"Hahahahah..."
Inside an alley in a sparsely populated residential area, a place that looked aged and unattractive compared to the residential areas near the city center, there was a young man lying dying on the soft but freezing snow.
I muttered to myself: "Why did I end up in this situation?"
Just a few minutes ago, I was on my way home. The sky had already turned dark and the sun was replaced by the moon. Since I lived in the farthest place from the city center, the place with the least number of people, thus, it was not equipped with street lights. However, the road I walked on was not dark at all thanks to the moon and stars beaming in the night sky. Today was quite special because they were not obscured by clouds so I could admire this majestic beauty.
When I was only about 300 steps away from the alley leading to my house, it started to snow. It seemed to have snowed quite early this year, but I continued walking without thinking much about it.
I turned into the alley leading to my house but suddenly stopped because I saw a person wearing a hoodie standing in the middle of the alley. This was very strange because no one lives around my house. I suddenly remembered the news about a mentally ill prisoner who had escaped from the prison while at work and my whole body started to tremble slightly with anxiety.
Even so, I calmed myself down and continued walking: "That can't be true, it must be just a normal person who just wanted to have a late night walk! Um, it must be!"
I continued walking, getting closer and closer to the person wearing the hoodie. I was now only a few steps away from him.
4 steps.
3 steps.
2 steps.
1 step.
After I was only one step away from him and still didn't see any movement, I breathed a sigh of relief and continued walking towards my house. Right after that, I heard a "CRUNCH!" sound, which was definitely the sound of someone stepping on snow. I immediately reacted to the noise and turned around. Just as I thought, the person in the hoodie was rushing towards me with a knife in his hand.
The knife was only a few centimeters away from me, in the nick of time I thought I was about to die, my adrenaline was activated. Without hesitation, I quickly pushed the knife that was charging towards me away.
Just when I thought I had escaped, the person in the hoodie pulled out another knife from his pocket. This 30cm long knife rushed towards my stomach even faster than the previous one.
"Oh shit" I said hopelessly. And then "THUD!"
I could feel a terrible pain in my stomach, I started bleeding and slowly fell forward. Meanwhile, the guy in the hoodie quickly ran away.
And that was why this situation happened.
I could feel my face getting colder as it came into contact with the snow. My body started to ache and I lost control of it, I wonder if it was because of the coldness or because I am about to die
"Maybe both..." I muttered.
My vision started to blur, the last thing I saw was the image of the snow I was lying on gradually turning red due to my blood. After that, I couldn't see anything anymore.
I started to recall my memories, memories that I wanted to forget but couldn't.
After living in this world for 21 years, I had experienced many bitter emotions but none of them were sweet. I learned that without power, I couldn't protect my loved ones.
***
Right after I could think, I was in an orphanage. I was born without parents, or rather, my parents rejected me, that's what my caregivers told me.
I had a normal life, grew up normally, and went to a normal school, where I had friends who weren't from the orphanhood. I had a normal school life, at least until I witnessed my best friend being bullied.
I couldn't control myself and punched the bullies to save my best friend. But life wasn't like the fairy tales I often read.
In the end, I was the one who was punished, the reason was because the bullies' parents were vastly powerful and famous in society, no one dared to touch them. After that incident, that friend was beaten more than before and I was suspended from school.
When I was back, that friend told me: "If you hadn't interfered that day, my life wouldn't have ended up like this! It's all your fault, don't dare call me friend anymore!" I was shocked, and didn't know what to say. That was also the first time I realized that this world is not like in the stories, this society is much more unjust and authority is the only justice. After that day, I became more introverted and couldn't make a single friend.
The second big event happened to me after I turned 18 and left the orphanage. There was a time when things became prohibitively expensive, many sponsors and charities had stopped sending money in order to take care of the orphanage. As a result, the orphanage had to move to a smaller place, and the quality of life of the kids also progressively declined. Although I and a few people who used to live in the orphanage always sent money back, it was still not enough.
Then one day I decided to visit the orphanage again because I hadn't heard from it for a long time.
I was stunned. In front of me was an empty lot, there should have been an old-looking house and a garden full of greens. There was no sign of the orphanage. I continued walking, and that was until I saw the corpses of a few children in the trash.
"Ah, this world is so cruel...."
Without power, nothing can be protected, that's what I learned.
"If I am granted a new life, this time I will definitely protect people I cherish!" Those were my last words.
***
In another world:
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaah..." It was the cry of a newborn baby.