In a small apartment, Allen tugged at the straps of his backpack and paused to glance at his reflection in the cracked bathroom mirror. His messy black hair framed dark eyes, and the scars on his face were imperfections he had long ago stopped perceiving.
He took a deep breath and slipped the backpack over his shoulder. Breakfast was a silent affair, burnt toast and old coffee, more bitter than warm. He sat in silence, the slurred yells from the room next door into his ears.
Allen had learned years before that there were battles that it wasn't worth fighting. He had developed a type of armor, a protective reserve that enabled him to make it through life and have no one ever truly notice.
The streets were cold as he walked to school. Then a group of older kids on the street opposite laughed really loudly, gesturing at something or someone, but Allen did not glance up. He knew their eyes were on him anyway, so he kept his head down and hurried past.
At school, he snuck into the library at break time, sitting in the back corner. It was his haven. The smell of paper and silence pushed the world away, at least for a moment or two. Pulling a novel off the shelf, he opened it and let the story carry him away, imagining he was somewhere else, someone brave and clever.
When Allen had finished reading, he laid the book aside and searched for another engaging one to read.
Across the range of shelves, one book caught Allen's attention. It was an old one, with its cover hidden beneath a heavy layer of dust.
The title, "What If Someone Planned Your Life Before You Did?"
"Huhโฆ this is interesting," Allen said to himself, opening the book.
When he opened the book, every page was blank except for a single one near the middle, where something had been handwritten.
"I have been watching you. I will continue to watch you. I am the one who made your life miserable. I will watch as you grow stronger and stronger until the day we meet face-to-face. And on that day, your death or mine shall be wonderful, my friend."
"What theโฆ fuck is this?" he muttered, his voice shaky with confusion.
Allen put the book back, picked up another one, and read until the lunch break ended.
Time went by unnoticed until the bell rang. The lunch break was over, and the hallways were filled with the noise of shouting students. Allen closed the book and made an effort to put it back into its place on the shelf.
He went back to his classroom and sat at his desk, he worked quietly, his mind sharp, calculating problems that left his peers confused.
The whole school day passed without disruption, but Allen could not shake the feeling that someone was staring at him.
He looked around, turning to the left and right, trying to locate where the gaze was emanating from, but no one seemed to be staring at him.
Brushing aside the strange feeling, he went to the school library to do his homework, as he was not able to do so in the house with his parents around.
When he was in the middle of writing, suddenly there was a commotion which echoed in the library, causing the books on the shelves to shake.
Allen looked out the window and saw a construction vehicle slowly moving across the school grounds.
"What theโฆ?" he muttered, confused, then he remembered.
๐๐ฉ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฉ. ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ.
So Allen returned to his desk and plugged in his headphones, hoping to block out the noise.
Two hours passed, and he had finished his homework and exited the library, still wearing his headphones on his way to the school grounds.
Halfway to the school exit, he heard a muffled scream.
He took off his headphones. "GET OUT OF THE WAY, KID!" the old man shouted, trembling with fear.
Before he could do anything, a heavy shadow was cast over him.
He raised his eyes, and Allen's eyes widened in horror as a huge piano was coming down on him.
BOOM!!
The piano came crashing down, trapping Allen beneath it. Pain exploded through him, so intense that he couldn't even scream. His vision blurred, and everything went black.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ hunger, ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ท๐ข๐ค๐ถ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ.
๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ง ๐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต, ๐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ตโฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ, ๐๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ค๐บ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ.
๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ.
As Allen went further and further into his own mind, he caught a sudden glimpse of someone staring at him. He looked up.
Standing there, in the darkness, was a shadowy figure, its presence unmistakable. Even in the dark, Allen could feel the weight of its stare upon him, cold and unwavering.
What is that? Allen thought, a shiver down his spine.
The figure smiled, and a flash of light hit Allen's face, banishing the darkness immediately.
Then Allen woke up, gasping for air.
"What theโฆ where am I?" he cried out, confusion and fear flooding through him.