Chapter 01: An Unfamiliar World

A cold breeze blew through my hair, snowflakes dartled down leaving a fresh trail of white as it covered the sides of the streets during this bright and shiny winter day.

Outside there was no one to be found...

Silence filled the reaches of the streets,

only to be broken by occasional rustling of leaves as the freshly fallen snow became to heavy to hold, the cracking of snow being pushed together could be heard over the freezing cold winds as they swept the snowflakes further than the eye could see.

Curious how the crystals would taste, I stuck out my tongue. The snowflakes dartled down on my tongue soundlessly melting, as they left only but a droplet of water. Just then a pile if snow to heavy to hold by the tree branches fell on top of me.

"Cold!"

Being bright and cheerful, I couldn't care less about my short blond hair getting all wet, brushing the melting snow away without a care in the world I styled it on the spot resulting in spikey brushed back hair. My light blue eyes brimmed with life realizing I had nothing to stress about anymore. Finally finishing school I slacked a well deserved sigh of relieve enjoying my new found free time.

"Woohoo!"

Playing all kinds of games, having movie and series marathons. You name it. Knowing I had all the time in the world, the excitement became almost to much to bare as I couldn't wait to start.

Thinking of gaming, what would my online team mates be doing? I always did love to play against or together, sharing my experiences with the community online.

You see there is something peculiar about me,

I wasn't like any other average person.

Not because I was extremely talented or had dashing looks or an unavoidable presence.

It was because of something else, something most people might not be struggling with until they became old or when being unfortunate getting into an accident.

I am telling you this because, most people won't... keeping it to themselves wanting to be noticed, but not me I will get myself noticed by expressing all the good and bad things about myself. So that I can go trough life knowing there is nothing to worry about, so that I can have the confidence to go out and share my experiences with the world.

You see... it was because I always struggled with walking, not learning to until the age of two, even then struggling more than most. Falling down after a few steps, which is why my parents arranged the use of a wheelchair for the long distances outside seeing as it did not improve over time.

Being born to early I easily caught the tiniest of sparks that could make me sick, resulting in spending my first two years being constantly sick.

Not giving up, I fought my way up enjoying my life to the fullest, always with a smile on my face.

While I was able to walk inside the house now, as these were always short distances.

After a few steps, I was always able to grab onto the walls, chairs, tables or couches to find my way around the house and prevent me from falling.

Because of this, it was rare to see someone like me in a wheelchair I mostly was the centerpiece of attention in school for both positive and negative experiences, there where even those who dared to bully a poor young man like me by pushing me out of my chair, laughing as I froliced like a fish would gasp for air on the drylands. Struggling to get back to the chair.

This happened occasionally and stopped rather quickly as I didn't take these actions lightly.

There where even times when I let it seem as if I fell out of my chair just to catch the bully off guard and counter his actions, pulling him to the ground on equal footing. As you can see, I knew how to defend myself... But don't mind me, we are getting off topic.

As I live on my own now no one can bother me. Especially now that I finally finished school.

It was time to focus on one of my hobbies. Gaming!

Strategically building armies and conquering the opponent, slowly observing, finding the weak spots and exploiting them to the road of victory.

Like I did with the bullies haha. Always learn from your experiences, good or bad. Because there is always a reason behind the actions of the individual.

As I learned this rather fast in real life anything goes in the battle for survival. In this urban jungle, the same rule applies, the survival of the fittest.

[Captured the enemies Base]

"Man, I wish I could share these experiences with someone battling together, sharing creativity and opinions. That would be great".

Because of my chair I never really got the chance to approach women either let alone find the courage to talk to them. The weirdest thing thought... was that for some reason they always approached me, wanting to help me and telling me that I was cute.

However... when I actually found the courage,

I got shot down because of this damned chair. This left me scarred, making myself into the biggest obstacle. I should never have let that come so far.

Maybe the biggest problem, was that I just didn't pick up on the signs they gave off.

"I wish I had a chance to gain the strength and confidence needed to walk this earth being proud of life... Ah... who am I kidding? I shouldn't bitch about this stuff and just grab the changes when the time is right. At least... that's what I should be doing."

Frustrated and upset, knowing I shouldn't worry about these things I went to the fridge to grab something to drink and eat as it was getting late. On my way there I opened the fridge to find that there was nothing left to drink or eat for that matter.

"Empty? Hmm... must have been that time again? Seems I have to grab something to eat and drink from the convenience store at the other side of town... oh well...".

I looked at the clock in my room. with big, bright numbers, you could read the time.

[00:00]

"Midnight".

I grabbed my wallet, picked up my keys from the table and put on a comfortable leather jacket for the freezing cold outside. You know, the ones with warm Woolley filling inside. Man, they are the best for these cold winter days I tell you!

"Since it's so cold outside I'll have to get warm cocoa before I go to bed, maybe it's a good idea to combine it with some kebab, right? Since I aced my exams I should allow myself a special treat once in a while".

Making my way to the 24/7 Convenience Store I decided to take a short cut through the park as it would normally be rather quiet during these times.

Upon entry, there was no one to be found in the park. Completely abandoned, not even any stray birds, dogs or cats could be found at this hour.

Absolute silence...

Thinking of this... Not even the fountain in the middle was pouring out the water. Silence... Except... in the distance, rustling of leaves as a gust of wind gently blew past the trees.

The silence almost felt calming as I knew no one was anywhere to be found for meters on end.

[00:18]

It was past midnight when I finally arrived at the convenience store and found what I wanted, deciding to head back to my warm, comfortable and cozy home.

Since the route through the park was rather relaxing and quiet I decided to venture through it once more.

Before entering the park I realized I forgot my late night snack and went to the restaurant of an acquaintance of mine. For some reason,

he always opened the shop around midnight and stayed open till 04:00.

I won't tell anyone how to run a business but, I can tell you his family restaurant was booming.

Here in the city, it was common sense to smoke or eat weed in any way possible.

And seeing as most people get the munchies during such a session he thought it would be a killer idea to open a shop with some of the best munchies recipes he could think of.

For example, he had something called the hair salon.

It was a blend of french fries, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber with a topping of sliced lamb meat on a bed of cheese. roasted in the oven till perfection marinaded in garlic saus. Thinking about it already made my mouth water. 

But what made the man a genius is that he also had a version with rice instead of french fries. Thinking about this only made my mouth water more.

After a little while, I finally had everything I wanted and decided to go back home through the park.

When entering the park on my way back I could swear that I heard something... shouting...? Voices of people nearby...

"looking at the time they would probably be drunk or stoned."

I giggled at the second thought knowing how epic it was.

I was almost at the center of the park when I got closer to the voices. Getting a better grasp of the noice. I was confused... before it sounded more friendly but now someone was screaming... shouting even.

"Help! Don't touch me you creep... let go of me!"

Curious about what was going on I made my way towards the screaming, but made sure to not be spotted.

"Sure, being all stealthy with your wheelchair, just like at work. No one spots you until you speak to them haha." "No! Let me go!! I don't want this!!".

"Girl, come play with us tonight, you seemed rather lonely crying your heart out all by yourself at such an hour in this park. Come on, let us keep you company."

A Male voice said. As I closed in on them I noticed that there was another person there.

It was another man that tried to bother the young lady all dressed up in a chestnut red dress wrapped tight around her body, high heels and white woolly short jacket. 

"No! Not with pigs like you!! Thinking this couldn't get any worse... why did you have to bother me?"

The woman screamed, trying to get away from them.

"How dare you call us pigs?! It seems we have to teach you some manners".

One of the men took on a stance as he ferociously threw a punch at her with balled fist. Scared, the woman fell on the ground. Yet this was only the beginning for these filthy, bullies.

the other man reached in his pocket, pulling out brass knuckles and putting them on, wanting to strike at the woman on the ground. Closing in on them it appeared I was just in time to block the path of the thug's fist. The thug must have hit the iron part of my chair as his hand got hurt and the brass knuckle fell on the ground.

"Who are you?"

The other person asked shocked about the fact that he didn't notice me approaching them and blocking their strike even though I barely did anything.

"None of your business!

Why are you bothering this lady? Can't you see she clearly doesn't want what you want? Rather she even wants to be left alone.

"None of your business pall, we found her first.

Get out of the way and we will let you go, if not... then get ready for the beating of your lifetime". As I was helping the woman to stand I blocked the path of the two man, making sure she could get away.

"Quick, Run! I'll hold them off!"

The girl nodded and running into the darkness hoping for safety. Now I still needed to deal with these two thugs. Preparing myself for the worst, thinking to myself Can I do this? Why didn't I just leave? What did I get myself into?

The thugs both rushed in, wanting to grab the woman. Knowing what they wanted to do I pushed my chair with all my might towards one of the thugs. Crashing into its Achilles-heel. Screaming in pain the thug fell to the ground.

"Aaahhh! Fucker... I will get you for this!!"

I tried my best, blocking the other thug's fists with my hands and chair, trying to counter his moves, the first few strikes seemed to be an even match as I was able to block and strike right back, even punching the thug several times in the gut as he too, fell to the ground.

I could have sworn that I heard their bones crack when they hit my metal frame with full force. It seemed one of the two was immobilized for now as he was still screaming in pain having a bone fracture in his hand.

The other noticed I used my chair that way and tried to attack me from the side. I could keep up if it was just one... a bit longer and help might arrive. Keep going, you can do this!

Closing in a bavked away dodging his strikes, one after another. As the thug stumbled i closwd in on him hittimg him with the front of my metal frame.

During this time the thug that got his hand hurt stood up and joined the fight again. Even if I had an advantage till now.

It looked like I had a chance seeing one of them had only one arm he could use.

Still... it proof to be a challenge, rather becoming gradually more difficult as time went on...

It was impossible for me to hold back the sheer strength of two against one as it had proven to be too difficult to handle. I could collect a few punches but my muscles were no match for the brass knuckles.

Strike after stike the metal hit my arms damaging me over time.

I focused on the least hurt one, he threw a right hook. I dodged and countered with a full force uppercut, this threw the thug off guard and on the ground. He instantly stood up as this got him pumped.

"Ah! Trying to be a bokser now?! Hahaha, vome at me then."

Experiencing my fist first hand he knew not to get too close anymore. It seemed one of them was a quick learner. They had a huge advantage over me.

They were quick on their feet. The thug realized this and switched to hit and run tactics. Whenever he came to close I tried to throw a punch, yet I hit nothing but air as I wasn't as quick as them.

Blocking blow after blow with my arms I could swear I heard the bones in my arms crack.

It was now or never, I had to do something.

As a last resort, I decided to crash into them with full force. This gave me an opportunity, but I fell head first on the ground without one of them under me.

I tried to pick myself up seeing as this happened to me a lot in college and even high-school. One of the thugs threw a punch at my liver making me curl up om the ground, I turned to my other side trying to lessen the damage.

"Aaargh! Damn you bastards! If only I could stand up right now... I would have had a better chance at this... Damn my legs! If they weren't paralyzed I could have done better! I could have stood up right now and keep going..."

One of the thugs got behind me and held my arms back. While the other mercilessly started punching my face, stomach, and chin. Punch after punch landed as I was beginning to vomit blood.

With the final blow, the thug that held my arms let go of me. This gave the blow extra backlash crashing my head into the concrete street.

Unable to move, or even stand. I wept about my own helplessness the thugs spit on my body and laughed as they walked away leaving me for dead.

"It hurts... I only wanted to help... seems I shouldn't have.."

I tried to lift my arms, heavy as they felt I knew they were broken. Intense pain shot through my arms up to my back whenever I tried to move my arms or fingers for that matter. Still, I mustered up all strength I had feeling around my body... I wasn't about to die... yet.

It seemed I had a few broken ribs as well as a broken jaw and internal bleeding. As I felt around I noticed it took too much effort to keep them moving.

As they became heavier and heavier with each movement. It appeared my arms took a pretty big beating seeing as they got broken,

even my legs got hurt by the fall.

I remembered them stepping on my legs as I was unable to do anything about it.

Is there anything I can do as I lay here on the ground?

*cough... cough*

Blood gushed out of my thoughts as I kept coughing.

I tried reaching for my phone to call nine one one, but no movement... I kept coughing up blood because of the internal bleeding. One of my ribs apparently pierced my lungs so I couldn't even grasp for air. This left me feeling cold, dizzy and sleepy.

"Don't give up, there might be a chance someone walks by and helps you. Ah, who am I kidding...

no one in their right mind would walk through the park at this hour. Not to mention they would come to save me in this cruel world...

Well... at least I was able to save that woman,

I hope she is okay. Given the chance I would have done things differently, bringing more happiness to the world".

I closed my eyes thinking that I did something right today. It's a shame that it had to end this way...

The freezing cold outside together with the temperature drop that I felt because of the internal bleeding became unbearable.

I could not fight the growing sleepiness that creeped in on me as time passed by.

Deciding it was best to give in to faith.

One last spark of self-consciousness tried to hold on to the last shimmer of life as it left my body.

"This..this cannot be the end... What I wouldn't do for another chance at life..."

As I lay there on the ground with death slowly closing in on me, I heard a voice.

"You are worthy, I'll give you a second chance. But know we will meet, nevermore."