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Our little story begins in a city. Full of hidden dangers and whispered secrets. But also full of naïveté and regret. Of horror and rage. This story covers all of these and more. Of course, every story has to have a beginning, so here this one begins. In a small middle school in a bad neighborhood. The last bell rang and kids started pouring out. Among them as the larger groups dispersed to the car and bus ramps were two friends who generally walked home together.

But today there would be a detour from the usual walk home. Jonas, a tiger, led his friend from class out and pulled him aside as the fox went to start walking. "Hey Alex, I told somebody I would meet him after school. It's not far and we can go home right after. "He almost pleaded with the snowy fox, so he naturally accepted. Alex wasn't very assertive and he mostly just went along with whatever Jonas said.

The tiger was a bit bigger, outgoing, extraverted. All three things the fox wanted to be. Not be pushed around all the time, Say no. Maybe if he had said no, this story would have no need to be written. It would have been rather boring for our vulpine friend. But sadly - for him - this was not to be the case.

Alexos smiled and walked beside Jonas as they started off. The fox was watching Jonas carefully, interested in his odd mischievous smirk. He quelled his sense of foreboding and kept walking. Jonas was a good kid. His parents approved, as they always had to of his friends. Overbearing, controlling parents that had probably helped to put him in this situation.

Not the sequence of events themselves. The causal line would have been the same no matter what. But their overbearing, oppressive presence in all aspects of his life must have influenced his personality to its current state of submissiveness. So he went with the tiger, even when he noticed that they were wavering deeper into territory his parents told him never to go into. They had said it was horrible. "A cesspool of filth... and that's just the people." His mom's words came back to him as they continued to walk.

Jonas stopped suddenly and turned, heading into an alley. The fox hesitated for only a moment before following suit. The sky was bright when they left school, but it seemed to get darker and darker as they continued to walk. Alex briefly pondered whether it was pollution or rain making the sky gray and murky.

"J-Jonas? I don't think we should be here." The tiger smiled over at him.

"Don't worry. We're already here. And a little early from the looks of it. Now keep quiet."

So he stayed quiet and leaned against the brick of one side, where he could watch both sides of the alley for any trouble or anyone who could be coming. But he was looking the opposite way at a crashing noise as the person they were waiting for came up silent as a shadow. He spun around quickly as he heard Jonas talk again.

"There you are. I thought you weren't going to show."

The panther LOOKED like a shadow. It was hard to focus on him in the dark alleyway, but the laugh that escaped his mouth was cold and menacing. "You're just a kid." He said incredulously .

"A kid who was smart enough to get this far." What the hell had Jonas been up to?

"Fair enough. Hell, like I got anything to worry about. If you got the money, I really don't give a damn."

And suddenly it clicked. He still gasped as Jonas brought out a wad of bills from his backpack and showed it to the panther. "So what now?"

The panther pulled out a large bag from his jacket. "Now you give me the money."

"Wait a minute. How do I know you aren't ripping me off."

"I am a man of my word." He gives Jonas a broken smile. "You don't trust me?"

"I don't trust anybody." Jonas almost snarled at him. "How do I know I get what I pay for."

"You give me the money, or we're done here."

"So pathetic you can't even deal with a kid? Such a piece of trash."

"Jonas!" The fox snapped at him. The fact that he was totally ignored was no surprise. The panther turned his red gaze onto him for just a moment, but it was a look that singed. Any smart person would have left. Run away. But anyone in this situation is almost assuredly not a smart person. The fox was almost sure this had gone too far already, but was waiting dutifully alongside his friend.

Alex cast a look over his shoulder down the dark alley. Nobody walk walking by. Nobody to help them. To stop this. It was clear to him now that he had no control over this situation. That if he ever had a chance to walk away, it had passed. All he wanted to do at that moment was to go back home, curl into his bed, and forget this ever happened. But it was too late for that now...

Powered by the insults toward him and whatever drugs ran through his own system, the panther flew at Jonas, fists clenched. He took one swing, and Alex gasped as he heard his friend gasp out in pain as he was knocked away. But he had to get up.

"I'll give you one more chance to walk away." That sounded like a great opportunity to the fox. He turned and started to quickly walk down the alley, but Jonas stopped him.

"I'd be happy to walk away as soon as we finish."

"We are finished. Or you are."

Jonas smiled as he walked up to the panther, almost double his size and running high. "I have a fist too!" He shouted as he threw all his weight against the panthers jaw. The beast seemed dazed for a moment, but didn't so much as stagger or fall back.

Alex gasped and put his hand over his mouth. There was no doubt that the panther would easily win in a fight between the two. You could hardly call it a fight. He would beat Jonas to a bloody pulp. But that wasn't enough. Because the panther had a weapon. A switchblade. He pulled it out and flicked it open, smiling at Jonas. "You really shouldn't have done that, kid."

Jonas didn't see the knife. When he drew closer for a second punch, the panther grinned down at him as he thrust the blade quickly into his throat. Jonas's eyes went wide and his hands went almost immediately to his throat as blood started to gush, his eyes growing wider with shock and pain. A moment later, he fell against the panther, who stepped back so he landed hard on his knees and then full hit the ground. He lay half on his side, his hands clawed at his throat, trying desperately to get at the dagger that was still embedded there.

Whether he couldn't seem to get it for the slick blood on his hands or for the blood flowing over the handle, nobody could say. Blood swiftly formed a crimson puddle around the boy's head. And it had all happened so fast. No more than half a minute since the fox had called out his name, wanting to go.

Alexos clamped his hand against his mouth to keep from screaming. Jonas tried to. A harsh sickly gurgling noise that made his stomach churn and his blood turn to ice as he watched. He slowly panned his head around, taking in the two. His friend, lying on the ground, blood pouring from his mouth and neck. And the panther, still smiling smugly, but turning towards him.

"And you!" He said, clearly addressing the fox. "You utter a word of any of this to anyone and I swear I will find you. I don't care where you hide. Where you think you're safe. I don't care if I have to wait twenty years to do it. If I hear about it, and I always do, your life is meaningless." He turns and starts to walk away, before turning back. "I don't know or care what you think of me, but know this, kid. I always keep my promises."

Alex shudders, tears forming in his eyes. He almost collapses, barely able to make it over to Jonas. He stared with horror at the blade sticking out of Jonas's throat. Jonas was still concentrating on it. As if pulling it out would change the fact that is was thrust in in the first place. Shaking, he curled his hand around the hilt. It takes great effort to pull it free.

But it comes out, and the fox threw it down the alley as far as he could, turning back and clamping his hands over Jonas's neck. The life faded from his friends eyes with every slow beating of his heart. Alex's thoughts were jumbled and unclear. The adrenaline that slowed everything down so that this last minute had seemed like hours quickly started to fade, leaving him feeling completely drained. But still each moment seemed frozen for an eternity and etched into his mind as he watched a life slip away.

He knew, somehow, that nothing could be done for Jonas. His fate had been sealed. He was going to die. But he wasn't dead yet. Alex moved over and put Jonas's head in his lap. His hands were slick with his friend's blood. Jonas's body convulsed and he made another sickening gurgling sound as more blood gushed from his mouth.

Alex stared down into the face of his friend. Blood covered Jonas's fur and lips. Alex's eyes stung, but he forced himself not to cry. Jonas had to see him strong. He always had to be strong. And from now on, he always would be. He would stand up for what he knew was right and not let anyone new hurt him. But he was still deathly afraid of the panther.

"If you want something, you have to take it. Because nobody's ever going to give it to you. Remember that." Jonas had said that many times to him, and Alex was never going to forget it. He shuddered to think what would happen later, so he didn't. He detached himself from it all as well as he could. Took an outside perspective; cold, calm, calculating.

Jonas stopped twitching, and the blood - so much blood - had stopped flowing so quickly from his mouth and gaping neck wound. There was something in his eyes now, past the pain. Outrage. And a glimmer of acceptance. Outrage not only at his death, but at everything. The unfairness of a life spent fighting every day - to eat, to breathe, to survive against everybody and everything that was put against them.

Jonas hadn't said a word, and he didn't have to. Hell, the fox was probably imagining that in his eyes. Jonas was always the perfect one. No, it was Alex who had been pushed down. Stomped upon. He was the one who didn't have a chance to let himself be known. Just trying to find a place to hold on. Trying, not to fit in, no, but to be accepted without needing to conform. The silenced. The waste of time.

So he made a promise to himself right there. He would force himself through life. Force himself upon it, carve out a niche for himself. ...Eventually, he would. But for now, he held his dying friend close, trying not to cry. "Fight." Alex told him. "Don't let this be the end. Don't let him win." He fought not to let out a sob he felt coming. Holding it in only carved out a deep, inky hole in his heart.

Alex pulled his trembling, bloody hands away from his friend's ravaged throat. He watched as the last bit of life escaped Jonas, and his eyes glazed over, dull. That was something one could never forget. Watching as another dies. And he never would. Now only Jonas's empty shell remained. Alex looked up at the cloudless gray sky as rain started to fall on him and he let out a harsh cry escape his throat. But this is only the beginning for the fox. His story continues far beyond Jonas's.

He ran. Blood coated his fur and clothes. Some his own but most was not. He just kept running. Putting more distance between himself and the horror that lay behind. Why couldn't it be him who died. But he knew the answer. He wouldn't of done anything that stupid. That dangerous. But it was already done and nothing he could do would change that.

So he kept going, just moving. According to a clock on the sign in front of the city bank. It was just after 10. He hadn't stopped in a few hours, going through his city, where they were on the edge of, and one other city adjacent to his home. He was tired, hungry, soaked, and scared. Anything could happen now. He didn't know where he was, not really. Anybody he could meet could be just as bad as the panther... or worse.

But he decided he didn't care. He wished it was him who had to die anyway. Death would relieve all the pain, he told himself. The lie sounded so smooth and comforting, and he was so tired. He had tripped a few times, and almost gotten run over once, so he wasn't exactly in very good shape. He sat down on the sidewalk, hunching over and finally letting himself cry. Tears streamed down his face, and he couldn't stop them. If nothing else, as it was, he would get sick and die from the rain.