I place my hand on the wall, my body trembling, the bullet still ringing in my ears. I bend to the ground and reach out to find shattered glass sparkling like fragments of hell.
My breaths are broken...
But there's something else.
Heavy footsteps approach slowly.
I lift my head.
The darkness shifts slightly... revealing a sinister smile.
Rowan.
His eyes narrow, and his voice seeps into my ear like poison:
"Kim... I hoped your story would end with that bullet. But it seems you're more stubborn than I expected."
I try to rise, but my legs betray me.
I scream, my voice trembling with blood and anger:
"Why... why do you want to kill me?!"
Rowan laughs—a dry laugh, as if it came from a grave:
"Because, Kim... you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
I freeze.
"What... do you mean?"
Rowan steps forward, pulls a cigarette from his pocket, lights it slowly, and exhales smoke into my face.
His eyes gleam in the firelight:
"You still don't understand?
I wasn't just a neighbor, Kim...
I was the manager of the jewelry store in the mall."
My heart stops.
I feel the blood freeze in my veins.
He continues, in a voice like a devil's confession:
"That night... it wasn't a random accident.
We were there to steal everything.
Me... the driver... and our boss."
I step back, staring at him as if seeing a ghost.
"You... were with them?!"
A black laugh bursts from his throat, echoing through the night:
"Yes. And everything went according to plan.
But... you appeared.
You saw more than you should.
You are the sole survivor... the only witness.
That's why... we sentenced you to death that night."
He leans close, his face near mine, whispering as if stabbing me with words:
"Kim... your family's death was no coincidence.
Your mother... and the woman with her... they opened the path for us to escape.
They helped us without knowing."
The air chokes in my chest.
The images return... my mother's face... the blood... the screams...
I try to shout but my voice comes out hoarse:
"You... you are the reason... you killed them!"
Rowan's smile widens, like a tattoo on the devil's face:
"Finally... you understand."
Suddenly—
The sound of a metallic safety being pulled.
I turn to see the driver, standing behind him, weapon aimed at me.
Rowan gestures with his head:
"Finish him."
Cold floods my body.
I feel the bullet before it even fires.
But inside me... there's no more room for fear.
I whisper, my voice soaked in blood:
Then suddenly... everything collapses around me.
The sound distorts... the ground shakes beneath my feet.
I turn—
And freeze.
Jack.
His body sprawled on the ground, blood pouring from his chest like a red fountain, eyes half-open, searching for me... pleading.
"Jaaaack!!!"
I crawl toward him, but a dark shadow blocks the way.
Rowan.
He smiles coldly, a glinting gun in his hand under the moonlight.
He raises it slowly, aiming directly at my head.
"Your game is over, Kim."
I look at him, then at Jack... my tears mixing with blood on my face.
The night falls silent, as if the whole world stopped to hear the click of the trigger.
My heart screams:
Not yet... it's not over.
I talk to myself: "Please, stop, anything, any way, I want to save my dear friend, I look to the sky, ah world, the world so negative, this is my last thing..."
Suddenly, cold fills the space.
A loud sound comes from the other road—it's the police siren.
Rowan: "Damn it... not now."
The two exchange quick glances.
He lowers his weapon slightly, then approaches me and whispers:
"You won't survive next time."
They vanish quickly into the darkness, leaving behind blood-stained ground and shattered glass.
I crawl slowly, my hands shaking, my eyes fixed on the empty gate.
My heart beats like war drums.
I whisper:
"Rowan... the driver... your boss... I will tear you apart, one by one."
The air is cold... but it carries fire within my chest.
Kim: "Why did you... why do you have to suffer from someone as useless as me?"
Jack reaches his hand to my face, looking at me as I cry.
Kim: "You didn't say that, you were always my brother."
Jack recalls a flashback from childhood with Kim—they were true childhood friends, not for money or to pass time.
Kim: "Don't speak, just be silent."
Kim: "Wait, wait, I'll come with the rescue car."
Jack: "It doesn't matter, I just wanted to tell you..."
Kim, foolishly, tears streaming:
"I told you, don't speak!"
Jack: "Kim, my brother, I really am not strong, and I couldn't help you with anything, but I wanted to be with you to stop you if things went wrong. Do you understand, Kim? I want you to leave, to leave your home."
Kim: "Huh? What are you saying?"
Jack: "Quiet, find another path for your life. This road is bloody and dark."
Jack: "All my days you always feared blood..."
Jack: "Accept reality. There's no law for them, or for us? The law is applied so they can control us, we're just tools for them. So if you kill them, you will benefit, it will change what you believed. This is not what you believed. You always told me you wanted to be someone important in this world, to remove injustice from this world. Now, if you want to be one of them, don't let others change you, my brother..."
Silence.
Kim: "I realized those were the last words."
At this moment, I don't know what happened, the rain didn't stop. Has the sky cleared? I touch around my eyes, ah damn, my eyes, they've dried, so the rain stops.
I wanted him to speak more, I always completed myself with others.
I speak, brother... crying loudly with regret: "No, no, no, no, no... I am the one at fault, my brother."
"Why did you believe in good in a world created to be ruled by evil? Unbelievers won't survive… I will drag you all to the heart of hell, to taste its true flavor."