Jacob was a kind young boy who loved helping people. He had a heart much bigger than his 13-year-old body lead on. He would often go out of his way to help people, even when it was dangerous for him to do so. One day, he met a very attractive woman in his school. She had dropped her keys and Jacob had retrieved them for her.
"Here you go, ma'am." the little Jacob said with a big smile on his face.
The lady leaned down and took the keys. "Thank you, dear. What's your name?"
"Jacob. Mikai Jacob!"
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Wanda. I'm new here, actually."
She was a 37-year-old foreign ex-supermodel who was also a new teacher at Jacob's school. As the two started to see each other more, they became closer. Wanda even offered to give Jacob tutoring lessons for his classes.
"Hey, how about you start calling me mommy?" Wanda said while patting his head.
"Ok!" Jacob responded with a big smile on his face.
However, things with the woman changed. The 38-year-old Wanda would begin to do "special" things with the 14-year-old Jacob when his body started changing.
"Ms. Wanda, I feel weird when I look at you." Jacob said while blushing.
Wanda chuckled. "Oh, that's perfectly normal for a boy your age. I can help you with these changes. But, you have to promise me you will never tell anyone. This is strictly between the two of us."
She would call him over, kiss him in private, touch him inappropriately, and make him grope her. The woman was telling Jacob that it was ok for a young boy like him to be interested in these things.
One day, a year later, she drugged Jacob and had sex with him repeatedly in her car. Even when he begged her to stop, Wanda wouldn't. She raped him in her car until he passed out. After that day, she kidnapped the 15-year-old Jacob and abused him physically, mentally, and sexually for 2 years. He was locked in her basement. Anytime the door would open, he would shake with fear.
He eventually escaped at the age of 17. He escaped back to his family who deeply missed him, but when he told them he was raped by a woman...
"Oh wow, lucky. I wish I had my first sexual experience with such a hot woman." his father said while chuckling.
"That's impossible. Why would a woman rape a man? Stop making stuff up, Jacob. It isn't funny." his mother said sternly.
His father said he was lucky and his mom didn't believe him, thinking his son just ran away and got scared, so he came back. He told all his friends, but they all either didn't believe him or said he was lucky. But one lawyer heard his story and decided to help Jacob. He brought Wanda to court, but the woman tried to flip it on him. She accused Jacob of raping her for the last month.
Not only was she turned off as innocent, but she was even praised by social media for coming out, with many people saying how brave she was. The judge sends Jacob to 10 years in prison for his crime, none of which he committed. His world was shattered like a thief breaking through a window. Jacob later tried to kill himself but was saved by the lawyer.
"I have a place you can stay, but we need to get the consent of your parents first." the lawyer said with a smile on his face.
But his parents didn't want to hear it. He was abandoned by his parents, who didn't believe he pleads, so the lawyer adopted Jacob as his son and brought him to his home in South Korea.
Jacob lived with the man for several weeks. He was so kind, yet strict with Jacob. He was the father Jacob always wanted. He loved the lawyer very much and wanted to do everything he could to make him proud.
But then, one day, the two went to get an archery bow for Jacob's high school graduation present. His favorite hobby had become archery, and his dad loved to dote on him when he was preforming well. But as they walked outside of the shopping market they got in from (The grocery store Alice was in) the police chased down a robber. One of the police took out a gun and shot the criminal. But the bullet didn't stop. It went through the criminal and went through Jacob's father's head, killing him instantly. Jacob was in such shock, that he just stood there.
The police officers didn't even say sorry. They just wanted to check if his father was dead. After the two confirmed he was, they talked about disposing of the body. They couldn't even give enough care for the man Jacob would give his life for. He couldn't even give his dad a proper burial.
At that moment, he snapped at the two cops. He jumped on the one who shot his father in the head and tazed him with his own taser. Jacob started beating the cop's face in, breaking his nose in the proceeding. Without hesitation, the other cop pulled his pistol and shot Jacob, putting 7 bullets through him, causing him excruciating pain. But not as much pain as when he saw the light leave his father's eyes.
Suddenly, Alice shot up from her sleep in her bed back in her dorm room. Her head began to spin, and she threw up several times onto the ground from the awful stuff she witnessed in the flashback. She finally understood what Yoshi meant. Her heart rate was through the roof and she was beyond terrified. She crouched up in a corner and began rambling to herself.
Suddenly, she got a knock on the door and heard a familiar voice.
"Uh... Alice, are you awake?"
"..."
"I'm coming in... if you're changing clothes like a scene out of an anime, don't hit me."
The door opened, revealing Yoshi on the other side. He saw her cowering in the corner, and he immediately knew what she was so scared. Yoshi closed the door behind him, which startled Alice. She was like a scared puppy in a thunderstorm. Yoshi walked over to her and hugged her into his chest.
"Hey, hey, it's ok. It's ok." Yoshi said comfortingly. "The monsters can't hurt you anymore."
Alice began to cry as the horrific sights she saw in the flashback kept filling her mind.
"I-I-I d-don't w-want to d-do this a-a-anymore."
Yoshi stroked the back of her head while holding her tightly. She completely soaked his shirt with her tears and snot as she gripped tightly to his back.
"H-How... how do you do it..." she asked weakly.
Yoshi sat Alice on the bed. He gave her time to calm down which took several minutes. Then, he answered her question.
"I don't."
"W-What?"
"It hurts, doesn't it? Seeing just how screwed up humanity can be to each other. These anomalies seek to hurt people in the same ways they were hurt. I know what that's like more than anyone. So, I don't fight them as anomalies. I fight them like I'm fighting myself. Sure, it hurt seeing their lives, but I couldn't bear the thought of how many more people would suffer if I didn't step up to help them. Even one person could make a difference. That's what life has taught me."
"..."
"Another thing that helps is video games. When the pain is too much, I decide to do some of my favorite pastimes to try and forget about it. I love to play video games, so I do that a lot. I also love anime, so there's that too."
"..."
"Hey, do you wanna talk about what you saw?"
Alice shook her head rapidly while wiping her tears.
"Ok, that's understandable... would you like to read a manga with me? It might help you take your mind off of whatever you saw. Or we could watch an anime? You said you were watching Hell's Paradise... Y-You wanna watch it together with me. It might make you feel better."
Alice nodded her head.
"Ok."
Yoshi turned on the small TV in Alice's room and pulled up Crunchyroll.
"Hey... Yoshi... thank you."
"For what?"
"For... well, everything. I know I can be a pain to deal with, but you've been so kind and patient with me. I've always felt like an isolated freak, but... well... ugh, this is hard for me to say. I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for being my friend."
Alice's genuine thanks and compliments pierced Yoshi right through his heart. He felt his heart skip a beat and he turned away from Alice in embarrassment. He was too flustered to talk. He had accidentally fallen in love with his best friend.