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"Do you blame yourself?"
"What?"
-~-~-
With a hand on his throat, he can feel his blood pumping through his body. A steady heart-beat, a smile on his face. With no one around, he could dance through the alley, his feet moving with his heart.
"HEY!" A man called from the end of the alleyway. "W-who are you?!". Anyone could see the man was terrified if one were to judge by the shaking legs, the shaky voice. The boy just pulled his hood further over his head, carefully stalked towards the man. The man, frozen in fear, just watched as the boy came closer and closer, watched as those little droplets of blood spilled from the boy's hands, as the boy's feet splashed in puddles of the liquid.
"Who... am... I?" The boy drawled, mockingly.
Screams filled the air, the man didn't even fight. The boy laughed, his laughter the only sound in the slick silence. Blood ran into the streets, filled the gutters. In a daze, the boy fell to his knees, running his hands through the thick, red liquid. Sirens broke his twisted serendipity and the boy darted to his feet.
The police came only minutes later. They ran into the alleyway, guns at the ready. All they would find in that alleyway is the body of a middle-aged man, barely identifiable as a human being. Blood, so much blood smeared all over the ground, and another corpse lying in the dumpster, more of that cursed liquid dripping from the base. The man's wife would then have a heart attack, the shock from seeing her husband's grotesque body too much for her to handle. Three dead, one night, no culprit.
-~-~-
"Liu Yangyang, you have one minute to get out of bed or so help you!" Yangyang's mum shouts from his doorway.
"I'm up! I'm up..." Yangyang rubs his eyes and throws his blankets off. The cold bites at his skin and he groans as he forces himself up. With a yawn, Yangyang decides to get dressed before having breakfast, if only to stop the cold chill of the morning. With an outfit of a simple hoodie and jeans, Yangyang debates whether he has to brush his hair or not to be presentable. He eventually decides that he looks fine, and heads downstairs. His mum tsks at him.
"About time, maybe instead of staying up so late playing games, you should put some time into studying, or at least get a normal sleep schedule."
"School hasn't even started yet, what would I be studying?" Yangyang mumbles as he pours himself a bowl of cereal. He flinches as his mum gives him a light slap on the back of the head.
"Listen to you, my god. Do you really expect college to be as easy as high school? You're in for a big surprise, boy." Yangyang grumbles a response as he scrolls through his phone. His mum sighs at him before gathering her stuff and heading for the door. "Don't miss the bus!" She yells before walking out the door.
"Have a good day!" Yangyang yells back absent-mindedly. He reads through a text Xiaojun sent in the group chat.
Xiaojun: Are we all excited for college?!
Ten: Why would we, it's school
Kun: It's not that bad lol. I'm excited to see you guys again
Lucas: I won't be there today! Sorry guys aha
Ten: Wth Lucas. why
Yangyang: I'm not even surprised lmao
Lucas: We only just got back yesterday, mum said to have the day off. I'll be there tomorrow
Hendery: K, whatever. cya guys there
Yangyang checked the clock. Shit, he's late. He quickly runs upstairs to put some shoes on and grabs his schoolbag, thanking the gods that he packed it last night rather than leaving it. Adrenaline pumping through him, Yangyang sprints for the front door, just in time to see the bus pull up. Relief floods through him as he climbs on the bus.
"Yangyang, up here!" Hendery calls out to him from the end of the bus. Yangyang stumbles past the rows and drops heavily into the seat next to Hendery. "You can't be tired already," Hendery laughs as Yangyang slumps down.
"I am, I have no idea why though," Yangyang sighs and then panics as he realises, for goodness sakes, that he forgot to brush his teeth. "Do you have a mint?"
"Nah," Hendery ran a hand through his long black hair, "Ask someone for one."
"No! W-what, how could you just ask a random for a mint?" Yangyang glares at his charismatic friend.
"Like this," Hendery says with a smirk. He reaches forward and gently taps the shoulder of a young girl sitting in front of them. She turns around with a slight annoyance, which gradually fades as she takes in Hendery's face.
"Can I help you?" The girl is ridiculously pretty, with soft features and long brown hair.
"Do you have a mint? My friend wants one," the girl turns her focus onto Yangyang as Hendery gestures towards him.
"Uh... I might. Lemme check." She grabs her bag and rifles through the pockets. Yangyang can't help the blush that burns his cheeks, damn Hendery. She eventually finds one and throws a tic-tac container to Yangyang. "Keep them, I have two."
"Ah... thank you," Yangyang mumbles, slightly embarrassed. The girl smiles at them before turning back to the front. Yangyang hits Hendery on the arm.
"Ow! What the hell? I helped you."
"You prick."
"You know she goes to our school?"
"Does she?" Yangyang grumbles. Hendery laughs at him and they arrive at their college.
The first half of the day goes quick, just usual orientation first-year stuff. Yangyang is happy to learn that he has Xiaojun in his homeroom, though. At break time, the six of them find each other in the cafeteria.
"Hey guys," Ten sits down last. They all greet him with a short hey.
"Did you guys hear about the murders that happened last night?" Kun leans back in his chair, face grim. "Some guy killed another guy and girl. Then the guy's wife found out and died from a heart attack."
"Oh shit, where?" Yangyang leaned forward to listen better.
"And which guy's wife was it? The one that killed someone or the one that got killed?" Winwin asks.
Kun glares at him. "The one that got killed. And it happened in the main city, in some alleyway. You know that huge shopping mall and the apartment block across from it? In there."
"Damn, that's pretty close," Ten frowns, "Why weren't we told about it? You'd think the school would warn us or something."
"Maybe they don't want to make us panicked. Maybe they're not allowed, who knows," Xiaojun shrugs.
"Just be careful, they haven't found the suspect. Apparently, the bodies were in a real bad shape," Kun sighs.
"There are heaps of pretty dangerous guys down in the city, they usually stay in the slums though," Hendery adds.
"I'm sure they'll catch him soon," Yangyang pushes on, "How were you guy's classes?" They all launched into a different conversation, all having exciting things to share already. As they all talked, Yangyang couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, like someone was staring right into his soul, their eyes like a brand. His blood runs cold as he looks around the room but finds no one staring at him in particular.
