"They didn't even listen.." The aftermath was disappointing for Samantha, the police couldn't find anything of help that proves Samantha's story, but does have the footage that proves this case being a suicide.
Thus, the cops had already left, Nick's body was stored in the morgue waiting for his funeral and Samantha's story was neglected.
"Oh, Sam... it's okay." Heather sat next to Samantha on the couch, holding and comforting her, grieving with her.
"It's true Mom... it's true..."
"I believe you Sam, I believe you..."
"You're late, Dye." The manager at Starbuck's reprimanded, "I'm cutting your pay for this, now get your ass in here."
Liam hated the inconsiderate words, "I'm here to order."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't work here anymore. I'm here to order, I want a coffee."
The manager was furious and surprise for Liam's defiance, he stepped closer trying to be intimidating, but the height difference simply isn't on his side.
"You don't work here anymore?"
"Resignation can happen anytime, I want a coffee."
The manager nodded aggresively, "Okay...okay! Sure....sure. Order at the counter please." said with a glare.
"I worked 13 days this month." Another bold statement, spoken apathetically as usual.
"You'll get your pay with your drink." The manager said, he wasn't happy that he lost a worker, they were already understaffed to begin with.
Liam walked out with a hot paper cup of coffee and a few extra hundred dollars in his wallet. Anyone would've been happy after quitting a long exhausting job that they've always hated, not Liam. Liam didn't want to go back to his dorm room despite being permitted to, he doesn't wish to attend lectures today either, Tyler usually sits next to him. Instead, he roamed around the city with his head hung and his earphones in.
"Watch it!" Someone Liam accidentally bumped shoulders with scolded, which only made Liam's day worse. To avoid people, Liam strolled into an empty alleyway, where he met a stray black cat sitting on top of a dumpster.
"Meow~"
Liam didn't bat an eye on the cat, he's had enough misfortunes today, the black cat that symbolises even worse luck is not something he'd like to acknowledge.
The meows started passive, then the next one louder, the next one fiercer, the next one more aggresive, until eventually it became threatening. Still, Liam didn't bother looking back at the cat, he continued walking forward.
The cat jumped from one dumpster to another until finally reaching Liam, it pounced onto Liam's paper cup and knocked it over, spilling the hot coffee on the floor, hitting Liam's foot soles too.
"Ow." Liam exclaimed softly at the burning sensation.
The cat was still on his arm, holding on by it's paws. It was a precarious position to rest on for the cat, so it revealed it's claws for better grip on top of Liam's arm, scratching and hurting Liam bad.
He shook the cat off violently onto a wall, the cat cried in pain but Liam was more focused on his own arm, which was bleeding from the sharp claws, Liam sighs again.
"MEOW" The cat still doesn't yield, Liam couldn't tell what's it's intentions were to attack him, but it sure as hell was attacking. It pounced towards Liam's face with it's mouth opened and sharp teeth displayed.
Liam evaded the attack by dodging to the left. The scene was painfully similar to another situation he's been in, the similar past experience reappears before him, he can remember every feeling, every detail of that moment.
There wasn't anyone behind him that became the cat's victim, but he was nonetheless uncontrollably furious at the cat, which he had mistaken for the snake. The murderous intents within him grows stronger as he recalls that scene.
The anger builds and builds and it was eventually unleashed in one heavy kick right onto the cat's head.
Thump
The kick sent the cat's head into a wall, it's now either dead or suffering severe head trauma. Liam snaps back into reality in an instant, noticing what he had done, his legs gave in and he nearly fell onto the ground if not for the dumpster behind him.
He presses his palm against his face while breathing heavily, trying to rid of the traumatic memories. After a few deep breaths, he was considerably calmer than a moment before.
He regained composure and picked up the paper cup on the ground, throwing it into one of the dumpsters as to prevent littering. There wasn't much he could do about the cat, upon checking it's breath, he had confirmed it's death, so Liam simply rested it's body in the dumpster.
More than guilty for taking a life just now, he was far more guilty that he was the cause of Tyler's passing. He blames himself more than anything, the game being second place in taking the blame. He would've killed another cat if it means protecting Tyler, the cat doesn't mean anything to him after all.
When he pulled down the dumpster's cover, it revealed a grafitti painting on the wall behind the dumpster.
'Would You Rather?' That's what it read, painted in red.
Liam reflexively took several steps back almost immediately, pressing his back against a wall.
He rubbed his eyes, hoping that he was simply mistaking the texts on the wall. When his eyes were free again, the grafitti still reads the same thing.
Forcing himself to believe it's a coincidence, he looks down with his fists clenched, trying to forget, but he wasn't allowed to forget.
The blood he lost from the scratches on his forearms earlier formed a pattern on the ground, it once again read, 'Would You Rather?'
He looked back up onto the wall in front, the grafitti painting changed.
"I believe you..." Heather continues comforting Samantha, patting her head and caressing her long black hair.
"I was terrified, Mom..."
"Don't worry... it's all over now, you will never need to go back there again..."
Samantha sheds tears onto Heather's shoulders, she didn't want to but she can't help it, "I'm sorry Mom."
"It's okay...are you okay?"
"I'm okay Mom, I promise..."
"Good. Can I ask you a question Sam?"
Samantha gets up from Heather's shoulder, wiped her tears off with her palms then answered, "Yeah...yeah sure."
The new grafitti read,
"Would you rather spend a night in an abandoned city during a zombie apocalypse or spend a night in pirate ships sailing on the ocean surrounded by sea monsters?"
"What the fuck?" Liam exclaimed.
"Huh? ...M-...Mom?"