The Black, volume 2.

I can see everything from the roof of my apartment building. A maze of streets and alleyways extending past the horizon. It's freezing out, the rain chills me to my bones. I welcome the cold, It's the only thing that grounds me to reality. The cold night air only reminds me of Madison, the way her hands felt as she slipped into the last moments of her life. I can only hope she knew how hard I tried to save her. To keep her going until help came. But it never did, not for her. The ambulance ride, the hospital, the pain, it all feels like a bad nightmare. I keep hoping that when I go to sleep in my shitty, run down cot in my apartment, that I'll wake up in my bed at home, Madison sleeping comfortably next to me. But my nightmare goes on. It seeps into my waking hours and never lets me go. My room has no distinct smell, no particular mood, no real organization, no furniture or tv. Just a cot, a bag of clothes and a crawl space that I've never even opened. The emptiness reflects myself. I've earned over 15,000 dollars in the last month and I decided to quit taking odd jobs. Tomorrow, when I wake up, I begin building my new image, my new face. And tomorrow night, I fulfill my promise to the innocent, I will become the alpha predator, preying on the ones that prey on the week. Tomorrow night, I hunt.

I watch the sun come up from the window. My night was long, I am well rested and ready to become a new person. I reach into my pocket and pull out a small box. Inside is Madi's ring, still stained with her blood. The white satin lining is brown and pink where the blood has smeared and dried. My only remaining sentiment of Madison. It's the only thing I have that was once hers yet it is so unlike her. She was scared of blood, especially her own. I placed the box on my cot and got dressed. I had to find an outfit. If I'm going to have an alter ego, he's gotta have an outfit. As I paced the aisles of the secondhand store, I thought of what I would need. I would need black. Lots of black. The only thing that can strike fear in anyone on a primal level. Blackness represents mystery, the unknown. People are afraid of the unknown, I will be the unknown. I will be the black.

I found a black sweater, long sleeves, thick collar, corduroy texture. This would keep me warm. The material is perfect, it absorbs light rather than reflect it, I would always be black. Then I found a black cotton shirt. I'll find a use for it later. Then black driving gloves. The leather would make my touch cold to the flesh of my enemies. The knuckle holes will allow my own skin to feel the satisfaction of striking an enemy across the face, until his face was as disfigured and as terrified as each and every one of his victims. After the secondhand store I shopped around a military surplus store for the more, intimidating, accessories. A shoulder holster for mobility and functionality. A webbed belt for versatility and storage. A leg holster for extra firepower. A sling to hold a weapon on my back for easy access. Black combat boots. Black forearm Kevlar. And a knife with a pitch black blade, thirsty for blood.

The front door to my apartment building was wide open. Must've been Harry, he's always bringing his low life friends back to the building. They always trash a bunch of rooms and leave paraphernalia all throughout the halls. Just because Harry's the landlords son he thinks HE owns the place. Unfortunately for me he will one day soon. Poor old Mrs. Chen has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. Her son, Harry Chen, is gonna inherit the building once she's passed on. If she's smart she'll move out before then. She deserves a break in her last few years. Poor girls gotta be pushing a hundred something. I took the stairs up to my floor, after the 3rd flight I couldn't her the loud music and screaming anymore. Just 3 more stories to my room, no one else on my floor, or any floor. I unlocked my door and sat on my cot. My bags of equipment and clothes I set on the ground in front of me. I gotta prepare for tonight, get the adrenaline flowing. The room is cold and silent. Only one light on next to my cot, and the sun shone through the one window into the empty living room. The nerves are setting in. My mind starts going a mile a minute. I start doubting myself. I don't even know where I'm going, what I'm doing. I still don't even have my clothes fitted. The clock ticks away, before I know it it's 7:30. The sun is far below the horizon. The black envelopes the city.

The air is cool and calm. I can hear car horns and city noise for miles. I walk aimlessly through back alleys, waiting for opportunity to arise. I have yet to have any luck. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe I jumped into this too suddenly. My nerves start to mess with me. I'm jumping at shadows and stray cats. No one calling for help, even if there were, would I help them? I continue on, reluctance becomes hesitance and I start to think about Madison. What would she think of me recklessly endangering my life every night as some sort of vigilante? Maybe I just need to move on. Maybe there's a reason no one before me has done the hero thing. My mind has turned against the black. I realize I'm in the middle of the city with nothing to show for my effort but some shot nerves and a slight case of paranoia. I start to head home, the weight of my mistake catching up to me. What was I thinking? What would I have done if I did find what I was looking for? What the hell was I even looking for? Then I heard a noise. A loud gasp followed by a clashing sound. I thought about ignoring it. But I decided to at least investigate. I followed the noise to an adjacent alley where I saw 3 people. A woman and 2 men. One man had the young woman pinned to the wall and the other was standing guard. The woman was about 20, the men were roughly 30, she looked terrified. The same look that Madi had when I turned to her before the shot. This was it. This was my first opportunity and my second chance. I had to intervene, if I left now who knows what might happen to that girl. I stepped through the foggy alley toward the men. My entire body urged me to turn around but I kept going. My heart rate was through the roof as adrenaline clouded my judgement. "Who's party?" I asked, cleverly. "aye, move along freak." The man on guard duty suggested as the bald, low life pinning the poor defenseless girl to the wall turned and noticed me. "The fuck do you want asshole?" "Nice to meet you too, let the girl go." They both smirked, I clenched my fists. "This ain't no girl, this a dog." "I didn't see a collar around her neck, maybe because your filthy hands were in the way." The girl fell to the ground as the man released his grip and walked toward me. "what was that asshole?" The girl looked at me nervously from the ground. "Run!" I yelled at her as the two thugs attacked me. "I'll call for help!" The girl yelled over the fighting as she ran inside and locked the door. I took a hit to the jaw and went fuzzy. I grabbed a fist that was meant for my face and kicked one of the guys knees in. He fell to the ground as the other punched me in the ribs repeatedly. I started to writhe out of the way and managed to dodge a face shot then counter with my own. I got him in the side of the head which hurt us both. "Ow FUCK!" I grabbed my hand and ribs as I started to stumble. I saw a figure in my peripherals as my legs were kicked from under me. I fell to my back and saw a foot coming for my face. I braced with my forearms and caught the mans foot. I twisted his ankle and tried to get up but the first man who's knee I reversed, had grabbed a length of 2x4 from a dumpster and smacked me across the back. I fell on my face where I then felt the heels of 2 different pairs of boots pound my back and side. I was prepared to be beaten within an inch of my life but to my surprise this only lasted a few seconds before the 2 men limped off down the alley. I sat up holding my ribs in place and coughed the blood from my mouth. "Holy shit..." I couldn't believe it. I was alive after my first encounter. I heard the click of a deadbolt lock and the girl from earlier came back into the alley, slowly. The pain started to catch up with me. "Are you ok mr-...?" she was talking to me. "kel- er... Black. Call me black." "Mr. Black?" "No, just The Black." She knelt down next to me. "Do you need help Black?" she asked as she put her arm over my shoulder and grabbed my bicep. "Thank you." I coughed, as she helped me to my feet and leaned me against the wall. "My name is..." "Paige, Chelsea Paige, you're a nurse at the hospital." I knew she looked familiar. "How did you-?" "I was in about a month ago. You were nice to me. Gunshot wound-" "Right! Mr. -..." "Black. Just Black." She assessed my injuries. "Why did you do this to yourself? They weren't gonna seriously hurt me, you didn't have to-..." I looked up at her through my sweaty hair and blood soaked forehead. "I just had to. It's a promise I made myself. Besides, you can't know they wouldn't hurt you, just like I didn't know." She brushed her hair out of her face. "Well thank you, black... I called the authorities, they should be here soon." I nodded and stood up. "I better be going then." She followed me. "What? You're not gonna tell them what happened? You should at least go to the hospital." I just kept walking. "No, I'll tell them nothing and so will you if you're smart. Just say it was suspicious activity but the guys ran off when they heard the sirens, and I'll go sleep this off." She stopped me and I turned to face her. "Thank you." She said. I just shrugged and shook my head. "No need to thank me miss Paige. I better go." The sirens wailed from down the street as I started to run toward my building, south of the town. I could see the flashing lights illuminate the alley as I turned the corner. I did it, I survived my first night, barely, but I did it.

Once I got home my adrenaline was still pumping, even harder than when I left. I saved a life tonight, and I did it without dying myself. I think I might do this every night... Well once I'm not sore. Next time, I need to wear a mask.