Jayden's world spun as fell to his knees clutching the gaping wound that was spilling more blood by the second.
The street lights that once lit up a safe path home now seemed blinding and hot.
Jayden gritted his teeth as another wave of pain passed through him, sending him completely to the dirty pavement below.
Through the searing pain, struggle to breathe properly, muddled thoughts of panic and confusion and the blurry, unfocused vision Jayden only just managed to see the shoes that stepped around him into the light; professional looking shoes that you'd only really see worn by a businessman, now stained by blood.
His blood.
"yo! Boss how are ya! What's with the call? Ya know it totally kills the mood when I get interrupted in the middle of a job!, Even gave ya the photo proof this time around, so what's your problem this time?"
The man's voice rang out loud in comparison to the dead silence of the night. It made Jayden's head throb even more as he tried to process what he was over-hearing while he was bleeding out on the cold hard pavement.
The tone in the strange man's voice was carefree, like he was just telling an old friend how his week had gone; not like he'd just stabbed someone and was having a phone call as the same person was slowly bleeding to death right beside them; It almost made Jayden laugh at insanity of the situation he'd found himself in.
But slowly that was replaced by a wave of incredulousness and spiteful anger. He'd been struggling for the past 10 years, through all the bullshit and roadblocks life could throw at him, he'd lived through the deaths of his parents, he'd survived the judgemental eyes and harsh words, hell he'd even survived the full on beatings from a school bully that was supposed to be his cousin.
Jayden was tired.
'Just leave me be'
Jayden was spiteful.
'Why?'
'What did I do to deserve this'
These thoughts rang through his head as he lay on the cold concrete street, feeling body get colder and his vision blur as his blood slipped into the cracks in the concrete below him and got absorbed into the dirt.
Realistically Jayden knew that there was very little he could have done to prevent this, there was no holy being casting judgment on his life, his life had ended up this way by rotten chance.
Still….
He wonders if anyone would grieve for him.
He wonders what his funeral will be like.
Would it be like his parent's; A day pouring with rain like it was responding to feelings of the small boy standing in front of his parents Graves, just barely cleared from the hospital, with bandages still wrapped around his legs and arms and scratches still visible on his face.
Forced into a suit and tie to look "presentable" in front of a bunch of rich looking people he'd never meet. None of them comforted the boy in his pain, instead they used the opportunity to talk business and pass gossip like they were at a tea party, not a funeral.
Or maybe, Jayden thought they'd just bury him as quickly as possible as if the whole process was just an annoying chore they were forced into doing.
'I wonder if they'd even have the decency to bury me next to my parents.'
Soon the pain started to go numb like the rest of his body, the coldness had fully set in and his brain slowed down to a sluggish pace.
To the muffled shouts of an argument happening somewhere close by Jayden thought to himself.
'I feel so fucking lonely'
And he finally shut his eyes.