The story of Don

Untitled Part 1

It was night, and the sun has long fallen down the horizon. The streets were quiet, and almost all lights were out in the houses. Almost all. A large and wealthy-looking home was lit up with multiple candles spread throughout the different rooms. Even from the outside, shouting could be heard inside, and a small boy leaned against the wall with his knees against his chest.

Bruises covered his entire body, and tears rolled down his face as just in the other room, Don's parents were arguing again. He didn't even know what they were shouting about, both were very drunk and their words were barely legible. There was a scream in the other room followed by a loud thunk on the ground. Then, silence. Don held his legs even tighter, not again... he was scared, this may have been the third one this month he came home with and ultimately lost. He knew what followed, the same thing that started this mess. He would get beaten to the ground again and again until his father collapsed from exhaustion, or he got bored. Either way, it wouldn't be happy.

Don just wished he could disappear, he wished his father could never see him again. "Donovan..." His father stumbled into the next room, "Where the hell are you?" *Hic* "That bitch might've stopped you earlier, but I'm not finished with your punishment for interrupting us." Don closed his eyes tightly, and curled up as small as he could, wishing he could just be invisible, "Where the 'ell are you?" *Hic* "I need you to clean up that other room again." Although he was treated more as a servant than anything, Don hated knowing he was related to this man. He sat in the corner silently, waiting for the inevitable, "If you tried.... running away again," *Hic* "Maybe I'll haf'ta kill you like that whore." He stumbled around the room, banging against the walls.

Eventually, Don felt his father standing right over him, and he held himself even tighter, "Damn son..." His father was so close he could smell his rancid breath, "Where the 'ell did'ya go?" He was confused, the room was fairly lit, why had his father not noticed him? Don dared to glance up, and saw his father staring directly at him. Or rather, right through him. He watched as the drunken man leaned against the wall, and collapsed to the ground only inches from himself, "If ya don't come out soon, I'll haf'ta kill you like that whore..." He repeated.

Don was too frozen to move, how had he yet to be noticed? Was this a miracle in progress? He looked down at himself, and saw he was invisible. He let out a gasp, and suddenly reappeared, "Eh? What was that?" His father looked right at him, "How'dya get there without me seeing?" Before Don had a chance to run, he grabbed him by the arm, "Have'ya been keepin' secrets from me? Are ya one of those magical freaks?" He began to stand up, "Cause if you are, I may be rich, but a few extra coins don't hurt no one." His father began to drag him away, swaying side to side as he walked.

Don didn't know what to do, he was able to turn himself invisible apparently, what else was he able to do? He stared at the stairs as his father began to step down, him grasping at the wall so they couldn't leave. He wished the stairs could be invisible, and after a few seconds they were gone, "What the f-" His father was unable to finish the sentence as he tripped, not knowing where to step next. Don tried to stay up, but the grip was too strong and he came tumbling down as well. He hit the ground hardly, and the grip around his wrist loosened.

Don scurried away, standing up. He expected to hear his father to give chase, but as he looked back, he was still lying on the ground his head twisted at an awkward angle. He now cautiously approached the body, not sure what to think. He had just... killed his father. He was an orphan, hated by the queen nonetheless. But he wasn't scared any more, he was free. His father could no longer torment him, he wouldn't get beaten for making small mistakes, he felt... powerful.

There was a knock at the door, "Jim?" A voice called from the other side, "We heard some shouting, did you have an issue again?" Don knew he couldn't stay around, if they found his father's body they'd accuse him of killing him. No one else saw him as anything more than a scoundrel, after all. Or worse, they could discover his power and he'd get killed on the spot. I wish I could be invisible. He thought, but this changing was becoming tiring. He had once more become invisible, but he was growing weaker. Still, he ran to the other room but decided to stick around for a while longer to see what was happening.

"Jim?" Someone sounded from outside. The door creaked open and three men stepped inside. Almost immediately, they all saw the dead body lying on the ground, "My god." One said under their breath, and they all took a closer look

"It seems he fell down the stairs!" Another said, "I bet that damn child did this!"

"But where is he?" One of the men began looking around, "There doesn't seem to be a single whiff of him anywhere down here!"

"Check every room, he ought to be in here somewhere!" Don stepped forward, looking down to make sure he was still invisible. He wondered what other things he could do with this newfound power, just to get revenge on these men after a lifetime of torment. He stared down at his father's body, I wish you would disappear. After a few seconds, the dead body began to evaporate into nothingness. As this happened, however, Don began to feel dizzy. He put his hand onto his head as the entire room spun.

"What in the blazes?" One of the men had returned, and noticed the disappearing body. He looked over in Don's direction, and at first Don wasn't worried but then he looked at his arm. He could see it gaining opacity, and immediately grew worried, "A magic dealer!" The man screamed. The words alerted the other two men, and they all gave chase. Don ran turned around to run, but he was exhausted from using this new power. His face turned pale white as the three men grabbed him, "We'll be rich!" One man shouted, "Not only will we get the reward money, but we'll also get Jim's money if we try hard enough!" Don tried to break free from their grip, but it was three adults versus a child, there was no way he could overpower even one of them. So he realized he had to be smart; if he could make things disappear, maybe he could make things appear too!

As he thought, a transparent projection of himself appeared in front of the group. The men were in shock, and Don took this opportunity to disappear once more, "How did you get there?" The men let go of him, and attempted to grab the projection. He took this opportunity to run, but he was so tired he struggled running up the stairs. Then men of course realizing their mistakes followed, but it was then Don morphed the stairs to look like something entirely different. Two of them tripped back in shock, falling down with a cruel crunch! As they crashed to the ground while the third kept following.

Black dots spotted his vision now, and he was struggling to simply run straight. The man quickly caught up with Don, but he wasn't ready to give up just yet. He didn't want to simply disappear any more, he wanted to get rid of these bastards for good. He wanted to scare them, to make sure they never bother him again, he wanted them dead. All these thoughts seemed to project into who knows what because as Don collapsed to the ground and shut his eyes, the man let out a terrifying scream. There was a crash and a thump before everything went black.

When Don awoke, his body and mind ached and he shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight that filtered through the windows. He shakily stood up, and looked to see where he was. He was on the second floor in the big house, and on the skywalk there was a large section of railing broken off. He stood up, and looked down to see a dead body lying on the ground. Even from here, he could smell the stench although it might have also been from the woman in the other room and his father down the stairs. He then walked to the edge of the stairs where three bodies laid. He carefully stepped down, and quiet moans told him that the two men who came in were still alive. He wasn't too sure how true this was for their partner.

But now, they were weaker than him. Even though he was tired, Don could easily overpower these two men in their states. And that's exactly what he decided to do, he smashed the head of one with his foot until he felt it was enough, and the other man... Well, he wasn't as lucky for a quick ending. Don wanted to do something different to him, he walked into the kitchen and stood up on his tippy toes to reach the knife rack. There were many different knives on it, but the first one he could reach was a steak knife. Walking back to the man that was still alive, he cut through the man's chest, making three lines to shape the letter "D" just in case anyone was curious of what happened. He dropped the knife on the ground, and walked out the back door. He was covered in blood, but he didn't care. After the shit they had all done to him, he felt no remorse. That night, Donovan learned a valuable lesson about life: allies help, but you must be able to fend for yourself.