It had been a while since Katya and I started traveling. We had robbed so many banks that the cops were chasing us and shooting at us, but Katya didn't get scared anymore.
"What you wanna do next?" she asked me while she was shooting back at the cops. "I think there's a new roller coaster, but those are so boring."
Their bullets hit the car one after another and even destroyed the windshield.
"We can go skiing," she said while reloading.
"No, that's boring as shit," I said.
"Oh, you just have to do pizza as I told you. It's not that hard."
"Skiing is like going down a giant snow slide. It's so fucking boring."
Katya was lost in thought for a moment. The bullets kept hitting the car, and suddenly one hit a tire.
"Yeah, that sounds pretty boring," she said. "It's like a roller coaster but only going down."
"We're gonna crash," I told her 'cause I was losing control of the car.
"Ok," she said and put on her seatbelt.
Then I lost control and our car started rolling over. I looked at Katya: she was clutching the bag full of money we had stolen. She saw me and smiled.
The car stopped rolling. It ended up upside down. Gas was leaking and leaving a growing stain on the ground. Cops were getting out of their cars to arrest us.
"Shall we go?" I asked Katya, and she nodded. I put my hand on her arm and cast a very weak spell into the pool of gas. It caught fire, and I instantly teleported us to her dad's beach house, the place where we were staying at the time.
We heard an explosion nearby.
Katya then opened the bag and dropped all the money onto her bed.
She wasn't as excited as the first time.
"Come," she took my hand and lead me to the garden. The house was almost at the top of a hill in front of the sea. We were really far away, but we could still hear the waves crashing into the sea. It was so weird to see only land on one side, and only water, on the other, like the world was divided in two parts.
The sea looked so vast that it didn't surprise me that just one of its waves could sink entire ships with a force that no spell could replicate.
It was such a beautiful view.
"Well, it's just a shit ton of water," I told her, and she grabbed my shirt and pulled it from side to side.
"Come on, at least say you like it. That's the only reason I wanted us to come."
I laughed.
"When I was little, I loved to watch the sea from here. It relaxes you," she told me, and suddenly:" Trust fall," she let herself fall, but I immediately caught her.
"I don't want to go to a club," I told her, and she looked at me angrily.
"You never wanna go, Miguel."
"So why you keep asking me, then?"
"Because I don't want you to bring your whores here when I'm not around."
"They can come over right now, if that's what you want," I said, and she stood up and pushed me a little.
"You perv. But you know what? If you want to stay, stay. I'll go to the club by myself, even though there are a lot of gangs out there, and maybe they'll kidnap me and rape me and kill me. But you stay here keeping watch in case someone comes to kill you because you're the center of the universe and nobody has anything better to do. I mean, there's security in this suburb. Nobody's gonna come here. But you don't give a fuck if something happens to me out there.
"Ok, I'm not gonna ask you nothing anymore. Bye, Miguel. I hope no one kidnaps me," she pretended to leave.
I got near her and grabbed her arm.
"Fucking brat. Fine, I'll go with you," I told her, and she hugged me and got inside to get dressed.
Meanwhile, I went to the living room, sat on the couch and turned on the TV.
"And in other news, the hero Wonderburst has once again captured Killjoy, leader of the Toxxic gang," several hours passed, and I stayed there watching TV. Even though I was watching different channels, I saw who knows how many news featuring tons of heroes who always looked the same fighting tons of villains who were almost always dressed in black or in some stupid-ass costumes. I saw clowns, mimes, harlequins, demons, skeletons, octopuses, lizards, bats, goblins, but they were all just a bunch of idiots who thought they were the shit, and the hero almost always used the power of friendship and kicked their asses.
Once in a while I saw a villain kill a hero, but that only made one of the latter's friends unleash the power of friendship, beat the crap out of him and become the new hero.
Why didn't any of those villains think to use the power of friendship too?
However, if they used the power of friendship and killed the hero, someone else could just replace it again and again.
Heroes were disposable.
And villains too.
That's why gangs are always recruiting, 'cause they have to replace those who have already died.
And if they wipe out a whole gang, another one comes along and replaces it.
It's a never-ending story.
"Okay. How do I look?" Katya finally came from her room. She was wearing a green dress that matched her eyes. Her hair was straightened, and it moved like a golden wave every time she turned her head. She wore pink lipstick that shone almost as brightly as her teeth when she smiled. Her makeup accentuated her eyes and added color to her face, but without looking overdone or vulgar.
She always looked like a rich girl, but now she looked like those billionaires or celebrities I could only watch on TV and knew I would never meet.
"So many hours and you look almost the same," I told her, and she put her arms in front of her face like a boxer.
"You wanna fight?" She put her fist in front of my cheek. "Bang!" He pushed my face like she'd punched me. Then she did the same with his other fist, and then…
"Let's go," I said, taking her fist away from my face.
"No, I don't want to anymore," she said, pretending to be mad at me.
"Good—I didn't want to go anyway," I said, and she grabbed my arm.
"Okay, Miguel. Don't be such a diva. Let's go." She led me to the garage, and we got into her dad's SUV. I drove and she guided me.
We arrived at a club where there were tons of people trying to get in, but the bouncer wasn't letting anyone in. We left the SUV with the valet and went to the entrance.
"Come in, Miss Kvolshenko," the bouncer said as soon as he saw Katya and let us both in.
Yes, I didn't know that was her last name either, but the truth is she was so white and blonde she had to have a foreign last name.
We went inside and it was so crowded you could barely move. Lights were flashing and moving everywhere, making it hard to see where you were going. I sensed a few very faint auras, but a little stronger than usual, though I didn't have to look for them to know they were coming from the VIP lounge upstairs. There were several gang members there, watching us from a terrace; they all had their faces painted with lightning bolts.
Did I really look that stupid when I was with the clowns?
Probably that gang was the one that controlled that city.
Anyway, we ordered a bottle so they would give us a table, we drank, we danced and everything was great, until I realized that those jerks in the VIP lounge were staring at Katya.
Fuck.
"Let's go," I told Katya.
"No, this is just getting started," she was already drunk.
"We're going to a better club, we're going to an after-party." I lied.
"Where are we going?" she asked me, and I put my arm around her and led her to the exit.
But one of those motherfuckers stood in front of us.
"Where are you going, baby?" that asshole asked Katya. "Come with us to the VIP lounge, we're going to an after-party."
"Sure, bro, we're just going to get something from the car," I said and walked around him, but that piece of shit pushed me.
"Listen, asshole," that asshole said to me, "I'm talking to her. You get the fuck out of here, 'cause this is Thunder's territory." I think that was the name of his shitty gang. "Don't you know who we are?"
"Yeah, you're a just a shitty little gang who only controls one city. And you're just a barely-paid nobody who thinks he's a big boy just 'cause your boss invited you to his VIP lounge. You'll probably die today if you don't go fuck yourself."
"You think you tough?" that asshole stood right in front of me.
Katya stood between the two of us, but she started pushing me.
"Calm down," she told me. "Why don't you leave?"
I stared at her. I wanted to protect her. Why was she mad at me? And why did she want to be with those assholes?
That motherfucker laughed.
"Listen to her," he said. "Leave."
And that's when I got really pissed off.
Suddenly, that asshole's head exploded, and blood rained down everywhere. My fist was closed, and it was right where his stupid face had been.
His body remained motionless for a few seconds and then slowly fell, as if it had barely realized it was dead. It took a few seconds for the people around to realize what was happening, but when the first person started screaming and running, everyone else followed suit. The assholes in the VIP lounge pulled out their guns and prepared their pathetic magic. I unleashed all my aura.
They started shooting at us, and I made a shield that protected Katya and me. Then I made the shield bigger and bigger. It crashed through the tables and started smashing the terrace. Those bastards tried to escape, but the shield kept growing until it crushed them against the wall. They were screaming and crying, and I crushed them harder and harder. Their bones were breaking. Their blood kept flowing. The walls were cracking little by little.
Katya was on the floor throwing up.
I heard some people's heads crack and others yelled, their voices growing softer and softer until they fell silent. Soon I stopped sensing all their auras.
I dispelled the shield and got Katya out of there.
"You were so fucking jealous," she told me.
I went to the place the valet guys supposed to be, but there was no one there anymore, just a shelf and a couple chairs. They probably left when they heard the gunshots. I opened the shelf and grabbed the keys to the SUV we'd come in. I found it in the parking lot and put Katya in the back seat.
"I wanted to go to that after party," she said.
I ignored him and closed the door. I got in the driver's seat and we left before the police came.
"Look how you acted just because someone else spoke to me. You're so toxic," that spoiled brat complained.
I drove back home, and she kept complaining. I got out of the car and went to my room 'cause I was fed up with her.
But she followed me.
"You are so fucking toxic. You don't even let me breathe."
"And you're so fucking ungrateful!" I couldn't hold back anymore. I still remembered that she wanted to stay with them and told me to fuck off. "Everything I do for you, and you don't even thank me."
"He was talking to me. Why did you pry? I can talk to whoever I want. I don't need your permission."
"Well, if you want them to kill you so badly, then go back to them. I don't give a fuck anymore," I went to the door, but she said:
"Oh, as if someone gave a shit about you, Miguel. No wonder your dad kept abandoning you."
And at that moment I couldn't control myself, I turned around and slapped her so hard she fell to the ground.
"Go on, hit me again!" She stood up as fast as she could, and although she was a little unsteady, she came closer to me and started pushing me. "Hit me like you hit your dad!"
I shouldn't have hit her; she was drunk, she didn't know what she was saying.
And besides, why did I get so angry about what he said about my dad? I should have gotten over him a long time ago. He was an idiot and he never cared about me.
She wasn't lying about that.
The good thing is that I never hit her again. She started gagging, so I took her to the bathroom and held her hair to help her throw up. Then I put her to bed while she kept calling me toxic and shit.
She immediately fell asleep.
I went to my room, but I stayed up until morning.
I was a fucking gang member, what was I doing there, in that beach house, in that world of rich people? Why was I dragging her into my shitty world? She didn't need to be robbing or kidnapping people with me. She already had her life sorted out, she should go back to her rich friends and live her life of peace and privilege.
That life was never for me.
I was born into misery and that's how I was gonna die.
She and I were from two different worlds, and we should never have met.
I should never have gone to former Governor Dipshet's party, I should never have met her.
I was a dumbass to think I could make friends there. Everyone knew it except her and me. That's why they ended up leaving me alone. They saw me as a tool they could use to kidnap, kill, or threaten whomever they wanted, but nothing more. They never saw me as an equal, as a friend, and why would they? I was practically their employee, like any of their butlers, drivers, or waiters.
I thought about leaving while she was asleep, without giving her any explanation or anything; or I could leave her a note; or I could wait until she woke up, tell her all this, and then finally leave her alone. Although most likely she wouldn't understand and would ask me to stay, or we'd start arguing again.
"Boo," she suddenly hugged me from behind. I hadn't noticed before, but the sunlight was already illuminating the room.
I don't know how many hours I stayed there, going over and over the same thing in my mind.
"Hey, sorry about yesterday," she told me. "I don't even know what I said; I was so wasted."
I wanted to tell her that she deserved to be with a friend and not with a criminal.
"You know you're my best friend, right? You're always there for me. I'm so lucky to have you."
"You still drunk, aren't you?" was all I could say.
"Oh, I wish," she said and laughed. "Listen, let's go have some breakfast and then I'll take you shopping. I wanna pamper you."
I should have left at that moment; I should have told her that she shouldn't be with someone who hit her, who taught her how to steal, kidnap, and even use guns.
I should have told her I didn't deserve her.
I was such a bad influence on her, and if I really cared about her, if I really saw her as my friend, I should have left her alone at that moment and never seen her again.
Or maybe I should have made her hate me and leave. I could have pretended to be angry with her or told her I only wanted to be her friend to get the power of friendship, that I didn't care about her at first.
I was the villain, after all. People were supposed to hate me.
But I felt her so close, holding me, that I couldn't let go. She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on mine. Her arms were warm. I could feel her slow and quiet breathing. Seconds passed, and she was still there 'cause that's where she wanted to be. She didn't hug me out of obligation or to pretend she cared about me. She wanted to hug me and be with me. No one else had ever hugged me like that, not even my parents. I knew very well that if I let her go, I would never find anyone like her.
So I was selfish and stayed. I didn't care about the harm I was doing to her; what a bad influence I was; the fact that by being with me, she was an accomplice in all my crimes; the fact that I had hit her and probably would hit her again if she stayed with me 'cause I am a criminal, that's what I do, whether I like it or not, 'cause I'm a fucking violence addict 'cause I'm nothing without it.
I wasn't her friend and I didn't deserve to be with her.