It had been four months since the person now known as John Doe was found on the road. The very fact that he was alive was astounding. The 18 wheeler did quite a job on him, pretty much every part of his body from his organs to his bones was heavily damaged. The doctors suspected that the brain trauma was also responsible for the severe case of amnesia he suffered. And yet his recovery was almost miraculous. His will to live impressed everybody and he was already taking his first steps outside the bed. In a mere week of physiotherapy he had shown more progress then most patients did in a month.
His mental abilities seemed to come along nicely as well. After his throat was healed enough to actually make any sounds he quickly relearned how to speak.
Five months after the accident he was back on his feet and capable of communicating with others. Had this been a movie people would be flocking to congratulate and support him. As it was this was a rather overworked and poor hospital and he was merely reduced to being some gossip around the water cooler. Nobody really had the time or desire to get to know him or do any more serious tests. The fact that he had recovered so quickly simply meant they could get him out of their hospital faster
And so five months and three weeks after coming to this world and nearly going out of it John Doe found himself with a rather huge hospital bill and in the care of social service who put him in a halfway house. Here he finally had real contact with humans, not merely the few minutes a day he saw of the nurses back in the hospital. And so he began to learn about life.
The first thing he learned was that the way you look had great importance. He could not afford the plastic surgeries needed to repair his heavily disfigured face and the massive scars on his body and everybody in the house looked at him with disgust. Few people tried to talk to him and the once that did usually did so only to insult him. He quickly got the nickname "Freak".
The second thing he learned was that strength mattered. The very first night he stayed there a group of boys tried to beat him up but he handled them easy. From then on even fewer people had any contact with him. He was not only a freak, he was a dangerous freak. Quite a few other kids in the house didn't have his skills and he soon learned that only the strong get freedom. The weak suffer
The third thing he learned was that lying was good. Whenever he tried to tell the truth either about his opinions or his past it always got him into the trouble. The people who lied and framed others for their misdeeds always got off easy and those who tried to be honest were trampled
And with these lessons taken to heart he ran away from the halfway house and from his rather massive debt. He shed the old personality. He was no longer John Doe. With some creative forging and hacking he got a new identity. It wasn't easy and it took all the money he had made hustling people on the street but soon he was a brand new man. He was now Kyle Johnson . It was a completely random name he got from the phonebook but he rather liked the name Kyle
Things were much better for Kyle then they had been for John Doe. With some effort he managed to secure a small apartment and get a job. It was a job over the internet since nobody was willing to work with someone as disfigured as Kyle but it was still a good job and paid the bills. Even though his computer was a piece of junk he had found in the trash and fixed he was fond of it. He liked computers. Unlike humans they were simple to understand and didn't judge
His new neighbors weren't as bad the people in the halfway house either. They still looked at him with disgust but they refrained from attacking and insulting him. His landlady an 80 year old blind woman even treated him well. Inviting him over for tea and giving him some of her son's old clothes and books. It was thanks to her that Kyle became fond of books .Especially scientific books. Science just talked to him in a special. It felt natural and right. He even started talking online with a few professors at the nearby university discussing various theories
Three months later his landlady died. It was the first time he experienced grief. And in that day when he saw the only person who had offered him any kindness die alone, abandoned by her family and so called friends he understood that the world really was not fair. Being a good person didn't mean you get rewarded. It just meant that people used you and discarded you when you die. That day was the first time he tried alcohol as well. He wanted to forget and he heard that this was what people do to achieve the sweet bliss of escaping reality
And so it was very unfortunate for Adam Baylin that this was exactly the day when he found Kyle
"Kyle Johnson?" asked the older man carefully
"Who the fuck wants to know?" snarled Kyle in anger as he saw the unwelcome visitor enter his apartment. Usually he expressed himself in a much more civilized manner. Despite his hard life and his bitter worldview he still tried to behave with as much dignity as one can but the combination of grief, anger and alcohol had really done a number on him.
"I am Adam Baylin. I have been looking for you for a long time" he said trying to sound gentle but he was founding it hard. He never thought he would find his son living like this
"Why? Is it because of those shitty bills? Guess what? I am not paying. Those greedy mother fuckers that try and call themselves doctors can go to hell. I never asked to be treated" Kyle said as he stood up and glared at Baylin
"No. It's not about bills. It's about your past." he tried to continue but Kyle interrupted him
"What past? I don't have a past. I am nobody"
"That's not true. I am your…" Adam hesitated. He didn't know how to phrase it. He couldn't exactly tell the boy
"Oh you are my dad…. is this what you are trying to say" said Kyle with a cynical smirk
"In a way yes. Look it took a long time to fin…."
"I don't give a shit. I have been alone for the past year. As far I am concerned I don't have a family. And if you can leave me through this hell for a whole year you are not a family. You are a worthless piece of trash"
Adam felt like the words coming from Kyle's mouth were physical punches. The massive guilt he had been carrying for leaving him all these years at Latnok and the time it took him to figure out Kyle might still be alive rose to the surface and nearly suffocated him
"Please try to understand…" but Kyle once again wouldn't let him speak
"Get out of my home" Kyle nearly screamed with rage know
And that's when Adam Baylin's careful control over his body failed. He could feel the seizure spreading throughout his body as his hands began to shake and his organs started shutting down. He fell to his knees and looked at Kyle
"Ple…se I nee..d help" he said gasping for breath He saw his son coming next to him and for one blessed moment he thought that maybe everything would be ok. But instead of helping him Kyle merely grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up and with cold emotionless eyes simply said
"Why should I care?" and then he threw him out of the apartment. Adam made it to the staircase before his strength gave up on him. And twelve minutes later he died on this very spot. Nobody who knew Adam would have thought that this great man could experience such a miserable end. Kyle heard the sounds of the ambulance but he didn't care anymore. Even if his whole system wasn't flooded with enough alcohol to kill a man several times his size he simply couldn't find it in himself to care anymore. It wasn't worth it.
Three days later with some more forged documents and more creative hacking he moved on the campus of the university. He didn't have anything to do back in his old apartment anymore and there was only one thing he felt any kind of passion for now. Science. From this day on he would truly make something out of himself
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am guessing most of you probably figured out what I am going to do :) Anyway now that I am done killing people the big question is who should Kyle meet next? Should I go for Jessi or for Grace?
P.S Yes the "Why should I care?" line was inspired by Spiderman :)
And sorry if the my work is a bit crappy side lately but I don't really have a lot of time to devote on my stories . Don't worry. I might come back and fix them