March 15th 2025
It's 7pm in the city of Troy where the 22 year old Alexander Price is working a late shift at a dying movie theater.
His manager Ray calls out to him
"theater 7 should be empty now you can get started"
"Okay"
On his way to theater 7 Alex picks up the cleaning supplies and enters the mostly empty room he notices a middle aged man sleeping in the back row.
"Hey the movies over man wake up"
The man bumps into him on his way out
"Asshole"Alex thought to himself "but not worth causing a problem over."
Alex spends 20 minutes cleaning all of the garbage and popcorn off the floor and seats before returning to the front counter to server customers.
*5 hours later
"Goodnight Alex" Ray says
"Goodnight"
Relieved to be out of work Alex takes out and lights a cigarette before beginning his 15 minute walk through the city to get home.
He arrives at his apartment building and walks up to room 403 and enters his small room with light grey walls, his room consists of a bed, a tv, a kitchen and a bathroom of course.
Upon entering his room he prepares a change of clothes and walks into his bathroom catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror above the sink a pale and skinny man with long brown hair down to his neck and dead blue eyes looked back at him.
"Man I look depressing these days"
With that he takes his shower and changes into a comfortable fit of black sweatpants and a dark blue hoodie.
After settling down he lays down on his bed and checks his phone
One text from mom 6pm
"Can you come over for dinner on Monday you don't come to see your brother enough I would really appreciate it."
Alex responds "Yeah I don't have work that day so it shouldn't be a problem"
His mom responds immediately
"Thank you see you then"
After laying there for a few minutes Alex walks over to his fridge to get an energy drink but remembers he meant to buy some on his way home.
"Of course I forgot"
frustrated he puts on his shoes and exits his apartment building for the 10 minute
walk to the gas station close to the theater he works at.
When he arrives at the store ten minutes later he walks to the back of the store, picks up a six pack and places it on the counter before ringing the cashier bell.
A few moments later a skinny blonde woman with the name tag "Jen" appears behind the counter.
"Hey sorry about that Alex"
"It's alright"
"only energy drinks again today? You are getting really skinny these days."
Alex scoffes "your one to talk"
Jen laughs "you aren't supposed to comment about a women's weight y'know also women are supposed to be a little skinny."
When the register shows $14.99 Alex hands her 15$ and quickly walks out of the store
"Bye Alex" Jen says in a shy tone
As Alex starts walking home he starts to get a headache, by the time he's 5 minutes away from his house his head is throbbing with pain and he's feeling nauseous, he begins to rush home and arrives making it up to his apartment quickly he goes into his bathroom and takes painkillers from the cabinet behind his mirror then stumbles over to his bed and loses consciousness.
"Ugh my heads killing me" he thinks as he wakes up but the pain quickly goes away and is replaced by fear when he opens his eyes.
Surrounding him was a pitch black oak forest with nothing but trees in site, with panic setting in he thinks " where the hell am i, did someone drug me and bring me to a forest?" after that thought he snaps back into reality and searches for his phone on the ground around him but cannot find it anywhere.
"I guess I should start looking for a road right?"
But that thought died out quickly when he caught a glimpse above him in the sky was a black moon and purple cosmic looking sky. Panic set in once again "what the hell is up with the sky is this even earth." Trembling in fear he decides to search for some kind of civilization to at least get a grasp on the situation.
Drenched in sweat after jogging and walking in a random direction for 30 minutes he hears voices and sneaks towards them, two rough looking men wearing brown armor and holding spears appeared to be guarding a large wooden gate surrounding a town of some sorts.
"I should stay here and observe them before making a move, who knows how they would treat an outsider."
After observing the guards for a few hours and listening to them talk about women and their families but mostly sitting in silence alex realized they are normal people for the most part and also confirmed that they speak the same language as him which is something he is thankful for.
"I will have to observe people during the day to get a grasp of how they interact and learn more about them I just can't be seen."
With daytime approaching Alex hides in a tree close to the gate in a position close enough to see and hear the people entering and exiting the gate.
After hiding in the tree all day he learned many things, first of all adventures, merchants and people who live outside the gates enter to purchase goods or to stay they are required to state their reason for entry and show identification and provide 5 copper coins as a toll at the gate, second of all it's a farming town with lots of farms surrounded it and last but not least the name of the town is Pelkins.
"Okay now that I have some information at least I know what I need to do, find food and water, clothes that won't stand out, and money ."
After thinking for ten minutes Alex comes up with a plan
" ok so I will find a branch suitable as a weapon before following the outskirts of the forest until I find a house to steal the things I need or at least clothes from I think I can get by as long as I get clothes."
Alex begins search for a weapon among the sticks and he finds a 12 inch thin but sturdy stick not sharp but he was happy with it since it could be hidden in his waistband just in case.
With his weapon in hand he began scaling the outskirts of the forest in search of a house to burgle. Walking through the forest he noticed many strange otherworldly things like, strange plants and insect creatures which he kept his distance from and didn't have time to even think about right now.
After hours of following the tree line he reaches a farmhouse with the back facing the forest and a large area next to the house where tall purple crops are being grown, and clothes lines in the back with a man's clothes hanging out to dry.
Alex approaches the house with caution trying to make as little noise as possible and as he reaches the clothes line and takes a brown jacket down he hears a horrifying creak from behind as the door to the house opens and a short old man with grey hair spoke
"Don't move"
Alex unsure of what to do slowly turns around then the old man lunges his spear towards Alex's head barely missing due to Alex dodging by falling backwards knocking down the clothes lines in the process, he panics and crawls backwards before regaining his footing.
"Your wearing strange clothes thief"
Alex still recovering from his panic keeps his distance from the old man and rips on of the sharp sticks that was holding the clothes line up and used it as a spear. With that he squared up to the old man even tho he was trembling intensely, they jabbed at each other for a few rounds but Alex couldn't hit the old man and took serveral shallow hits to his torso from the spear. In attempt to buy himself time he speaks
"Why are you attacking me old man"
"Because your a filthy thief."
"How about we just call it even and you let me take some of these clothes and leave" Alex pleaded
"How about I take one of your hands and all of your clothes and we call it even." The old man growled
Alex decided that trying to reason with the old man is impossible and squared up to fight again but this time he has a plan.
The old man lunges his spear once again but this time Alex uses his stick to push the old man's spear away and tackles the old man.
They struggled for a few moments until he got on top the old man reached into his waistband and pulled out the short stick he placed there earlier. The old man's face froze in fear as Alex drove the stick as hard as he could into the old man's neck, blood sprayed all over Alex as the old man choked to death in his own blood.
When the old man died Alex felt a strange warmth in his body it felt as if his blood became warmer for a moment, but he quickly forgot the feeling upon realizing what he had done.
Alex now covered in blood laying next to the corpse in shock.
"Why were you awake this late, if only you could've just let me have clothes, I didn't want to kill you.
Still trembling in shock, dirty and bloody from everything that's happened to him Alex calms down and says.
"I did what I had to, forgive me old man."