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THE STRUGGLING OF ISAAC

BY BLARGHY

CHAPTER 1: DREAD

Isaac lived alone in a small apartment in the middle of the city, 13 years have passed living with his monster of a mother and 7 since he finally got to leave that awful place he called a home; now as a full grown man, Isaac learned to struggle his way through adulthood but yet his memories of his childhood abuse are as fresh as like it happened yesterday, many were his temptations of running away from his troubles by ending himself but he avoided them, believing there was something else for him that was worth living, he still doesn’t know what that is and now wonders if such a thing ever existed.

October the 3rd, 20XX, Monday, 5:00 AM

As an adult, Isaac has learned to survive a world of hostility, he learned to confront the adversities and this time there wouldn’t be a fantasy world where he could go and shelter, and thus prepares for another day in college, a college that is a pain to pay in the first place mostly because he’s not receiving any sort of economical help from anyone, not even his mother, his education and needs were paid only by himself with a job that did nothing but make him feel miserable, at least it was enough to give him somewhere to live, even if that place was moldy, dirty and had many months of debt to his landlord.

As his alarm wakes him up he groans to himself, wishing for a day where his sleep was endless; he gets up, gets showered and dresses for the day, his outfit didn’t look that great: a gray t-shirt with a red pentagram star printed on it, a black jean and blue jacket; he tells himself that this outfit made him look like a homeless man but it was the best he could get, the shirt was his favorite though, he forgot to buy groceries for the week so his breakfast had to be a carton of expired milk, it tastes sour but it was enough for him; and of course he couldn’t forget the breakfast of his best friend Guppy II: a stray ginger cat he adopted one day when he left home, he didn’t had much for him so he served a simple can of tuna, Guppy didn’t eat it because he was still asleep, lastly before exiting the apartment, he hangs a rosary on his neck and prayed to God for his safety, for the safety of his cat and wishing for something that makes the trauma and misery go away.

And now Isaac walks himself into the erratic lands beyond.

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CHAPTER 2: THE SUN

October the 3rd, 20XX, Monday, 7:00 AM

Isaac is late, 1 hour late to get to college to be more accurate, the way to get there wasn't especially short so he had to measure his time precisely but one thing he didn't count with was a horrible traffic jam that blocked the way of the bus he took; this wasn't the first time he's late to class, he has been known for doing so thousands of times and some people gave him the nickname of "Slothy McGreasylegs", he didn't care for it though as he had many nicknames throughout his life (and still has some). As he saw through the bus window how many people went back and forward as if he was counting sheeps, without realizing he was slowly falling asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the middle of a basketball court inside a building, apart of the fact that his size was way more smaller than his actual size he felt his face wet and his vision blurry, when he touched his face he got surprised of seeing red stains on his hand; he heard childish laughs at his back so inmediately he turned around to see what was happening, he found himself infront of many children all laughing and pointing at him all of them surrounded by a lot of red balls lying around the court, he remembers this, this was the time his whole 4th grade class were playing dodgeball, many of his bullies targeted him specifically and broke his nose, just as he was about to lay down in the floor and cry a loud tweet sounded, it was his coach who tried to defend him from the laughs, after yelling at the rest of the class, Isaac got send to the nursery to get his nose checked, the way to the nursery room was in the other side of a long and dark hallway, he doesn't remember this hallway being this long or dark but the pain and bleeding were enough to make him walk this mysterious path, when he walked a few steps forward he saw how the darknes engulfed the dim lights the basketball court's lights were emitting and yet the door to the looked as if it was getting away from him with every step he did, when he walked a little more further he heard strange noises coming from his back, when turned around at first he saw nothing but a deep darkness but then in the middle of that darkness a pair of frowning and glowing red eyes appeared along with a giant black hand that was trying to catch him, he quickly dodged the attack and inmediately run away from it trying to get to the nursery before the hand reaches him, and as just as he was just a few meters away from the door, the hand finally catches him to inmediately wake him up from his nightmare.

The bus was leaving the stop in front of the college, he quickly got up from his seat and ordered the bus driver to open the doors, luckily the driver did as he was ordered and Isaac manage to get down the bus, when he checked his watch he realized it was 9:20 AM, 3 hours and 20 minutes late to class.

Ten minutes later after running around the campus looking for his classroom because he forgot what classroom was his class, Isaac finally makes it to his art class, everyone turns around to see him, including his teacher Mr. David:

-"Mr Moriah" said Mr. David "This is the seventh time this month you came late to my class"

-"I know" Isaac said with a feeling of shame on him "But i-"

-"Meet me at my office at the end of the class"

-"What!? But i-"

-"I won't take No's as an answer"

-"sigh Fine" Isaac responded feeling defeated.

As he was on his way to take a seat he heard his classmates whispering, they were probably talking about him but he didn't cared, at least not enough to worry.

Sitting in front of his drawing table, a woman that was already there before talked to him:

-"Wow, i don't remember the last time someone went to David's office" said the woman "I wonder what happens inside there"

-"Yeah, who knows" Isaac replied without paying much attention to the woman

-"Hey have i seen you before?"

-"No"

-"Are you sure? because-"

-"Can you please leave me alone? I'm not in the mood" Isaac said with his patience running out

The woman then proceeded to leave him at his own.

Isaac spent the rest of the class doing nothing but drawing monsters in his sketchbook without paying any attention to the class, he may have grown up but some traditions never get lost, he still feels a passion for creating cursed creatures and demons just like he did when he was younger, his biggest dream is making a comic where he could use all his techniques on the work, the problem was that he doesn't know what could this comic be about, every time he tries to think for new ideas he goes blank which was strange for him since he loved making stories with his father, maybe his creative juice ran out when his father left his life years ago.

Without realizing, the time flew until it was 2:30 PM, the class was over and Isaac went to see Mr. David on his office just as he promised:

-"Mr Moriah" said Mr. David "Please take a seat"

Isaac sat down in the chair in front of David's desk, he was afraid and his heart was beating faster and louder than usual, but he played cool anyways to show some sense of authority

-"You have been lacking respect for my class"

-"It's not on purpose i swear" Isaac replied, his normal face collapsed to show a worried one instead "It's just that-"

-"It's just what? You've been coming late to my class, you spent the day drawing God knows what in that skecthbook, you haven't delivered any homeworks and you even have the guts the sleep during my lessons!"

Isaac directed his sight to the floor in shame

-"May i see your sketchbook for a moment"

-"Uh, i don't know" Isaac replied with anxiety "I mean sure why not? but i don't think you will like it"

Isaac gave his sketchbook to David, David then proceeded to see through the pages filled with drawings of all kinds of monsters, demons and angels, when he was done he then said:

-"Well you sure are talented, and it hurts me a lot to expel someone with such skill"

-"Oh no, please don't do it" Isaac begged "I worked too hard to get here please don't expel me"

David then meditated to himself

-"I'll tell you this" David said "The end of the year is coming and all of you must do the final project just as i said 3 months ago, do you remember that?"

-"Yeah... I remember that" Isaac lied

-"Then you remember that this project must be done in pairs, right?"

-"Yeah..."

-"If you manage to deliver me the final project, i might increase your bad notes to the minimum, enough to let you end this year with a fancy diploma on your hands, if you somehow fail, i'll make sure your face doesn't make any appearance around this faculty ever again, is that clear?"

-"Yes sir" Isaac replied

-"Don't fail this one Isaac, i know you're capable of doing much more than what you're doing now"

With those last words resounding in Isaac's head, Isaac left the office, saw the shining sky above him and whispered to the sky:
-"Please, don't let me down"

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CHAPTER 3: THE MOON

October the 3rd, 20XX, Monday, 5:00 PM

After a long day in college, Isaac arrives at his home and is greeted by Guppy II rubbing himself against his leg, Isaac was hungry so he went to the kitchen to see what he could get to eat, there wasn't much to cook apart from a bunch of instant noodles which he decided to make, as he leaves the noodles to boil in a pot, he decided to waste some time watching the TV since he has a bit of time to spend before going to work.

There's was not much to see on the TV since it was an old model and the signal in his apartment was far from being the best, it was just a bunch of static and incomprehensible noises where you could barely watch frames of the programs, for him it was better that way so he could imagine what's happening on screen, however, the only channel that was able to be broadcasted in a decent quality was the christian channel since the broadcasting place was located in the local church that was pretty near from him, he usually think that channel is boring and if he wants to hear preachings about God he could easily go to the church by himself as he does every sunday, but since there's nothing else to see on TV he puts it to at least have some background noise.

Today's program was about the sin of sloth, one of the 7 deadly sins and how it corrupts a laborious man into a disgraceful good-for-nothing sluggard, nothing out of the ordinary, however there was something off this time:the preacher's voice got progressively more aggresive and the program started to play faster with every second passing, Isaac got annoyed of the flashing lights and the loud voice from the TV so he looked for the remote to turn it off just to find himself surrounded by a deep darkness with no other light than the TV's screen which displayed nothing but static and the voice from the preacher got to the point that he sounded incredibly mad at Isaac and his words even though they weren't directed to Isaac himself, sounded like insults made to discourage him and lower his morale; Isaac wanted desperately to close his eyes shut and cover his ears with his hands but he wasn't able to, he felt like a force took over his body and made him look at the screen without blinking, he wished to scream for help or to stand up and run away but his limbs were stone frozen and his mouth was wide open drooling saliva, he could only watch how a man tasked to spread the word from God was calling him sinful and evil, like if God himself was the one insulting him:

"Lazy hands make for poverty, but dilligent hands bring wealth" was the last sentence Isaac could hear before a strange sound deafened him.

With his senses back, Isaac found himself again in his apartment looking for the origin of the sound, it was his phone's alarm indicating that is 6:30 PM, he wasted an hour an a half looking at the TV like a zombie, time that he could have spended doing something else but at the end he chose to do that, but the weird part of all of this was that he didn't felt like waking up from a dream when the whole thing ended, he swore he felt awake all of that time, and even if this weird illusion striked him as odd he decided to forget about it, he had more important stuff to do now.

After grabbing his coat and serving another can to Guppy, Isaac takes another bus, this time he takes the one that brings him to the farest corner in the north of the city where his workplace is located, in the way there he hopes for something to happen that lets him not go whether it's a fire in the building or even a meteor falling over it, but his hopes of not going to work slowly faded out as he saw the casino getting near. Entering to the casino from the backdoor, Isaac prepared for his shift to begin, he was a waiter and sometimes janitor of the great Dice Room, the most popular casino in the city and a place quite bittersweet for Isaac since this was the place where his father spent the family savings when he was younger, something he found out after being notified of his disappearance a few years ago; Isaac always felt mixed emotions about this place: on one side, he felt a sense of relieve to know where his father was after all these damned years, on the other side he felt disappointment knowing he spent all that time in a place where it smells like vomit and cigarrette smoke and the hookers at the entrance looked old enough you almost think the zombie apocalypse has started.

Isaac grabbed his uniform and signed in for his arrival, his first job of the night was simply clean the main hall's rug, a fairly easy task at the beginning of the shift (key word "beginning"), while on it he greeted his coworker and kind of the only friend he had:

-"Hey Caine" Isaac said

-"Heya mate!" Caine replied

Caine was the card shuffler at one of the blackjack tables, he was a rather old man or at least slightly older than Isaac for at least 15 or so years, with a receding hairline that made him lost almost all of his hair, some brown spots on his forehead, a beer belly typical of his age and an eye patch covering his left eye; he had a comical british accent that made him sound from a cartoon and always had a worn but optimistic gesture on his face. He was the only guy Isaac felt comfortable with to almost consider him his best friend (besides Guppy II), they always were telling funny stories about their lives on break time and sometimes they were sharing a cup of beer after work if the situation warranted it, Isaac never knew why the eye patch but he never bothered to ask, maybe because he thought it would be rude to do so.

-"How's the cage doin'?" Caine asked, refering to college.

-"Well you know, the same bullshit" Isaac replied "I have to do some sort of stupid project or else they're gonna chop my head and use it as a nutcracker".

-"Well that can't be hard for you, you are an ace in the ol' art of drawing... well... your stuff, you know what i mean".

-"I know, the catch is that i "can't do it alone" and i "need a partner", who the hell am i supposed to work with? I know no one".

-"Well sometimes i consider myself a kind of Picasso, i can make a portrait of me ol' and beluvd' mother, well, sort of".

-"Thank you Caine but it must be one of my classmates, and let me tell you, i don't like most of them and i don't think they like me".

-"Oh come on, those young lads can't be that bad, maybe one of them will lend ya a hand".

-"God i wish so".

At around 8:15 PM, the casino was sarting to fill with gamblers looking to hit jackpot on chance games, Isaac was now in charge of delivering stuff from the bar to the clients, it wasn't that easy since you have to maneuver a silver plate with drinks on it, that and also manage to walk among a crowd of people, however, Isaac noticed that there were more people than usual and many faces were recognizable from before, Isaac went to Caine to notify about the situation:

-"Dude, there's something weird about these people" Isaac said

-"Of course there's something weird mate! They're cheaters! They took all bets from here" Caine said with a bit of anger "Where are the guards?"

-"The boss said they were late for some reason?, he left his nephew in charge of the entrance while the actual guards are on their way"

-"The boss' nephew?! Oh that can't be good" Caine replied

-"Why?" Isaac asked

-"Do you remember that guy that worked at the bar, then at roulette and then as a janitor?"

-"Wait, the one with the long hair and smells like roadkill?"

-"Yah!"

-"Oh god you're right, this is bad, i can't believe he still has a job here"

-"If me ol' noggin doesn't fail me, he's probably wasting time on the loo again, try to drag him back here"

Isaac (and by an extent almost every employee in the casino) never liked his boss, even less his weird family full of weirdos, always doing stuff like destroying property or flirting with the personal, the worst part is that they had to be responsible of their acts or else they get fired; after entering the employees only bathroom, Isaac's nostrils got attacked by a strong smell of weed, there was a trail of smoke coming from one of the stalls, Isaac slammed the stall's door open, there was a man wearing the employee uniform smoking blunts in secret:

-"Hey" said the man, "A little privacy, please"

-"What do you think you're doing?" Isaac asked

-"Taking my break" said the man

-"Our break is in an hour you dumbass" Isaac replied

-"Really?" said the man "Shit, i totally forgot"

-"Damn i wonder how you could have forgotten" Isaac said with angry sarcasm "Now listen here, eh..." Isaac stopped to read the man's plaque on his jacket that contained his name "Robert"

-"Too long, just call me Bob man" Robert replied

-"Bob, Robert, whatever, take your stoned ass out of here and fix the mess you just left" Isaac ordered

-"Meh, in five minutes" Robert replied

-"No, right now!" Isaac's patience was running out

-"Just give me a minute i swear" 

-"The damn building is stuffed to the brim with cheaters and drunks, go now and do your job, or else..." Isaac threatened, unsure of what he was about to do

-"Later"

Isaac was done, letting his anger take the best out of him, he grabbed Robert by his long hair, pulling him out of the bathroom, Robert was obligated to go back to do his job but before he did that, he took a last glance at Isaac's face with a resentful look on his eyes; Isaac tried to calm down after such event so he went to the bathroom to wash his face, while on it he caught a small glimpse of a shadowy figure in the mirror but again, he decicded not to worry about it.

Luckily, the rest of the shift went normally with no consequences for the little confrontation he had, or at least there was no consequences yet; at around 2:30-ish AM it was closing time and before Isaac could go home he had to do his last cleaning job, this time he had it more difficult with so much crap there was everywhere now, Caine, now wearing his casual suit, approached to Isaac:

-"Hey mate, wanna catch a drink later?" Caine asked

-"No" Isaac replied "I don't feel like it"

-"Righty then, see ya tomorrow"

While cleaning, Isaac looked to the sky from the windows, it was full moon night and the stars sparkled so bright in the dark sky, Isaac wondered when did he lost his dignity and patience, he was never like this, he wished for something to change on him, he wished to relive those peaceful times at home, but he knew he couldn't get that, he was too far away from those times that were now lost to time, he had to be here right now. 

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CHAPTER 4: PURITY

October 5th, 20XX, Wednesday, 2:00 PM

College is over for today, Isaac left with his head down in shame because he still couldn't get to be in a work group for the final project, he tried asking to anyone but the words barely get to come out of his mouth due to the fact that he doesn't feel comfortable with strangers because he doesn''t trust in almost everyone (there's only two exceptions: Caine and Guppy II), the few people that he got to ask rejected him because of some reasons: his art was deemed as "ugly" for them, they don't trust him either or simply because they got the job done some time ago; Isaac felt a mix of emotions, first there was sadness and desperation because no one accepted him and made him believe that they are probably thinking that he's a loser and a lame loner, then there was anger and pride trying to convince him that he could do it alone, after all he was alone his whole life and look at him now, a grown man taking adult responsabilities, what else can he ask for? Finally a sense of acceptance calmed him down, this project is supposed to be something big and he can't do it alone this time; and thus concerned about his current status, Isaac went to the only place that could give him the answers.

Even if Isaac looked mad all the time and wore those punk clothes with skulls and evil symbols, he never left his faith behind because he was taught that God was the greatest thing ever, God was always there for those who need him and forgave all those who acted against his word; however, Isaac felt like God was neglecting him for a long time like he was purposefully ignoring him specifically, Isaac always thought that there was something bad on him that made him undeserving of his approval but he never knew what that is, that's why he comes to church every sunday or anytime there was an special event in the christian traditions, he always hoped that in that temple he could find something that cleanses his soul and make him pure, worthy to enter the heaven's realm; but even if God wasn't willing to help him, maybe someone else was willing to help like an angel or a saint, he could do nothing more than pray and hope.

His local church wasn't so far from home, it was just a few blocks away from his apartment building next to a park; the church was pretty big, big enough to hold a TV transmition antenna on top of decorated with a cross it that they could afford keeping thanks to charity donations; right in the entrance there was people preparing everything for today's community service that was planting some tree shoots around the park along with picking up trash but he wasn't there for that, Isaac entered the church where he was greeted by a huge crucifix with a Jesus replica nailed on it, all the seats were empty because there was no mass today, except for an old man kneeling in one of the seats that are the closest to the crucifix, Isaac did a reverence, took one of the seats that are next to the exit and kneeled to send a prayer:

-"If someone is up there" said Isaac in a low voice "Please send someone to help me in this task, anyone".

Isaac took a minute to say more prayers and meditate in silence, did a final reverence and stood up; his phone was indicating that the time was 2:45 PM, time to go home and see if he could at least waste some time drawing or sleeping before going to work, he left the church with a bit of a bitter taste in his mind doubting that if anyone in the heavens would hear such pathetic favor, maybe it was supposed to be up to him to do this alone all this time, maybe this is a trial to prove his independence from everyone, yes that must be it, this is his chance to prove himself; Isaac's train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted when he heard someone calling for help, it was a woman that was helping with the community service, she was having a hard time with the trash bags since the one she was using broke and was picking everything up again in a new bag, Isaac looked everywhere if someone else could go help her only to find his surroundings completely empty, and with a sense of inconvenience he went to help the woman:

-"Oh thank you so much" said the woman "These damn bags can't hold anything now, this is like, what, the third bag i broke today?"

-"Yeah yeah..." Isaac said with indifference

-"Hey, you sound familiar, have i seen you somewhere?" asked the woman

-"Uhhh... I don't... know?" Isaac replied with a little concern

-"Yes i remember now, we are in the same art class, you're the guy that got called out to the office a few days ago"

Isaac felt a bit ashamed, he never thought someone would remember such event

-"Hey, do you remember me?" asked the woman

-"Uhhhhh...." Isaac was trying hard to remember but nothing came to his mind about this woman

-"I was next to you, remember? You were all moody and you wanted to be alone"

Isaac remembers now, it's the woman he ignored that day, his awkwardness grew even more as he rememembers how mean he was to her that day

-"I just wanted to ask you if you come to this church often"

-"Well yeah... I come here every sunday... like everyone else" Isaac replied still unable to beat his shame

-"Interesting, you don't look like the kind of guy that believes in God"

-"Of course i do!" Isaac replied with nervous enthusiasm "I mean, don't pay attention to the shirt with the pentagram, that's nothing, i swear!"

The woman chuckled a little, then presented herself:

-"I'm Bethany, you can call me Beth or Betty, however you like" and then in a sudden straight face and serious tone she said "Just don't call me 'Pigtails'"

Isaac stood in shock confused, then Bethany laughed:

-"I'm just joking with you, i don't care about nicknames"

-"Haha yeah... I'm Isaac by the way" Isaac replied

-"Nice to meet you, Isaac" Bethany shaked Isaac's hand, something that he didn't wanted to do because his hands were cold and sweaty

Suddenly a wonderful idea popped in Isaac's head: ask Bethany to work with him in the project:

-"Wait, you're in my class then?" Isaac asked 

-"Yeah, why do you ask?" Bethany replied

-"Well i need some help with the final project and i don't know if you're interested in working with me, it's ok if you don't want to..."

Isaac was preparing himself for the usual "No" as an answer, but then he heard the words he never believed he would hear:

-"The project! I almost forgot about it! Sure, we can work together, i also could use some help"

Isaac was left speechless, finally after so many years someone chose to trust on him

-"Tell you what," said Bethany "I'm super busy this whole week, we can meet on sunday right here in the church so we can talk about it"

-"...Cool" Isaac was still recovering from that surprising sentence

Bethany looked behind her, the service group was preparing for the tree plantation

-"I gotta go now" said Bethany as she started to leave "They need me over there now, see you in sunday"

-"Bye..." said Isaac

Once arriving to his apartment, Isaac still couldn't believe anything of what just happened, his prayer was finally received! There is someone up there that still check up on him after all, this is something he only could have dreamed; for some many people this is just a casual agreement but for Isaac this was a huge achievement and to celebrate it he ordered a small pizza for lunch and served Guppy a bigger serving of food than usual, something that the cat appreciated a lot; it was all celebration until the moment Isaac entered the bathroom and looked himself in the mirror: his reflect made him doubt about himself as he saw how it became a shadowy figure again, voices on his head started resonating: what if she chose him out of pity? how long would it take until she realizes how bad he is? what if he just only gets used as a tool?; Isaac tried to cover his ears hoping for the voices to shut up but it was useless since they became louder and louder, and everything surrounding him turned into darkness while a giant figure was rising behind him looking down at him with glowing red eyes and laughed at him with a deep, scary voice; Isaac quickly turned himself swinging his arm to make the Devil go away, but then he saw that there was nothing but the bathroom's wall and everything was back to normal; looking at himself again in the mirror, he whispered:

_"I swear i won't fuck it up, at least not this time"

Isaac scheduled this week's sunday with the word "Meeting" in the calendar with a red pencil, and then his day went as normal.

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CHAPTER 3: BITTERSWEET MEMORIES

October 7th, 20XX, Thursday, 9:00 PM

A new night of work, things looked more calm than usual tonight: no intruders, no annoying people, even the clients have learned to have manners instead of being total dipshits; for many of the employees working in this casino it usually means an easy shift and probably they could end the shift earlier if no more people appeared, but for Isaac this means anything but calm, he always had this feeling that everything good doesn't last long so he always looked worried and alert if something happened in this kind of situations, plus the appointment he made with Bethany had him with double the stress, he barely was able to concentrate on his tasks as he was constantly checking side to side if something even remotely bad would happen; suddenly Caine appeared from nowhere, scaring Isaac a little:

-"Hey little mate!" said Caine "What's with the troubled face, aye?"

-"Oh, hey Caine" Isaac sighed relieved "I'm just dealing with some dumb stuff, don't worry"

-"Well, you're sweating like a sprinkler, a sprinkler that sprays sewer water i must add" Isaac felt a bit ashamed cause the sweat was making him smell quite a bit "What's runnin' in that noggin of yours?" Caine added

-"Sigh, well, do you remember that one project for college i mentioned about?"

-"Have you found someone?"

-"Yeah, i found this girl..."

-"Oooohhh!" Caine interrupted "A girl you say? Since when you become in quite a gent?" Caine winked his only eye and poked Isaac with his elbow, Isaac pushed Caine's arm away while Caine laughed a little

-"Grow up, man" Isaac said slightly annoyed "We're not looking for that, we agreed in working this project and nothing else, ok? Besides, i have no chance: i'm broke, i'm pathetic, i look like a wet noodle and the last time i tried to be nice to a girl i ended up with my pants down and not in a good sense"

-"No one knows little mate" Caine replied "I once met a lad that said the exact same thing, and you know what happened?"

Isaac shrugged

-"He filled the divorce papers and his ex took his kids!" Caine laughed, Isaac rolled his eyes

-"By the way," Isaac said "Don't you think there's something weird tonight? Like, look at this, everything is going so well, something awful will happen, i swear!"

-"Oh you're just making up stuff" Caine replied "Enjoy the night! What can go wrong in this beautiful thursday night?"

Isaac's two way radio began to ring, when he heard the transmission, his face turned pale

-"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Isaac said

-"What? What happened?" Caine asked

-"It's the boss, he needs to see me personally in his office" Isaac replied

-"Oh"

Both Isaac and Caine know that nothing good happens to whoever enters the boss's office, the man working down there is way too powerful and usually you don't want him to be against you, no one knows how the boss got such power, but one thing that is very well known about him is his short temper, some people say that once you get fired by him, you practically can't get a job anywhere in the city anymore, forcing you to move away or turn homeless, something very far fetched but everyone chooses to believe in such thing; Caine knew that Isaac was probably done, so the only thing he could do for him was wishing him the best of lucks.

Isaac went to the employees elevator, Isaac contemplated the series of buttons searching for the button that descends to the sixth floor, he took a deep breath and pressed it; remember when i said that the boss works "down there"? I mean it literally, the casino counts with six floors rising from the ground: the first floor was the main casino, the second floor was the restaurant and show rooms and the rest of the floors are full of guest rooms; however, there was another six floors hidden underground: the first basement floor is the oversight and security room, the other four basement floors were reserved for staff and administration, the last basement floor was the boss's office entirely reserved just for him, no one knows why he chose to built this casino like this or why he chose the lowest basement for him but no one dares to ask him; as Isaac descended inside the elevator, many thoughts rushed through his mind about what would happen next, how will this affect the future and what can he do now, but he just resigned to accept any fault and nod when needed, even if he could prove any innocence.

Sixth basement, the elevator doors open, Isaac found himself in a wide and dark office with only a dim light coming from a fireplace, in front of the fireplace was a giant shadow blocking the light, and with a deep, menacing voice, the shadow said:

-"Mr. Moriah, please take a seat"

Isaac did what was told, sitting in a chair in front of a desk, an awful silence surrounded the room with the only sound coming from the burning wood crunching.

-"So, i've heard you got complains about your coworkers" said the shadow as he turned ground, revealing a big and robust man smoking tobacco, his eyes were glowing yellow due to excessive smoking, the plaque on his desk depicting his name was barely visible, it reads: U. L. Reed.

-"Will you be so kind to specify your complains, Mr. Moriah?" Reed continued

-"Uh, i'm sorry, what?" Isaac asked

-"You know what i'm talking, as one of your colleagues said you had problems with his working "style""

At first Isaac had no idea who could he be refering to, but then a memory from a few days ago popped on his head: Robert! That bastard must have snitched him with his uncle after his encounter with Isaac! What kind of lies did he say to Mr. Reed? He clearly did anything but working. Isaac left his idea of accepting the fault behind, he clearly has something to say on the subject:

-"Well sir, i-"

-"Let me put you in a situation, Mr. Moriah" Reed interrupted "Let's say that you're in a court case, you're called to give a testimony in a case against someone from your family, it could be your mother, perhaps"

Reed stood up from his chair and walked towards a picture hanging in a wall depicting Reed's family:

-"The court is accusing her of a murder against an innocent man" Reed continued "You know your mother very well, she was never mentally stable, you know your mother could easily just take a knife and stab a man's heart with it without showing remorse"

Reed smoked his cigar, exhaling a large smoke cloud:

-"The problem is that you love your mother very much: she was the woman who gave birth to you, the one was always there when you had a bad day, the one who gave you everything you need! You owe her a lot, it wouldn't be fair to see her behind some bars, rotting away"

Reed walked to Isaac's back and grabbed him by the shoulder:

-"You would do anything for your mother, whether it be lying to the judge or bribing them, won't you?"

Isaac was left speechless, he knows he wouldn't be able to do such thing, especially for her mother, the last person he wants to hear about, but he had to give an answer quickly:

-"I... don't know..." Isaac replied

Reed raised his voice furiously:

-"OF COURSE YOU WOULD, MR. MORIAH!" Reed yelled as he slams his fist on his desk "You love your mother very much, don't you?"

-"Y-yes, i do" Isaac lied, he was too scared to say no

Reed leaned towards Isaac, poking Isaac's head with his finger:

-"Don't mess around with my people, unless you want something bad happening to you, OK?"

-"Yes, sir" Isaac replied looking at the ground

-"And another thing," Reed added "take a fucking bath, you're stinking the place with your sweat"

Reed went back to his business, Isaac entered the elevator, leaving the office.

As he ascended back to the main floor, that one sentence resonated in his head:

"You love your mother very much, don't you?"

Does he? She was always a monster to him, ruining the little joy he had while stuck in that damn house with her, but then he remembered that she was indeed there when nobody else was, she took care of him when he was young and expressed the average maternal love a mother has to their children, does she has at least an ounce of care for him yet? Isaac wasn't sure nor does he need to know, in the end, he managed to live without her love, he doesn't need love and will never need it; plus, he already swore to never see that disgusting fat whore ever again.

Once back in the main floor, Caine was waiting for him:

-"Isaac!" Caine said "What happened, mate? Did you lose an organ?"

-"Far worse to be honest" Isaac replied "i think i'm this close to getting another enemy"

Isaac quickly recapped everything that happened to Caine, to which he responded:

-"Agh! What a bunch of baloney! If i were you i would just shove that guy's ass deep in their throat to make him know who's in charge"

-"That's what you would do" Isaac said "I'm no fighter, always sucked at brawls, besides, he looks pretty jacked up dude, he could easily just throw a car at me"

-"You're overthinking mate, say, why don't we go to the ol' pub tonight? You seem pretty stressed, maybe a drink will loose your nerves a little"

Isaac contemplated the offer, tonight's been a bit rough, he deserves himself a treat

-"Sure, why not?" Isaac replied

Some time later when their shift ended, Isaac and Caine went on their way to the usual pub they go every night they drinks which was located a few squares down from the casino in an alleyway, on the way there they noticed a freshly made graffiti in a wall depicting what it looked like a dead bird of sorts

-"Ah this bratty punks!" Caine said "Always messing around with their bloody paint cans and their dark shirts with Satan drawing these horrendous things around town"

Isaac coughed a little offended by the commentary

-"Sorry mate, no offense, you're cool though" Caine replied

However, Isaac was quite curious about the graffiti and its author, as Caine was making his way to the pub, Isaac managed to take a photo of it to learn about it

-"Isaac, you coming?" Caine yelled in the distance

Isaac went running back to Caine's side, talking their way to the pub, probably to get wasted

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 6: A TEMPLE, A SHELTER

October 10, 20XX, Sunday, 9:30 AM

Today is the day, the appointment day finally arrived; Isaac was preparing himself to attend church as he does every sunday, however, this time he tried to put a little more effort on his look because he had his appointment with Beth so he didn't want to look like an ass, maybe he was exaggerating it since, according to him, he's just gonna work on his final project but he is not very familiar with the concepts of "socializing" and "working together in something that isn't his job", he really wanted to leave a good impression in order to make this project more enjoyable. In the end he convinced himself he looked better than before but he still looked a little bit punk-ish: a red shirt depicting some demon's skull, a gray wool sweater, blue jeans and an "All Star" pair of shoes plus a bit of a free sample of perfume he got on the market one day; before leaving, Isaac went to check how Guppy II was doing just to find that he wasn't even home, that's nothing to worry though, he always comes back home before sunset, the thing that worries Isaac more is what Guppy is doing while outside, but he decided to not worry so much about it this time and asked God to bring Guppu back alive; he packed some goods and his currently sketchbook in his back and went outside.

At around 10:00 AM or so, Isaac arrived at the church, he made a quick reverence and immediately started to look for a seat only to find all of them already taken, it's OK, he could always listen to the mass standing up, but then he saw a waving hand, he wasn't sure if that hand was waving at him until he realized who was waving: it was Beth, she was inviting him to take a seat in a place she reserved next to her, Isaac didn't actually wanted to sit next to her though because he didn't wanted to make her or himself feel awkward, Isaac took a quick glance at his surroundings to check for free seats for the second time just to see that there was indeed no seats available, so he sighed and accepted Beth's offer.

-"Hey" Beth greeted as Isaac was sitting down

-"Hey" Isaac replied

-"Nice look you got today" Beth said while contemplating Isaac's clothing "It's not every day we get to see you wearing anything but a pentagram"

-"Well..." Isaac said while inventing a response "You look quite different too"

Beth was wearing a blue buttoned shirt with flower decor, something tight black jeans and small boots, she was practically wearing something different indeed

-"What? This?" She replied "It's nothing, just some rags i bought in a flea market once"

-"Weird" Isaac said "a flea market selling clothes? That's pretty rare, at least to me"

Beth chuckled a bit before being shushed by a guy behind her, the mass was about to start.

A few minutes passed, the priest was talking about the resurrection of Jesus (in a date that wasn't easter for some reason), Isaac was paying attention to the sermon when suddenly Beth interrupted his concentración:

-"Hey" Beth said in a low voice "why do you think Jesus chose bread as his flesh?"

Isaac didn't responded and coughed to insist Beth a little respect, he wouldn't let such a silly question to interrupt his meditation, but then a few second later:

-"Hey" Beth interrupted again "if bread is the flesh of Jesus, do you think we're commiting cannibalism when we eat bread?"

Isaac was left perplexed, what the hell did he just hear?

-"What?" Isaac asked in a low voice "where did that came from?"

-"I don't know, i was just thinking about it and then i thought 'isn't that cannibalism?' because i think it is"

Isaac forgot everything about the mass and continued the discussion:

-"It's not cannibalism, bread is not human flesh and it can't bleed and it can't say 'don't eat me, i'm a man', period"

Beth was left speechless for a second, the she replied:

-"But what if you inject the bread with wine?" 

Isaac turned to her and continued the discussion with Beth for a few minutes until the same guy from behind asked them to shut up, which they did; they finished the mass at around 12:00 PM, once they were outside the church Isaac asked:

-"What was that?"

-"What was what?" Beth asked

-"The thing from earlier!" Isaac replied "why did you say such a thing? Specially inside there"

-"I was just joking" Beth replied "the priest already gave that sermon thousands of times and i was getting bored, plus, i thought you might be interested in such freaky stuff"

-"Oh come on" Isaac said "it takes a lot to freak me over with gross stuff, i've already seen a lot"

-"A lot you say?" Beth said daringly "like what? A dead rat you saw on the street? How scary!"

-"I'll show you" Isaac replied 

The both went to look for a seating spot in the middle of the park, finding an empty picnic table, Isaac took his sketchbook and gave it to Beth so she could take a glimpse

-"Wow..." Beth said

Isaac came back to his senses and realized what he has done, he thought Beth would react disgusted with his works

-"These are really cool!" Beth said

-"Wait, seriously?" Isaac said, surprised that someone actually liked his art

-"Yeah, These look so full of personality, like this fat, green thing riding a stick"

-"That's actually the Harbinger of Pestilence"

-"From Revelations? Wow, that's a great way to interpreting him, sigh, i would never be able to create such an amazing design"

Isaac felt a bit compassion for her

-"Your designs can't be that bad" he said "can i see them?"

-"Well, if you say so" Beth said as she was giving her sketchbook to Isaac

Isaac looked Beth's designs, finding a lot of drawings of people wearing all sorts of suits 

-"Interesting" Isaac said "i would wear any of these if they existed"

-"Oh they exist" Beth replied "well, they're in their way to exist, i'm practicing fashion design"

-"Nice" Isaac said while still looking at Beth's sketchbook, noticing some little flaws on many of the drawings "actually, do you mind if i give you some advice on your designs?"

-"Sure" Beth said "only if it's more useful than the ones they give in class"

And so the two of them discussed about their art, then about college, then about anything else that barely had to do with the initial topics; Isaac never realized when the conversation spiraled into something else, nor that he cared about it, he felt great talking with someone else about their art, he never heard anything good about it other than the same words like "it's problematic, disturbing, ugly, worrying, etc..." It was a nice change of pace, the conversation stopped when Beth checked her phone 

-"What!?!?" She said "Oh God, i gotta go, i got some unexpected things to do"

Isaac suddenly remembered the reason of the appointment 

-"Wait, the project" he said "what about the project?"

-"Oh right" Beth said, so she ripped a piece of paper from her sketchbook and wrote her phone number on it

-"Here" Beth said giving the number to Isaac "call me so we can talk about it later"

-"Alright" Isaac replied inspecting the number, then without noticing Beth was already a few meterse running away

-"Bye Isaac" she yelled as she was going away

-"Bye" Isaac said 

Today was Weird for Isaac, not only did he manage to hold a conversation with someone he didn't know, but perhaps he actually made a new friend, he hasn't feel like this since the day he met Caine years ago, maybe he didn't suck at socializing after all, maybe God did actually hear him, but only time will tell if this friendship would last.

As Isaac was leaving the park, he noticed a graffiti in the church's back wall, it was that crow graffiti again, why would they paint the church this time? Isaac then decided to investigate about this for tomorrow night, he had a feeling that there might be something big hiding in these city's alleys.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7: SECRETS FOR... JUSTICE?

As Isaac arrived home he started to investigate more about this mysterious graffiti appearing lately these days, but first he checked if Guppy was back home already only to find out that he wasn't home yet, which is weird; but he decided not to worry about it, after all he had other issues that he deemed more important (like if discovering some hooligan breaking havoc around town is more important than knowing where your pet is)

Isaac checked the picture he took last times looking for clues, he learned a little about graffities and their possible meanings on art class, the artists behind those usually leave a cryptic message hidden in those like some distorted letters or a particular sign, but unfortunately there was none of that, meaning that whoever is making these clearly doesn't want to be found, but why? Maybe they're on the run? Isaac then thought about the locations where these graffities were made, probably there's a common pattern in which they are painted, but he only knows two locations where the graffiti was made: the church and... Wait, what was the other place? The darkness of that night made it barely visible to see the rest of that wall, not mentioning he was also intoxicated on his way back that night and the memories of that night were a bit blurry; Isaac had no choice but to go back on his steps and see the actual wall again.

On his way there Isaac started wondering the main reason of why is he doing this, what was he trying to prove when catching some hooligan painting dumb shit on the walls? Or was curiosity what told him to pursue this mystery? Curiosity was an odd fellow for him since it always revealed him the darkest of secrets like that weird gimp mask he found in the closet when mom pushed him back there, or the times he saw his father going away with some money when everyone was asleep; but before he know it, he arrived at the same place he saw the first graffiti only to find a shocking revelation: the wall was blasted out with only a giant hole revealing their insides and some debris scattered on the floor; behind the wall was the interior of what it appears to be a factory, he would have entered to take a closet look if it wasn't for the yellow police tape blocking the what and judging by some police cars parked around the crime scene he had no more doubt that there was already someone investigating the case inside there; but wait, if this happened to this factory, what about the church!?!?

October 11, 20XX, Monday, 3:00 AM

This will be the night Isaac would finally catch this criminal, he can't let anything to happen the church, he can't let the house of the Lord to be destroyed; as he waved goodbye to Caine, Isaac went rushing back to the church hoping that is not too late and luckily it wasn't, Isaac then sat down in front of the closed entrance of the church scouting for anything weird happening. The night was cold and silent, street lights were revealing everything the darkness could hide with their golden glow, and yet there was no shadow of a single being, time passed and Isaac was beginning to consider giving up and go home, perhaps he was just being paranoid, who would attack a church? But then, 30 minutes later, a strange sound got his attention, something was moving in the bushes, at first he thought it was some stray animal like a dog but then after hearing the leaves crunching a whisper also started to sound falling for him, Isaac didn't investigate, maybe it was a trap, but the whisper became louder and suddenly there was more than just one whisper but probably this was just a trick to scare him away, something that Isaac wouldn't let happen so easily, he was decided to defend God's sanctuary even if he dies doing so; suddenly the whispers stopped and only silence remained, Isaac thought he finally won this battle of patience until someone approached him from behind, knocking him out of sense.

Isaac woke up surrounded by a dark void, hearing echoes of furious voices yelling in an argument, confused about where he was, Isaac looked for an exit running around what it looked to be an infinite darkness extending with every step he made but after running for a while he stumbled with a hill covered in damp grass with a house on top of it, the echoes came from inside the house; Isaac tried to climb the hill but then with every step the hill became taller and the echoes became louder but clearer, he could hear his mother having an intense argument with him; then the hill became so tall there wasn't even a slope to climb it up but a flat wall stopping his ascent making him fall down a deep cliff, before falling down he was able to hear his mother say something to him:

"You can't do anything right, don't you!?"

Before touching the floor, a punch in the face woke him up for real this time, and this time Isaac was in what it looks to be an abandoned warehouse, he was tied in a chair unable to free himself, a dim light bulb was hanging above him illuminating his surroundings, he was able to see multiple people wearing dark clothes, then a hand grabbed him by the shoulder, it was the hand of a bulky man with a long brown hair tied with a red bandana, he looked very angry and was preparing to deliver another punch at Isaac's face, Isaac, unable to do anything, prepares himself to receive the punch until a voice coming from the crowd emerged:

-"Enough, Sam" the voice said, the man then cancelled his attack as he was commanded pushing Isaac to the side

-"So what do we have here?" The voice said as they stepped away from the crowd, revealing a woman with long black hair covering half of her face, smoking a cigarette "A little man sitting in the middle of the night and in the middle of our business" the woman continued "who do you work for?"

-"None of your business!" Isaac replied trying to appear brave to the situation, the woman then did a gesture to Sam who then grabbed Isaac by the shirt and lifted him in the air

-"I think you don't understand" the woman said "it is OUR business to know who you are, now tell me, what were you doing in the church?"

-"Well, isn't it obvious?" Isaac replied furiously "to prevent all of you dirty, gothic hooligans to put a hand on it"

Sam, offended by the insult, prepared again to send a punch into Isaac's gut but the woman stopped him again

-"Hold it, Sam, you'll get your chance soon" the woman said, then she continued to Isaac "So you think you could be a hero by defending that filthy, money-sucking church, don't you?"

-"What?" Isaac asked

-"Augh, wake up little christian boy" the woman replied "do you think that damn house can afford a fucking TV signal and those fancy crosses with just begging for dimes?"

-"...Yes?" Isaac replied with the only answer being a punch in the gut

-"You think everything you see in this town was made by good will?" The woman said "Open your eyes, everything was made to hide something evil and you people are only feeding it with power"

-"And what did the factory did to you?" Isaac said while recovering from the hit

-"Oh nothing, just polluting our waters and treating the poor personal like shit, did i mention that was a pesticide factory?" The woman replied 

-"And the church? What about the church?"

-"As i said, don't you think it's a little suspicious their huge income? Those holy bastards are linked with that Reed asshole; by the way, do you work for Reed?"

-"No" Isaac lied

-"Sure..." The woman said while inhaling her cigar "Everyone, take everything from him and to the streets"

The entire crowd then approached to Isaac pulling him from every side talking everything he had with him: phone, rosary, money, everything; Isaac uselessly tried to defend himself but little he could do tied to a chair; then a little piece of paper flew away from his pant's pocket, gliding through the crowd's legs then finally landing in front the woman's feet who was standing a few meterse away from the chaos; she picked it up and checked it out of curiosity and then after a few seconds:

-"STOP, NOW!" The woman yelled, and so the crowd stopped right before they could take out Isaac's shirt, then the woman approached Isaac with the paper:

-"Did you make this?"

It was doodle Isaac made while working out of boredom, it depicted a man gruesomely getting rolled over by a car

-"Yes..." Isaac replied with fear

-"Neat" the woman said, then she sat on the floor in front of Isaac

-"Let me tell you something" the woman said "My graffiti artist got arrested lately, his last work was that pretty dead crow you saw on the church and now i don't have anyone to leave our marks around the city, so i got a deal for you, bring me new designs and we'll leave your cute little cult house alone, deal?"

Isaac had to think about this, he never wanted his designs to be tools for crime but he didn't wanted anything to happen to the church, it was a shelter for him, with no other choice, Isaac replied:

-"Deal"

-"Good" the woman said, standing up again "Free him" 

One of the grunts untied Isaac's ropes, finally freeing him

-"Tomorrow, no excuses" the woman said poking Isaac's chest "You'll probably need some security on your way back home, there's some crazy people out there at this hour, right?"

-"Yeah... Right..."

The woman turned into the crowd:

-"AZ! GET YOUR ASS RIGHT HERE NOW!"

A small, wimpy man with glasses emerged from the crowd, he nervously responded:

-"Yes, ma'am!"

-"This will be your bodyguard, don't judge him for his size, he's an ace with the revolver, ain't that right Az?"

-"Yes, indeed i am, ma'am" Az responded

Isaac and Az were guided to the exit, once they stepped outside the warehouse the door was slammed closed, they started the way back to Isaac's home, in the midway Isaac asked:

-"What did just happened?" 

-"Well, you found us, sir, that's what happened" Az replied 

-"No, you guys just kidnapped me and now are holding me hostage to do some drawings!"

-"Well i wouldn't say "holding you hostage", more like "you're doing us a favor!" "

-"Right, a favor, who even are you guys? Anarchists?"

-"Oh yeah! I forgot to introduce us, sorry for that, ehem, we are the Babylonians! We fight to give back what belongs to the people!"

-"So, anarchists, got it"

-"Well, we are not as rude as those wild brats, sir, look at our fair leader Eva, she's-"

-"Wait you call that fair?"

-"She is a bit, uh, "eccentric" with the new members"

-"I'm not a member of your sick criminal gang, i'm just working for you so you can leave me and the Lord's house alone"

Az was left speechless, an awkward silence invaded them the rest of the way back, once they were finally back home, Az gave some words before leaving:

-"Remember, sir, tomorrow with no excuses, and welcome to the family"

-"Again, i'm not part of you guys, now scram before i throw something at you" Isaac replied

-"Oh yeah, sorry sir" Az said before leaving away quickly

Isaac fucked up big this time, but luckily Guppy was back home, at least something good happened after all this shitstorm.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 8: SKETCHES

October 12, 20XX, Tuesday, 3:30 PM

In home, Isaac was staring at a blank sheet of paper, trying to think on new designs for the gang he just unfortunately met only to come up with absolutely nothing which is weird because he was already a master at drawing disturbing stuff but not for some criminals, what could a criminal group like in a drawing? That smoker girl said she liked that awful drawing of the guy getting rolled, maybe something gory? "No, feels too pretentious" Isaac said to himself; perhaps a caricature of a gangster? No, too ridiculous; Isaac turned to see Guppy who was in the middle of falling asleep:

-"You're my only hope boy, what should i do?" Isaac said to the cat who in response yawned and turned around in the opposite direction, Isaac felt a little indignated.

Minutes passed, the paper was still blank, what was wrong with him this time? Was it fear the thing that prevented him to come up with something? Most probably it was that, they are armed and ready to do whatever they want to him if he doesn't deliver, it was pretty stressful working under that impression; then a realization came to his head: those guys are fearful, what could the people fear? Demons! It practically fitted very well with their image (or at least the image Isaac had about them), Isaac took out a demonology book he had bought a while ago to use for reference on his drawings, it was a pretty slim book full of demons and symbols like the inverted cross, the pentagram or even darker ones like the solomonic seals; he did a few sketches of the contents of the book, giving his personal twist to them to depict them kind of rebellious, however, he tried to follow an art style that was rather different from what he already does so no one can recognize him and his style, the perfect plan, but the thing wasn't over yet because he had to craft another plan to hide the sketches from anyone else because he didn't want anyone to know he had contacts with a criminal gang, the easiest way to deliver the sketches is once he gets out of work so he doesn't had to make an extensive way to come back home and walking another few miles to get wherever they are so the most obvious thing was bringing the sketches to work, Isaac took a folder he found lying around, placed the sketches inside of it and enveloped the carpet with a towel, if anyone asks he's just going to swim after work; it was time to go now, let's hope everything goes well tonight.

10:47 PM

Everything was going as usual on the casino but a few members of the staff we're quite intrigued about Isaac's bag since he brought a bigger bag as usual and Caine was no exception to this:

-"Oi lad" Caine said "what's with that huge sack of yours?"

-"Don't say it like that!" Isaac replied "it's just some dumb shit, don't worry about it"

-"Like what kind of dumb shit?"

-"It's just swimming equipment, i'll go for a swim after work"

-"Swimming in the middle of the night? It's cold outside mate, you're gonna get sick"

-"I will not, they say it's healthy to do so"

-"Who said that?"

-"Uhm... Someone from TV"

-"Right, and where in this bloody city do you plan to swim?"

-"There's this public pool i saw one day"

-"I doubt they're gonna be open at this hour"

-"Oh uh... I know the owner, he'll let me in"

-"Isaac don't lie to me, it's obvious that you're not gonna go "swim", you said you don't like sports"

-"Alright you win! Why do you want to know though?"

-"Because i'm your best pal mate, we're supposed to help each other, you're hiding something there that's bugging ya'"

-"It's better if you dont know Caine"

-"You don't have to hide anything mate, i swear i'm gonna shut my gape closed if you want"

Isaac sighed and gave up on the facade, he lowered his voice and told Caine everything that happened yesterday and what he's gonna do after work:

-"You're dealing with a criminal gang!?" Caine said loudly

-"Lower you voice god damnit!" Isaac said "Yes, they're practically holding me hostage for some drawings"

-"But... Why are you doing this?"

-"I really don't know, i'm just doing this so they don't mess up the church, alright?"

-"Wow, the kind of stuff that faith makes you do, doesn't it?"

-"I guess... Just help me make sure no one, and i mean no one touches my bag, OK?"

-"Alright then"

2:00 AM

First plan was done, no one dared to inspect the bag, probably because everyone thought there was something awful inside, the kind of stuff people always assume about people like Isaac; as Isaac and Caine were preparing to leave, a staff member appeared in front of them:

-"You guys are leaving, right" the guys said

-"Yeah, why you ask?" Isaac replied 

-"Well, the boss ordered that any of you take his, what, his cousin? I don't know"

-"Why is he asking us? Can't the lad just walk?" Caine asked

-"Well..."

-"Hellooooo world~" a strange woman appeared, she was blonde and wearing a big, pink fur coat, the woman was clearly drunk

-"Yeah, that's why" the guy said

-"Soooo who will be the handsome gentleman that will take this poor damsel back home?~" the woman asked

-"Here's her address, it's your problem from now on" the guy gave Isaac a paper with the address and left, leaving Isaac and Caine alone with the drunken broad

-"What are we gonna do now?" Isaac asked

-"Just take the lady home mate" Caine replied 

-"I can't let them see me with this girl, they know Reed's family, they're gonna kill me"

-"What's wrong with me, boy? Am i too pretty for you? Hehehe~" the woman interrupted

-"We can't just let her go stumblin' around town" Caine said

-"Can't you like, take her away yourself?" Isaac asked

-"But i live far away mate, it will take me hours to get back home after delivering her" 

-"Please?" 

Caine contemplated the option for a while, seeing that there was no other alternative he accepted:

-"Sigh, you owe me one mate" Caine said

-"Thank you so much Caine, i swear i'll repay you somehow" Isaac said

-"Ehem, ma'am, would you be so kind to come with me?"

-"Oh my, of course big boy~" the woman replied then tried to hold her vomit

Isaac saw Caine leaving away with the woman at his arms, before dissapearing he was able to see how to woman was annoying Caine with drunken flirtings while Caine tried to awkwardly ignore her; now that there wasn't any inconvenience, Isaac made his way to meet those criminals again.

Isaac arrived at the warehouse from before but this time it was empty, now he had zero chance to meet up with those guys again, thinking that they probably got caught and that all the effort was meaningless; suddenly he felt a hard hit on the back of his head, luckily he didn't blacked out like before and was quick enough to turn around to see the culprit: it was Az

-"What the fuck!?" Isaac said while groaning in pain

-"S-sorry sir, it's the protocol" Az replied

-"What kind of protocol is that, you dumbass!?"

-"Well, i was supposed to knock you out and carry you in this bag back to our base"

-"Don't you think it would be better if you just ask me nicely to follow you?"

-"We can't let anyone know where we are located, sir, that's why we change our base location"

-"Don't worry, i won't tell anyone, as long as you morons don't hit me with a fucking baseball bat again"

-"Oh sure, thank you sir, sorry"

Isaac and Az made their way to the Babylonians' base with an awkward silence separating them again, knowing that the way could be quite long, Isaac tried to break that silence with a bit of conversation:

-"So uh, what were you guys up to again?" Isaac asked

-"We are on our mission to bring justice to this city, sir" Az replied

-"So you guys bring justice breaking private property? Why?"

-"It's not any property, we usually attack where we know there's corruption"

-"Don't you think it's a bit redundant? You guys stop this city from going down by just destroying it"

-"It's... hard to explain, sir, we have a plan of rebuilding this city from ashes but it's too elaborate to just sum in a few words"

-"There are more peaceful ways to do so"

-"I actually proposed to do a protest at the city hall, sir"

-"That sounds like a good idea, why don't you guys do so?"

-"Well, Eva rejected my propose, she said it was "too bland", i can't blame her though"

-"Huh"

Isaac turned to see Az, he felt pity for the young man, he clearly wanted to make a change for his community but he was with the wrong people, hopefully Az would realize this soon enough, but when? The two of them kept walking forward with the silence invading them again until a voice behind them appeared:

-"Isaac?"

The two of them turned around to find none other than Beth, Isaac was surprised yet afraid to see her, she of all people can't know what he was doing, he didn't wanted to tarnish his reputation

-"Isaac!" Beth said "what are you doing here?"

-"Beth!" Isaac replied nervously "i was just uh... Going for a swim! Yeah, that's right"

-"No, you're not" Az said "We-"

-"Yes, i do!" Isaac interrupted Az abruptly "My friend here is just a bit drunk and i'm just talking him back home on my way there to the pool"

-"But i'm not-" Az stopped talking when Isaac poked him with his elbow

-"That's nice of you!" Beth said "but why are you swimming at this hour?"

-"Someone on TV said it was healthy and you know, i'm just trying to live a good life" Isaac said while drying the sweat on his forehead "but what about you? What are you doing here at this hour?"

-"Oh, i'm just going back home from the homeless shelter" Beth replied "i voluntereed to take care of them"

-"You never seem to take a break, do you?" Isaac said

-"I'm just doing my part to make this city a better place, after all, this is everyone's home, don't you think?"

-"Yeah, no one would like their home to resemble a crackhouse" 

Beth and Isaac laughed, Az was just standing there awkwardly, he coughed a little to remind Isaac what they were doing 

-"Oh yeah, right" Isaac said "i better get going, my friend can't wait to get home"

-"I better go home too, i don't want to miss my bus" Beth said "Have a nice swim Isaac, and remember to call me"

-"Will do" Isaac said, waving goodbye to Beth, he felt a little warm in his heart

-"Shall we continue, sir?" Az said in an annoyed tone

-"Sorry" Isaac said

-"Going to swim? What a lame excuse" Az said

-"Shut up" Isaac said

Finally, after an extensive walk, they managed to get to the base, this time located in an abandoned apartment tower, a pair of eyes appeared behind the door of the entrance when they approached it, it was asking for a password, Az said the password in a low voice so Isaac couldn't hear it, the door opened and the two of them entered the tower, making their way up to the top floor where Eva was waiting for them, her office was practically what it used to be the penthouse, they opened the door a few inches and a knife pierced it through scaring the two of them but not actually hitting them, when they finally opened the door, they found Eva and Sam both pointing with guns at the entrance:

-"Oh, it's you christian boy" Eva said, putting her gun down, Sam did the same "excuse me for that, i'm not used to visits here"

-"Yeah, thanks for the welcome" Isaac said, still in shock

-"Come on in, take a seat" Eva said

Isaac and Az took a seat in front of her improvised desk, the seats weren't confortable at all

-"So, you got them?" Eva asked

-"Well i got a few sketches so you can tell me which one you like" Isaac gave the folder to Eva and she inspected many of the drawings

-"Why are there so many demons?" Eva asked

-"I thought you would like them" Isaac replied

-"We're a crime gang, not a fucking satanist cult" 

-"They can't be that bad" Az added

-"Az shut up, i'm not talking to you" Eva said

-"Yes ma'am" Az said, turning his head down

Eva kept inspecting the designs with a doubtful look, sometimes letting Sam also judge them, Isaac was a bit nervous even if they weren't even qualifiable to even judge art, maybe it was the fear of getting hurt if they indeed don't like any of the designs, but after a while Eva gave her final judgement:

-"They all suck" Eva said 

-"But you said you liked the-" Isaac said before being interrupted

-"Except for this one" Eva showed a small symbol in the corner of a sheet depicting a black moon and a black star 

-"Of all the other elaborate sketches, you liked that small corner decoration?" Isaac asked infuriated

-"It's cute" Eva replied "i think it fits with our style, bring us a better version of it"

-"Alright, but i'll need some time"

-"How long?"

-" I don't know, until this weekend?"

-"Good, you'll deliver it on saturday"

-"Will you guys leave me alone after that?"

-"We'll think about it"

-"Good, saturday then"

-"Az, you know what to do, take him away"

Isaac and Az left the building and started their way back to Isaac's home, Isaac was a bit worried

-"I think they're pretty cool, sir" Az complimented

-"Thank you, Az" Isaac said

-"Is there something annoying you, sir?"

-"No, just a bad memory, this isn't the first time drawing gave me so much trouble"

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 9: BEHIND THIS SHINING SCREEN 

October 13, 20XX, Wednesday, 3:00 PM

Coming back from college, Isaac's head was still processing all the issues he had to deal with, the most important one being the project since it was the fundamental task that will forever mark his career as an artist as well as Beth so he practically had double the responsability, now that he had at least three days to think about it before worrying once again about the Babylonians; he definitely had to call Beth today, after all he got her number, who knows for how long that poor lady has been waiting for a response from him and the only idea of leaving Beth hanging made Isaac feel a little bad about himself; on his way back home he noticed a weird sound coming from an alleyway near him, Isaac's curiosity got the best of him again as if he hasn't learned the lesson of not involving where you're not wanted but this time he had his motives to suspect, maybe he's being spied on for some reason but who would spy someone in plain daylight? After a quick glimpse Isaac realized it wasn't anyone in particular, it was Guppy who was scavenging through the garbage bins for food, something weird since he already gets enough good back home until Isaac saw that Guppy wasn't looking food for himself, Isaac followed the cat a few meters away to find out that Guppy actually had a family with a random stray cat and a litter of at least 9 kittens, the mother saw Isaac with fear until Guppy gave a subtle sign to calm her down, as if he was telling her that the strange human is a nice person; Isaac was surprised, the cat that only seemed to only be able to eat, sleep and stroll around the street actually had a loving family waiting for him every day, something Isaac couldn't relate to very well but he nonetheless found it cute; Isaac decided to leave the feline family alone and gave them a blessing, hoping that they don't get the idea of coming Home since he doesn't have the space for more cats in the apartment.

Finally back home, Isaac looked for Beth's number between multiple other paper pieces on his desk and indeed there it was, a simple piece of paper with numbers written on it were enough to make Isaac's heart rush, his hands were now cold and sweaty and his mind was trying to convince it not to call; Isaac was wondering why was he feeling like this, it's just a call after all, it's not anything weird just checking stuff for the project, but then he asked himself why was he taking so long to write the number on the phone, the worst thing that could happen is that she doesn't respond, that's it, it's not like she would laugh at him like how many people laughed at him many times in the past just for trying to be nice with someone that's impossible, then Isaac realized he was overthinking once again for nothing. He took a deep breath and pressed the call button, waiting for a response, Isaac was nervous for a reason he couldn't understand and was wishing that she wouldn't respond even though he needed her to respond; seconds passed, no answer, Isaac let out a sigh of relief thinking that the worst thing that could happen indeed happened and nothing else happened beyond that, he could try to call a second time but he didn't had the guts to do so and instead distracted himself drawing to calm himself down, half and hours or so passed and without realizing he draw a semi-realistic heart, not bad he thought to himself but why a heart? It's not something he usually would do, could it be... "No, it can't be, that's impossible" he was thinking trying to convince himself he's not feeling what he thinks he's feeling; Isaac decided to forget about it, saved the heart in a drawer of his desk and went to grab lunch.

8:33 PM

Isaac was calmer on the job than usual, it was nice seeing that the guys who hated the guts of his job and everyone surrounding him finally decided to act normally without looking and acting like a freak, however there still was someone who wasn't as happy as him and with a reason, Caine just arrived at the casino with a face of boredom and disgust as if he didn't wanted to come to work today, something weird considering how energetic he usually seems to be when working:

-"Hey Caine" Isaac said

-"Hey" Caine replied in a cold, almost aggresive tone

Isaac was intrigued by the reply, something was wrong with Caine tonight, he tried to investigate a little further:

-"How was your day?" Isaac asked

-"You tell me" Caine replied in a sarcastic manner

-"What do you mean with that?"

-"Do i really have to remind you, mate?"

-"Wait, you mean about yesterday?"

-"No i'm talking about 15 years ago, of course it's about yesterday!"

-"But what happened then? Did the drunken broad do something to you?"

-"It was horrible mate, that bloody whore tried to get awfully personal with me, i was afraid she would do something to me, well she actually did something to me"

-"Really!? What did she do?"

-"She only puked over my shoe and thankfully that was the worst thing that happened in that god forsaken night beyond those drunken flirtings and indecent approaches, not mentioning that i had to walk back home in the middle of the dark"

-"Caine, i'm sorry, i swear i would have bitten the bullet for you but i really needed to settle things down that night"

-"At least tell me you fixed everything with that gang"

-"Kinda..."

-"You're dancing with sharks, Isaac, soon enough the sharks will bite your face and you wouldn't notice"

-"Can i at least repay you somehow?"

-"I just wish to be alone for a while mate, no hard feelings on you by the way, i just need a time to forget all of that"

Isaac felt ashamed, he left his best friend alone when he needed him the most, a feeling that is hard to erase from your brain once it makes its mark there, the best thing he could do was actually leaving him alone and hopefully they could be back together again sharing a drink.

As the night continued, Isaac was still wondering if Beth would ever respond the missing call, if she ever does that he had to be prepared to know what to say, he would have done that if it wasn't for the fact that his phone was vibrating by the time the idea came to his head; Beth was calling, this was the time to finally respond, who knows when she would call back again, maybe never again in a long time, but he wasn't allowed to be seen using his phone outside break hours, he then decided to sneak to the bathroom without being seen by anyone and locked himself inside a stall, now that he was finally alone he answered:

-"Hello?" Beth said "Who's this?"

-"It's me, Isaac" he replied 

-"Isaac! You finally called!"

-"Can you talk lower? I can't make too much noise right now"

-"Oh sorry, you finally called, sorry for not answering earlier, i was busy over here"

-"Doing what? Charity again?"

-"No... Alright yes, you caught me, so what do you need me for?"

-"You know... Just wondering about..."

-"The project?"

-"Yes! The project, i was about to say that"

-"I'm glad you ask about that, i have some ideas for it"

-"And what is it?"

-"I have some cloth and props with me right now and i was thinking "maybe the guy with the cool monster designs could do some cool outfits with my help", what do you think?"

-"Do you mean turning my monsters into outfits? Are you sure about that?"

-"Yeah, no one did this before, this will surely rise the standard, we could work it out together"

-"I mean, yeah that sounds cool but, isn't that a bit too weird?"

-"Says the guy who goes swimming in the middle of the night" Beth let out a faint laugh

-"Oh come on, i thought it was cool" Isaac lied

-"Yeah right, and i take a tan at the top of a building"

Isaac pictured the joke on his head but quickly came back to his senses

-"The point is, that my drawings are a bit too much, almost problematic"

-"It's a risk we should take somewhen in our lives"

Isaac felt the need to joke as well, his courage was short as he didn't want it to be taken as hurtful but she was right, sometimes you have to take risks:

-"Like serving soup at the homeless i'm the middle of the night? I bet"

Surprisingly, Beth took the joke very well and laughed, Isaac blushed and smiled:

-"Very funny wise man, very funny" she said "anyways, i think it's better if we settle this in person, are you free this saturday?"

-"Yeah" Isaac replied without thinking

-"Cool, saturday then"

Isaac's walkie was ringing, they were looking for him to come back to work:

-"Beth, i have to go now, i got things to do"

-"Alright, i have to go now too, my dinner will be ready soon enough, bye Isaac"

Isaac felt the urge to say something else, with a shy tone he added:

-"Take care, Beth"

A few seconds of silence passed, then:

-"Take care you too, Isaac"

Beth hanged up, Isaac was blushing from that last sentence and he wasn't afraid of blushing, no one could see him, she couldn't see him behind the screen, Isaac's heart was beating as faster as never before, his walkie was still calling for him so he finally stepped out of the bathroom finding himself with Caine who was looking for him:

-"There you are little mate!" Caine said "What the hell were you doing inside there?"

-"Nothing, don't worry about it" Isaac replied looking at the ground with a simple on his face

-"...Why are you red?" Caine asked "Were you... Rubbing a good one there?"

-"What!? No! That's disgusting" Isaac replied

-"Haha, come on mate, that was a good joke right there"

-"I thought you were mad at me"

-"I was thinking about it and i said to myself "kids will be kids", i also made a lot mistakes back in me ol' days"

-"So, we're good now?"

-"Well, kinda, but you still owe me one"

-"Sure, whatever you say man"