Walking aimlessly, the chill of the night had sunk deep into Ethan's bones, seeping in through his thin jacket and chilling him to the core. He adjusted his jacket, somewhat hoping the little gesture would bring him some warmth, but to no avail; it didn't.
He'd been walking for way too long, his stomach grumbling in protest; each step he took felt heavier than the last.
He was to meet up with his roommate in a bar, but he'd lost his way.
Growing up with social anxiety also failed to help his situation, as he found it hard to look people in the eyes. It would be a feat if he could stop someone and ask for directions. So he kept walking, hoping to find a way out.
Lost in a maze of alleys, his phone dead, the familiar city lights had long been replaced by harsh glares of street lamps that cast long, distorted shadows of the objects they hit.
He was desperate for a way out, a haven from the cold, the biting emptiness of his stomach, and the need to see a familiar person or location. Anything that could help him.
Lost in his thoughts, he rounded a particularly dark corner to lock eyes with a scene no one would ever want to see.
Three men, two in the process of stabbing and slashing the third with a knife. The victim, a young man with silky black hair, was dressed in pristine dark leather clothes.
His jacket had the familiar insignia of the White Tiger, one of the city's notorious gangs, a symbol recognisable by even 1 year olds.
The victim's eyes - wide open, overwhelmed, seemingly trying to process what was going on... He stared vacantly at his assailants.
Nothing could have prepared him for the day of his death. Especially when it came from ones you've sworn a brotherhood with.
His mouth was warped in a silent scream. A deep gash cut across his chest; it was raw and bloody. His left side, a gaping hole. The wound looked like it had been made with a knife with teeth.
The scene was gruesome, and the time fell still, like a painting frozen in time. He reached out his hand, trying to grasp onto something, someone. His body fell forward, with no one to catch him, as his life faded.
Ethan's heart pounded in his chest, his hands covering his mouth, too scared to make a sound. His breath stuck in his throat, his legs shaking, his back soaked with sweat. He prayed not to be seen, not to be noticed.
Like a blessing from above, the murderers, in an obvious hurry, failed to do a check of their surroundings. Once the deed was done, they took their weapons and fled the scene.
Although Ethan had never run into any gang-related activity, mostly due to his introverted nature, he had heard stories about them. Everyone had heard stories at some point in their lives.
The gang really was intertwined with almost every business in town, and the way they kept their businesses running wasn't anything new.
After what seemed like an eternity, the assailants having long been gone, Ethan slumped; his knees gave out, and he fell on all fours gasping for air, greedily taking in large amounts of it as if starved for hours.
He kept questioning himself. "What was that? A murder?! No, no way. Here? Right now?" Realisation hit his mind hard.
He just witnessed a murder. He hadn't seen a crime happen in front of him, and for his first one to be a murder scene... it wasn't something anyone would willingly add to their bucket list.
"Wait, I just witnessed a murder... If they came back for some reason, they would kill me too!" Ethan shivered as the gravity of the situation began to sink in. He needed to leave.
He wanted to run, to disappear, to miraculously find a way to delete what he just witnessed, to go back to the comfort of not knowing anything.
He tried to get up, but only made it halfway as he locked eyes with the victim of the murder. He knelt there, frozen as the world around him faded into a blur.
The alley was silent, save for the distant thud of his heartbeat echoing in his ears.
At that moment, all that existed was the pair of eyes. Hollow, filled with grievance, they bored into him.
Ethan could somehow feel every emotion coming from the body. The anger. The hate. The confusion.
It pressed against his mind, threatening to make them his. His mind was warping. All he could do was stare.
Suddenly, a subtle chilling breeze swept through the alley, carrying with it something ominous.
It enveloped Ethan.
At this point, he was barely conscious. His mind had faded to the background, as his body refused to move, his mind took the easy way out. It shut itself off, subconsciously trying to protect him from harm. A safety mechanism.
Although barely conscious, he felt something - a pair of hands. Cold, invisible hands gliding across his body, from his feet. Almost like it was searching, probing for something, a way in perhaps.
The hands, finally reaching his chest, stopped. They pressed against it hard. The action brought Ethan back from wherever his subconscious had gone.
Eyes still locked with the victim, he couldn't look away, couldn't move; his body was being held down, his head wouldn't turn, and his eyes wouldn't blink...
He felt an unnatural force pulling at him, a weight pressing down on his chest. Panic surged within him, and he tried to scream, but no sound escaped his lips.
The subtle wind grew. Its source was from the body of the victim, like a movie being played out in slow motion, Ethan saw what seemed to be a silhouette in the wind.
It drifted using the breeze like a boat, slowly, and he watched, couldn't look away, as it finally reached him.
He heard a whisper. It sounded low and raspy, without any energy. Like a dying flame.
The voice only said one word before the sensation died down. "You..." It was haunting. The echo reverberated in his mind.
Before he could comprehend what was happening, the wind finally died, and with it came a surge of energy that coursed through him.
Unknown how, but he felt himself being invaded. A new presence was taking shelter in his body.
It was as if a dark shadow had wrapped itself around his soul, squeezing tighter and tighter until he could barely breathe.
His head slung backwards, his mouth and eyes wide open. His pupils were darting around abnormally. He couldn't breathe, couldn't scream, couldn't cry... All he felt was fear, a deep, primal fear.
One that lasted until everything went black.