"Yeah!, Keep going!", a lone female voice cheered loudly.
Huffing and panting, Martin glared at the devil in female form smiling at him.
"You said this wouldn't be tiring!", Martin protested amidst deep breaths as he dropped the dumbbells heavily.
"Don't blame me....according to the rate of your metabolism and my calculations, this should be a stroll in the park!".
Glaring long and hard at Tess, Martin remembered the fateful encounter between them two weeks ago....
.
.
.
"Don't come back here without the milk, brat!", a gruff voice, accompanied with a grunt could be heard, as Martin shuffled out the door.
"Hmph, always pushing me around", Martin muttered as he draped his hoodie over his head and walked towards the store.
It was late, almost midnight....the cold evening wind sending chills down Martin's spine.
Wrapping the hoodie tighter, Martin increased his pace as he walked briskly to the store....it was only a few blocks away.
Deciding to pass through an alley which served as a shortcut, Martin cut through an easy corner as he approached the dark alley, an ominous feeling arising from the depths of his heart.
'Tsk, it's only an alley!', Martin bolstered himself as he took uncertain steps into the dark.
*
A few blocks away from the Alley, 10 minutes ago...
"Come on, move your fat a*s and put it in!", a masked man with a deep voice yelled as he clicked the safety off the pistol in his hand and pointed it at the fat clerk in front of him.
"I..I'm putting it in!", the clerk shakily replied as he hurriedly stuffed the bag in front of him full with money.
"Yo, what's taking so long??, the feds are going to be here in no time", another masked man came out from the back of the store with another duffel bag.
"Give it here", the first masked man grunted as he snatched the bag from the shaky clerk and headed outside.
"Shit, where's Jamal??", the first man asked.
"How the hell would I know??, he's supposed to be here with the car", the second man replied angrily as he glanced around.
"Shit, we have no time to waste, we'd have to find somewhere to hide", the first man said as he looked around.
"Look, an alley", the second man's eyes brightened up as he spotted an inconspicuous looking alley in the distance.
"Quick!", the masked men hurried as they dashed towards the alley.
*
'Tsk, this alley's weirdly long', Martin thought as he trudged forward.
"In here!". Hearing the deep voice, Martin flinched, his instincts telling him to get the hell out of the alley. But, hardly had he taken a step when he saw two men in his view, duffel bags in hand.
"Shit, there's someone here", one of the men swore as he saw Martin.
"Fu*k it", the second man said as he pointed his gun at Martin.
"Shit!, I...", Martin was about to say something when....."BAM!!!"...the gun went off.
With a loud thud, Martin's body hit the cold floor, his ears ringing.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!", the other man yelled as he pushed his partner, a shocked look on his face.
"What?!", the second man yelled back.
"I thought we had an agreement, nobody gets shot!. Was that not clear enough??...Look at him, he was just a kid!", the first man pointed at Martin's body gradually getting drained of blood.
"Look, I panicked okay??. Let's get outta here", the man that shot Martin said as he dragged his partner along, leaving Martin gasping for his last breath.
His vision gradually getting blurry, Martin thought about his friends at school, his abusive uncle, and his favorite video game as he thought....,'I don't want to die'.
*
'Damn, too bright!', Martin thought as he tried to open his eyes, but closed it immediately due to the absurd level of brightness flooding his vision.
Trying to gather his thoughts, Martin shuffled through his memories, a particularly dark one springing up.
Gasping, Martin swiftly sat up as he remembered....he was shot!.
Finally opening his eyes, he found out the reason for the unusual brightness....he was in a white room, white floor, white walls, white curtains.....if it wasn't for the hospital equipments he saw, he would have thought he was in heaven.
'Huh, thought I died??', Martin thought.
'Well, you are supposed to be dead', a cheery voice startled Martin as he violently flinched. Looking around, he couldn't see anyone, his earlier suspicions of him being dead surfacing again....maybe he was dead and was in a hospital in heaven, right??.
'No silly, you're not dead, you just can't see me because I'm in your head', the voice spoke up again, a mocking tone apparent in it's voice.
"What the!!!, who are you??", Martin muttered shakily, his mind buzzing.
'Shhhh!, not so loud!. Others would think you're crazy if they hear you talking to yourself',the voice cautioned, as Martin looked on foolishly.
That's it!, he had finally gone mad!.
'Tsk!, so negative. Let me introduce myself....My name is Tess and I'm your Virtual Assistant. You died 3 days ago from an unfortunate encounter....but, a few gods took pity on you and decided to give you a second chance at life. I'm here to help with you with acclamatizing yourself to your new abilities', the voice gave a long speech, as Martin looked on, speechless.
"What?!", was the first word Martin could manage.