original

Screw it I'm reposting this

Chapter 1: A Lost Future

"Hey Zeigel, did you get your results already?"

I turned my head to see my friend running towards me with his result slip in his hand.

My name is Zeigel Etend. I'm a 16-year-old student who had just graduated from high school. Today is the day where the graduating students of my school were getting the results of their final exam.

Most students were nervously waiting for their results while the others are relaxed either because they already have an idea of how much they scored and they didn't care about it, or they're just pieces of shit with no future. l recently got mine and I was waiting at the school entrance for my friend Dan who just arrived.

"Yeah, I got mine earlier, although I think I didn't do that well." I said with a sarcastic tone and a smug face.

"Oh cut the crap, just show me how much you scored." Dan replied.

Dan was well aware that I had spent day and night studying for the exam, but even then he didn't expect me to get a near-perfect score for all my subjects.

"That's amazing Zeigel! You even have recommendations for some of the best colleges around here. You might be able to get a job at Eiha Industries after you finished your studies."

Eiha Industries is a massive tech company known for selling the best electronics and they would only hire the best of the best. The people who work there are known for being wealthy geniuses.

Dan was amazed at my accomplishment and kept congratulating me. This was the reaction of most of the students in school after seeing my results, but there are some people I've been itching to show my results to.

"I still can't believe you managed to go from failing all of your subjects to acing all of them."

"Yeah... I still have regrets about the way I acted months ago. I still can't get the image of my parents breaking down in front of me out of my head."

"At least you stopped trying to be a punk and started working hard to make up for the stuff you did. Hey, do I could also land a job at Eiha Industries if I worked hard enough." Dan's eyes were filled with hope and the thought of him getting his dream job made him ecstatic.

"My results are one of the highest, and even then it still won't be easy for me to get a job there, so I'm not sure if someone with your score could..."

Before I could finish, Dan realized what I was trying to say. He scored a B for all of his subjects which obviously isn't as good as mine.

"I can still try! It's not like they would only hire people who did well during high school!" Yeah sure, whatever you say buddy.

Dan and I were running home, eager to show our parents our scores. We ran through an alley that we used as a shortcut between our school and our homes. No one dared to go through the alley because of a rumor going on about people disappearing here.

We once took this shortcut to school after oversleeping. The first time felt kinda scary as we thought something in the alley would jump out and attack us, but nothing happened. The second time, we were still cautious when going through the alley, but again, nothing happened.

We eventually decided that the rumors were nonsense and that we could use this alley whenever we want. I convinced Dan not to tell everyone that the rumors were fake because I would prefer if our shortcut wasn't crowded.

When we entered the alley, we saw policemen discussing something. One of them saw us and approached us.

"You two shouldn't be here, this area is off-limits." Out of curiosity, I asked the policeman why there were police here and what was going on.

"There have been rumors going on about this alley causing the disappearance of many people. At first, we thought it some sort of joke made by pranksters or something, until we started getting reports of people who lived here going missing.

After some investigations we found out that this place was regularly used by members of the Tarsec gang to meet up, so we figured that they may have been the ones involved in these disappearances."

The Tarsec gang is an infamous gang feared by everyone in the country. Even the police are having a hard time dealing with them. Each member has the symbol of their gang tattooed somewhere on their body to show their loyalty. They have caused the deaths of a lot of people and destroyed many small businesses, yet somehow they always get away. Recently their activity has declined and more of them are getting caught by the police, which has put the country somewhat at ease.

I've always hated that stupid gang every since I was a kid. Because of them, I've lived my childhood in fear that they would either kill me or someone in my family. They've already killed students from my school so it's possible that they would also kill me and my family too if we encountered them. It's not fun constantly being nervous whenever you're outside.

I can still vividly recall the time when a shirtless middle-aged man came flying out a window and landed in front of me and my mother. His body was covered in stab wounds and one of his eyes was gouged out. He begged for help and tried to reach out to my mother before bleeding out and dying before my eyes. All of this happened when I was only six, and it wasn't the last time I would see a dead body.

The Tarsec gang often leaves the mutilated bodies of their victims in the middle of the street either as a warning or a threat to their rivals, so it was a pretty common sight for me to see. Eventually, I got so used to it that I wasn't even bothered when I passed by a dead body.

I can't say it's a benefit since I often find myself questioning if I'm normal because of it. Kids shouldn't be fine with seeing a dead body and yet, I was. Dan never got used to the sight of a dead body so every time he saw one, he would cover his eyes and run as fast as he can away from it. Sometimes he would even cry after that.

Finding out that the alley was used by Tarsec gang members was quite frightening for us since we both could've been attacked every time we walked through this ally.

"We need both of you to leave this area immediately and make sure you never come back here again. Tell your friends and family not to enter this alley as well, understood?"

We nodded and left the area. We continued running home until we reached our houses. Dan lived next to me so we both waved each other goodbye before we entered our houses.

When I opened the door, I saw that my relatives of my mom and dad were here. Apparently they were invited over to see how well I did for the finals, and it was clear that everyone was eager to find out how much I scored for the finals.

"So I heard that you got your results back today." My mom said, barely containing her excitement.

Everyone in the room expected me to score well after all the bragging my parents did about me working hard. I couldn't hold back a smile as I gave my result slip to my mom.

My Mom placed the result slip on the table, and after a moment of silence to read it, everyone exploded into cheers and joy as they started taking turns to hug and congratulate me.

We all started laughing and celebrating my achievement. The ones who were the happiest about this were my parents. They cried tears of joy as their son who was previously just a disappointment has now managed to make them so proud.

My mom and some of her relatives were going to cook a feast tonight to celebrate, while everyone else went to set up a party and buy gifts for me. It was painful experiences like my parents breaking down into tears in front of me and joyous moments like these that push me to work hard and make sure that I'll never let my family suffer again.

I went into my room to get changed. After putting down my bag, I can't help but think about all the things that were going to happen in the future. I was giddy and can't wait to see what will happen to me in a few years.

I closed my eyes and threw myself onto my bed to relax. My body didn't hit anything for several seconds and I felt like I was falling. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I fell through a portal that opened up above my bed when I threw myself onto it.

I was scared and confused, I lost sense of reality and my life started to flash before my eyes as I kept telling myself that I'm going to die. Light appeared below me, and soon after, I lost consciousness and blacked out.