Chereads / The Factors / Chapter 2 - Factor 1

Chapter 2 - Factor 1

How exactly do I remain invisible in high school? It was actually pretty simple. I never told the teachers my real name and I was able to convince my parents to not tell them my name either. Instead, I used my pen name, Blind Eye, as my nickname.

I'm not allowed to wear hats or hoods during school, so I let my black hair grow long so that my bangs could cover my emerald green eyes.

I guess you could say that I kinda look like a hentai protagonist.

During attendance, instead of saying "here", I would just not say a word. Whenever people tried to interact with me, I would either ignore them or walk away while pretending that I can't hear them.

My plan worked out perfectly. I became so invisible to everyone that the bruises all over my face and body finally stopped appearing. Even my nose and mouth haven't bled for a while.

I've managed to go through one year of high school. Just two more years and my training will finally be complete. I'll be free from the chains that bind me to this cruel and pitiful world.

I walked the streets during the colorful night of Manhattan as I tried coming up with different ways as to how I could remain invisible doing everything. I was so close to solving one if my ideas, setting a world record without anyone knowing it was me, when suddenly a hand grabbed the back of my hoodie and jerked me into an alleyway.

"Looks like this is your unlucky day." said a shady looking guy.

When I took a closer look, I saw that this guy was with three other members. Two were guys and two, I think, were girls.

"I'm not really a fan of beating kids up," the thug who grabbed me said. "So how's about you hand me your wallet so that I don't end up killing you."

No way. This guy shouldn't be seeing me. Maybe he just got the wrong person or something. Or maybe he's gone crazy and thinks that he can see me.

I decided to try and walk away.

"The fuck do you think you're doing!" the thug said, grabbing me by the neck.

He was squeezing down on my neck really hard. I could feel my airway closing, getting thinner and thinner as I trued to gasp in enough air to keep from passing out.

Suddenly, the entire group of thugs pulled out knives from their pockets.

"I'm pretty sure that I don't have to tell you twice now ya brat," the thug holding me by the neck said. "If you give it to me now, I might consider leaving you here with only your intestines spilled on the ground."

No way. This...can't be real. I've put so much effort into disappearing from this world. I've tried so hard to pass by people without them knowing I was even there. I've spent years doing this successfully.

So why...why...why can they see me? Why is the world still able to see me? Is it pointless? Was all of this for nothing? Is the world somethings that you can never escape from no matter hard you try?

"I'm running put of patience," the thug choking me said. "Alright guys, let's gut him!"

The thug slammed me to the brick wall and I collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. Two of the thugs formed a wall in front of us, and the other two, including the choker, raised their knives and were ready to slice into me.

Is the world really this cruel? Is no one safe from it?

Before the knives came down at my stomach, they suddenly stopped. In fact, it wasn't only just them. Everything stopped. The thugs, the birds, the wind.

Even the noise was gone.

Everything was completely quiet and still, until a blue holographic message popped up in front of my face.

It read: Do You Want to Live?

Yes No

I didn't know what to think. Looking at the thugs, it was pretty obvious that they were going to kill me.

What the hell is this? Why is everything still? And what's with this weird message?

There was no way in hell that I was going to die, so I decided to just click yes.

However, if I had known what I was about to witness, I would've just taken the knife and stabbed myself.

After I made my decision, time resumed; however, the thugs remained frozen for a little while longer. The guy who choked me was the one to move first. He didn't say anything. Instead, he turned his hand, pointed the knife at himself, and slid it right through his jaw.

The thug gargled on a bunch of his own blood. When he opened his mouth and coughed, I could see the knife sticking out inside it. The thug didn't stop there though. Instead, he yanked it out and stabbed his face, stomach, arms, sides. He stabbed all over his body multiple times.

Even though he fell to the ground lifelessly, his right hand was still clutching the knife as it kept bringing it down onto his body.

I was so paralyzed by the scene that it took me a second to realize that the entire group of thugs was doing it. Blood splattered. Guts spilled onto the flood. Some arms and legs, even an eyeball, were completely severed and fell to the ground in a bloody splat.

After what felt like an excruciating eternity, the last one finally stopped twitching. I sat there completely mortified by what I had just witnessed. All of the thugs killed had just killed themselves in front of me. They didn't even scream once. They just kept stabbing and stabbing and slicing over and over again. Their eyes were completely dead, as if the life, their will to live, was just completely sucked out of them.

Before I even had a chance to think about my sanity, a bright blue holographic light suddenly engulfed me, and my surroundings completely changed.

Changed...from the colorful night of Manhattan...to one of the many platforms that I was standing on in the middle of a bunch of random bright blue holographic numbers in the middle of a black void.

To my left and to my right were platforms exactly like mine, a pitch black one, that also had a person standing on them. They were all of different races, ages, gender, and styles.

And what these platforms were surrounding was a man dress in a blue tuxedo with white sparkled stars all over it and pitch black dress pants. His bowtie was completely white and his top hat, the same color as his tuxedo, covered most of his pitch black hair.

Even his eyes were flashy. The one on the left was completely blue with a white star as his pupil, and the one on the right was just completely pitch black.

"Welcome everyone," he spoke in a deep and wondrous voice. "This is my void. My name is Route, and I welcome you all to...The Factors!"