Chapter 6 — Becoming Someone Else
The city smelled of wet asphalt and smoke.
Arin moved through it like a shadow, unseen, unnoticed. Every face was a mask, every word a trap. He learned quickly: the world didn't give second chances. You had to take them—or die invisible.
He changed his name. Changed his apartment. Changed the way he walked, the way he spoke.
One night, staring at his reflection in a cracked mirror, he whispered:
"…Who are you, Arin? Are you still you?"
No answer came. Only the faint trace of a boy staring back—a boy buried under layers of fear, rage, and survival.
His hands, once small and soft, now moved with precision. Every motion measured. Every word calculated.
The city became his classroom.
The alleys, his mentors.
Pain, his teacher.
And slowly, quietly, he built walls.
Not just around his heart…
Around every part of him the world could touch.
People noticed him less. They feared him more.
Which was exactly what he wanted.
Arin had become someone else.
Someone cold. Someone unrecognizable.
Yet, somewhere deep inside, a spark remained.
A spark that whispered in silence:
One day… I'll decide if I let the world see me again.