to leave now!"

"What about you?"

"Get up."

He grabbed my shirt and pulled me up. I did not know how we made it to the train station. The next thing I know, we were there.

"Keep this." He pulled a pen from his jacket and handed it to me.

"What the-!" He was in a situation where he could possibly die and all he did was give me a pen? Did I just save a worthless loser?

"Keep Pen and don't ever lose her." I gave the pen one serious look. I could not understand why he was talking about this pen like as if it could breathe. It was a thing, it's just a goddamn pen! Why would he sacrifice his life for this?

He fell on the ground just when the train stopped to load some people. I was about to lift him up to bring him in the train when he stopped me. "Just go! Help will come. Just save her."

"Save who?"

"Go! Keep her safe, Sin."

He gave out all the strength he had left and pushed me inside the train. I wanted to stay and help but then the train started moving. I was supposed to go home with a mind full of thoughts about the football match. That night, I went home with a pen and hundreds of questions in my mind.

I immediately jumped out of bed after realizing what happened to me the night I got stabbed. But the thing was I forgot where I put the pen. I was so out of my head that night. I could not think straight because of the pain. "Where the hell did I hide it?"