Zelen's eyes snapped open, and he gasped. It was dark, and cold, and he was lying on something hard. He'd been unconscious on the ground. A gunshot. That was all he could remember, for now. The moon was full, and bright, and he could see his breath disappear into the cold air. It was early autumn, and the cold nights were drawing in. It had been raining for the past week, and the moon was the only light in the otherwise dark sky.
The sound of a car door crashing and a voice yelling his name had jolted him awake. His head pounded, and his vision was blurry for a few seconds as he tried to adjust. He sat up quickly, shivering a little as the night air bit into his skin. He looked down at his clothes, all dirty and smudged with mud, soon he realised it wasn't mud, it was dried blood.
A memory flashed before his eyes; Maya held a gun. A frown crossed his face as he thought about what had happened, and why he was covered in blood. It was everywhere. His own, and his brother's. The sight of his brother's blood made him sick, and his own blood made him want to retch.
He was covered in his own and his brother's blood, and there was nothing he could do about it. His hands and face were streaked with blood. There wasn't anything left for him here, not after everything that had happened. Tears streamed silently from his eyes, staining his shirt and jeans even though he tried not to make a mess of himself. He wiped his face with his sleeve and looked at his distorted reflection in the puddle he was kneeling in. He looked like a wreck, and he felt like a wreck. There wasn't much left inside him to feel anything, but pain, and that sickening feeling you get when your guts are being pulled out through your mouth. It was over. It was finished. The past was the past, and he had to move on, but he couldn't. Not after seeing him, lifeless before his own eyes.
Who would've thought that his own twin brother, the one who ruined his life, framed him for murder, and neglected him, would take a bullet for him. Who would've thought?
Zelen slowly reached out a hand, to feel the soft touch of his brother's skin.
"Zaine, please, wake up," he struggled through sobs, "please tell me this isn't real."
He tried to stop the blood from leaving the body. The rain was still pouring. It was still early autumn, but the cold was drawing in. It was going to be winter soon, 13 years ago, he would've been huddling under blankets, drinking hot cocoa, and watching cartoons with the same lifeless person in front of him. Not now, now he was crying in the cold, with his tears mixing with the rain.
"Boss..." his subordinate spoke, placing a hard hand on Zelen's shoulder, "he's dead."
Zelen refused to accept it.
"NO!" he screamed, "he's not dead, he's not..."
YOU ARE READING
Case X
Mystery / Thriller"I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend" - Frankenstein's monster. This is the story of world's most feared mafia leader, Zelen. and how society is afraid of the monster's they create.
