Ash had ridden off to grab some food after cleaning the bike. He had no groceries at home other than a half-pack of Gatorade and chili bean cans. He still had a budget for a small takeout order for the night until he found an after-school job.
He made his way to a burger joint close to his home. It was cheap but had a cheesy, cinema-style theme to lure customers in. He didn't care; he grew up watching movies and video games with Isaac he had some knowledge of cinema to enjoy it in a way.
Ash went inside; the greeter at the door had seated him in the horror section, like he wanted to be. He wanted that one because the server there was someone he knew personally.
Ash waited for a few minutes till he saw the girl coming his way; she had long black hair with purple highlights, black eyeshadow and lipstick, a nose stud piercing, a lip ring, tattoos, and green eyes. The server was Lita, his only friend since childhood.
"Hey, Ash," Lita called out, waving at him.
Ash waved back. Lita was more than excited to see him. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she did want to be in a relationship with him; she was too self-conscious to make a move.
"Surprised to see you're here this late. Did you run out of food?" She asked, concerned.
"Unfortunately, and I don't want to spend my inheritance on it. It's just for bills and rent right now."
Lita felt bad. Ash was pitiful in his situation. She wanted to help, but her finances weren't better off either.
"If you need food, you can come here more often. I can sneak some of the meats and bread for you." She offered.
"Not a chance. You'll get fired, and I don't want that on my conscience. I'll be ok for now. Can I get my usual, please?"
"Sure, one double avocado bacon burger with extra onions, chili fries, and strawberry milkshake. And chilled monkey brain dessert."
Ash chuckled at the last one. She was referring to the Indiana Jones movie with that joke since that's how they met, watching Temple of Doom at a retro theater when times were calmer.
Lita came back with the food and a purple milkshake of her own.
"You on break now?" He asked after taking a bite out of his burger.
"I asked for a favor. I got the most tips tonight, so I gave half to the other girl for a quick fifteen."
Ash almost choked on his shake hearing her say that. "You did what?"
"It's fine, I made enough this week to afford losing forty bucks. Besides, I wanted to spend a little time with you after I heard what happened."
Ash was quiet for a moment; he didn't want to talk about it, least not yet anyway. But he was comfortable around Lita, so he didn't need to keep his guard up.
"Was it him again? That asshole Casper again. What's his deal? He's had it out for you since the first year. You think he has something better to do with his time"
"Whatever it is, I don't care. Probably needs a target to make himself feel better. He's an idiot, but for the fact that if he didn't have a Grade A-level wind ability, he would be a loser quarterback. He's just lucky he's from a rich family." Ash bit angrily into his burger.
Lita couldn't argue with that. Casper King wasn't the brightest jock in the school; he was a Level 6 user at most, but his ability was his best point. It helped him win his games despite the rules against using abilities or Skills during competitions. No one would argue with him because his winning games brought money to the school. His parents would even pay off the officials to cover up his wind usage.
"What did he do this time?"
"He and his goons dumped coffee on my brother's bike and kicked it."
Lita squeezed her cup hard; any harder, and she would have shattered it in her hands.
"He trashed Isaac's bike. That son of a bitch! Does he not know how important that bike is to you? That's the last memory of him and Amelia before they passed. Please tell me you stuck him like the pig he is!"
"No, I didn't have the knives you got me. Not ruining those on trays like him. But I did stab his stupid legs with some pens from a smart kid's pocket protector." A small grin formed on Ash's face saying that.
Lita giggled at the idea. "Revenge of the nerd's pens!" She said, making them both laugh at the joke. Her break was over; she left to pick up the check for Ash, even sneaking a small doggie bag of chicken tenders for him to take home. Ash gave her the money and asked her to keep the change. Lita handed him his check, bag, and a napkin.
The napkin had a lipstick mark and a message. 'I'm off Friday night. Let's hang out.'
Ash smirked, reading it. He knew too well how Lita felt; he just wasn't ready for a relationship with how poor he was, let alone his best friend, who deserved better than him.
Ash went to his bike to head home, but it wouldn't start after he turned the key. When he checked all around, he felt foolish in the moment. He forgot to put gas in the tank before he went to the burger joint.
"Oh, come on, seriously. Of all the dumb luck. Damnitt and the gas station is a long walk."
Ash held his face in disappointment. He forgot one of the rules his brother told him about bikes: never let the tank run dry.
Ash groaned at his rotten luck. He had no choice but to walk to the gas station to get a small gas can or risk leaving the bike overnight, where it might be stolen.
It took him nearly two hours to walk to the station; he passed every homeless person on the sidewalk who was a victim of the Kraegan attacks. Sad now that it wasn't drug abuse or gambling that increased homeless rates; now it was people losing their homes and families to a Kraegan, causing their misery.
Half the houses in many cities were abandoned because of the death rates, leaving many to squat if they were brave enough to.
Ash finally got to the station; the attendant there was on her phone, paying no attention to him or anything else but her TikTok videos.
Ash was already annoyed as is, and this wasn't helping him at all. He bought a small can of gas and a bottle of water with the little he had left in his budget.
Carrying the gas wasn't a problem; walking back and forth was the annoying part for him. He was wasting time he could have spent resting or training; he just needed to stay busy to avoid negative thoughts about the day resurfacing. He struggled to keep his anger in check when he was at his limit, worse because of all the bad things that happened to him; he would at times have twisted fantasies of revenge on everyone who wronged him. Homicidal ideation, it was called. He didn't act on them, but just the thoughts made him worry if he had some darkness in him.
Ash hit the crosswalk button. He was ready to walk over when a speeding car nearly hit him. He dodged thankfully, but in the moment he dropped the gas can, and it got run over instead.
Seeing the busted can and no more money to replace the gas, he picked it up, motionless and quiet, and held it as he walked over to an open spot between two buildings that led to a small alleyway away from the public.
"FUUUCK!!!!" He shouted to the heavens as he threw the broken gas can to the ground.
He kicked everything in his line of sight. The negative thoughts he held back flooded his mind relentlessly. The memories of his dead parents' funeral, his brother's corpse being brought home with a dishonorable discharge on his record, the families of his unit throwing garbage at his coffin, Amelia being torn in pieces after being attacked by a Kraegan. On top of that, everyone, including Casper, messing with him, assaulting him, and taunting him only fueled his anger exceedingly.
He continued to flail around, eventually punching the walls of the buildings regardless of the skin tearing on his knuckles or possibly breaking his toes, kicking the dumpster next to him.
He finally stopped when he felt his shoe warm with blood in it. He fell to the ground, holding his throbbing head, as he broke down in his grief.
"Why? Why me? Why is this happening to me? My parents didn't deserve to die before I got to really know them. My brother was a good man; he didn't do those things they said he did. Amelia was a kind soul; she didn't deserve to be a Kraegan lunch."
His head was spinning, and he started slapping his head in frustration. All he could see were images of everyone laughing at him and the bodies of his loved ones being eaten by Kraegans. His eyes were red from the tears, bloodshot, and hate burning in his heart.
"Burn…..burn...burn them all. I wish they all burn! I want to get them, hurt them, break them, rip them apart. I want to slaughter them all!"
He shouted hard about what he was really feeling. He hadn't cursed anyone this hard since Isaac died. He felt so much animosity in his soul. His teeth clenched hard, causing his gums to bleed from the pressure. His fingernails dug into his scalp.
He had to calm down; he knew how bad his feelings would get if he let them run away with him.
He tried to think of anything to calm his nerves or distract him. The thing that calmed him down echoed in his head, a faint voice, gentle and soft. The voice grew clearer as he concentrated on it with everything he had.
"Fly, fly raven, fly into the sky. See the stars of the night, reach them in your flight. Don't be afraid as you fly, follow true in the moonlight. Fly, fly raven, fly across the starry sea, don't be afraid, you're not alone now, you're always with me."
The voice he heard was Amelia's. She sang that to him when he was angry or scared when he was a kid. She made it up on the spot, but it stuck with him when he needed to suppress himself.
"I'm ok. I'm ok now. God, I'm so stupid." He was calm now that his bad thoughts had left him. He couldn't believe he let himself lose control like that. He got himself up to head back to his bike. He figured he would ask Lita for help getting home, or if she could loan him some gas for the night.
As Ash limped barely a foot, he heard a noise. The sound was like someone being attacked; anyone would have left, but Ash was curious. He needed to know if someone needed help. It was a good thing he brought some of his throwing knives, just in case.
He followed the noise, the sound growing clearer as he got closer. He made it to the source; instead of showing himself, he stayed hidden behind a corner to see what was going on.
Ash saw a little girl sitting on the ground. She looked out of place, wearing colonial-era clothes and platinum blonde hair, holding a pumpkin.
The other was a man who wore a black tailored suit. The left side of his jacket had dark magenta designs, including his fedora. The face couldn't be seen clearly from the shadows except for the white of his eyes. Looking closer, it didn't look like a typical head; it looked like a lump of clay shaped to be one. He looked menacing as he towered over the girl.
"Thought you could get away. You can only run so far, little one. Now, I think it's time your precious pumpkin gives me back my head."
The man held up his hand, a light formed in it, then took the shape of a colored locust. The locusts flew to the girl; it missed on purpose at first to scare her, then circled back actually to strike.
The sound of air being cut howled as a knife struck them down before returning to Ash.
"Well, well, someone has come to our party. Sorry, son, but this is invite-only. Be good and run along; you don't need to lose your soul over this."
Ash walked in front of the girl, staring the man down. He knew it just by looking at his face, demeanor, and the collar on his neck. He was an evolved Kraegan. Ash was out of his league, but he wouldn't abandon the girl in need.
"You know I've had a really crappy day, and all I wanna do is stab something repeatedly over and over again, so I'm gonna bleed you dry, you demonic freak."
The Kraegan, even without facial parts, still formed a smile with its smooth face. It fired more locusts as the injured Ash fought back. The girl watched the fight emotionlessly; she only looked away when the pumpkin in her arms whispered to her.
"Is it him? Is he the one you want?" She looked up at Ash, and the whispers continued talking to her. She felt joy inside her; her blank face flashed a smile, her eyes glowing at Ash.
"I found you!"