NEW STORY - A.R: 1

 In modern day Tokyo, beneath all the normality and ordinariness, corruption lurks, seeping underneath the city and making its own marks. It grows bigger every minute it is thought about and captures anyone who dares to stand in its way. Its name is unknown. Its face is unknown. Its whereabouts is unknown. The only thing learned is that no one can stand against it for it is darkness itself. And, as it is identified, darkness can be defeated with light – a beacon of hope – but it will still be there, always to return.

Corruption, darkness, gloom, misery, despair, grieve, guilt, regret. It is all those things, but the name is remembered as Rejection, Apathy and Emptiness. Otherwise known as,

Rae.

The alarms blared, piercing the quiet night, like tires screeching to a halt. It illuminated the hallway he walked through, a deep scarlet red that reminded him of the blood currently splattered on his clothes. But he paid no mind to his dirty bodywear. He was already used to this situation; armies of people getting ready to ambush him, guns safely in the hands of hundreds, prepared to shoot when ordered to.

He liked the odds.

He loved a challenge, especially the ones that were hopeless in everyone’s eyes. He loved the feeling of joy when he pulled the challenge by its head and snapped it off; the look on everyone’s faces when they realized that their challenge had been nothing more than a mere obstacle, knowing that they were going to be slaughtered right there and then.

He strode down the hallway, his footsteps drowning in the screams of the sirens. His targets laid behind the door he was approaching. The same door he had walked by several times, looking for the very people that were hiding in there.

He knew now. He knew where his prey was, and he wasn’t going to hesitate. He slowed down his pace as he reached the steel door. There were voices inside, speaking blatantly, unaware that the devil himself stood behind the very door that acted as their protection.

He smiled for two reasons; one, they were incredibly gullible to think that he would not commence a thorough search for them and two, they had underestimated him. Did they really think that he wouldn’t find them? Did they think that he wouldn’t notice the only door closed, locked when everyone else had moved on?

Certainly, they didn’t.

They were supposed to be intelligent; the geniuses of the companies they owned but it did not seem that way. Tired of waiting, he braced himself for the shock, and kicked the door down, slightly amazed at how little force he had had to emit. They turned and faced him, flabbergasted at the scene in front of them.

They had been found out.

The panic and fear on their faces was the very reason he enjoyed his job. He got to see the same expression over and over. One of the men grabbed a nearby pistol and aimed at him but he did not move: his hands were too shaky. There was no chance the man had any hope of getting a hit.

The bullet flew past his head, like a fly moving faster than light.

He got his gun out and did what the man could not. He fell to the ground, blood pooling around his lifeless body. The other one trembled and got down onto his knees.

‘Please! Please! I beg of you! Please spare my life!’ the man shouted, his voice shrill in his ears, ‘I’ll give you anything! Money, fame, power, anything you name! Just please!’

He did not consider fulfilling the man’s pleas, of course.

He had gone through many situations where a person had begged, whether it be because they had family or because they were afraid of death. They died regardless.

And this man would die with the image of his smirking face scorched into his memory.

The man laid unmoving at the feet of him.

He gathered his things and left the room were the two bodies laid underneath the word,

Apathy.