Capturing The Angel of Death

Stranger

Sebastian walked without halt along the almost empty streets. He had missed the last bus and the only way to get home now was walking. He could call Marcelo to come pick him up, but he knew better than to disturb his master for such trivial matters. Marcelo was always busy and was nobody's personal driver. His master had already done enough by bringing him back to his workplace, demanding for anything else would just seem disrespectful, especially when it came to unimportant issues such as this one.

He paused for a moment and took in enough air to sustain his next hour walk. The distance between his workplace and home was quite the distance and covering it on foot was much more stressful than he had imagined. But he had started, and there was no turning back home. His mind and legs screamed for him to flag down a moving vehicle and beg for a lift, but he knew better than to yield to those persuasions.

In Bornville, it was a suicidal attempt to enter a strangers vehicle, especially in almost deserted places like this.

Many people were into the dark arts now, and strolling into any unknown person's car could mean you being his next human sacrifice for their stupid gods. He wasn't skilled in martial art or self defense techniques, so being captured by any of those evil doers practically meant death for him. He increased a pace a bit and hurried his breathing to match his increasing heartbeat. He had to get home before nightfall and for him to do so without stopping again, he had to make himself high with adrenaline.

Nightfall in Bornville was much more industrious than daytime. The majority that dwelled in darkness used this time to commit all sort of evil and devilish schemes. Being outside during such period was definitely a gamble of life and death and the odds weren't in the favor of life. Death was almost guaranteed for any casual being found outside during nighttime, and the worst part of it was that nobody but the affected family cared for this.

He was almost tempted into running when he noticed the number of eyes that were glued to him due his unrhymed movements. He was the only person walking like a maniac and easily stood out amongst the normal passerbys. He ignored the eyes, but no matter how much he tried to keep himself from overthinking everything, his body retaliated by producing way too much sweat. He was literally soaked in his own perspiration, but that didn't stop him from continuing his hurried movement.

It was less than thirty minutes till sundown and he hadn't even made it halfway through his journey. This wasn't his first time walking home, but it was definitely his first time being this afraid. He had never walked home this late before and this was all because he had decided to get greedy and work overtime. Everything around him screamed danger and the more he thought about it, the more his attention sapped away. It wasn't long before he was completely oblivious of his sorroundings and before he could get back to reality, he had stumbled into another human being.

"Watch where you're going!" Came the harsh tone of his victim. The brazenness and sheer anger behind his victim's tone had knocked him back to his senses, but also at the same time revealed a more devastating vision to him. The person he had bumped into was cursed and he could almost smell death around him.

He turned to meet the figure of the figure of the angered man towering over his fallen body, and fear dug deeper into his marrows. But at the same time pity had swooned in.

"I'm s..sorry" He apologized before taking the outstretched hand of the being in front of him.

'This person couldn't be more than nineteen, and he was already cursed to die.What a poor soul' He sympathized. He would've offered to help, but there was no telling what this boy had done that warranted him being cursed to die. Moreover, if he wasted anymore time here then his own death was almost inevitable.

"Be more careful next time" The stranger advised before continuing his walk.

He nodded slowly to the strangers words before continuing his own walk. He didn't know why but everything in him screamed for him to go back and save that boy, but he convinced himself to keep walking. Cursed people always brought trouble wherever they went, and associating this stranger only meant reducing his chances of survival. Marcelo had always told him to ignore problems he couldn't handle and this problem was just one of the ones he couldn't deal with. But why did he feel this way? Why was his conscience judging him so much.

He finally halted and turned back. The stranger wasn't that far from him, he could close the gap between them with a short sprint. Without wasting a second, he bolted after the strangers and caught up within few minutes. He just couldn't ignore his conscience anymore, it had won and at the same time jeopardized his chances of making it home alive.

"Excuse me!" He called after the stranger who turned at the same moment he cried out. It was almost as if the boy had expected him to come back, but he ignored it. He normalized his breathing, and made few steps closer to his target, but the instant he made to open his mouth, the stranger had sped off without hesitation.

It was odd, but in the same instant he had just realized that he hadn't bumped into this stranger, It was the other way round. He bolted after the fleeing man, only remembering to search himself after he had begun the chase. His phone was missing and so was his wallet. He had been robbed. It was no wonder why he had been cursed. He had probably robbed the wrong person and the person had placed a curse on him.

He thanked his conscience for telling him to turn back, but at the same time cursed himself for thinking that this boy deserved his help. Some people just didn't deserve help.

He had covered the distance between the two of them in no time and had managed to tackle the thief to the ground. Now all eyes were on them, but he couldn't care less at the moment. He had spent his entire childhood and most of his teenage days running away from bullies and those little sprints had paid off. He was once again stunned by the vision of the criminal's curse, but this time he had hardened his heart and couldn't care less if this boy died.

He had only began to notice the small crowd gathering around them and the unending murmuring that filled the air. Everywhere around them had suddenly gone damp with evil and there was no denying the bloodlust that lingered in the atmosphere.

"You have to save me please. Act like we were playing... please"

He stood from the strangers body and with a quick glance around, he could tell this people were coming to kill him. This was probably why he hadn't ran off after robbing him. It was obvious that pickpocketing was rampant around here and any hurried movements always grabbed attention. Running or fast paced walks were often seen as a escape tactics around here and that was why he had gotten those suspicious stares earlier.

As much as he hated having to help this thief, he couldn't live with the thoughts of him being the reason for this boy's death. He was going to die anyways, but he didn't want anything to do with it.

He heeded to the boy's muffled pleas and with the little compassion left in him, he mustered up a smile and extended his arm for the boy who's teary face had instantly turned into a smiley one. The level of deceit in this boy's acting were just unparalleled.

The atmosphere seemed to have loosened up a bit, but there were still some traces of bloodlust hovering around them.

It was already late now, even if he ran as fast he could there was no way he was making it home before sundown and this was all thanks to this bastard. He had managed to rope him into his death sentence and now the two of them were walking like friends.

"Thank you for what you did back there. I'm really sorry for trying to rob you"

Sebastian ignored the strangers apologies and continued his walk, he had already gotten into trouble for just the little interaction they had before. Any more might lead to a more dangerous and life threatening situation befalling them and he wasn't cut out for such trouble yet.

"I'm Michael by the way."

He finally gave in, they were both going to die anyway, so it would be fair to exchange pleasantries with his death buddy.

"Sebastian" He replied just before the vibration of his phone stole away his attention.

Somebody was calling, and it was Marcelo Quinn.