Chapter 1: Days of a Dying Present (1/4)
Nero Carnby was standing in front of the window of his room, staring at the night sky because he was unable to sleep. He was making holes inside of a can of Sprite with a pen.
It's been two days since his failed attempt to jump off that building, and to say that he was beyond confused about that situation would be understatement.. He was sure that he fell from the last floor of that building and that he broke every bone of his body in the fall, because the pain was unbelievable. But how is it possible that he was now in perfect condition after a fall like that. That strange sensation he felt when he was on the ground was one of his theories of how it happened, but there was no logical explanation for it. His entire body felt warm and cold at the same time then a tingling sensation came and before he knew it.
He was ok.
But how, that was the question stuck in his head.
Once he was done making the holes in the can, he proceeded to use it for something. Which was putting a bit of marijuana inside of one of the holes, and then lightened the other one with a cheap lighter. Inhaling the smoke of it, and feeling his whole body relax completely. I know drugs are bad for you, but it feels so goooooooood... The boy exhaled the smoke out of the window.
Nero began to smoke Cannabis a year ago, after seeing a guy tossing into a trashcan while running away from a cop. Since then, he became a regular user, though getting weird was a little complicated due to his lack of money at times.
After enjoying that little bit of weed, he tossed the can through the window and turned around. He knew that sleep wasn't going to happen that night, so he opened his drawer to grab some clothes. His black jeans and white sneakers, but he put on a white Puffer Jacket this time. Nero didn't have many clothes, two pairs of jeans, one pair of shoes and a few t-shirts and a jacket.
Once he was done getting dressed, he went back to the window .His room was on the second floor, there were two windows there and in the middle there was a pipe that he used to slip down since he was seven. He uses it when he wants to get in and out of the orphanage at night. His night activities are nothing remarkable though. He can't wander too far from the orphanage; he needs to be back before Sister Maggie comes to check on him like she does every morning. The reason why is she specifically is mostly because the other nuns don't like him due to Nero being extra rude to them..
Nero was just wondering what he was going to do for the rest of the night, he usually just does random stuff until morning when he has insomnia. The first thing he decided to do was stop on a basketball court that was not too far away from the orphanage. Nero got into fights there from time to time. In one of those fights, the boy ran away and left his basketball ball behind. So Nero kept it in a hidden spot that he found on a building that was beside the court, he could have taken it back to the orphanage but Sister Maggie would have asked how he got it. He grabbed and started to do a few jump shots.
The whole place was a little disturbing at night, but Nero didn't really care. He was smart enough to stay out of trouble if necessary. Most of it is due to the fact that there was a time when Nero ran away from the orphanage and lived in the street for a few months. Until he got tired and simply went back to the orphanage because living in the streets was more trouble than it was worth it.
After landing several jump shots, he decided to do a few dunks. Running towards the hoop and doing a tomahawk dunk. The night was relatively cold and his outfit wasn't exactly appropriate for basketball, but he didn't care, he was having fun and that's all that mattered to him. He wished there was somebody to play with though, but his list of friends are very small and they probably wouldn't be interested in playing basketball in the middle of the night.
After a few hours flew by, the boy with white hair decided to go back to the orphanage cause it was almost sunrise. Running all the way back to the orphanage, climbing the pipe and entering the window. Before stripping himself down to his underwear and lying motionless on the bed for the remainder of the night.
Soon enough, it was time to wake up.
Even though he didn't actually sleep.
The next moments were a daze.
He left his bed and put on his jeans and shirt before going out. He and his friend FJ had planned to do something today. So Nero took a train to FJ's neighborhood and got there quickly enough.
He knocked on his door and the one who answered it was his mother Maria Castle.
"Oh, it's you Nero." She was an attractive woman, in her late thirties, with blond hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a simplistic dress with a flower design.
"Hello, Mrs. Castle." Nero greeted her in return. "Is FJ home?"
"He's eating breakfast, you can come in." She answers while signalling him to come in.
Nero obeys her and walks inside the house, where he sees FJ and his sister eating at the dining table as soon as he passes through the door..
"Nero is here." FJ's sister, Lisa Castle said. Lisa was almost a miniature of her mother, being a pretty blond girl with pigtails. She was wearing a pink dress that looked somewhat weird on her, but Nero wasn't going to judge her choice of clothing since his own wasn't much to boast about it.
"Nero!" FJ was happy to see him. Frank Castle Jr. was a very normal looking kid in comparison to Nero. Having fair skin, with messy curly black hair, and baby blue eyes. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a black skull on it, khaki shorts and black sneakers..
He just waved at them before approaching the table to eat breakfast with them.
Nero couldn't resist and ended up eating a bit of the waffles that Ms. Castle made for them. Something that you can't blame him since he didn't really have any breakfast, which was his own fault but they didn't need to know that.
After they all finished with breakfast, Nero and FJ decided to go play in the park. So the two friends decided to walk there while having a conversation.
"My dad is coming home next week." FJ said as the two walked beside each other.
"Really?" Nero was surprised, because Mr. Castle is never really around or at least he never saw him around.
"Yeah and Mom wants to have a picnic at Central park while he's home to celebrate." FJ said to him, although he didn't seem very enthusiastic about it.
"Oh, that's good." Nero didn't really care about that very much since he never actually met Frank Castle Sr.
The two eventually reached the park that was not too far away from FJ's house. During the walk, Nero noticed that the neighborhood was very calm and clean, definitely a far cry from hell's kitchen. Nero was a bit envious at times, but he often heard that it was no use to feel envy because it could consume you.
For the next five hours, the two friends played hide and seek for a while which wasn't really Nero's favorite game. Mostly because he wasn't very good at hiding, but he was pretty good at seking. The two played non-stop until it was time for FJ to go back home. So the two of them said goodbye by making their secret handshake before going their separate ways.
Afterwards, Nero decided to make his way back to the same train station that he came from, however, the moment he arrived there, the station was closed for some reason. There were a few people standing there, so he decided to ask someone about it.
"Excuse me?" Nero poked a woman's shoulder and she turned around before giving Nero a look that he was used to. "Did something happen in the station?"
"A man running away from the police entered it and the police closed in to catch him." She bluntly responded before turning her back to him.
"Shit..." Nero knew that there was no use waiting around. Since it would definitely take some time for them to catch the man and reopen the station. So he will have to find a different way to go back home. But that will definitely be a bit difficult, since Nero doesn't know the area very well. He usually goes from the train station straight to FJ's house, so he will have to look around a bit. He could go back to FJ's house and ask his mother for help, but that would cause a few complications since doesn't exactly have "permission" to be there.
It turned out to be a bad idea. Nero walked around for hours looking for a way to get back home, but to no avail. Also, apparently the fugitive that the police was chasing got into the train tracks and ran all the way to another station.
He ended up walking and walking and walking, trying to find a bus stop or maybe a taxi to go home. But then he got hungry and he decided to have something to eat, so he started to look for a hot dog stand or something similar.
Eventually, Nero found one, so he quickly walked towards it. That street was kind of empty which was strange, he could see a few people but this looks like the kind of place that it's usually crowded. So he wondered if something happened or if there was an event going on. Arriving at the end of the street and waiting to cross it in order to reach the hot dog stand. He looked around as waited and saw a few people there.
On the other side of the street that he was waiting to cross, he saw a family. Or at least , he assumes that they are a family.
A man with a receding hairline and a nice mustache, wearing a green sweater, khaki pants and brown leather shoes.
A slightly overweight blond woman with glasses, wearing a green summer dress.
A brown haired little boy that looked like a miniature of the man, wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and matching blue jeans.
A blond girl that looked just like the woman, she was thin, had her hair tied into a ponytail and was wearing a black shirt and light blue jeans.
And last, A red haired girl. A very beautiful redhead girl with long hair, wearing a brown blouse and beige skirt.
They looked like a very beautiful family. Nero observed them from afar and could tell that. The blond girl was the oldest, the red head one was the middle and the boy was the youngest. He could also assume that he was close to age to the redhead girl.
Nero chuckles a bit. He was analyzing a bunch of people that he probably never will see again to distract himself from his hunger which is pretty stupid. He kept on observing the family. Noticing that the small boy was holding a baseball ball in one hand and his mother's hand with the other. The couple looked like they were discussing something and the older daughter was trying to get something from a vending machine. ,
I really need to eat something and stop worrying about other people's business. The boy thought as he scratched his messy hair.
But then, the little boy dropped his baseball ball, and was trying to reach out but his mother was holding his hand tight. So the ball rolled to the middle of the street. The boy better say goodbye to it. Because Nero can see a car coming.
However, to his shock. The redhead girl started to walk towards the middle of the street to get her brother's baseball ball back. With Nero looking at the incoming car and noticing that it was coming at her direction at full speed. In a split second, completely by impulse, he started to run towards the girl as the car rapidly approached her.
She looks at the car but doesn't move, with her parents finally noticing where she was.
"Jean!" The father screams as the car is near her.
Nero ran exceptionally fast, way too fast, it felt like time had slowed down as he ran. He could hear police sirens coming from afar, and people screaming. When he reached her, seconds before the car closed the distance , Nero pushed the girl out of the way.
In a split second after she fell on the ground, she looked at him with her green eyes and he took a good look at her with his gray oned.
Until.
He felt the impact of the car.