Chapter 1: Echoes of Despair
The room was dimly lit, shadows cast from the broken blinds slashing across the cracked walls. Dust hung heavy in the air, as if the very space had given up trying to be clean. Silence dominated, broken only by the slow, deliberate footsteps of a lone boy pacing across the wooden floor.
Kyle stood still, his eyes lost in nothingness, his voice quiet but soaked in bitterness.
"I've always been alone—always. No one around for me. No one to care," he began thoughtfully, speaking into the void, as if confessing to the silence itself. "People think that they have allies, but deep down... just check within them and see what they think of you."
He turned toward the window, watching the gray clouds shift listlessly across the sky. The rain had stopped, but the world outside looked just as tired as he felt.
"Have you ever woken up and thought, what would happen if one day you just disappeared?" he asked aloud, his tone laced with cruel clarity. "Gone without a trace. How many would care? I know... none. I even doubt I'll be buried. Maybe I'll rot in the sewers. Yeah, that's the most likely thing to happen."
Kyle walked toward the door, placing one hand on the frame before pausing. His breath hitched, but his voice never wavered.
"Life has its ups and downs. All I've been through is downs. I even doubt I ever experienced it. You should cherish every moment you have of happiness, because you may never know the value of water till the well is dry."
He stepped forward, his eyes distant with memory.
"I once risked and got a broken spleen after jumping and saving a kid who was close to getting hit by a bus. But the mother arrived to see me lying on the floor with her son in my arms. She didn't care about the pouring blood—no remorse. She shouted at me for trying to kidnap her son."
Kyle's fists clenched. His tone dropped to a bitter whisper.
"The son didn't speak. Only cried as I let him go. I won't blame him. He was scared. She later called the police, who apprehended me for alleged kidnapping attempt. I was cast in a solitary confinement for two months. Released, alone, as everyone thought I was a kidnapper. I lost everything—respect, dignity, and my self-pride."
He laughed under his breath, but there was no humor in it. Only fatigue.
"I hate everyone. I hate myself... guess this is the reward for being a good person. It's genuinely priceless. Later, after spending time in solitary confinement, the little boy spoke of what had happened and I was pardoned. But the scars already were visible."
His footsteps echoed as he continued walking down a narrow hallway, the peeling wallpaper curling like dried leaves.
"Later on, as I walked down an empty alleyway, two girls came rushing by—clothes torn. I let them pass. And as I later passed by a day later, I was arrested. At what crime? Alleged raping minors."
He stopped walking.
"I myself am a minor. Is it because of my race? My gender? Possibly. But who will defend me? No one. This world deserves better—not me. I got cheated on, falsely accused of cheating. But that's a story for another day."
He turned, a broken smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were hollow.
"What to do, what to do indeed? Guess I'll just narrate to you the deepest, darkest secret of the human race… that no voice can hear."