Sinners - The Puppet (currently being re-written)

Chapter 2 - Daily life, the peculiarity

A red-hooded youth regarded his surroundings with watchful eyes. He had been walking the streets of Lumia for four hours now, observing each and every pedestrian that passed him by. His feet were sore and his legs threatened to give in. He somehow regretted not eating or drinking water before he left home but nonetheless, he pressed on in search of his target.

He had been a little careless back at the crossings. Now as a result, he was left on a blind search for over half an hour with sore feet and aching legs. He scowled at the sky above and made a careful note to himself.

In thirty minutes he was done. He was so done. And he was going to ignore everything else. He was tired, he was hungry, he was thirsty--he could complain at just about everything. Yet he still chose to keep quiet. He was determined to stay. At all costs, he must find that man.

Tugging at the hood that covered his face, the youth continued to search. One look at him would tell a passerby that he was nothing more than an needy teenager who carelessly wasted away his time. But no one bothered to think such thoughts for said youth did not at all bother think about them either. He was far too occupied with the situation at hand to worry about what others felt towards him.

Not that he'd think about what they feel on any ordinary day either.

Still, it truly annoyed him that the streets were busy at that time of the day. It was almost as if the world was just that resolved to stand in his way...although he wasn't exactly that arrogant to claim that the world centered around himself, thereby making him some sort of VIP. In fact he could settle for any background character on a movie set, the type whose face will instantly be forgotten the moment the camera shifts to another scene.

As the unproud youth scanned the area, his eyes caught sight of one particular figure at the opposite street. There it was, that same office worker--the target. True to what he remembered, the man remained slouched and wrapped in that darkness he found himself in.

The youth rushed to cross the street and was startled to a stop as a loud honk echoed. The stoplights were red, cars were moving fast. If he wanted to die today, he would have jumped straight into the traffic--though he knew that the possibility of surviving the crash would still exist and that would only leave him a permanent scar and suffering instead of an instant, painless death. But he still had things to do. Dying would have to come after that.

He eyed the office worker's every move, shuffling in his feet and way too antsy to chase after the man, and saw him as he entered a narrow street between two buildings. The lights turned green right on time. The youth then sprinted through the pedestrian lane, heading straight into the alley without thinking twice of who he would bump into.

Upon entering the dark and narrow path, he found the man take a sharp turn to the right that lead to an even darker passage. He clicked his tongue as he noticed the darkness grow further in size. That man was heading for the doors to the afterworld. And he didn't have the time to be picky.

Despite how much his feet screamed in pain, he ran. He wasn't going to make it in time. He needed to get rid of it before everything was lost. He reached inside the pocket of his hoodie just as the man continued down the narrow path--headed for an abandoned and old-looking building--and brandished a simple pocket knife. 

Simple, yes, yet fatal all the same.

He took a deep breath, then with a certain glint to his red irises, rushed at the man and plunged the knife between his shoulder blades. The fatal attack was witnessed by no one, save for a raven hanging from a clothesline overhead--its black eyes staring into the youth as if it was watching him move ever further down the certain path of doom.