Emergence

Selvin sat atop of his mother, looking into her colorless eyes, he himself feeling just as alive as her.

    Eventually after a few hours he had finally gotten up and walked away from that scene, never looking back as he left his parents for good. Aimlessly walking for hours on end as he had nowhere to go, nowhere to call home. The hours turning into days and the days turning into weeks. It was just an endless cycle of survival as Selvin walked from place to place in search of food and shelter, doing whatever it took to survive. Without a single thought in his mind or even a care at all.

He was entirely broken... he was emotionless.

    Nothing could or would faze him ever again. Not only was his mind in shambles but his physical state was as well, he was tired and dirty after all those weeks. From being in such a state no one dared to approach him or even help him, he was an outcast in everyone's eyes. Although from time to time thugs and addicts would approach him, harassing or beating him for being a freak. But he never did a thing in return as he'd already grown used to pain. Any newfound pain wouldn't matter to him... after all, it was a far cry from what he felt in the past. Nothing would ever measure up to that pain ever again.

    One fateful night he entered an alleyway in search of a place to sleep. As he made his way through the dark and cold alley he walked past a group of people. He paid no mind to them and continued to walk forward as they stared at him. He finally found his way to the end of the alley and saw a corner covered by a dumpster, the place he'd be sleeping in that night. As he walked forward he felt people following behind him, turning to see as soon as he felt their presence. It was them... the people from earlier had followed him, all glaring at him. Finally one of them called out

   "what you doing back here Lil boy? This ain't the kind of place for a youngin like you to be at."

      Soon after the rest of them started to laugh. Another from the group walked forward with a smile on his face, laughing as he sized Selvin up "you really are a damn kid, where's your parents huh? You lost or sum?" laughing at the remark. However that laughter would quickly turn to silence as Selvin answered back

"dead... they're both dead."

returning their glares from earlier. They all tensed up a bit as goosebumps flared on end, thinking to themselves what's up with this damn creepy kid? After their chills subsided one of them called out "don't look at us like that you freak, no one here gives a damn about your parents being dead.

So how about you do us a favor and get out of this alleyway before you get hurt." as they all started to circle around him. From the distance however a man laughed "hah, he won't be the one getting hurt tonight." cackling as he walked closer. The group turned to look back, as did Selvin, turning to see an old man with a black trench coat.

    It was the same man that Selvin saw all those weeks ago.... before the tragedy. From within the group, everyone began to laugh, mocking the old man "the hell is your old ass gonna do? Talkin bout sum 'he won't be the one getting hurt'" as they all continued to laugh. "This your grandpa Lil man? Take his old ass home before we hurt the both of you." still continuing to laugh, although only one stopped entirely. He knew something they didn't. Selvin could tell as he felt the fear within him... just as he did from before.

The man stopped approaching them, clearing his throat "I have business with you all." Suddenly the setting and tone drastically changed... everything became serious and a dreadful presence was felt throughout.

Chills ran along all their spines.

    "I'm here to relay a message, one that'll be your last. 'You all deserve what's coming... this is exactly what you deserve for taking my son away from me... he didn't deserve to die all alone that night, he didn't deserve to be mercilessly killed that night. He cried and cried for mercy, yet you all continued anyway, he didn't deserve it at all.'" the man said as he pulled out a gun alongside a knife. "'But all of you do... so do me a favor... and tell the devil to go fuck himself on your way down.'" the man exclaimed as he shot at them.

    Upon the first shot, one immediately died, along with another being shot in the leg. Everyone felt terror as they all began to run for their lives. One exclaimed "that's a fucking hitman, someone put a damn hit on our lives." all while more shots rang out towards them. The man approached the one who collapsed on the floor drawing his blade toward his neck, slitting his throat as blood splattered on his face. Everyone continued to run regardless of hearing his screams, they all ran while hearing the thuds as they each collapsed one after another, all up until only one remained. He ran and ran but there was no way out for him, he was trapped. Selvin stood there unfazed by what he saw as he heard the man desperately cry out pleading

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't kill me... I have a family."

    only to see the man despair entirely with the man's response. "So did my client... and yet you still killed his child alongside all the others... so just like how you denied him mercy." pointing the gun to his head.

"I'll deny you mercy too." killing him in an instant.

With the final blow, the man looked up to the sky, sighing in relief.

     Selvin watched him as he wiped the blood on his blade, putting it back in his coat along with his gun.

As he put everything back in its rightful spots the man stopped to glance over at Selvin. Having put the weapons inside he turned and walked towards him, as if he had just met an old friend. "Well look at who I managed to stumble into again." he said as if they just had a touching reunion. "I'm a bit surprised that you ain't run away when the shots first rang out, to think that you just saw people die right before your eyes and you couldn't care less. I always knew that there was something strange about you." remembering the time that Selvin had felt his presence "But never would I think it would've been to this extent." as he looked into Selvin's desolate eyes.

     "You know it's been a while since I last saw you, and now that I look at you it doesn't look like you're doing too good." he said with a concerned look on his face.

"Why are you even out in the streets this late at night? Don't you have a family to belong to?"

No response.

"A place to call home?"

No response.

"The hell ended up happening to you kid?"

Still no response.

Selvin stood still, unfazed and unbothered. With a dark empty look in his eyes... he just couldn't bring himself to say it as there was nothing else left to say, just as he had nothing left to live for. The man stood there silently waiting for a response, and yet there wasn't one.

    Soon after, rain began to fall upon the man and Selvin as they stood still, both of them feeling the cold drops on their face in the dark alleyway, as the rain continued to pick up with neither of them moving. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the man decided to walk away... leaving Selvin all alone in the cold dreary rain. Suddenly the man walked back with a bloodied hoodie, shoving it on Selvin whilst he knelt a bit to be eye level with him.

It was the first time he had felt any kind of warmth at all, he had found a sense of comfort in the bloodied hoodie of a dead man. "Those eyes of yours... they remind me of something from my past." he says while reminiscing about his own childhood.

"Dark... cold... empty, it really is like looking back in time. Those eyes of yours... they've seen things that no normal kid should've ever seen, ain't that right."

Selvin looks up at him with a single tear flowing down his right eye, the final tear he'll ever shed in his life. The man holds Selvin's shoulder, grasping it firmly "so... that was the final one left huh. You have no more tears left to shed... just like me." he said, peering into Selvin's empty soulless eyes.

"I assume you don't have a home anymore, now do you?"

Selvin nods his head yes.

"Nor do you have a family anymore?"

"No, my grandparents were killed." Selvin muttered.

He felt surprised as he heard and saw Selvin speak for the first time. So the kid can talk, he thought to himself.

"Well, what about your parents huh? Are they still alive?"

"No... they're dead too." Selvin murmured.

"Kid... what the hell happened to your family?" he said, not expecting a response back, but even so, Selvin still answered.

"They're all dead, my grandparents were murdered by my parents."

At that moment, something in the man's head clicked, as he'd realized what exactly he had done, all while Selvin continued.

"After having seen the scene at my grandparent's house my parents kidnaped me, looking to end my life at another location. Somewhere where no one would be able to hear my cries for help. But in the end, it didn't go how they had planned at all, I fought back for the first time in my life, killing them in the process. Killing them as they had killed my grandparents, all without even the slightest hesitation at all. Just as they didn't hesitate to kill my grandparents or me... their own son."

He said as the rain was pouring down on him, dripping off the tip of his hair onto his face.

The drops, slowly making their way down his fingers, dripping into the blood that lay below him.

"I have no home nor family to return to... I'm all alone."

    Having heard everything, the man stood up, looking down upon Selvin with an empathetic gaze.

"So you really have nowhere else to go." he said as he turned his back to Selvin, pondering on what he should do from here on. "2 options." the man stated. "You have 2 options from here on. I could give you another chance at life.  I could give you a new identity, a new home, and a new family. I'll make sure that, unlike the last time, they truly do care about you. I'll see to it that they take you in as one of their own, that they love and support you for who you are, not for what I'd do if they were to wrong you. I'll make sure that the new place you go to can be a place that you can truly call home, so that you can happily live there with them and forgot about the nightmare that was your past. Although the first option is the better of the two, I have somewhat of a feeling that you won't be happy with such an option.

I feel as though you're already too broken to be rehabilitated and live out a normal life. That empty dead look in your eyes, it just confirms my suspicions at this point... you're already way beyond repair... aren't you?" the man says as he turns to look Selvin in the very same dead empty eyes he had just mentioned.

"What's the second choice?" Selvin asks with a colorless expression on his face.

      "The second choice you say? I knew you would've asked about it on your own... after all... you really are just like me. The second choice is fairly simple, it's simplicity is what makes it pale in comparison to the first, as it'll do more harm than good. Way more harm than you could ever imagine, but for someone like you... someone who's already been accustomed to killing and death. I fear that you may just fit right in with that path. If you pick the second choice you'll have to come with me. I'll teach you about everything I know, I'll show you the basics, and help you master the craft. I'll show you how to fight, live, survive... and most importantly, I'll show you how to take a life.... I'll show you how to kill. You'll work for me as soon as you are to choose the second option... so what'll it be? Will you go for my generosity, and live the life you deserved to live? Or, are you going to let the darkness consume you and work for me?" he asked as he stares at Selvin with a gleaming sense of curiosity.

    At that moment, Selvin looked up to the dark rainy sky and then looked back down at the puddles of blood being washed away by the rainwater.

He looked back up at the man and shuddered, he knew there was only one option that he could really take at this point. That option being to

"Work for you... I'll work for you from now on... I choose option two."