"It's my loser of a step-brother!" Natalye announced with a voice loud enough everyone on the street could easily hear her. "Let's go and say hi!"
I slightly squinted my eyes, casually observing how this little devil rushed my way while dragging her boyfriend along.
She wasn't her aunt. Rather than intentionally making my life harder in the past, she simply adapted to the niche where she could do everything to me with little if any repercussions. Those years when I could not stand up to her made her into a little, spoiled brat who only had her relative cuteness to thank for anyone putting up with her young-karen type of attitude.
'Interacting with her right now…' I thought, pressing my lips together into a thin line as a myriad of thoughts flashed through my mind.
There were pros and cons to everything, regardless of whether I would just ignore her, talk with her, or come out of the street storming, lusting to sever her head, nail it on a spike, and decorate the doors of my shed with it. And as annoying as the result of my thinking could be, I had little to no choice but to go with the most optimal strategy.
After all, I was not yet ready to face the full range of my dear aunt's wrath.
Natalye didn't stop to think about her actions and their potential consequences. In her eyes, I wasn't someone who could cause her to have trouble but a mere target for bullying.
Someone she could literally piss at and fear no retaliation.
As little as I cared about whatever that little devil would say, the boyfriend that she pulled along… For me from four days ago, he would be pretty damn scary. Clearly a frequent visitor to the gym and a frequent user of the bottle and water pipe.
A mix of raw strength and addictions that wiped his brain clean made him into someone the past me wouldn't dare to even look at.
But I was no longer the same man that I was four days ago. And when those two closed in on me, all the sense and reason that made me formerly decide not to reveal my change…
Now that they got close, all those smart ideas and thoughts vanished, replaced by the sheer desire of my heart to bring some fucking justice to my unjust life.
Natalye opened up her mouth, ready to berate me over something I couldn't care less about… But for the first time since we got to know each other, I wasn't going to just let her do whatever the heck she wanted.
"Now that your mother openly stole what's mine, I'm no longer inclined to keep playing that pretend game of yours," I spoke in a calm, cold voice while staring Natalye down from under my lowered eyelids.
Natalye's face twitched when I cut into what she considered her time to speak. She twitched again when the meaning of my words entered her head through one ear…
And judging by the lack of reaction on her face, it went out the other ear just as fast.
"Did you hit your head or something, step-bro?" Natalye asked, outright ignoring my words while a vile smile of satisfaction appeared in her mouth.
Even though she had yet to do anything that could be considered bullying, she was already enjoying the mere anticipation of doing so. "Who stole what?" she asked, her smile only growing larger. "How could anyone steal anything from you, when you owed nothing to begin with?"
Contrary to my guess, she did hear what I said.
'I will have to disagree with that.'
'We will see.'
'You will see.'
'That's some brave words for a little girl well within my slapping range.'
Those and many more potential responses flashed up in my mind… Only to vanish into the depths of my brain, unvoiced.
'I know it's tempting to bash her, but what's the real point of doing so?' I asked myself, approaching the moment as coldly and logically as I possibly could. 'What good would come from showing here where her place is? What else besides the simple satisfaction of telling her off?'
I shook my head.
'Doing so would only cause me to reveal part of my cards. And until I'm ready to go biblical on them, I really should keep my hand hidden!'
And so, I simply rolled my eyes… and moved along, paying no further mind to this noisy bitch.
"Hey, wait!" Natalye quickly shouted, finally noticing that something was off when I simply ignored her and attempted to walk away. "I'm not done with you!" not used to any sort of opposition, she quickly turned angry.
And like an obedient dog kept on a short leash, her boyfriend sprung into action, reaching out for my shoulder…
'Fuck it.'
Something snapped in my mind.
While I hoped to find some of my bullies to test out the extent of my newfound power, fucking around with anyone that Natalye was closely related with would lead my dearest aunt to find out about my change.
But at this moment, I couldn't give less crap about my aunt.
I was supposed to be better, so how could I allow those low-lives to do as little as touch me?
"Hey buddy, you better listen to your…" the boyfriend spoke out even before his fingers reached my shoulders… And his words ended up cut short when I turned around and casually grabbed his arm right by its wrist.
'Welp, I'm going to fuck them up anyway, so I might as well start with this moron.'
My mind freed itself from the chains of reason, logic, and tactical sense. Duking it out with this insignificant worm would bring me nothing but harm in the middle and long term, offering but empty satisfaction in the short term.
But after years of letting others do as they wish, I had enough. And if I ever wanted to become better, I had to start treating myself as such.
Without a word, I started to slowly but steadily turn my hand around, twisting the man's wrist while holding his hand in an iron-like grasp.
At first, he only made a funny face, as if baffled that someone as scrawny as me would dare to even touch his muscular arm. Soon, though, the look of mocker vanished from his eyes, replaced by the first hints of fear that quickly turned into terror when his wrists started to give out noises no human parts should.
Then, he screamed, right as I felt something snap in my hands while his hand twisted at an unnatural and clinically impossible angle.
'Huh?' Surprised by the unexpected damage and the shout that followed, I failed to keep my strength properly restrained for but a second… And a single of using all my strength turned out to be enough to snap the man's forearm into two like a twig.
"AAAAARGH!" the young man uttered a blood-boiling scream when the snapping sound that came from his own, now shattered, bone made him realize the unexpected truth and forced him to accept what just happened.
I let go of that poor man's hand before I could do any further damage. Having him scream out after reaching out for me could still be explained as self-defense. But what would I do if I ended up pulling his entire damned arm out of his shoulder?!
'Still, is he really that weak?' I thought, ignoring the pained cries of the man and the panicked look on my dear, little step-sister's face. In the end, though, I simply shrugged my shoulder, turned around, and left, escaping from the scene before the pained cries would attract too much of the crowd's attention. 'Is he really that weak, or am I actually pretty damn strong?'