Of Thousand Lives

Chapter 5: Progress

  Here I am again, waking up from a good sleep. Yesterday was.. wild, for me. I wonder what will happen today.. But first, I gotta go outside. "Hey, Anom.", Natalia calls for me as I step outside of my room, she's standing at the stairs that leads to the main lobby. "Yeah?", I respond, turning to her, waiting patiently for a response. "About last night.. I want to apologize for passing out. You were probably very worried about me, I didn't want to stress you out.", she bows down very quickly and apologizes promptly. I pat her shoulders and raise her up to an upright standing position quickly, "It's okay. No need to feel sorry.. And why is the church so quiet today?". She hums for a bit, tapping her fingers against each other, "Well, today is a day where churches don't have to open. Weekly occurrence... I- If you want, we can go out. Only if you want to, though, n- no pushing.", she faces downwards slightly, using the hood to make the shadow cover up her face. I nod, indicating my agreement to her invitation. "Really..? Let's go out, then. Please allow me to change into my informal clothing. I will be right back. You can wait for me at the entrance of the church.", the girl looks up again with her face immediately being brightened up then she swiftly goes into her room to change. As for me, I go outside of the church, standing at the front door. To think of it, I've never seen her in her everyday clothing before. Most of the time, I get to see her in that nun outfit. Then, she steps out. On her are a buttoned up white shirt with sleeves, a long grey skirt, black stockings and a standard pair of sneakers. She pushes up her glasses and places her hands in front of her, overlapping with one another. "I'm sorry, if I took too long.", the girl nods gently. I give her a thumbs-up. She looks wonderful.. "I know a library not too far away from here. I like to go there to borrow some books and go read them at a nearby cafe in my free time.", she adds in whilst we set off to where the library is located. She's surprisingly like Raven, both like to read books, nerdy, but kinda my type. Now that I mention it.. Everyone here is strangely good-looking. Does this have anything to do with otherworldly genes? I must be unlucky to be born in a world with a ton of ugly people.

Everything is going pretty well. Though, the alleys above seem to be quite ominous.. Natalia seems to be speeding up, maybe she feels that something bad might happen. I start walking faster as well. Before we make it out of the sketchy part of the streets, we are greeted by a bunch of buff men. "Lost, kitten? Even brought a friend with you.. Looks wimpy, probably can't even throw a punch.", the one at the front initiates a talk, getting close to Natalia, and scoffs when he sees me. The girl tries to sidestep, avoiding eye contact with him, whilst I look around us.. They have us surrounded at every corner. "In a hurry? Forget about it, come have some fun with us instead..", he places his filthy hand on one of her shoulders. "Don't touch her, jackass.", I immediately step up and slap his hand away, showing the thug his limits. "Relax, toothpick. At least I ain't gonna do shit to you.", he raises his hands up slightly, then smiles suspiciously. Before I even know it, one of his crooks attacks me on the back of my head. Thwomp. The sound of my body hitting the floor is the only thing I can hear in the midst of a deafening ring that's happening in my ears. My vision goes blurry and I can't even stand up. It's like I lost all of my strength. "No! Anom!", Natalia's voice is the next thing I can hear. She kneels down and shakes me back and forth violently to try and wake me up again. "Leave that piece of shit alone, ain't worth our time.", the thug speaks up again, this time dragging the girl away..

I can hear her struggling to break free. I open my eyes to see a vivid image of her reaching out for me. She's crying.. Why am I so powerless? Just like all the other times. I'm so useless.. Why me? But.. I've gone this far anyways, haven't I? I can't give up, yet. With my resolve, my will to conquer myself unwavering, I can feel a strange surge of adrenaline pouring into my veins, an overwhelming power washes over me. And with the little strength I have left, I get up. My eyes pry themselves wide open and I look at the thug. He notices my gaze and now leaves Natalia to his men, "Still conscious? Not bad, dipshit. I'll run your shit myself.", he cracks his knuckles and raises his fist up. "No! Stop!", the girl tries to intervene but it is too late. I show my defiance, by keeping my head as still as it can be and not breaking the line of sight. Yet right before the fist can land on my face, it gets twisted around, his wrist bones popping off of its place in a gruesome way. The thug is absolutely devastated by this and screams in pain for his, now unusable, hand. His men seems to be shocked by this as well. The man runs off and so do his men, leaving behind Natalia, who is now running over to me. The pain now returns to my body like a shockwave, knocking me down again. I collapse and my eyes slowly lose their strength to keep themselves open. Everything fades to black.