The Hood
The Hood was a man. He used to go by Al before he changed. He lived in an indecent world and was forced to conform to indecency. He was pushed far beyond what any man should ever go through. But through his pain he changed the world for the better. When the world needed a hero, they looked into it's darkest depths. This is his story. The story of The Hood.
I was sitting with Emily in her house. He was staring at he black mask above the fireplace again. "Emily, when are you gonna burn that dumb mask." Emily looked at me and smiled. "I like the mask, Its kinda mysterious." I couldn't help but laugh. I looked at my watch and jumped out of my chair. "I gotta get to school Emily, Bye." Emily frowned and grabbed my arm. "Just drop out. The GA's won't let you get into any kind of career if they don't want you to. So just don't go." I just left. I couldn't help but try. The GA's had already taken everything from me. The Gang of America pretty much ruled all of America with an iron fist. They had turned our country into a massive land of drugs and murder. We had nothing that wasn't corrupt or biased. I was walking when a man jumped out and put a knife to my face. "Give me all of your valuables, NOW!" I just grunted. I grabbed his knife and threw him into the dumpster. "Think of who your robbing next time." I put his knife in my pocket and walked off. As I walked off he yelled to me "You will regret this, Ill kill your family." I thought nothing of it.
I had gone through another day of school. I couldn't stay at Emily's after school, her father was home. Her father hated me because he thought I wanted to live this way. So I went to the closest thing I had to home. I went to the roof of a building in the abandoned zone. There is were I really thought about what little life I had. I couldn't help but think of Emily. She was all I had of course. I had to watch my family be shot by what was supposed to be our police force. So I was walking down to Emily's house at 3 in the morning. I watched the city, destroyed and lit by fires in trash cans. When I finally got to Emily's I just went in there basement to rest. I woke up the next morning and just went to school. But around 2:30 my phone started ringing. "Hello?" "Al it's Emily. Someone is following me, I don't know why. I need you to help me. Please Al help." She hung up the phone. I ran out of the classroom. I had no clue were to go, but all I knew is that I needed to find Emily, and fast. I was walking down an alley to cut over to the next street when I found Emily. She was beaten to a pulp. Lying in a pool of her own blood, I fell to my knees. Then I stood back up. I couldn't cry. I couldn't let Emily die I picked her up and walked her to a hospital. I stood by her trembling until her father showed up. He walked to me and punched me in the gut. Then he picked me up and said through anger and gritted teeth "If you ever get close to my daughter again, I will kill you. Is that clear." He threw me... and I just left.
For the next three weeks I didn't leave my roof. I didn't go see Emily, I didn't go to school, and I didn't even try to find the man that beat Emily. Then one day I finally decided to go to the hospital. I went to the room Emily was in to find it empty. I grabbed a nurse. "Ma'am, were did this patient go?" She looked at me and frowned. "I'm sorry, but that patient died afew hours ago." I didn't even respond to her. I just ran out of the hospital. I ran through the rain and then watched the hell city get pounded with rain. I looked through my life, I looked hard this time. Then I realized that I had no reason to live. The edge and the street below were calling me. I was standing on the edge. Getting ready to jump. But then someone grabbed me and threw me back onto the roof. "What the fuck are you doing Al. Your a dead beat but your not dead yet." I looked up to see Emily's father standing there with a package in his hand. Then he spoke in the calmest voice that he ever talked to me in. "Look Al, my daughter loved you for some reason. She wouldn't want your life to end like this. Your job is to put your grief in your pocket, and keep living your life. So get up and straighten up. Got it?" I just nodded. Then Emily's dad threw me the package. "She wanted you to have that." He then walked down and left.
I stayed on my roof for another week. I thought about what I could do to deal with my grief. And I stared at that package. Afraid to open it. What if it was some sort of I hate you and could never tell you letters. I knew I had to move on from this. I pulled out the knife and cut open the package. And in the package I saw the black mask. I knew then what I had to do. The dead beat man that killed Emily was sitting in an alley. Then out of nowhere I grabbed him. He tried to see my face, but I was wearing the mask. He tried to see my hair but my hoodie was up. "Look, I don't know who you are but can't we talk about this." I stared at him. "You took everything from me." "Who are you then." I pulled out is knife and stuck it in his stomach. "I am The Hood"