2 The day of the tragedy

Slowly, the days slipped one after another in Jacob's life, shrouded in a fog of sadness and loneliness. Every morning, he woke up knowing it would be another day of being unconsciously pushed aside by his own family. Although he tried to hide his pain behind a mask of indifference, the weight of his parents' indifference and their preference for his twin brother, Ethan, became increasingly unbearable.

That day was no different. Classes passed monotonously, without a glimmer of excitement or human connection. Jacob sat in silence, staring at the board while teachers uttered empty words through the air. Around him, students laughed and chatted animatedly, but he felt like a spectator in his own life, invisible and insignificant.

"I feel so different, I'm really in a dark place..." Jacob took out his book again and started reading for the rest of the classes before lunch.

Lunchtime arrived, and Jacob headed to the cafeteria, feeling a knot in his stomach. He joined the crowd of students, but his attempts to engage in conversation were ignored or met with indifference. Loneliness enveloped him like a cold, oppressive cloak.

That's when his brother Ethan approached, with his dazzling smile and his group of friends around him. The tension between the two was palpable, a reflection of years of rivalry and detachment. A trivial argument quickly turned into a heated confrontation. Hurtful words flew back and forth, fueling the fire of anger burning in Jacob's heart.

Unable to bear the pain and frustration any longer, Jacob took a step back and walked away from the table where his brother and his friends were. He decided to walk home alone later, trying to clear his mind and find a moment of peace amidst the emotional storm consuming him.

As he walked away, Jacob overheard some words from his brother's friends, and Ethan got up with slight annoyance as he chased after his brother.

"Jacob, stop." Ethan pursued his brother into a hallway where there were few students and held his brother by luck: "When will you stop seeking attention with that damn indifferent face? Our parents only talk about your issues and how strange you are. When will you stop behaving like a child?"

Jacob looked his brother in the eyes, smiled slightly, and contained the fury as best he could. His brother didn't understand him, and he even doubted if he realized how he was treated.

After a few seconds, with his fist clenched, Jacob said, "You're a damn nuisance. You can do whatever you want with your life, but don't you dare interfere with my decisions."

With a wave of his hand, Jacob looked at his brother with slight annoyance and to avoid creating a scene for others' amusement, he walked away through the hallways to release his anger in a way that didn't involve hitting someone.

...

After classes ended, since his parents were working and the distance from school to home wasn't great, Jacob walked calmly through the lonely streets of the town.

As he walked through the deserted streets, enveloped in a grayish blanket of melancholy, Jacob felt a presence behind him. He turned his head and saw a group of students, the same ones who had been bothering his twin brother, Ethan. Rage boiled within him, fueled by years of impotence and accumulated pain, adding an uncontrollable desire to satisfy his anger due to the confrontation he had with his brother earlier that morning.

"No, don't do it..." Jacob closed his eyes and clenched his fists as if resisting an inner struggle.

However, after several minutes, he decided to walk down the alley where those students had walked, and his mind filled with what he was about to do.

In a dark and solitary alley, Jacob pursued the students who had been harassing his twin brother, Ethan. His heart raced, filled with anger and determination to protect his brother. As he advanced, the sound of punches and shouts grew louder, and a mixture of fear and concern overcame him.

When he finally reached the end of the alley, the scene he witnessed left him breathless. Six students were surrounding Ethan, mercilessly beating him. His brother was defenseless, desperately trying to defend himself against the brutal attacks. In an instant, adrenaline took over Jacob, and without a second thought, he lunged at the assailants.

The fight was chaotic, with punches and blows flying in all directions. Jacob moved with agility and strength, outnumbering the students with precise strikes, and where his experience greatly surpassed theirs.

Although Jacob wasn't good at academics, he wanted to be a boxer simply to have a goal while he searched for what truly passionate him, but those were just simple classes to stay active while also wasting the extra time he had every day.

Ethan could only watch his brother's eclipsing back; he had never imagined himself fighting in the same way his brother did, but he was also annoyed by how meddlesome this idiot was.

"Damn bastards!" Jacob punched a student in the face; his blow landed directly on the shortest student's nose, and he fell to the ground with a broken nose.

"Ouch! My nose!" Blood started gushing out of the young man's nose, staining his mouth and subsequently his entire face. The boy, feeling the warm stream flowing through his nostrils, sat on the ground, pale with fear, as he tried unsuccessfully to stop the bleeding.

On the other side, Johan received a strong blow to the back with a wooden stick, which immediately made him turn around. After dodging another strike from this coward with the stick, he punched him in the stomach.

However, the situation took a sinister turn when one of the students pulled out a knife and brandished it threateningly.

"Hey, that's enough..." Jacob stopped after seeing this. Things escalated too quickly, so being smart, he decided to stop.

"Is that enough? You broke my friend's nose, so you'll have to pay in the same way."

The tension in the air intensified as Jacob and the student with the knife faced off in a fierce struggle. The gleam of steel reflected in their eyes, and the metallic sound filled the air. They fought desperately, each trying to gain the upper hand over the other.

Now, if Jacob is fighting with this idiotic guy and without any experience in using a knife with his hands, it's because Ethan hadn't gotten up from the ground, and if Jacob runs now, his brother would be in danger.

The student waved his knife back and forth, trying to cut Jacob, but with his basic footwork skills thanks to boxing and proper mouth breathing to maintain the rhythm, he skillfully evaded the sharp cuts aimed at him.

The other students had stopped when they saw one of them pull out a knife, realizing the consequences of their actions. Ethan, on the other hand, took out his phone and called the police. When the others heard that, they started running to the other end of the alley.

But in a moment of confusion and desperation, Jacob and the student got entangled and fell to the ground. It was in that fleeting instant that everything changed.

Jacob knew it. He could feel a cut on his hand and something warm staining the lower part of his chest. The knife involuntarily plunged into the student's body, and a chilling scream echoed in the alley.

A heavy silence settled as Jacob looked horrified at the outcome of his actions. His breath became erratic, and his hands trembled involuntarily as he distanced himself from the convulsing and blood-spitting student. The reality of what had just happened struck him hard, and a torrent of overwhelming emotions consumed him.

At that moment, Jacob's life came to a halt. The weight of what had occurred settled on his shoulders, and the reality of the crime he had committed became evident under the gaze of others. The consequences of that fateful encounter began to unfold before his eyes, and the prospect of an uncertain future filled with regret overwhelmed him completely.

In a state of shock, Jacob could barely process what had transpired. He found himself at a crossroads, trapped between the instinct to protect his brother and the terrible consequences of his actions. The shadow of guilt and remorse loomed over him, and the weight of the tragedy would become his inescapable burden.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

At that moment, the sound of a police siren could be heard in the distance, and some of the students who had been running for a while were filled with fear.

"Ethan... Ethan, are you okay?" Jacob walked toward his brother and lifted him from the ground, but Ethan just kept shaking while his eyes remained fixated on the motionless student on the floor.

"Stay still, don't move!"

Just as Jacob was contemplating what to do next, a stern voice rang out not far away, and as he turned his head, a police officer had apprehended the students who had run, while another officer approached Jacob.

"We have a wounded person, call an ambulance!"

The police officer looked at Jacob and warned, "You two better not move!"

After saying that, the police officer gently moved the head of the student lying on the ground to facilitate breathing, but the bleeding was so severe that it didn't work at all.

Soon, seconds turned into minutes, and with blood on his hands, Jacob looked at the student lying on the ground while the police sirens could be heard in the distance.

"It's going to be okay! Yes, it was just self-defense... Yes, that wasn't my knife..." Jacob consoled himself as he and his brother were led to the back of a police patrol car.