This chapter will take much darker approach towards this story…you'll see why I did this.
Chapter IV
It's been over a month at this point since Alex moved to Monstropolis and he can say for sure that he belonged here for now, he met a lot of new interesting people, became a part of the most popular monster group in his new school and he was quite happy where he was. His relationship with Polly continued to grow fast, at this point the basically dated but never made it official, they didn't kiss nor have sex yet, but they knew it was bound to happen soon, and they both couldn't wait to experience the sweet enjoyment of sex together. Today was a quite special day for Alex , it was 1st October, he died on this date 3 years ago in 2015, and he honestly still had some nightmares caused by this. His death was very unexpected and preventable, he was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had school today but he was quite sure he'd stay home today, now sure someone may say it's been 3 years, move on, but Alex had trouble doing so, on this specific day 3 years ago he lost everything and everyone he loved, he was forced to accept death in the most awful way possible, if he was still alive he would've been 25 years old at this point in time, maybe he would even have a wife and kids. His thoughts drifted back to the day he died and the way that happened, it was truly horrific experience, he was murdered. It's not something he can just forget about and move on, it traumatized him to his core. Right now he was at his balcony drinking his coffee and smoking his cigarettes, he just wanted this day to be over with so he can focus on other things he has going for him, even if he tries to forget about it by simply playing games or watching tv, his mind easily wonders back to his last day of life, he couldn't sleep either. He was watching the view from his balcony with a blank expression on his face, he then heard his favorite neighbor enter her own balcony. Alex wasn't even looking at Polly, his face was turned towards the city and he was staring at completely nothing , he looked dead, he made no sounds, as if he was invisible which is ironic him being a ghost.
He heard Polly calling his name which caused him to turn towards her. Alex noted that Polly looked at him with a concerned expression on her face, it was probably due to the fact he was so absentminded and he had bags under his eyes from failed attempts to sleep last night. Alex blinked and tried to return to his senses, even if he was going through a lot of pain at the moment that didn't give him the right to ignore others even if all he wants today was to be alone. He started at Polly for a couple of seconds while trying to process what she told him.
"Alex are you listening to me, are you okay?"
Polly asked him with a worried voice. He just smiled weakly and nodded returning to smoke his cigarette and stare off to the nothingness, it was the most forced smile he ever did. Polly knowing him well considering they spent almost month together all the time knew for sure he was lying and she was determined to fix his mood. She decided to speak more with him and try to persuade him into doing something fun with her, that would surely help him out.
"Hey how about we go do something fun today, maybe prank people with Scott, or go and make money with Vera, or ooh set things on fire with Damien, what do you say?"
Polly said in her usual charming and energy filled voice that Alex loved so much, but today, it was too much for him. Alex really appreciated that she tried to make him feel better, but he would rather be alone. Alex even thought about telling her his reason for his sudden state, but he just couldn't do it, not a single word left his mouth. He decided just to tell Polly that he won't attend school today.
"Thanks Polly but sorry I think I'll just stay home today, you go and have fun and don't wait on me."
Alex said in his normal sounding voice trying to hide the misery that he was going through but he knew it wasn't going to work, Polly cared too much about him and she was way too stubborn to take no for an answer. Polly was now officially super freaked out to see Alex this way, for the whole past month that they spent together almost inseparable she had never seen him act this way, sure some days were slower and a pain in the ass to get through but this was on a whole another level. She decided to push forward and at least get a reason as to why he's acting this way. To her it was so sudden, last night he was laughing like crazy while partying with her and then this morning he looked on the verge of breaking.
"Listen, you know you can't lie to me right?" Polly told him.
"Yeah I know and I won't. Today is a quite…special day for me and I want to be left alone, okay?"
Alex said in a quiet voice that was barely a whisper, Polly heard sadness in his voice and she understood why his acting like this for the most part, however he didn't exactly give her a clear answer as to why. She really wanted to know, they were close weren't they?
"Okay I will leave you alone but can you at least tell why is this day so special?"
Polly basically begged him at his point and Alex had no choice but to give in to her demands, he truly cared for her and if he was going to choose one person in this world to share his story with, its Polly. Alex finished his cigarette and looked at her and spoke up.
"On this day 3 years ago I was murdered, it was the day I lost everything, my family, my friends, my job everything was taken away from me in just a single moment, I was cursed to watch it happen all over again and I was forced to watch my family cry for me and I was so confused, scared and angry. I was so furious at this stupid fucking world!"
Alex started his speech quietly but as his story progressed he got louder and louder and he was practically screaming at the end and Polly was scared, she didn't know what to do except to watch the person she feel in love with look so defeated, Alex was crying at this point, his emotions were running wild. Polly could sympathize with him, she in the end had a similar experience sort of, Polly quickly flew over to his balcony and hugged him and they both stayed like that for some time, no one saying anything.
"You should go or you'll be late for school Polly." Alex said while regaining his composure.
"Alright but when I come home I want you to tell me everything, okay I don't want you to go through this day alone"
Polly said while holding his hand and Alex only nodded and watch her disappear in a hurry so she could get on school on time since today was some sort of exam apparently, but Alex couldn't care less about that, it did feel nice to know someone cared. Alex stayed for a few more minutes at his balcony just enough to see Polly leave their Building, after that he quickly went back to his living room and just dropped on the sofa. He was sinking like a stone in the sea, just lost in his thoughts trying to get the awful images out of his mind, he closed his eyes and yet again his mind was drifting back to that fateful night.
5 Years Ago
It was a cold foggy autumn night and there was a person walking alone through the dark streets trying to make their way home. The person in question was a 22 year old man by the name of Alex Blackrose, it was 2 AM and he had at least a 20 minute walk to his place. Alex Blackrose lived at the end of the town and naturally there were no busses during this hour.
Prior to this Alex and a couple of his friends were at a gig of their favorite band. The concert was quite amazing they all drank and had fun and as the end of the concert was coming, he and his friends left the club. They walked alone for some time, unfortunately they all lived in different parts of the town, Alex was the furthest one away, even some of his friends offered him to sleepover so he didn't have to bother with walking all the way at the end of the town where he lived with his family, but Alex declined saying it was no problem for him. As Alex said goodbye to his friends, he started making his way back home. The streets were empty for the most part with the exception of few people here and there, he looked at his golden watch his late father bought him few months before passing away, it read 1:48 AM. Alex terribly loved his family, his old man was like a hero to him, his father was a hard working man that did everything in his power to make sure his kids needs were fulfilled, he worked as a team leader for a programming firm. His father had a decent pay and they lived quite comfortably, that all changed as one day he was diagnosed with a serious illness, Alex's father was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 48. Alex and the rest of his family mainly his mother and his twin sister did everything in their power to help him and to maintain the income for all their needs such as food, rent, medication etc. Alex and his twin sister Lucy were forced to get jobs almost instantly, they were both 20 at the time still attending university, so they had a hard time doing both the studying and working. After 6 months fighting leukemia, their father passed away and they were forced to change their lifestyle, Alex then found a new job that was paying slightly better, he was an assistant manager in a small firm while his sister worked as a chef in a well performing restaurant. Things started to look better for their family however all this came with a price of their time and exhaustion. Alex didn't have time for anything anymore because of his work, him finding time to go to a gig with his friends like today was a rare occurrence. The more he grew up the more he understood his father and how hard it is to make a decent living, he terribly missed his old man and would do anything to talk with him again, he owed him every day he wakes. If Alex could, he would shrink himself sink through his father's skin to his blood cells and remove whatever made him hurt, but unfortunately Alex was too weak to be his cure. Clearing his thoughts Alex continued walking in the direction towards his house, it was around 2 AM now and the temperature was quite freezing and the fog got thicker, this made Alex feel uneasy especially since now he was making his way through small back alleys that led to the main street at which his home was located. Slowly walking through the fog Alex felt a chilling effect and a feeling of uncertainty hit him hard in the chest, he kept glancing behind him as if he was expecting someone to follow him, he didn't see anything because the fog was so thick, he just kept walking faster, hoping that his gut feeling was wrong this time. About a minute or so in front of him he saw a figure emerging out of the fog, it appeared to be a man in his late 40s, from what Alex could see he looked homeless. The man had a weird vibe to him, Alex kept his eyes on the man and he noticed that the homeless middle aged man had his hand grab something in his coat. Alex panicked but he knew running wasn't an option, there was no space for him to avoid the man especially if he opened fire on him, the only thing Alex could do is continue moving forward and somehow get past him without getting himself killed. As Alex was getting closer to the man, he managed to make out how he looked more clearly, he had gray beard, he was bald and he looked like he didn't sleep for a long time, it was truly horrific and sad to see something like this. The man stopped in front of Alex and pulled out a gun from his coat and he aimed at him, this was exactly what Alex was afraid of, he knew he was going to get jumped one way or another by this homeless guy, but why did he have a gun, how does that even make sense?
Alex couldn't run past him, if he tried to fight him he would die for sure, what the hell was he supposed to do, fist fight a guy that had a fucking gun, for all Alex knew the gun could be easily empty, but why take a chance and risk dying ,no, Alex decided to talk him down at least enough so he could come up with a better plan.
"What is it that you want?"
Alex asked them man in a shaky voice, he wasn't typically a person to get scared, but face a gun in a foggy night at 2 AM and see for yourself how scared you would be in his position. Alex noted that the middle aged man was on the edge of breaking down, he was shaking and looked awful, he was probably on drugs too, one thing is for sure, this man was dangerous in more ways than one.
"I need your money, that watch and anything valuable, come forward and hand it over, please I don't want to do this anymore then you do boy."
The middle aged man replied in a raspy voice, his voice as well as his hands was shaking but if he were to pull the trigger, hew would hit Alex for sure. Alex didn't know what to do, it would be a smart thing to hand his belongings over, but fuck that, this watch was all that he had left of his old man, however, was it worth it dying for it? Absolutely not. Alex made up his mind to hand over his things, yes he was boiling with both anger and hatred at the moment, but he tried to keep somewhat clam under pressure, he decided to talk back to the man.
"All right, I'm just gonna move forward and hand over my watch and wallet, all right, that's all I have I swear."
Alex told the man as he was slowly walking towards him, step by step closer as Alex got to him the more the middle aged man became paranoid, nonetheless Alex saw the man nod at his response. As Alex was about to hand his things over, they both heard a unexpected loud sound of trashcans falling over on the right side of the ally, this sudden loud sound caused the unstable middle aged man to pull the trigger shooting Alex directly in the face, killing him instantly. All Alex heard was a sound of gunshot and then everything turned black, complete nothingness, time didn't slow down or shit like that, as you'd expect in movies ,books and other media. Alex Blackrose was killed on the spot by a unstable homeless person while walking back home from his favorite bands gig, that was awfully unexpected. But then out of nowhere Alex regained consciousness and he found himself at the same street just a minute later, however one thing he noticed is that he was staring at his dead body in front of him, his own corpse. This traumatized him greatly, he saw himself lying motionless on the floor with a large bullet hole in his forehead and there was blood everywhere, he took a look at his killer, the middle aged man began puking then started running in the opposite direction, which made sense considering that someone probably heard a sound of a gunshot and called the cops or something. Alex began chasing down the man and he tried to get a hold of him but his hands went through his body. Alex had no idea what just happened, everything made no sense to him, he was just running and doing things on instinct. Alex watched as the middle aged man became shaking and crying and mumbling to himself, the man didn't want to end Alex's life in the slightest. They were both victims of this shit world they were forced to survive in, but was killing him necessary?
Alex then realized there was nothing he could do, so he let the man go and just stood there quietly still trying to process what happened. After a couple of minutes he heard police sirens and he quickly returned to the alley he was killed at, he saw patrol of cops and a couple of paramedics store his corpse away in their vehicle, he heard them say he was declared dead on the spot, no shit. The only thing Alex could do at this point was return home and just watch his families horrific expression to the news of his death.
Alex continued towards his home, he walked through the main streets crowded with people and he was easily walking through them, no one noticed him, this confirmed to Alex that he was a ghost for sure. That just opened more questions for him, firstly wasn't he supposed to go to the afterlife like the hell or haven or at least stay in the complete void of nothingness, yet he found himself still on this world just wandering around and doing absolutely nothing but watch as others live while he was gone.
He finally found himself in front of his home and it was probably around 3 AM or so, he entered his home by literally walking through the front door without opening it and he found his mother and twin sister crying in the kitchen, he began crying as well and shouting at them so they could hear him but there was no hope, he was forced to watch this agony, he never saw his family this broken, even at the time when his father was dying it wasn't this bad. His mother and sister Lucy stayed up all night trying the comprehend the situation, soon they began calling the rest of their families including his friends that he'd gone out with. Alex couldn't stand to be home anymore, it felt so empty knowing that he can't even make his presence known to his family, he left his home and started walking aimlessly in the dark foggy night.
His next few days were pretty much going the same way, he just wandered around the city looking for something to do. This was absolute hell, he couldn't do anything nor talk to anyone, at one point he returned home to see his family equally broken and he learned that his funeral was supposed to take place few days later on October 3rd , he decided not to show up, why the hell would he show up to his own damn funeral, he couldn't bear to see all his friends and family cry their eyes out for him.
The day of his funeral arrived, and Alex couldn't help but to return to that cursed alley that he died in, there was no sign of his death ever happening, it looked just like any other random back alley in his town. At this point his emotions were wild, the biggest feeling he had was anger, he was angry that everything he ever loved was suddenly taken away from him, leaving him to suffer alone in a world he didn't belong to, he was cursed. Alex demanded revenge upon the man that started it all, the middle aged homeless man that shot him in the face. Alex was walking through out the town trying to find him but for the first few days there was no luck, fortunately the town wasn't too big so in theory it would be easier to find the said man. After few more nights Alex finally managed to find the man, he was working on a small gas station that was next to the entrance to the town, Alex observed the man while trying to find certain information that could benefit him, such as his address and so on. After few days he managed to get some data on the man, apparently his name was John Lacey and he was 44 years old and lived in a run down part of the town. Alex decided one night to follow John home so he could perform his revenge. Considering that Alex observed John for a couple of days he learned his work schedule, he was supposed to finish his duties by 8 PM.
At 8: 15 PM Alex spotted John leaving the gas station, he quickly got to his feet from a nearby bench he was sitting on and followed the man to the bus stop, he was glaring at John with hatred in his eyes, this was the man that ended his life so abruptly, he was the reason he couldn't experience the pleasures of life anymore, all of Alex's dreams of him having a nice family, traveling around, having fun with his friends and colleagues were impossible now. After a 15 minute bus trip Alex began following John to his house. It was a sad display, his house was as run down as it could be, he was unquestionably poor, which was probably the reason John robbed Alex in the first place. What Alex didn't count for was the fact that John had a wife and a 9 year old daughter, it was no surprise considering he was 44 years old but still this made things far more difficult for Alex. The ghost was in a hard conflict with himself. If Alex chose to kill John, it would certainly mean that his wife and daughter were in for some rough time even worse than now, did Alex really want to ruin these peoples lives because of his own? Then again John was the reason for his own demise and the cause for all the pain he and his loved ones were going through. This all was too fucked up, why does one's happiness has to cost another's misery? This was the real world, there were no perfect outcomes and decisions.
It was 8:40 PM and Alex decided to wait for John's wife and daughter go to bed before he could even try to do anything, though Alex still didn't choose what he was going to do, he wanted to kill this man so badly then again his morale was too high, he could only just wonder how that could cause enormous problems for John's daughter who was still growing up, Alex losing his father knew how hard it is to live with one parent and on top of all this family was poor and there were only 3 of them, did Alex really want to leave a poor wife and their 9 year old daughter to survive for themselves, his wife was probably unemployed from the best the ghost could tell, even if the woman was able to find a job, what about the kid? Who was gonna watch over her, this was a dangerous neighborhood and being alone in a house at such young age can be quite traumatizing especially if they suffer a loss of their beloved father. This was way too hard for Alex to decide, yet his anger was still present, Alex knew that making decisions under the effects of anger were bound to make more problems and had terrible consequences, but Alex was already dead there was nothing more that can be done to harm him more.
It was Midnight now and the only person that was awake in the house was John with the exception of a dead spirit that was planning to make it's move. John was in the kitchen filling in some papers, that's when Alex decided to start making his presence known, he began misplacing objects around the kitchen, John noticed this and slowly became more and more paranoid, he was looking throughout his house for any sign of a intruder, but found nothing, he was beyond scared but he chose not to wake his family up, he began doubting his own sanity, but then John went back to the kitchen to make himself some coffee because there was no way in hell he could sleep, firstly he was still having nightmares about the young man he murdered in the ally and secondly he was experiencing sings of an paranormal activity in his own fucking house, John couldn't help but think these events were somehow connected.
It was 12: 10 AM and John finished making his coffee, he poured it in a small cup and when he turned around hi immediately dropped the cup on the floor because of what he saw in front of him. Only couple of meters away from him John saw the very same man he murdered few days ago, the dead man was just staring in him with a blank expression on his face. He still had a large hole in his forehead caused by the bullet from John's gun and there was blood all around it. John quickly shut his eyes hoping that this was just an illusion caused by exhaustion and lack of sleep he was getting these last nights. John once again opened his eyes and found the dead man walking closer to him, the middle aged man was paralyzed by fear he couldn't run or scream. Soon Alex stopped in front of the shaking John and began talking in a low dangerous voice. Alex demanded to know why John killed him, even though Alex knew part of the answer considering he spied on the family for a few hours.
"Why did you do it John? Alex asked the man.
"I had no choice, the rent was due and I needed the money, please you have to understand I have a little girl that needs proper education and food, if there was a another I would've done it, I beg of you don't kill me please."
John said in a shaking voice while crying and Alex just continued to stare at the man with a unreadable expression on his face.
"You didn't need to kill me John, you could've just taken my stuff and let me go." Alex said in a ominous voice.
"I never wanted to kill you boy, but something scared me and I just shot you, I didn't mean it please." John said begging the dead man in front of him to let him go.
"Do you have any idea how much pain you caused me and my family." Alex replied sounding a bit louder.
The middle aged man stayed quiet while hearing this. It was true that this was a lose-lose situation to both parties. There was nothing John could do to bring the man back and there was certainly nothing he could do to make up to Alex's family neither. John came to realize that there was no way he was going to survive this night, the dead man made it clear with his body language and the threatening voice he was using.
"There is no way you'll let me live, is there?" John only whispered while looking at Alex.
"No there isn't." Alex replied quietly.
They stared at each other for few minutes, both remained quiet, there was nothing to be said anymore, John began remembering events from his childhood wondering how he ended up in this situation and Alex meanwhile wondered if killing this man will do anything good at all, probably not, but it will make him whole enough so he could spend the rest of the eternity walking around the world.
"Can I at least see my family one last time, please?" The middle aged man begged the ghost.
"Go ahead but don't wake them up or try to escape, nothing you can do will save you now."
Alex said as he watched John begin walking upstairs to see his family one last time, while waiting for John to come back, Alex began feeling sick to himself at the thought he will take another mans life and ruin the life of a small child, but he couldn't just let the man go and injuring him won't be even close to the pain Alex went through. Alex came to terms that in fact he was a monster for doing this but he didn't care, as they say eye for and eye in this situation. After a few moments Alex saw John slowly going downstairs, his was walking slowly with the knowledge that these were his last moments on this earth.
As John arrived back at the kitchen he just looked at the ghost and closed his eyes preparing to face death. Alex placed his hand on John's throat and began choking him and after a few minutes he noted that John wasn't struggling anymore and Alex quietly placed the middle aged man's body on the floor. Alex just stood quietly and watched John lay on the floor motionless, soon the ghost found himself making his way to John's daughters room. He noticed the little girl sleeping in her bad and Alex proceeded to sit on her bad and he quietly apologized to the girl even though she couldn't hear him.
After few more minutes Alex decided it was time for him to leave the house but before leaving the house he saw a familiar gold watch that was sitting on a dresser in John's daughters room and he found himself grabbing the watch, it was his father's watch. As he exited the house he felt somewhat free, he had no objective he could go anywhere he wanted. He decided to go home and leave his father's watch in Lucy's room. As Alex arrived home he found his mom and sister sleeping, he was glad they were able to sleep after everything that happened. Alex took a look at his twin sister and beautiful memories of their childhood went through his head, he decided to place the watch on her dresser and kiss her on the forehead and leave her room, he went to his parents room and found his mom sleeping and Alex did the same thing he'd done to his sister. After saying goodbye he exited his home for the last time and he began walking away and he though to himself
"Afterlife starts now."
Please review and share your thoughts on this story, so I get the feeling someone is reading this.