Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Ren, 19 year old guy, average height and build, wearing simple cloths, is walking down the narrow, dimly lit street leading to his run-down apartment building. His eyes are fixed on the cracked sidewalk beneath his feet.
It's been another long, soul-crushing day delivering packages for scraps. This job feels far beneath him, but it's the only thing keeping him off the streets for now. The thought twists in his gut, filling him with resentment.
"Uhhh, fuck, another long and boring day. I'm sick of living like this. It has been two years... Two years since I started working there. And I still struggles to... Uhhh."
Thinking, he approaches the rusted gate of his apartment complex, a two story, run down building, that looks old, but is way older.
He steps close, and spots Lina ahead, locking her bicycle to the post. She stands out even in the dull gray of their surroundings—beautiful, with long white hair that almost glows under the flickering streetlight. She's fit, a bit older than Ren, with sharp eyes that hold more depth than she lets on.
She lives in the same apartment with Ren, but they barely know each other.
She's wasting her potential working part-time at a local coffee shop, and Ren can't help but admire her intelligence and looks, even if she's too self-righteous to use it to get ahead.
"Rent's going up again," Lina says casually as he passes by. Her voice is calm, as if she's resigned to the struggles of their shared reality.
Ren barely glances at her, offering a dismissive grunt. He isn't interested in small talk, at least not tonight. He has always been attracted to her. But why he finds her attractive, he isn't sure of. maybe it's because she stands out in a place where everything else blends into the misery. Or maybe it's something darker.
Ren just opens the apartment's gate and heads inside his room. His room is cramped, dimly lit with a bulb. Ren throws his jacket onto the floor and collapses onto his creaky bed. The flickering lightbulb above casts an eerie, uneven glow around the room, amplifying the bleakness of his surroundings. The wallpaper is peeling, the furniture is worn and secondhand, and the whole place feels like a prison.
His jaw tightens as he stares at the ceiling, the same thought cycling through his head—how powerless he is.
I hate it. Everything about this place, this life... And me... I hate myself. Why am I like this... Why...
As he murmurs, hating himself. An ache starts to settle deep inside his skull. At first, it's dull and barely noticeable, but as the minutes tick by, it grows sharper, more intense.
He presses his palms to his forehead, wincing as the pain becomes unbearable, like something is clawing to break free inside his mind.
As minutes ticks, his vision begins to blur, and suddenly, everything in his apartment seems to shift.
He sits up, eyes wide with confusion, as he looks at the cup on his table rattles. And then—without warning—lifts into the air. Ren blinks, his breath catching in his throat. The cup hovers for a moment before dropping with a soft clink back onto the table.
"What the...?" he mutters, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
But then, the headache surges again, sharper this time. "Aaaaaaaa" he shouts, and instinctively, reaches out toward the cup. It lifts into the air once more, floating above the table like it's weightless, responding to nothing but his will. His pulse quickens, and immediately, the pain disappears as if it never was. And a single word echoes in his mind, as if he has known it all along.
Telekinesis.
He drops his hands from the forehead, and stares at them, his heart racing, trying to process what's happening.
"What's... Happening. The cup just now... Floated..." He talks to himself.
"Telekenisis? why do I feel like I know... It."
He looks at the chair, a bit away from his bed,and extend his hand towards it, confused and excited. And then, slowly, it starts. The chair begins to tremble, and then slides toward him, scraping along the floor.
As he looks at the chair, a grin spreads across his face. His mind races with the possibilities.
"Telekinesis," he whispers to himself, testing the word on his tongue.
"It's real. It feels - real. Telekenisis, hehehe hehehehe hahahaha. I have... Powers. Like in movies. My life is gonna change. I'm gonna change."
A grin spreads across his face as he thinks of the possibilities. But this isn't wonder he's feeling—it's something far more sinister. This power, this control... it feels good. It feels right. For the first time in his life, he has something real, something that makes him more than just another nameless face struggling to get by. And the best part? It's his, and no one else knows about it.
He stands up, experimenting more, moving the chair, the empty bottle on the floor, the stack of magazines on his coffee table—all with just his hands. His smile widens as the objects respond to his will, bending to his control. The power courses through him, sending an exhilarating rush of adrenaline to his veins.
It doesn't take long for his mind to shift from the novelty of it all to the darker questions lurking underneath. What could he do with this? How far could he take it? He's always felt like the world was against him—everyone else had some edge, some way to get ahead, while he's been stuck at the bottom. But now...
Now, he has an edge.
He points towards a bottle, pens, lamp, books. Excitedly, He pushes himself, lifting heavier objects, moving them, testing how much he can control at once. He's barely scratched the surface, and already, it's intoxicating.
But just the , a knock on his door breaks his concentration. The chair he was levitating crashes to the floor with a loud thud. It's probably his nosy neighbor again, complaining about the noise, but Ren doesn't care. He doesn't answer. Instead, he smirks, his thoughts swirling with dark possibilities.
He's no hero. He doesn't want to be one. And now, he doesn't have to be the victim anymore, either.
The world that always pushed him down is about to see a different side of him—a side he's never let out before. He stares at the mess of objects he's moved, his smirk deepening.
"Let's see how far I can take this."