1 Chapter 1 - Agonizing Life.

'To be successful in life' such a scary phrase. That implies sacrifice and effort, since we are children we are taught to work hard for what we have, if you want food you have to earn it if you want to live well you have to work hard, something basic in the commoner lifestyle.

But how about life at the other end full of luxuries, sometimes unnecessary, living without worries. For many, money does not bring happiness, a belief too far from reality, the world moves with money without it, you are weak, you become defenseless, what can you do if you get sick? Or you can't afford the food. The simple fact of existing burns money.

You know it, you understand it. But you can't do anything but watch helplessly as the attempts to improve yourself and be better die halfway, you don't know why. You don't understand the reason, you start to create theories about yourself, 'laziness won't let me' 'next time if I can' 'it's just one more fall' 'trust me I know that next time I'll be able to'.

Thousands of excuses, all giving the same result. But deep down you know it, you feel that something else is happening there comes a moment in life where you ask yourself, are you good for something? From childhood to adolescence, nothing outstanding in life appalling grades below average appearance, ugly plump body to look at you look in the mirror and feel up to yourself.

Time passes, your parents slowly wither away. You look them in the eye and you only see disappointment you try to tell them something but what can you say that you haven't already said? in the silence you feel your soul breaking the forces of your body falter, you lose the shine in your eyes but you cannot do anything you can only be quiet.

Time goes on, never forgive your parents leave this world. You stay alone, the family you have left runs from your house, you try to replicate, but what else can you do? You never left your confinement barely and they remembered your presence, you no longer have anyone to support you, you can only walk down the street wandering senseless, tears fall from your eyes, frustration floods your spirit, you hate yourself. Like the caged bird desperately trying to find a place to hold onto, the days go by, followed by the years.

Finally the 30 you manage to find a place to work. A small barred shop run by an elderly man, your former plump body lost its volume now the bones of the body mark the skin like a flimsy tapestry.

You look like a gentleman in his last days of life. And still, the older man with a smile helps you, eating normal food you take a bath for the first time in a long time. You cut the excess beauty of the body, you smile slightly through tears, it seems that things are finally going well.

The time inside the store began to give you relief, morning talks with the old man made you forget the hell of a life. It's not much but something is good.

But.

Then, she walked through the door, a woman. No older than 32 years old, deep brown hair, beautiful face with fine features, perfectly groomed body dressed in black pants, accentuated by her long legs. Finishing at her small waist, matching a long-sleeved double-cut blouse, multiple gold ornaments on her neck and wrists, her entire persona flattered the attractiveness of a successful woman.

You can feel the air leaving the lungs. With the sudden feeling of panic and shame exploding inside you, you could only stare as she approached you with a bottle of water in her hand when her eyes robotically collided with yours lowering her head. Of all the people, she was the one you would least like to meet again with, Alexandra M'selin Walker, one of the few friends I made in high school.

Also called the 'La beauté du Parcours' the most beautiful girl of the course even if it seems impossible. You formed a friendship with her, she did something ironic but since she cared about you, they came to compare them with the famous Disney children's story Beauty and the Beast. It was not an open secret that you were in love with her no one in that course was not, for some time you came to think that you would have a chance you were convinced, and ready to take the step to ask her to be your girlfriend.

But like everything in your life, it fell apart when one afternoon you accidentally overheard her talking to her friends it was all a lost bet cobra before one of her friends that, to be honest, broke your heart into hundreds of pieces.

After that day, you walked away from everyone and she only needed a few days to lose interest in you, she continued with her life as if she did not exist.

While you were charging the water, you could feel her gaze fixed on you seemed to be struggling to remember. As if your presence reminded her of someone, it was only when you raised your face that her eyes widened slightly.

"Chris?"

The sweet melodic voice escapes the Nose of his lips in surprise, brought you back to reality. You looked at her for a few seconds before trying to control the tremors in your voice.

"Yes?." You answered.

"Oh my god, if it's you I knew you made me known from somewhere."

You could feel your legs shaking from one place to another while you saw her I smiled, all those teasing that her bet caused came to your memory immediately.

"I do I know you?"

"He? You don't remember me? I'm Alexandra. We went to high school together, remember?"

Of course, you remember it, it was the reason for your worst days at the time. "Ah, the truth is that my memories of that time are blurry in general."

A nostalgic look appeared on Alexandra's beautiful face. "That was a long time ago, sometimes I would like to go back to the beginning again you know? I haven't heard from you in years how have you been since then?"

Beginning huh? You would also like that very much "Well ... what about you."

Your voice sounded muffled. Without any strength or encouragement, remembering that time didn't help anything especially with her in front of you.

"Pretty good actually, I got an easy job. Now I am the co-owner of a company my husband is the president oh? I think you remember him is Rhody the boy in our class besides that my son is studying, I think my life is very good."

Every word was like a knife buried in your body Rhody, as forgetting about him was the executioner of your life at that time. He humiliated you in all possible ways, it is almost comical to know this since she was the one who used to defend you from him, coming to fight your pain with words, joining them with the irony of life, right?

"I see ... good for you."

She seemed to have noticed the low mood in you, you can hear a sigh leaving her lips

she knew it well. As you felt I was aware that for you it was the love of your life, the feeling of bitterness and regret flourished in her over the years, she regretted the way she treated me. Even though the feeling remained in her, she also knew that to survive in that world, feelings are useless, that is why she decided to ignore the feelings she developed for you, she wanted a better life for her, her family, and her future children. And you were the springboard for her to achieve it, despite the pain in her heart.

You were used, it used to hurt a lot but over time it stopped feeling. Somehow you understand why he did it, at some point in your life you wanted revenge, but now it doesn't make sense to you the reality is that you are the weak link, the logic of the world is quite simple, the strong eat the weak.

"Chris ... listen to me ... I'm sorry about what I did to you at that time if I ... could change it or if you need money up-."

"It is not necessary."

You didn't know how, but at some point, your body stopped shaking and you just responded.

She seemed surprised by your abrupt cut but you still kept going.

"You just need to worry about your family, doing it for strangers will only bring you bad things."

She opened her mouth trying to say something, but no words came out. I could make out intense signs of guilt and sadness in her eyes as she looked at you. "I ... n-."

"Your change."

You cut the conversation, giving her the change of her purchase you did not want to go through this again. You no longer had anything that they can take from me, people always want something when they do to others, you just wanted her to leave and she will continue with her perfect life enjoying as long as you can.

The place was silent for a few seconds. Just staring into your eyes, she seemed to have caught your intentions so a sigh left her lips as she nodded slightly, she took the container of water, giving you one last look when they were about to leave.

* ALARM SOUND *

Almost as if everything had been prepared, the city's seismic alarm began to sound. Seconds later the floor received a strong shake taking them both to the ground, while the merchandise shelves fell to the ground, there were several seconds in which you were disoriented, when you recovered the seismic movements were only increasing.

You could hear the old concrete of the place creak under the shaking, the constant screams of people making a terrifying contrast to the sound of the alarm. Glasses exploding in all directions your mind took a long time to process where it was until you remembered Alexandra you didn't know how or why but your body got up before you knew it, you were already on the other side looking for her.

"Alexandra !."

You screamed while trying to keep your balance. The creaking of the whole place only served to feed the fear and despair in you.

"Alexandra, where are you !."

You scrambled across the collapsed shelves trying to find any sign of her. Just when the seismic movement was spreading you heard a slight moan in front You almost robotically advanced to move the obstacles. At the end of these you managed to see her lying on the ground, she had a bit of dirt and dust along with blood running through her head.

"Hey, are you okay!?."

You asked while you were picking her up off the ground.

"Y-yeah ... I just have a headache."

You felt a strange relief in your chest when you heard her speak, you did not know why after all you still cared about her like this. And you certainly weren't going to put me thinking about it right now, moving forward with her carrying her princess-style you walked to the exit. Fortunately, the seismic movement had already ended, only the screams remained outside.

"Calm down, everything will be OK."

You tried to be as positive as you can, it is not much but considering that it is you that is already a huge advance. You weren't sure but I could feel her gaze staring at me, you were curious to know what I was thinking but the pain that invaded your body didn't let you think of anything else.

"Well ... we're almost there."

You were happy, you had no apparent reason to be but you still were. That was your fatal mistake.

Because whenever I feel happy, fate makes everything worse.

Tks ... Tksssss ... Tksssss.

The sound that froze your blood, as if time will freeze, only took time to lower Alexandra putting your back like a shield. You tore off your shirt and let it fall on her face. After that came what ended with you.

KBOMMMMM!

The gas tank hose came loose due to the violent shaking. All the material and appliances inside the store were old, there was no way that the owner had money to remodel the place, even though a wall was in charge of dissolving the force of the explosion. It still came to you on your part you only remember feeling a horrible pain you could hear the air buzzing in your ears, the sensitivity of your body was lost almost immediately.

Then all you could hear was the sound similar to that of cardiogram electros.

Ch -....

...

...

...

Chr -..... Chris .....

CHRIS!

A slight sound entered your ears, you could recognize it. The melodic voice that caused so much misfortune as the sweetest moments in your life.

Little by little you opened your eyes, the blurred vision of a face was the only sight you had before you. The beautiful features from before were covered in dust and blood she was saying something but you couldn't understand anything. It was when you noticed strange waterfalls of crystal clear water running down her cheeks, straining your eyes to see her full face.

She was crying, in a way you never thought to see despair, it was painted on her face. But even so with all that it still seemed the most beautiful thing I had seen, ah ... it seems that your time has finally come.

"Chris! ... answer please ... y-you'll be fine okay? ... Just hang on."

You can finally hear her, you smiled slightly, you wanted to touch her face but your hands did not respond, you could feel something penetrating your body, you could distinguish the burnt smell of your skin, underneath you you could not tell if the substance on the floor was the drinks watered or your blood, such both. You tried to move but only made your body contract.

"Hey! ... hey! ... Okay don't move everything will be fine ... someone ... someone will come to help you."

Her voice was starting to fade, in the corners of your vision you could see the darkness advancing you knew you were going to die. You were fine with that I could finally rest from everything.

"Hey ... Ale ... see, I told you that if you do good things for others something bad will happen to you." Your voice was shaking a lot, the sound was a slight snort of breath compared to before but still, you knew that I could understand you before you left I wanted to say something to him, you need to do something inside of you was screaming it at you.

Before she could answer you spoke again "You know ..."

You could see her looking at you still with tears in her eyes.

"Glad to see you again ..."

Ah, your vision darkens, you no longer feel pain, you feel like you are floating. Only in front of you her face, which could have been the center of your life, did the last words leave your lips.

"Y -... you look as beautiful as I remember you ...."

After that, you only remember hearing a whisper as everything faded away for you.

"Sorry ~."

___________________________________

Location - Unknown.

"Huff ..." The sound of a sigh followed by that of a book closing echoed throughout the place.

On the edge of what looked like a huge lake, adorned with incredible natural beauty. Wildflowers of all known colors created a colorful contrast similar to that of a rainbow, these could be seen spread all over the place.

Right in front of this beautiful ethereal landscape, complementing a huge crystalline lake. Inside this b In the water, there seemed to be a thousand stars, like the view of the immense endless of the universe recreated in a lake, the whole landscape, in general, was full of an impossible beauty yet there it was all together in one place.

"My son, what a difficult life you have been forced to live ..."

A voice interspersed with many others resounded loudly causing hello in the crystal clear water. It was as if thousands of voices came together in one giving it a helpless but peaceful sound at the same time.

The person responsible for this was an older-looking man. Long white hair followed by a beard and mustache eyebrows of the same color, the features of his face were unreadable and intermingled with each other, yet he gave the feeling of a kind and understandable old man.

In his hands was a kind of intense black book, if you paid attention, small traces of black mist were fired from it. A sad look could be distinguished on the kind old man as he stared at him blankly.

"Due to the mistake, from this old man you suffered all your life ..."

"But do not worry..."

While he was speaking, an intense golden light was born in his hands where the gloomy book was kept between his grip, in response to intense shaking the book was losing its black color. Until finally little by little I float out of the old man's hands.

Its previous black color changed to an intense gold. Strange you spread them on the cover giving it a divine aspect. This caused a slight smile on the old man's lips.

"Now..."

With a wave of his hand, the book will disappear into nothingness.

"It's time ... for your reward."