Fortune.
A word people often cling to. A promise of luck, of something good waiting just around the corner.
But for me... it never meant anything.
The night was filled with different sounds, yet all I could hear was the faint ringing in my ears.
Our broken car lay twisted in the dark, glass scattered across the road.
My father wasn't moving. My mother's breathing was shallow, uneven, the only sound that kept me from falling apart.
I was clutching her with my left arm. My right… wasn't there anymore. Just sharp and endless pain, burning through me.
Her hand brushed against my cheek, weak and trembling.
I wanted to speak. To tell her I was scared. To beg her not to close her eyes. But no words came.
Only warm tears falling against her bloodied clothes.
Why?
Why was life so cruel?
Why did it have to be us?
Why was I the only one left to keep breathing when everything I loved was slipping away?
Her lips moved, whispering something I couldn't hear, and then… the light in her eyes faded.
I never found out what she tried to say—and that became my deepest sorrow.
¢¢¢
'Ouch… another nightmare?'
I woke up, slowly opening my left eye, only to be met with blurry vision.
And for some reason, my head hurt like hell as I felt something warm running down my back.
'When did I even sleep?'
After focusing for a moment, I finally remembered what had happened: 'Oh, yeah, I see, it was Jason. That man really has a fist of steel.'
I really hated that man, but I respected him slightly. After all, he was a professional in his job as a loan shark.
Somehow, he always found me.
"Huge Ass! Stop acting dead and look at me!"
A familiar voice rang behind me, I didn't need to look at him to know his identity, so I calmly replied: "Jason, for the hundredth time, it's Dante Hu Jass, not Huge Ass. Man, I understand now why you are threatening to take my brain too, you seem to have a terrible memory."
My vision finally cleared, and here he was, a stupid-looking bulky man gritting his teeth in front of me.
Even though I had only one eye, I wished I could remove it just so I wouldn't have to see his ugly, round face. How the fuck was he proudly walking with such a face?
I casually rubbed the back of my head, but then I noticed my hand was painted red. It was my blood.
Either that man really had a fist of steel, or my body was just too weak.
I took a few pounds out of my pocket—almost all the money I had—and handed them to Jason with a smile: "See you again next month, good sir?"
Jason smirked as he suddenly took my shirt, the last valuable thing I had, off and put it in his bag.
"See you again next month, Huge Ass. I don't want a lightning strike to hit my car again, so I'll take my leave now. Don't die until then."
As he left me alone in the dark alley, I couldn't help but look at the lightning scars on my skinny body.
I heard that there was a man that became famous for surviving seven lightning strikes. How would people react if they knew that I survived ten of them in the past two years?
I still remembered the man that crashed my tuk-tuk with his stupid truck. Because of him, I lost my only source of income and had to sell my empty house to pay part of my debts, leading me to become homeless under the danger of lightning strikes.
If not for him…
'There is no point in remembering the past now. I have always been unlucky, anyway.' I sighed as I cut a piece of my tattered pants and wrapped it around my head.
Feeling the bleed stopping, I forced myself up on my feet, but suddenly, a cold breeze hit me as the sky lit up.
Boom!
My heart sank when I heard the thunder roaring in the dark sky.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!!" Panicking, I looked at my right and left, trying to decide a path to take.
I needed a place to cover myself, but I didn't know anything about this place. I had come here randomly just to hide, thinking that Jason wouldn't find me.
Unable to make a decision, I took a small coin out of my pocket. It was all the money I had left, and I wasn't planning to spend it.
The coin had two different sides, one with a king and the other with a number.
'Heads means right, and tails means left.' I decided the rule quickly and tossed the coin into the air.
Ting!
As it lingered in the air, I caught it immediately before it could fall on the ground. Checking the results, I found the face of a man.
It showed the face of a king.
I returned it to my pocket and ran as fast as my shaky legs could toward the right path, but suddenly someone running in the opposite direction bumped into me, causing both of us to fall to the ground.
I groaned: "Hey! Watch your—!"
'What the hell?!'
Seeing the person's face, I froze in my place as my eye burst open.
He had black skin, a face covered with old scars, short brown hair with grey strands, only one black eye, and only one arm.
For a moment, I wondered if I was looking at a mirror, but then I noticed the luxurious outfit he was wearing and the red liquid covering it.
Before I could react, the man stood up and continued running away, leaving me stunned in my place.
My face twitched in confusion: "What the hell?"
Did I just stumble upon a copy or something?
I looked down at my body and saw the same red liquid covering my chest and face.
'What is this? Tomatoes? Did he crush someone's tomato cart? Wait, this color…'
Just then, the realization hit me.
It was blood! My head was bleeding just a few moments ago, there was no way I'd not recognize it.
Was he injured as well? Maybe he was running to the hospital in a hurry. That explained why he bumped into me.
Unlike me, he was probably rich enough to pay for a hospital.
I stood up, ready to start running again, but suddenly…
"Jeff, you fucking murderer! I WARNED YOU!!"
BANG!
"Eh…?"
…Someone roared angrily, then a loud sound rang through the alley, followed by a sudden heat that tore through my chest.
Thud!
I fell on the ground, time slowing down around me, stunned by what had just happened and trying to process the sharp pain that suddenly hit me.
I tried to breathe, but I couldn't—nothing but wet choking filled my throat. Each gasp only increased my pain, as if I were trying to inhale needles instead of air.
The pain was immense and unbearable.
Why did everything in my life have to be painful?
With tears streaming down my left cheek, my gaze landed on my chest.
Seeing the warm red liquid that matched the blood on my clothes and head, and the policeman approaching with a gun, I understood what had happened.
'...He mistook me for a murderer.'
It was truly hilarious.
Someone with the same appearance as me, born in the same era as me, had entered the same dark alley I was in, bumped into me out of all people, and was running after probably killing or hurting someone while being chased by police.
What were the odds of all that happening?
Truly, how bad could my luck be?
I gave up instantly and didn't try to stop the bleeding—not because I didn't want to, but because my body itself stopped listening to me.
With every passing second, my vision darkened, my heart slowed, pain reduced, until finally everything stopped.
All I could see was an endless void while feeling my consciousness fading away.
It was a strange feeling, but it brought calmness and relief to my very being.
Was that death?
I… didn't want to die… I wasn't even 16 yet.
Since my parents died when I was six and my life was really terrible. It wasn't like I didn't think of ending it all, but I had always refused to kill myself.
I had always had hope that my luck would become better.
I thought that if I kept struggling, I'd overcome my misfortune and live a happy life.
I only wanted a blanket, a roof, food, and water.
I only dreamed about a healthy and happy life.
Was that too much to ask for?
Swish!
Suddenly, I saw a beautiful, ethereal current of silver and golden threads hovering in the void.
It looked like a scene from a dream—something that I could never have imagined if I hadn't seen it myself.
Maybe that was the way to heaven?
The next moment, one of the silver threads was hit by a golden one and fell into my empty eye socket.
Strangely, I could see the silver thread through my empty eye. No, I could see through my entire body as if every cell in my being had its own eye.
'How beautiful…'
I watched the threads for a long moment before finally accepting death.
I really wanted to live and try to achieve my dreams, but there was nothing I could do.
That was the end of my story.
Or so I'd thought.