Akira had been out for so long after what happened the day before, that by the time he got to the beach it was already noon.
After the old man disappeared, the boy laid down on the shore again, thinking about what had happened.
'So he basically wants me to find my true goal... how?' Said Akira to himself. Wasn't to become the ruler of the streets a good enough goal?
He started thinking about what goal he might possibly have until he eventually fell asleep.
His sleep got interrupted by someone's hand. "Hey, are you ok?" He could hear a man's voice.
Outside was starting to get dark. "Oh, yes. I am fine." Said Akira as he got up, still half asleep.
"You shouldn't sleep like that. You know the waves are bigger and more dangerous at night, right? They might just take you away." Said the man and started laughing.
"Ok." Said Akira without bothering too much and started heading home.
He was planning to jump through the window back to his room so that his parents wouldn't notice him.
As he got closer to his house, he started to feel weird. Something was telling him not to go. A sharp feeling, as if warning him about something.
As he was about to open the door he heard two unknown voices inside. He panicked.
"They don't know anything." Said someone
"They did say it was somewhere hard to find" said an older man. "Have patience."
Akira started sweating. Who was there? He wondered what happened to his parents. He was... 'Scared? Why am I scared? I don't give a fuck about them, do I?' Thought the boy as his legs started to tremble.
A moment later, the door opened. The next thing the boy saw was something hitting his head, then his vision turned black.
He woke up being tied down, in the middle of the house. In front of him were two guys, with black masks staring at him. Behind them, there were his parents and sister, also tied and unconscious. Just as Akira tried to open his mouth, he realized it was tied as well.
The older voice spoke. "We just want to ask some questions, okay? Don't worry, they are safe, and so are you... assuming you answer our questions."
He came closer to Akira. "If you try to shout or anything, I'm going to kill your family." He said while untying the boy's mouth.
"What do you want?" Asked Akira, his voice trembling.
"Where is your grandpa's diary?" Said the man in a menacing tone. Diary? What diary? Akira had no idea what the man was talking about.
The man sat down in front of him. "I'm going to kill your family."
"Wait, wait!" Said Akira, straight up panicking. "I have no idea what you are talking about!" He whispered. The man took off his mask. He was a middle aged man but Akira couldn't see properly through the dark.
"Hey, what are you doing!" Said the other man, scared.
"Look, I don't want to do any of this, but if you won't answer... I will be forced to."
"I told you I don't fucking know what you are talking about!" Shouted Akira.
The man took some tape out of his pocket and taped the boy's mouth shut. "Plan B."
He sighed as he turned to the other guy.
The younger man raised a finger and pointed it towards Akira's parents, who were still unconscious. The boy's heart froze.
Why? Did he really care about them? There was no way. They hated him, didn't they?
In those moments, it felt like Akira's mind was filled with different moments from his life. Everything he has done. Everything his parents did.
No... It was his fault.
There was a loud sound, like a gunshot.
It felt terrible. His blood froze, and it felt like his heart stopped as well. The boy's brain couldn't understand what happened, as if it didn't want to understand. Tears started to roll down his face, as he was powerlessly watching the two men.
"Let's go." Said the older man as the younger one picked his sister, put her on his shoulder and left the house.
Then he turned towards Akira.
"Since it has got to this, we would like to prevent any sort of killing spree in seek of revenge from you." He said while getting a lighter out of his pocket. "All the house is covered in gasoline."
Akira could just stay there, shocked, unable to do anything.
"You couldn't tell because of a small spell we placed on you." Continued the man, seemingly eager to finish his job.
'Well... It doesn't matter. I have no real reason to live anymore, might as well just burn to death.' Thought Akira as the man lit the house on fire.
'I am so tired after today.'
There he was, sitting in the middle of the room, alone, about to die. His eyes filled with tears again as he looked at his parents slowly burning.
'I can't watch this.' The boy closed his eyes, trying to hold back tears.
The fire was slowly starting to burn Akira's hands.
"No." He whispered. "This hurts too much"
In that moment, he felt something strange. Something he has never felt before. A desire. A strong desire, to live.
Akira smirked. The two men completely overlooked the possibility that he could escape easily. He just had to use magic to break free. But his smile quickly disappeared. The boy couldn't do it. No matter how much or what he tried, nothing happened.
Then it hit him. Just like on the beach, he was usually using magic on instinct, but nothing happened when he really tried to make something happen.
"Fuck!" He yelled, as he put his hands in the fire as a desperate attempt to burn the rope that tied his hands. The pain was nothing like he has ever felt, and despite almost losing his voice from screaming, he eventually did it. He proceeded to untie his legs, ignoring the sharp pain in his arms.
He got up, and without looking around, left the house. He looked at his hands. The skin was mostly burned, and even the cold air outside was hurting like hell.
Then he noticed a crowd of people looking at him. There were a lot of families, kids, parents. He got furious.
"Why are you fucking watching?" He yelled, starting to shed tears again. "Why do you stupid kids get to sit there with your parents watching me lose mine, not even doing anything!? I hope you all get to go through the same thing I did!" He continued. He suddenly felt a lot of angry gazes on him. "Yes! Now get fucking mad at me! You should all fucking die!"
As he was leaving, he noticed scared kids hiding behind their parents, watching him. He gave the kid a scary look, after which he left.
He had no idea where to go. He had nothing anymore. Then he remembered the old man. Maybe he would help him somehow.
The boy hoped that he would really wait for him at the beach, as he told him, while disappearing into the darkness of the town.