"Three more minutes," muttered a man dressed in thick layers of cloth as he read the time on the faintly glowing face of a broken watch in his hand, "and this awful year will be over."
With that, the man sighed and his dull, soulless eyes — the only part of his body not covered by a cloth — turned upwards and tried to peer through the thick layer of fog that surrounded him.
Knowing that his weak eyes won't see through the layer of fog and darkness no matter how much he tried, the man lowered his gaze and silently watched the ticking seconds hand on the watch's face.
With every passing second, his heart calmed and his breathing deepened. The only sounds he could hear were those of the ticking watch, his breathing, and his faintly beating heart.
With every passing moment, the illusion that he was all alone in the world grew stronger and stronger… until only 30 seconds were left before the watch struck twelve.
At this time, the man awakened from his trance, and his right hand moved inside his thick covers as if looking for something. Soon, a dull, grating sound of aluminum wrapper getting scrunched up sounded as the man took out a small packet and a plastic bottle.
A cupcake and a bottle of soda, that was all the man could afford with the last bits of money he had on him for the New Year's celebration. Alone and homeless, he only had himself and darkness to celebrate the arrival of the New Year with.
Holding the celebratory feast in his hand, he started to count the seconds left to the New Year.
7…
6…
5…
4…
3…
Shuuu! Shuuu! Shuuu!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before the man could count down the last few seconds, he heard the sound of fireworks ripping through the air followed by colorful, albeit dull, flashes of light and explosions in the distance through the fog above him.
After the first explosion came many more… and just like that, fireworks began illuminating the sky and the thick layer of fog in every direction, marking the advent of a new year!
...
Looking at the dull flashes of colorful lights through the fog for a while, the man turned his attention back at the feast he was going to enjoy: his favorite flavor of cupcake, and a bottle of azure-colored soda.
Removing the glove from his frail-looking right hand, he rolled the cloth around his arm back a bit — so as to not dirty his food — and then opened the aluminum wrapper to take out the small cupcake inside.
Using his other hand, he twisted the cap off the bottle of soda while lowering the cloth covering his mouth. Looking at the luxurious food in his hand, he toasted himself, "Happy New Year, worthless me," and took a bite out of the cupcake, devouring half of it in one go.
Next, he chugged the soda out of the small bottle, nearly emptying it in one gulp. And like that, the New Year feast was finished within 2 bites and 2 gulps…
Shoving the cupcake wrapper into the plastic bottle, the man resealed the bottle with its cap and put it back into his thick clothes just so he wouldn't forget to throw it into the trash can or garbage site if he came across one.
Finished with his celebration party, the man thoroughly covered himself with the thick cloth and leaned back on the wall behind him. It was time for him to get some rest.
Ignoring the celebratory sounds and the fireworks sounding from the distance, the man closed his eyes in a bid to sleep.
...
"Ah!" The man's eyes opened with a start as a sinking feeling assaulted him. Uncovering his eyes, he looked around and realized that there was nothing in his vicinity.
Still, no matter how much he looked around and confirmed that there was nothing, the sudden feeling of dread that sprouted inside his heart just wouldn't go away. It was to the point that he stood up, took out his emergency flashlight, and illuminated every direction around him to assure himself.
But no matter how much he looked around, the man found nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was as calm as it had been when he arrived at this spot a while ago. Still, he couldn't assure his heart in any way and decided it was better for him to trust his gut and get out of there as soon as possible.
No matter what, the place he was at was in a somewhat desolate part outside the city and it wasn't a far-fetched idea for accidents to happen out here. Let alone, in such a cold night shrouded in thick fog, the chances of accidents happening would only be higher and not lower.
The man gritted his teeth and began walking towards the populous city he had left for the last few days due to all the preparations being done for first, the Christmas celebration, and then, the New Year celebration.
The two events had essentially made a lot of places homeless people would gather temporarily inhabitable for them. One of those places was the small park under a flyover where he would normally spend his nights.
Just like many other homeless people, he had to leave his spot and search for another place to stay during these few days. And since he didn't like places with a lot of people gathered, and not like a lot of people should be gathering together with the pandemic and all going on, he had chosen to stay in a relatively clean place outside the city.
He had spent the last few days in relative peace without any disturbance, so he didn't know why his gut would start giving him warnings out of nowhere tonight. Moreover, the warning bells ringing in his mind were too loud to ignore.
Deciding not to take any chances, the man steadily walked towards the city. His weak eyesight and less-than-perfect hearing showed their magic at this time as the sounds of his steps mixed together with his breathing, the exploding fireworks that went off every now and then, and the rustling of his clothes and whatever else there was to make spooky sounds that caused him to raise his vigilance to the max.
The man tried his best to calm his heart as he rushed towards the city, but the sinking feeling only deepened. The alarm bells going off inside his mind were intensifying, and the strangeness of everything was getting to his head.
His brain had already begun creating fake silhouettes in his path, and the dread in his heart kept on solidifying.
He wanted to get to the city as soon as possible, get to a place with other people. He had to get to the city…
Thump! Bang! Argh!!!
As the man was essentially running at this point, he failed to notice the rocks on the ground in front of him. His foot landed on one of the rocks, making him lose his balance as he fell face-first towards the ground.
As he used his arms and legs to cushion his fall out of instinct, he couldn't help but groan with pain as the stones and rocks stabbed into his body. Although he was covered from head to toe in thick clothes, they could only help so much. Pain coursed through his limbs and the spots where the stones and rocks stabbed burned, the worst being his left ankle which dislocated and shot immense pain through his body.
Bearing the immense pain coursing through his body, the man swept the rocks under him away and sat on the ground while holding his left leg so as to prevent his dislocated foot from touching the ground.
His flashlight had already turned off due to the impact and he couldn't see where it had gone. He would need to search for it if he wanted to take a look at the damage his foot had suffered. The night was not going well already, and he couldn't imagine just how worse it would get with his gut-
'Eh? Why am I not feeling anymore dread and danger?'
As he was wondering about how bad his night was going to get, the man realized that the sinking feeling had disappeared and his gut was no longer shooting alarm bells at him. The spooky sounds and creepy silhouettes his brain conjured had disappeared, too, and his mind was extremely clear as well.
He was completely awake and alert right now, and couldn't hear a single sound except for the ticking watch in his pocket, his own breathing, and faint heartbeat. That was… until the fireworks went off again and the fog around him brightened in different colors.
Now that the feeling of dread had disappeared, it didn't take long for the man's heart to calm down. Ignoring the searing pain in his body, he raised his head to look up at the dull flashes of fireworks. It wasn't the first time he had dislocated that specific ankle or fallen on rocks and stones, after all.
As the man watched the fading fireworks above, he started to think about how to get himself to the hospital to get his ankle put back in place. The treatment was free, thankfully, and the real challenge was getting to the hospital. His best bet would be to stay put in place and wait out the night…
As the man was going over his different options in his mind, his eyes caught sight of a faint light falling towards him. Within moments, without giving him a chance to react, the light had gotten brighter to the point that there was barely any distance left between them.
The man's pupils constricted, and before he could utter a single sound, the light smashed into his forehead. Immediately, the man's head, neck, chest, and stomach were vaporized into a bloody mist…
All that was left on the spot was a small white light that slowly faded away to reveal a pitch-black object in the shape of a ring, and the man's legs where his left leg had been raised above the ground with the support of his right leg and his still-intact hands holding onto it.
The ring, which had fallen from above, floated above the now-dead man's leg at the spot where his heart would have been, had it not vaporized him.