Chapter Text
There were five of us. Five hopeless teenagers. We had big dreams but no way to complete them. Too tired. Too hurt. Too, just done with life. We were all eighteen, and we still wished we could disappear, but not like this. The crystal just vanished after we said that, as we had all put our hands on it. I thought we would teleport to a forest of green or the coast with the waves washing over us… but all I saw was a pool of blood and a lifeless body.
1.
You could hear the huffing and puffing and the footsteps pounding against the pavement as she ran through the alleyways. Trash bags lined the walls, blocking the only way out. A dead end. She only realized when a figure standing behind her trapped her against a brick wall. In his hands, a small knife. He was wielding it so tightly his hand was white, standing out even more as the night grew darker. The only light source being a flickering lamppost and the moonlight from above.
‘Don't try to escape from me like last time.’ The man's raspy voice cut through the silence of the secluded area. It sounded like he had been crying for a long time, his voice hoarse from being unused. He inched closer and closer, nearly closing the gap between them. Her eyes kept glancing at the knife and at the man's unshaved face. He looked drunk and his steps were unbalanced each time he got closer. He had been following her since she left the corner shop and now threatening to kill her out of nowhere.
She felt scared, but she had not done anything wrong nor had she ever seen this guy in her entire life.
‘W-who are y-you?’ Her voice came out shaky, her gaze now fully focused on the weapon. There were already stains on the handle. Dark red stains.
Blood.
He didn't answer, but he also didn't get any closer. Instead, he stepped back so the distance between them was at least half a metre. Suddenly, he smirked. Dirty teeth showing, gleaming in the moonlight. His clothes were old and drabby, matching his pale skin. She was in a black hoodie and random jeans that she had grabbed from the messy closet in her apartment. It was contrasting, but it didn't matter. The shuffling of her wrecked shoes was so loud that it drew attention in the darkness.
Then the man lunged at her, stumbling slightly with the knife pointing at her. The sharp tip just merely cut through the sleeve of her hoodie as she dodged, exposing her arm. She grumbled and ducked under his incoming swings, escaping the narrow alley. She dashed through each confusing dark place, but she could still see the man. He was still standing there, like a revengeful ghost. The knife stood out, and the bright silver blade reflected his face. She had already sprinted a long way from the corner shop and into this unknown territory. She had gotten lost. She didn’t recognise anything around her. Only random puddles of water from the rain yesterday. The same rain that she had watched through the apartment window before falling asleep. When she had wished to disappear, she imagined a house by a river, quiet with no one to bother her. No school or work and nothing to do except stare at nature. And best of all, no comparison between the rich and poor.
Then she could see a neon sign in the distance. Glowing bright pink and green. She recognised it as the bar next to the shop. Having never been there, she had never paid attention to the huge sign, even though it was right in front of her. But it was a start to try and make her way back home. But it was so far away that the lights were wavering from where she was standing. How did she even get over here? Did she really run all this way?
As she walked back, she kept checking behind her. When the man was out of view, she started to relax. Exhausted from the chase. Her legs aching as if she had just ran miles. There wasn’t one person around. She was alone. Or so she thought.
She knelt over, her legs in pain. She tried to control her breathing, but it was too shaky. All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She dismissed it as a side-effect from running until she started spitting out blood. It all happened in a moment, and when she turned her head slightly, she saw the unexpected. The man with the knife. But he wasn’t holding it anymore; he had plunged it into her back.
The blood trailed down from her mouth as she looked in horror. He swiftly pulled it out, resulting in more blood on the pavement. The wound had penetrated deep into her body. Blood soon soaked her hoodie, and her vision started to blur. Her breathing eventually stopped and she fell headfirst onto the hard concrete. Blood pooling on the cold floor. Her eyes were still open, but they were unfocused.
One was dead.
The man grinned and started to clean the blood off using his shirt. It wasn’t colourless now, but it looked like an artwork on a canvas. Streaks of bright red on the bottom like a deliberately painted abstract picture. He stepped forward once. Twice. Grabbed onto her arm and dragged her. To where? No one had seen. No one was there. No witnesses. The blood followed wherever the man dragged her. There was a splash of water in the distance and it was all silent again. He came back and wiped the footpath, barely getting rid of any evidence. Now it was his turn to run. And so he did. Travelling to the other town on foot in a bloodied shirt and a drunken mind.
The next day, investigators discovered no trace of a stabbing or a murder. The blood had mysteriously disappeared in the morning. The drops of red. Gone. The only thing that was discovered was a phone belonging to the girl in the alleyway. Police received a call because both the man and the young woman were missing, but they only found one. Passed out on the stairs of a train station ten kilometres away from the original crime. The other was laying at the bottom of a nearby river, blood contaminating the water. Her eyes staring right out of the water into the canopy of the park trees.