"Alright, so if I trade you the Breds, then you'll give me the Copper Foams and the Bapes?" I typed into the email. I was trying to make some money on sneakers, but the market is hard to get into. Luckily, my friend just so happened to want the exact pair that I had.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw my brother creep into my room slowly. He's just a nine year old kid and me being 9 years older, he's nothing I couldn't handle, but he knew just how tight of a grip my mom had on my life at that moment in time.
"Get the fuck out of my room!" I yelled, causing the house to shake a bit, "I told you what happens when you come into my room! Do you want that to happen?".
My name is Anon and I hate my family. I had just graduated from High School a few months ago and was planning to go into community college to get my prerequisite classes out of the way, as the cost was much more manageable there. Thing is, my mom didn't see this as "now I can afford college", she saw it as more "now you can afford an apartment". Who am I kidding, she's wanted to kick me out ever since I got caught with that bottle of vodka.
Around a year ago, me and my friends were partying it up at his house and apparently my mom decided to drop off a sleeping bag for me, as I had told her it was just going to be us playing some games. When she saw that bottle in my hand, her face changed, and it hasn't ever changed back. At first, I wanted the old mom back, I desired her love and care. I wanted her homemade pancakes and her stories, but after awhile, I realised that this WAS the old mom, I had just never provoked her before.
So why didn't she just kick me out? Well, she still needed to justify to herself that she was the "good guy" in this scenario, so just plain-out kicking me to the curb apparently didn't cut it. No, she needed a reason to kick me out, which is why she's been having Mark "Asskisser" Baker, my younger brother, try to find me doing things wrong.
"What are you doing on the computer?" Mark asked, "Why are you always on the computer? Don't you have real friends?"
"Get out, brownnose", I commanded, "I thought I locked that door!"
"Mom doesn't trust you with locks, she says", Mark uttered, "So she had them removed while you were away at Jake's house."
"Goddamnit!" I screamed, "What the fuck! I haven't done shit for a whole year! Why does she hate me so much!?"
"Stop yelling, idiot!" Screamed the brown-haired kid, "You might as well just leave now! Mom's going to catch you doing all of the bad stuff you do alone."
"You know what, fuck it." I threw my hands up and stood up from the computer, "I'm out of here for tonight."
I threw on a light windbreaker and put on my Jordans, ready to grab my keys and leave. Walking over to the door, I reached over to the pile where I usually threw my wallet and keys. Only, I couldn't find my keys. I became frantic in my search and started to sweat: These keys were my salvation, my escape from this house. If I lost them, I would be trapped here.
I glanced over to my brother and noticed him smirking. At first I blew it off as nothing, but as the seconds rolled by, I begin to suspect him. I quickly stomp over to him, until I am literally looking down at him.
"Did you fucking take my keys, you little piece of shit?" I yelled at my brother, who just smiled, used to my angered tirades, "Don't you smirk at me you little brat!"
"What are you gonna do about it?" The young boy teased, "I'll tell mom if you touch me, and she'll kick you out! And if she kicks you out, then I get your room!"
"Where are my fucking keys!?" I screamed.
"I don't know…" He quipped, smirking like a naughty imp, "You could just look harder."
"Like fuck you don't know!" I yelled, "I bet you hid them from me!"
"And what are you gonna do about it?" He asked me once again, "You're just a drunken idiot who's too poor to go to a real college."
TWITCH
"Where are my keys?" I asked, balling my fist up so tightly I could feel the veins pulsing, "I'm going to ask you one more fucking time!"
"I. Don't. Know. Idiot." Mark said, imitating the canter of my voice, "And what are you gonna d-"
His taunt was cut short as I launched my fist into his gut, knocking the breath out of him. I saw the look of disbelief in his eyes as he fell to the floor.
"What the hell" He sputtered out, curled up into the fetal position, "Now you're gonna get it. Mom's gonna kick you out and I'm getting your room." He smirked once more.
"Now, where are my keys," I yelled out, my vision still clouded by rage, "Where are my fucking keys!"
"I told you I don't know, dummy." His voice was shaking slightly as he gave me a look of disbelief, "Maybe check your pockets?"
I felt my pocket and to my surprise, I could feel my keys jingling around in my windbreaker. My face instantly drained of blood as I begin to comprehend the situation. Almost instantly I had made my initial assessment: I'm fucked.
Darting out to my car, I threw on Travis Scott. A feeling of guilt and general powerlessness had already began to take its toll on my conscience. I was finished. I couldn't afford an apartment and college. The lights of my car illuminated the road as I cruised to my friend Terrance's house.
Jake was a pretty cool guy, but he wasn't what you'd call a decent guy. He's the kind of person that you parents would warn you about spending too much time with. If I met him on the street with no prior knowledge, I'd probably think he was nothing more than a hoodlum, and honestly, I'd be sorta right.
I met Terrance through a friend of a friend at a party and we bonded over our love for sneakers and hip hop music. After hanging out with him, I've come to be much more street smart and more experienced with certain substances.
After driving for a few minutes, I pulled up to the parking lot in front of my friend's apartment and walked up to the door. I had already texted in advance that I'd be showing up, so there was no wait when I knocked on the door.
Terrance stood at 6' tall, so I always had to look up when talking to him. Although I was used to this, being 5'5" and all. I wouldn't call him overweight, just a big guy.
"Ayyo, lil nigga Anon!" Terrance yelled, before giving me a bro-hug, "Bruh, did you bring the Breds? I gots the Bapes right over there and the Foams are somewhere around here." He gestured to the sneakers on his welcome mat. I chuckled at his enthusiasm for shoes.
Had this been any other time, I would've been talking right back at him, but now, those words felt like cruel reminders of a simpler time. I shaked my head at what had just occurred minutes ago.
"Dude, I've got bigger problems" I explained the situation to my friend as I walked in and seated myself on his sofa. I explained how I'm going to be kicked out in detail and like a good friend, his immediate response is:
"Hey man, you can just crash at my place." Terrance offered, "I'm not gonna let a friend get kicked out. We homies, we watch each other's backs. Now c'mon mane, let's go catch a bite to eat."
I sat there, stunned at what just occurred: I had not expected Terrance to be the good samaritan and offer me a place to stay. He was never a jerk to me, maybe I was just a bit too pessimistic.
"Bro, this is real shit right here man" I gave him a nod, "Are you for real?"
"100 percent" He replied almost immediately, "I watch out for my homies, ya hear?"
"Dude, this is too real for me right now," I struggled to hold back tears of joy, "You don;t know what you've just done for me."
"Aight, it's no biggie man." He said, "I got you"
"So, you wanna go help me move out then?" I pointed back towards my car, "I just wanna get some clothes and a few things, I can grab the rest tomorrow."
"You seem pretty excited mane" I heard him say as I led the way to my car. We both got in and I drove back to my house calmly. On the inside, however, I was as giddy as a schoolgirl as I had just been given the chance of a lifetime: I was moving out.
In no time at all, I had parked outside my house and got out of the car.
"Ay," I heard Terrance call out to me, "Lemme know if any shit goes down, you hear?"
I nodded and began to walk inside. As the door creaked open, I heard not a peep in the entire house. I crept up the stairs quietly and carefully, being sure not to make any excess noise. It was weird, the house was NEVER this quiet, there's always someone yelling at the TV or talking on the phone, but today, the house was as quiet as a mouse.
Slowly, I slid into my room and grabbed my blankets, pillows, laptop, and anything else I might need for the night. Just to please my friend for saving my ass, I grabbed the sneakers I would trade with him. I packed everything into two separate backpacks and headed for the stairs once again.
On my way out the door, I figured I might rub this into my brother's face as I leave. I headed for his room in the far corner of the house, ready to laugh in his face now that he had no ammo against me.
Approaching his door, I noticed a strange feeling, like someone was watching. This whole "quiet house" game was starting to creep me out. Right before I touched the handle, I felt something sinister lying beyond the way. Gripping the handle felt like cold death, but I turned it anyways to reveal a terrifying scene:
My brother had been shot dead.
My body had a hard time breathing as I stared at the corpse. There was no mistaking it, he was dead and gone. I had no idea for how long he had been dead, but it couldn't have been long.
Just thinking that he had only died minutes ago caused me to start rattling like a skeleton. My vision was fading and coming back in, this was all too much for me to handle. Then I felt death's grip.
A cold breath whisked my ear and caused my eyes to widen in terror. I could feel someone behind me, but I dared not move nor make a sound. I was a statue for what must have been 5 minutes, then the breathing stopped and I heard footsteps leaving the room.
I immediately scrambled for the door, losing all sense of control as fight-or-flight took over. I felt someone push me to the ground as I exited my brother's room but I continued to crawl towards the door in desperation. Eventually, I was mounted by the assailant and had no choice but to stop and see who was attacking me.
I turn around and see a man with a ski mask on, like your stereotypical robber. He is much larger than me, but I can't be certain how tall due to him trying to suppress my movement.
"HELP HEL-" He quickly reacted by covering my mouth with his hand.
"Shut the fuck up or you die!" He yelled in a hushed tone.
I nodded, not having much of a choice. He slowly released his grip on my mouth and allows me to speak.
"Please man, I'll give you $1000 in shoes, just leave me alone!" I began to beg.
"I don't give a shit about money, idiot" He responded, "Listen, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time kid, sorry."
"Oh god please no, please!" I began to act hysterical, "Don't kill me! I swear, I hated that kid, I won't snitch, honest!"
"Sorry, can't take the risk" He readied up a pistol, pointed it at my head, and pulled the trigger before I could even register what was happening.
I felt a wave of intense pressure crush every part of my body, then nothing. Death, is this what it feels like? Nothing? All around me was an endless expanse of white. With no foreseeable end or features, it seemed to be more of a canvas than a landscape.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed before me. A short, well-dressed man was blinked into existence as I could only stare in wonder. He looked very professional, with a black suit and black tie. He was no more than 5'5" and the top of his head was covered by a stereotypical western cowboy hat.
"G-God?" I muttered. It seemed to be way too far off from what I pictured, but I had to be sure.
"Don' be silly, kiddo." The man chuckled at my query, speaking with a strong southern accent, "God ain't gonna come out for just anyone, not even a poor boy such as yourself."
"But I-" I stammered, but am cut short again by the man. I remembered dying, I remembered getting shot in the head.
"So normally, we'd just send people like ya'll to purgatory." I heard him, but I was still to focused on what had just happened to really pay attention, "You ain't done nothing too good nor nothin' too bad. But the man upstairs has a special plan for you, it looks like. You get to live a second life, one more chance to do serious good."
"What the?" I felt as if a million pounds had been lifted off of my chest, "Wait, what's the catch?"
"Well, there is one catch…" The man started.
"Go on…"
"You don't get to choose your plane of existence." He explained, now treating me with more respect, "It's totally random. So for all we know, you could be reincarnated in a land of corn people, ya see?"
"Well, its not like I have much of a choice." I said after briefly weighing my options, "I'm assuming my other route is…"
"Yup, straight into the fires of Hell!" The man said with an unsettling grin, "But we all know you're not going to choose that. Though i suppose depending on your personal taste, being reincarnated as a blob of sentient play-dough could be worse than Hell…"
The man thinks out loud for a bit, then comes to his senses. He waved his hand and a table with two chairs popped into existence. He gestured for me to take a seat opposite to him as he poofed in a contract of sorts.
"As soon as you sign this, you'll be reincarnated into a random dimension." He clearly stated.
"I don't have to sign this in blood, do I?" I questioned, hesitating slightly.
"You watch too many shitty animes son." He gave me a deadpan stare, "Nope, just a regular signature'll do here."
I sighed, trying to get a firm grip on this situation. I was being given a second chance; perhaps in this new existence, all the cards wouldn't be stacked against me. All of my mistakes and misfortunes could be erased from existence and I'd get a fresh start.
"Wait, before I sign this, who are you?" I queried, still slightly wary of the ethereal stranger.
"I'm just a plain old businessman." He stated, "And if you can sign that document, we can definitely do business."
"A businessman, right." I rolled my eyes.
I felt my hand begin to move more gracefully than it had ever moved before. With each stroke of the pen I could feel a burden of my past life lifted from my shoulders. With one final stroke, the signature was finished and I was freed.
I handed the paper over to the man, who graciously accepted it. His eyes looked at the signature and I saw him give a brief nod before poofing the document out of existence as quickly as it had came in.
"Alrighty, here we go." He started, "Now alls you gotta do is shake my hand and the deal will be set in stone."
"But didn't I just sign it?" Usually, the signature was the highest level of endowment.
"Call me old fashioned, but I feel that a handshake is worth more than a thousand signatures." The businessman gave a smile that surprisingly felt genuine enough.
I reached out towards the man with my hand and gave it a firm shake. Suddenly, he disappeared from my vision as I was blinded by another bright flash of light. I felt myself falling, and falling, and falling for what seemed like forever.
Finally, I felt an impact onto a hard surface. Although I could tell that I hit down at a very high velocity, it didn't hurt very much. Despite this, I decided against opening my eyes. My eyelid weighed a dozen tons each, so I didn't even try.
"I'll wake up tomorrow…" I managed to get out before I fall into a sleep.