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Corridors filled with emptiness surrounded me, yet my eyes were focused on one direction. Alyssa, a girl with flowing brown hair stood inside one of the many rooms. My head felt hot, and I used the lockers to regain my balance as I walked towards the class she was in. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. "Heyyyy Daniel. You okay? You look a little sick." Alyssa notes. "It's nothing. Just had a rough day, and the flu." I replied. "Ooh, should've stayed home then. Those 8th graders are brutal. They never care if their precious teacher is sick or not." "You would know, wouldn't you?" A smile appeared on my face, and it was the first in a day. As the conversation went on, my head went somewhere else. This always happened after school, I'd talk to her and complain about my experiences as a teacher that day, and she'd do the same. 30 minutes later, both of us were chit chatting as we walked through the exit, and we were going to go our separate ways. Yet as I eyed her turn the corner, I got a strong urge to follow her. My feet followed, but guilt had already filled me. This is horrible. 20 minutes of hiding behind corners to make sure I don't get caught doing this, and I saw her arrive at her house. As she entered, I stepped forward, only to stop myself. I CANNOT be doing this. I'm not that kind of person. I turned the other way and left, but as I did, I could not help but write down her address. Another tough night was waiting for me as I tried my best to find time to write for my dream Journalism career, yet for every word I wrote I could only think of somewhere else. The frustrations of teaching my class and a way to solve that, my mind urged me to go to the address I had written down earlier. To make sure I wouldn't, I took sleeping pills and closed my eyes. Morning had arrived. The light blinded me as I opened the curtains, yet I need my energy. It was another routine day in the life of a teacher. Many treacherous hours later, there I was, back at that spot. Her eyes shone like stars as the sun was going down, yet again I had to say farewell way too soon. I felt like following her again, like seeing how she lives. Yet I refused. I could not do that. Another day, another attempt at writing. Something else happened though, an email arrived to me and it was about... the job I wanted. My body shook with expectations, this could be it. Yet when I opened that message, my body stopped moving. My eyes teared up. I sent the email to the trash, alongside all my other rejections. Standing up, I wore my jacket and left the house. My feet walked on their own, I did not command them anymore. It was not even an exaggeration at this point, I felt like a powerless muppet. The world wanted me to fail, to forever be a teacher that hated his job. I could do nothing about it. Seeing the roads in front of me, I paused. This was... Alyssa's Road. Why am I here? I was walking aimlessly, with no direction in mind. Yet I ended up here. She was right there, leaving to the car, holding a baby in her hands. A muscular man followed her, his brown hair matched hers, and he wore a red shirt with blue jeans. Alyssa put the baby in the car, and turned to kiss the man. I punched the wall so hard my knuckles bled, and then turned around and ran. I found myself in a library, the only place where I felt safe in these kind of nights. Books towered above each other on my table, and I read and read. Most sentences stopped meaning anything, but some words made an impact. The following day in school was the last of the week, and I was grateful for that. Students laughed while I stood, explaining the lesson almost robotically. The main characters in the books always survived these tough situations and made it out better. Yet those who were not protagonists always seemed to take the wrong step. Everything would happen in a way that makes them the villain, or broken, or dead. It was always that they didn't have what it takes to step up like the hero does, but maybe they didn't have a choice. Anyhow, the bell rang and school was over for a week. I walked back to my favorite moment of the day, yet today it was dry. "You need to see a doctor Daniel! Come on. You look horrible." Alyssa pointed out for the fifth time this week. "I know. I know. It's just that... I need to finish this Journalism project first. It's my dream job" "Oh... what's the problem?" "I need ideas to finish my current work, something artistic." "Perfect! I'm an artist. I'll help. Tonight, maybe?" "Oh. Yeah. That would be great." Daniel grinned before continuing. "Uh... I have a question, do you have a family?" "What? I'd never mentioned that? My bad. Yeah, I'm married and have a baby." Daniel's teeth clenched together, but he maintained his smile. "That's great. What's the baby's name?" "Alex." "He must be the cutest thing. Say; how about you bring him over tonight? I would like to meet him." "For sure." And now they separated ways, and for the first time, Daniel had something to look forward to. He descended upon the library once more, to read books like he did a day prior. It gave him relief last time, and maybe it will again. As he read more of the books though, he noticed the trend from earlier happening more. The characters who were destined to be great made all the right decisions, or their bad decisions were overturned by someone else. Those others made decisions that didn't make sense, and life only got in their way with more obstacles than the hero could ever process. Hours passed, and when I caught the time again, it was 7. The chair fell as I panicked, I needed to get home before Alyssa arrived, and I hadn't even prepared anything. I drove as fast as I could towards my house, yet on a turn I stopped. The cars behind me made their annoyance clear with a rally of honks. Yet when I moved my arms again, they went in the wrong direction. What am I doing? I needed to get home. But as I moved forward, it became clear It wasn't my home I was going to. It was Alyssa's. I parked near it, and eyed the house. The lights were on, her husband was home. What was the point of this? I needed to get Alyssa before she thinks I forgot about our meeting. My phone rang in my pocket, and I looked at it. It was Alyssa calling. I wanted to answer, but my hand threw the phone outside the window instead. The decisions were being made automatically, as if my consciousness didn't matter. I left the car and walked towards the house, ringing the bell. "Hello?" The muscular man I saw a few days before appeared. "Hey...um, I know this might seem insane, but I need to call the police. I saw...something happen." "What??? Are you okay?? Here." He handed me his phone. "Please. He might be around here, I ran as fast as I can..." "Crap. Get in, then." I walked through their house, not too expensive but pretty enough. I sat in the kitchen, making a phone call to the police. "Yes, I saw a murder a few streets from where I'm calling from. I didn't see a face and I ran as fast as I can. Okay thank you." I dropped the phone. "Hey.. sorry you had to go through that. I'm Tony." "Nice to meet you, I'm.. Daniel." "I'll get you some tea, alright?" Tony walked to make some tea. He didn't even know my name, Alyssa really never spoke about me. Why was I here now instead of being with her now? I didn't matter to her anyways, not enough for her to mention me even once to her family. It was all because of Tony. All his fault. I should leave, but when I got up, my body willed me to go somewhere else. My hand found a knife from the kitchen's items, and my mind urged me to stab it into Tony. I took a few steps towards Tony, who had his back to me as he made tea. Stopping myself, I took a deep breath. I am not a murderer. Tony turned around, and widened his eyes as he saw the knife in my hand. He rushed to tackle me knocking me to the floor. It was by pure instinct, that I swear. The knife found its way to his back, and I stabbed him. Not once, but twice. Three times, more. I lost count. As the body above me lay helpless, I pushed it aside to realize what I just did. No. That can't have happened. There's no way on earth I just killed a man because... he was married to the girl I liked? That's ridiculous. I'm not a psychopath. The characters from the books returned to his mind for a reason. They too had done things that moved the story forward even if it didn't make sense for them. They too had life go against them in every way. Yet when the door opened once more, none of that mattered. Alyssa stood at the door, and she collapsed when she saw the scene. "What... happened? Daniel? Is that you? Tony? Tony!" She sat alex on the ground, and rushed to Tony. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" She glared at Daniel. I stared at the blood on my hands. My eyes glanced down at the dead body. "I didn't kill him, I swear"
