Chapter 1:

July 27, 2010. The lights of New York illuminate the summer night, a tinge of coldness on my breath. The summer night is cold, but it was most likely from the ice cream that I just ate.

"Hey you" a grumpy voice behind me, I looked behind. Two hoodlums trying their luck on an underage girl, she was wearing a t-shirt and a short and with a convenience store bag in tow, she probably came from a nearby place if she was wearing such thin clothes.

"Won't you come and play with us?" The two hoodlums looked like idiots. This guy that just talked is wearing a hood and sunglasses late at night. The other guy is also wearing shades. All three of them are in the alley. Imagine how it's a bit dark with your shades on.

"No!- Get away from me!"

"Come now we won't bite"

"Get away! NO!" the other guy grab a hold of her wrist as she was trying to escape.

"Come now, we seriously won't hurt you if you come with us" he smelled her hand.

"NOOO!" she wants to fight them but physically their too strong.

Oh well, I guess being the hero for a while isn't so bad. "Hey" trying to be as menacing as possible.

"What!?" replied both of them at the same time.

"Can't you see the girl obviously doesn't want to come with you?"

"And who the hell are you!?"

"Oh, just a passer-by"

"Well, mister passer-by why don't you leave us on our business and go back to your mommy" the two chuckled.

"Hmph, that's funny, last night I had it going with your mother and damn she has some hot moves, it's a waste that you're a son of a bitch"

"Say what!?" He pulled out a knife from his pocket. "Let me teach when you mess with ME!"

Sheesh talk about a hot head. He's charging towards me with the knife in an attempt to stab me. I side stepped leaving a foot in place. He tripped on all fours.

"Why you—oguf!" using that timing I kicked him in the stomach and he literally floated for two seconds. Then I feel a pressure on my neck. Other guy got me in a chokehold from behind.

"BOSS! KILL HIM!" The guy I kicked stood up with rough breaths, and brandished his knife in front of me.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" He charged again. And using everything I have I twist my body to a hard 180o turn.

"Ououk- *panting*" eventually the pressure on my neck fell and the weight on my back is slowly declining. I turn around only to see the guy that had me good is now lying on his side. Blood slowly covered the floor from his back and the knife is sticking out. The guy that stabbed him went quiet; the girl too is shocked by this sudden turn of event, there was only silence.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" that silence was broken by a scream.

I ran, running away as fast as I can away from the scene. It's not because I'm afraid of the cops or anything like that, no it wasn't like that at all, not even the slightest.

"GET BACK HERE YA ASSHOLE!" that was what I'm running from.

Apparently the scream earlier caught the attention of their friends and now at least 20 men are after me, oh yeah it wasn't the girl that screamed it was the guy, and please do not ask. I'm already running at full speed but wherever I turn to there are men waiting for me, heck even a straight away the road is blocked by these guys. And also it's the night peak here in New York, many people are outside and well—you get my point.

"FUCK OFF!" shit I said that without thinking.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY!" shit-shit-shit-shit-shit, now they're catching up to me and I can't speed up anymore! Corner to corner I turn I don't even know where I am anymore, but that is less important than being chased by angry guys brandishing they're knives.

I turn into an alley and found an open trash can. With no hesitation I jumped in hoped that they won't see me.

*Bang!**Thud!*

"Uhhhhh…"

The cold hard ground is slowly being felt on my cheek. The dark corners of my sight started to open up as my consciousness slowly awoke. Apparently, I fell asleep in a trash can. The buzzy morning of New York has already started.

Standing up and reconfirming of where I am. I brushed the garbage that was sticking to me.

"That was a rough night" scratching my head, I walk back to my home.

Coming out of the bath, I picked up my phone and checked the caller. My phone been ringing like crazy while I was in the bath, after confirming that it was someone I don't know, since it only displayed the number of the caller and not the name itself, I decided to ignore it.

Wearing my outdoor clothes I decided to head to the store to resupply my fridge.

Inside the store my phone rang. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I looked at the caller.

It was the same caller as earlier. I hanged it up. As soon as I put it in my pocket, it rang again. Taking it again, it was the same. I hanged it up, and it immediately called me again.

"What the-" deciding to give the caller a chance I accepted the call.

As soon as I put it on my ear, the whole scenery became static. It was like opening a television with crappy signal. Everything was static and I can't move. My eyes hurt as I stare at the static scenery. It felt like everything became corrupted. Like everything was a lie from the beginning and that we are all just a show to be watched. And from the scenery, a black light sparked. It lied there remaining as a single entity.

I don't know how long have I been here. But guessing it would be 2 hours already since that spark appeared. It hasn't moved a bit and me, in my motionless state, is getting tired. How long would I have to keep my arm raised? How long would that black thing stay at the same spot? How long before I get the hell out of here? Then the black entity moved. I stared at it. It only moved a millimeter, but it felt like it meant something.

Hours have gone by since it moved and hasn't moved ever since. I tried averting my eyes if it would move. But it hasn't moved even a micrometer. The static scenery around me hasn't changed. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

I don't know how many times I've asked of how long I've been here. The scenery hasn't changed and that black entity hasn't moved. My body is numb for staying in this pose. Waking up just now, I really wished that it was all just a dream. I sigh in my head, since I couldn't actually move my mouth, in the same manner the black entity moved. It moved so fast, scribbling in the air. From left to right it scribbled. Then it went back to its original position, and scribbled again from left to right with double the speed. It did it again and again until the after images were clear enough for me to read.

'99.898891293' was what the entity wrote. Everything stopped when I read it clearly, the static scenery froze in place. The black entity froze at the bottom of the supposedly 3. Nothing is moving.

Then a crack, it was small, but I can hear it. Slowly and crawling its way, like it was trying to break this scenery. The crackling noise never stopped for a few minutes or so. It's frustrating that you're the only one in this who doesn't know what is going on. The noise became louder and louder to the point that it was unbearable. I close my eyes from the noise.

The noise still continues at deftly volumes. It so darn loud that I was starting to grind my teeth from the pain that my ears are experiencing, then silence return.

Like it never happened, silence returned from the noise that came before. I still have my eyes shut. It's eerily quiet, awfully quiet. Opening my eyes the floor that I saw was different from the shop. It has green textures. I can still feel the phone in my hand. I place it in my pocket.

You may ask how I am awfully calm about all of this. Let us just say that this was a nightmare come true. Every night is filled with that static scenery, of course at first I was afraid, but countless repetitions happened and I was able to brush it off. I think I brushed away too much for me to not get surprised if it does happen in real life.

*BANG**BAM**BAM**BANG**BAM**CLASH**BAAAAAMM!*

Noises of what seem like gunfire and sword fight resonated. It was so loud that the sound waves can be felt. It must be nearby, I look around and nothing seems to be what made the noise earlier.

"Neptune, you're getting out of hand. You two should let this grudge go as well. It's getting rather warm in here."

A voice. A girl by the tone of it. But where?

I look and look but I can't seem to find the source.

'No way' I looked up and saw 4 people standing in mid-air.