"MART! If you don't pay your debt this last of November, then consider your manhood gone by this hand!"
A loud banging echoed through the thin walls of the house. Each sound of the fist hitting against the door made it shake as if it would break any second.
"Response you little shit! And by the way, clean your fucking house, man, it stinks!" the black man shouted again, his voice filled with disgust.
The noise spread across the neighborhood, drawing attention very fast.
"Looks like that rapist gets what he deserved!"
"For real, I even heard he beat up students at Star senior high school and steal their money even though he is rich"
"Yeah, serves him right! Hahaha. If his family wasn't rich in the past, he'd already be caught in jail by now! But now he is spineless to even show his face hahaha".
As the mockery grows louder. The sound reached the black tattoo man, making the man notice and then curse under his breath because the neighbors had seen him. Making him go away immediately.
-----
As the footsteps eventually faded. Someone chuckles in the dark room.
"Hehehe, I hope my debt would be cleared with this, right, Rachel?"
Inside the room, someone was sitting in a chair. That's when we finally see him.
A messy black-haired boy, sunken eyes that look like he has not slept for a few days, pale skin that looks like he is sick. And a bruise lingered on his cheek, and the most important detail was that he was wearing a birthday hat.
He sat on the edge, staring at multiple headless bodies around the table and the girl who looked like she was crying.
"Please just spare me, So PLEASE! PLEASE! dont kill me!
Shouted the girl
"You know, no matter how much you begged, no matter how much you bring up our past, and no matter how many lies you think about what we had before...
The boy closed in her face
"It all dont matter now."
As the boy said it, the face of the girl slowly turned burned, and her body was replaced by a stick upon which her head was impaled. As if the girl being alive was all but a dilution. As Mart remembered this, he quietly said.
"Right... I killed her hehehe. Man, I must be going crazy if I still remember her words... still thou. How did it all come to this, Rachel…?"
---
It wasn't always like this.
He remembered her.
Rachel.
We met on a normal day. She goes near me and has a chat with me, saying I was interesting. Then we talked, and somehow I did not stutter or embarrass myself in front of her.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks into months.
We laughed together. Ate together. Talked about dreams and the future.
Our chemistry felt real.
Or at least… that's what I believed.
---
After months had passed, I slowly felt we were drifting apart. Because whenever I am talking, she is always on her phone chatting with someone. Of course, I told her who she was texting, but like always, I believed her words. She said it's her cousin from Texas. Even though it felt suspicious, I did not even doubt about it, because I firmly believed that our chemistry together would always be forever...
----
Then came that NIGHT.
"Rachel I have to go," Mart said, grabbing his jacket. "Mom… she was in a coma. I need to go to the hospital"
Rachel looked concerned. Too concerned. She did not even look up from her phone.
"Go. I'll be here," she said softly.
He left thinking that she must be busy chatting again with her friends... Oh, how naive I was...
---
But I should have known that fate had other plans.
I returned earlier than expected. I was tired and despairing, It is because I received the news that my mom has only 2 months left to live. As I go near my home. I noticed the door was slightly open. Then I heard someone.
Voices.
Laughter.
Moans.
My heart dropped.
Slowly… I pushed the door.
And there it was.
Rachel.
With multiple strangers.
Their bodies tangled. Their faces are close to each other.
And then something slowly breaks.
---
He didn't even remember how he reacted.
But he remembered the pain.
The shouting.
And then—
Darkness.
---
When I woke up, my body ached.
Bruised. Beaten.
Rachel stood there, arms crossed, eyes cold.
"I never loved you" she said flatly.
"What I needed… was your inheritance. Your family's money."
The boys laughed behind her.
"But looks like the cat is out of the bag, ain't that right, Mart?"
She said with a soft smile. Like every time I talk to her
---
Something inside me again broke that day.
But not completely.
Not yet.
---
He fought back the only way he knew how.
A lawsuit.
Against Rachel.
Against the boys.
He wanted justice.
He wanted the truth.
---
But truth didn't matter.
Not anymore.
Rachel accused him first.
"HE RAPED ME AND THREATENED ME IF I TELL ANYONE! MARTIN, JACOB, WILLIAM, AND THE OTHERS JUST PROTECTED ME BECAUSE I TOLD THEM!"
The boys followed.
"She bullied Rachel!"
"She threatened Rachel!"
Lies piled on lies. They spread it like a virus, spreading the information to every person I know, even to my close friends and relatives. Of course, some doubted the accusations, but with a little fake acting by Rachel, their accusations suddenly pointed at me. Then suddenly, only my dad is the one who believes in me.
---
Mart was cleared.
His father was a powerful lawyer who handled everything. Pointing out the lies they said
The case collapsed.
He walked free.
---
But freedom didn't mean peace.
Months passed.
The whispers never stopped.
"That's him."
"The rapist."
"The abuser."
"He got away because their family has a connection."
Every street.
Every corner.
Every stare.
---
Then—
Another blow.
His father.
Got hit by a truck.
Gone.
Just like that.
---
After Dad died, everything fell apart.
Hospital bills piled up for his mother.
Mart was still a student.
No income.
No support.
And all of his inheritance has gone to hospital bills.
So he did the only thing he could.
He borrowed money.
From banks.
From people he shouldn't have.
From the mafia.
---
Debt chained him tighter than any prison.
And still…
It wasn't enough.
---
His mother died.
Quietly.
Leaving him completely alone.
---
Days later—
They came.
Rachel.
And the boys.
Standing in front of his house like vultures.
"Still alive?" one of them mocked.
"You don't deserve to be," Rachel added with a smirk.
"Why don't you just disappear already? Just like your parents hahaha"
Their laughter echoed in my mind.
Again.
Again.
Again.
---
Something inside Mart finally snapped.
Completely.
---
That night—
Silence returned to the neighborhood.
But not the peaceful kind.
---
One by one…
They disappeared.
The boys.
Rachel.
Gone.
---
Mart stood in the darkness, hands trembling.
Breathing heavily.
Eyes empty.
No anger left.
No pain.
Just… nothing.
---
He looked up at the corpse in front of him.
For the first time in a long time.
And thought—
"It's my birthday tonight huh…"
---
Then another thought followed.
"Lets celebrate it..."
---
And for the first time—
Mart smiled.
Not out of happiness.
But because there was nothing left to feel.
---