Boom!
The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the street. Usually, I ignored them. After all, I lived on the streets of Chicago.
This time, however, the gun firing was aimed directly at me.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. It was as if time almost stopped. I could even process everything. This brief euphoria only lasted a moment, though.
A seering pain pierced directly through my chest.
'Damn it! Out of every way to go out, I'm going to die from a simple misunderstanding?' As I thought this, I fell to the ground.
---
Before this happened, I was playing basketball. My friend Devin, though, wanted to play a prank on me. It was revenge for me embarrassing him earlier this week.
He told a "random" person that I was looking for trouble. Unbeknownst to him, that person was a rival gang member.
Both me and Zay-the rival gang member-knew eachother quite well. Our history was...interesting.
We eyed eachother. My eyes expressed fear, in his, malice.
Immediately, I tried to explain, but Zay on the other hand, had made up his mind. In an instant, he pulled out a small hand gun that was concealed in his waist band. I noticed and began running, Devin did the same.
Our footsteps were loud across the paved, damaged basketball court. We managed to hop the fence before Zay began shooting relentlessly.
We split in two directions. Me towards a small forest and Devin to our neighborhood. Zay's gunshots still followed me.
Not long after, he stopped shooting to reload. His eyes left me for a moment to put another magazine in the weapon.
After noticing his lack of attention, I slid and hid behind some brush. Some dirt darted upward during this motion, but I couldn't stop that from happening without being quick.
"What? Where did..." Zay's comment meant that my plan worked and he didn't see me.
I was panting heavily, so I covered my mouth as to not make any noise. Far to my right, Devin was still running. He was a bit slow, though, because he was horizontally challenged.
"Hey Jordan! Come out! We both know I'll find you eventually," As Zay spoke, I heard his footsteps growing louder.
My heart began pumping so loud. So loud to the point where I thought Zay might hear it as well. Luckily, the sounds of his walking decreased.
I took the opportunity to slowly get up in a crouching position. I began to move carefully.
Crunch!
My eyes widened. As I looked down I saw a snapped branch beneath my foot.
I cursed inwardly.
"Ha! There you are!" He started to close in on me.
Without looking back I started to full on sprint. I was relieved I take track in highschool otherwise, I would've been outmatched in terms of speed.
I looked behind myself and saw that I was far ahead. I laughed as I was getting away.
A few shots sounded.
'He really thinks he can hit me from ther-' My thoughts stopped.
A new painful feeling was in my leg. The pain was on both sides of my thigh. My leg was burning. Burning with pain.
So, so much pain.
Blood splattered along the ground. I nearly threw up as I collapsed into some mud. It was obvious I got shot in the leg. Unlucky was what I was. Certainly unlucky.
My eyes teared up. I couldn't die though. I used my arms and started to crawl. Then, I got up using the support of a tree to get on one leg.
I heard him getting closer.
I stumbled around before managing to slowly limp forward. I could almost sense I was about to get shot, so I leaned to the right falling into a tree.
A bullet flew past my face. My intuition was correct.
I pushed my self back up using the tree. The bark was piercing my skin. I winced in pain.
I saw the end of the forest clearing. Before I knew it, I made it. I was on the street.
I smiled looking around and seeing others. Most people in gangs didn't want to have gunfights in the midst of people.
I twitched. A cold object pressed against my back.
"You really thought you got away from me, Jordan?" He asked in a rhetorical manner, "Well, ski masks are really helpful when concealing your face around people! Have fun in hell."
A few moments later, and here we are. The shot went straight through my chest. I was on the ground, sad that I couldn't do anything.
All I wanted to do was to support myself and my mom, who was very ill. My dad left before I was born, so my mom, Melissa, had to struggle by herself to afford my education.
We lived in the hood, so there was nobody willing to help us.
I reminisced on the past as I slowly bled out. I wanted to look at the sun one last time, so with all my strength I flipped over. The sun was my mom's favorite thing ever (besides me of course).
As my eyes gazed at the sun, it appeared brighter than normal.
'This must be the light. God is taking me to heaven!'
I wasn't the only one to notice the light, though. I could barely see Zay's fearful expression, eyeing the same light.
He dropped his weapon.
Suddenly, a figure walked through the light. It appeared to be human.
I squinted only to see a man who appeared Asian in ethnicity. "What the fu..." I was speechless.
The man seemed to be flying like magic. He then opened his mouth.
"Hello humans of Galaxy #2035789 Sector #66781 World #3729 Area #234. You may be wondering 'what are you?' I am a celestial being far above your kind," His words seemed like nonsense, "You all in this area seem to be worthy of true power. I bestow upon you the ability to cultivate."
'Cultivation?' I was into webtoons, manwha, and manhua, so I had a good idea of what he meant by cultivation.
He continued, "Inside each of you, is a dormant soul. I'm unlocking the usage of the soul. This will enable you to use what you call superpowers."
As sudden as the man came, he left.
I had no strength left in me. My eyes slowly came to a close.