• Defying Fate

    Naoki was sixteen years old. She had lived a hard life with losing her mother and her two brothers in a fire and then having her father commit suicide a year later. She was sent to go live with her grandparents because her aunt and uncle died in a car crash several years back. Two years after she moved in with her grandparents, a man with a gun came into their house at night, shot her grandparents, broke several of Naoki’s ribs and her arm, and also fractured her jaw. He then took off with several thousand dollars worth of fine jewelry, stolen right off her grandmother’s corpse.
    Naoki sat there on the street freezing. There was no place for her to go. She was just thrown out onto the street and forgotten about after her grandparent’s death. The jury voted that she be thrown out on the street and the judge made it final. She inherited nothing from her family, it was as if she didn’t exist. She was always looked over and unheard by her family, it was like she was a ghost. Now she practically was, living on the snow covered streets and begging people passing by for spare change. In the small town of Lexmark, everybody was hardened and would walk right past homeless people without taking a second glance.
    “Sir, do you have any spare change, please sir, I’m starving?” asked Naoki desperately, not having eaten anything for two whole weeks but the core of a half eaten apple and a small, nearly empty bag of chips that were stale. All the water she had to drink was frozen snow, but most of it was plowed off the street and black with salt in it which only made her thirstier so she had to constantly wander to find a spot of snow that was fresh and untouched by people.
    “No, get off of me you filthy slob, go get yourself run over, it would do us all a favor so we wouldn’t have to look at your hideous presence anymore,” hollered the man delivering a sharp kick to Naoki’s side, making her fall back into a pile of garbage.
    Naoki watched coldly as the man strode off, eager to get away from her. He was probably heading home to take a nice hot shower and forget about all his troubles. What Naoki would do to have a nice hot shower, and scrub all of the filth that she’d been living in for the last seven months off of herself. Unfortunately for her, that was just a hopeless dream. It was so long since she last felt happiness, she couldn’t even remember what happiness felt like. Seldom did she even get to sleep because there were too many people roaming the streets that would jump you and steal the clothes off your back if you dozed off for even a second. It had happened to her far too many times, she had even been raped right on the street, but nobody cared, nobody tried to help her. That is why she only cares for herself, because if she develops any kind of relationship, it too will be crushed into a thousand tiny forgotten pieces and add another reason for her to hate life in general.
    Naoki then walked into a deep, dark alley. Usually she would have been holding the handle of her seven inch knife for protection, but now she had nothing to lose. She had lost everything, her family, her friends, her home, what else could happen. She wasn’t afraid to go up to a man and punch him, there wasn’t anything bad that could happen to her that hadn’t already. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind by what felt like a large muscular hand. It swung her around to reveal a buffed boy with a knife that looked to be a few years younger, glaring at her.
    “Give me all your money,” ordered the boy aggressively.
    Naoki laughed without humor. “I have nothing, otherwise I wouldn’t be living out here on the streets every damn day freezing my a** off!” Yelled Naoki practically spitting the words out.
    “S-Sorry,” pleaded the boy, shrinking back because of her fierce words.
    “Don’t be, you couldn’t do anything to upset me anymore than I already have been. Nothing matters anymore, I’m just wasting away the days now, just waiting for my death to come,” replied Naoki emotionlessly.
    “Why don’t you do anything?” asked the boy timidly, afraid that she could pull out a knife and kill him.
    “What is there to do, there is no fun to be had, there is no food to eat, no house to inhabit, there is no reason for my existence anymore.”
    “Now you’re just depressing me.”
    “Good, maybe you will wise up and see the truth.”
    The boy shrunk back into his jacket again as Naoki’s piercing eyes fixed on his. He smiled sympathetically at her. Naoki watched coldly, then a smirk crossed over her face.
    “What is so funny?” urged the boy.
    “You are. You walk around like there is still hope left for you when in reality we’re probably just going to get run over by some careless drunk driver and forgotten about altogether. They probably won’t even put us in a graveyard. They will just throw us in some dumpster in some deserted alley and let us rot away.”
    “You really think so?”
    “Absolutely, when people look at you do they smile, do they offer you food? They could care less about us, they could care less if we get shot up in the middle of the street.”
    “I know a place that can help us, a place that we can live in. Come with me, I’ll show you the way.”
    Naoki laughed again coldly. “You don’t get it, it’s too late for me. Every person I strike up a relationship with dies. I am sick of seeing that happen, that is why I live solely for myself.”
    “Well, fine, then I will follow you around, we will support each other.”
    “What part of that last sentence did you not understand? If you follow me around you will end up like all the others, DEAD!”
    “I don’t care, it’s friends till the end.”
    “That won’t be long, within two weeks tops, you’ll be dead, I guarantee it.”
    “Just watch, I’ll be fine,” said the kid smiling courageously.
    Naoki grinned. “I hope your right kid, by the way, what’s your name?”
    “It’s Mike.”
    “I’m Naoki, stay here, I’ll get us some food.”
    She walked to a butcher’s shop and went around the back. There she waited for about five minutes until a truck came in with a load of meat. The driver got out of the back and began carrying the meat inside. Naoki then dashed into the truck and grabbed four boxes of steaks and ran back to the alley where she left Mike.
    “Steaks, how did you get those?” asked Mike with wide eyes?”
    “Heh, I guess since I have somebody that I’m trying to keep alive, my protective instincts kicked in.”
    “Awesome, lets eat,” said Mike with gleaming eyes.
    Naoki sat back with a raw steak and bit into it. It wasn’t very good, but compared to what she was used to it was a five star meal. She watched as Mike gobbled his down and went for another one from the box. Naoki smiled and took another as well. After they each had three, Naoki closed the box and hid it away under some bushes so they could come back to it. She then turned to Mike.
    “So Naoki, what do we do now?”
    “There isn’t much to do. Tell me about your life, I’m curious.”
    “Well, I was born here in Lexmark. I’m fourteen, my parents died when I was thirteen, and I’ve been living on the streets ever since.”
    “I’m sixteen and my mother and my two brothers died in a fire when I was twelve, and my father committed suicide a year later. I was sent to go live with my grandparents because the rest of my family was already dead. After two years of living with them, they died too. I was thrown out on the street because there was no place for me to go.”
    “Wow, so you have nobody?” asked Mike sadly.
    “No. What about you, what happened to the rest of your family?”
    “Well, my sister is living in England right now, but she is supposed to come and get me in three months. I just have to stay alive until then.”
    “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you alive until then, I promise.”
    “Thanks Naoki, when she comes to get me, you have to come with me.”
    “No deal, if I can even keep you alive until then, it’ll be a miracle, but then if I go with you, both you and your sister will end up dying. I have a curse on me, and I won’t let you die.”
    Three months later.
    “I can’t believe that Lilly is coming tomorrow!” cried Mike overjoyed.
    “Yeah, I just can’t believe that I managed to keep you alive. Your sister will be so happy to see you.”
    “Yeah, I’m going to go get us a few hot dogs with the five dollars we found yesterday.”
    “Alright, hurry back, I’m starving.”
    Naoki sat back, proud of herself that for once somebody that she got close to didn’t die. Suddenly her eyes widened as she heard screaming from the direction that Mike went. She sprung to her feet and drew her knife. She tore after Mike. She arrived in an alley to see two dark shapes standing over Mike’s lifeless body.
    “Hey look, we got another one, maybe this one has some cash too,” said a deep voice coming from one of the men. They were both tall, muscular, and armed with knives.
    “How dare you kill him, just when I almost succeeded. I gave everything I had to protect him and now he is dead. Now your time is up!” yelled Naoki, her voice cracking on those last words.
    She ran towards them and dodged a stab to the neck and pounded the slightly taller one in the jaw with her fist and then sunk her dagger into his throat. She then turned to the other one who had turned to flee after seeing his friend fall in defeat. She kicked his legs out from under him and sent him sprawling for the ground.
    “Why did you kill him?” demanded Naoki.
    “W-we just wanted the m-money,” pleaded the man trying to press further into the ground away from Naoki’s furious expression.
    “So you killed him! Now it’s your turn to die!” bellowed Naoki ripping her dagger through his chest, spilling a pool of fresh blood. She then fell to her knees.
    “I was so close, I could have gotten him there, if only I had gone with him. Why does this always happen to me? No, it’s my fault, I promised him and myself that I would keep him safe and I failed. How am I going to explain this to his sister?”
    Naoki drug herself up off the ground and went to look over Mike’s body. There was no pulse.
    “I told you so, I told you that you wouldn’t make it,” said Naoki, “and I’m sorry, it’s my fault, I promised. I’m sorry.”
    She made her way to where she had been sleeping. She crawled up into a ball and lay there motionless. “This is a curse, I can never have a relationship again. She then looked up angrily. She shouted towards the heavens.
    “How dare you forge this curse upon me! Oh, what am I thinking, nobody is listening, I’m just wasting my breath. It is pointless to even exist anymore. “
    She then climbed upon the building that she was sleeping by. She stood and watched as the night began to set in. One by one the lights began to flick off in all the shops and the street lights began to flick on. She then leapt off and plummeted to the ground. She smiled.
    “Finally this nightmare will be over.”
    Suddenly a flash blinded Naoki. Everything went black. She stirred for a second and she woke up and there was nothing. She looked around and all there was, empty space. There weren’t even any walls, no color or anything. As far as the eye could see, clear, empty space.
    “Whoa, where am I, and where is everything? Am I dead?”
    “Quite the opposite,” boomed a voice from nowhere, and then a shape appeared.
    Naoki’s eye’s widened. It was hardly a shape. It was there, but it wasn’t. She could see it, but not with her eyes. It was indescribable.
    “What is going on here, nothing makes any sense anymore. Physics or logic don’t even seem to apply here.”
    “I have no name and I might as well not even be here. I do not live, I do not even exist, I am existence itself. I am only a concept. I created and control everything. In fact I even control you, see watch. Suddenly Naoki’s arm swung up and hit her in the head.
    “So it’s you who is responsible for all these deaths in my life?”
    ”Correct, actually, I am the reason you even exist.”
    “Well, how dare you, putting me through all of this suffering and pain!”
    “Actually you aren’t suffering at all, you aren’t even thinking. When I said I control you, I meant it. I am making you think what you think right now. It is as if I am having a conversation with myself and you are my puppet. You are just a lifeless sack of flesh without me. I am just telling myself this right now, you aren’t even hearing this, I am.”
    “Oh yeah, wanna bet?” she raised her voice.
    “What, I didn’t make you say that, how did you do that?”
    “Because I have been through so much suffering that I have realized that nothing matters anymore, whether you made me think it or not. I had nothing to do for quite a while, so thoughts like this crept into my mind constantly. Thoughts that defied logic, physics, and even existence itself. Thoughts that you had no control of and weren’t even aware of. I make my own life and you are not part of it. I will show you that you can’t control me. I am making myself talk, and walk, and think, and you can’t stop me. You can’t because I can understand this sense of nothingness, because I’ve lived it for half of my damn life. “
    Naoki drew her knife and moved towards the concept. She stabbed and it yelled out in pain.
    “See, you are only a concept so you can’t feel pain, but I am defying existence itself, I am defying you, and for ruining my one chance of life, I will ruin you for all of existence.”
    “How dare you, you insolent little brat! You are scum, a mere germ to me.”
    “Well this little germ is carrying one hell of a disease. I can defy you so much, that I can control you. Your entire existence was a lie, everything you knew was a lie, existence is a lie, and most importantly you are a lie, now die!”
    Immediately Naoki felt its presence vanish and she knew that it was gone forever. Somehow she managed to overcome it. She knew that she was all alone. For the very first time in her life, she was completely alone, secluded from everything.
    “I guess that I did it, I battled existence itself, and I won. Now, I will take a break from existence, forever,” said Naoki sounding, for the very first time in years truly happy, then she sent her knife piercing into her heart and everything went black.

    The End