The next day after school, I received a call saying someone had taken Oliver hostage, the voice of him screaming in the back of the call.

I was way too careless about protecting my friend… I didn't think they would go that far but in hindsight, I should have seen it coming... they were all crazy...

And, like the absolute idiot I am, I decided to be the tough guy and go save him all by myself.

I did beat up the entire school all by myself after all— so what could go wrong?

I was partly right but oh so wrong.

I showed up in a warehouse where they had taken him.

It was four little kids, the result of yesterday's battle still visible on their faces of madness. Oliver was in the corner, tied up with a bag over his head, screaming in a muffled voice, one of the boys standing next to him with a knife hovering over his throat.

The boys demanded I break both my legs and arms and hand over myself so they could have their revenge, and only then would they allow both of us out alive by the end of the day.

Like the hero I thought I was, I disregarded their demands and thought of them as empty words like every threat possed against me my entire life.

Yet… What I didn't know would happen was as soon as I activated my lightning aura and dashed towards them like an idiot, the boy holding the knife panicked and accidentally slit my friend's throat, his eyes turning into horror as he saw his body fall on the ground, the bag over his head turning completely red.

I absolutely could not believe it… Everything seemed to be like a game in life prior. But, at that moment seeing my friend drop dead on the ground… Something snapped in me unlike anything before… Reality hit me extremely hard.

I should have been the one to die instead… Why did I not just follow orders and self-sacrifice and save his life? Why did I have to be such a selfish idiot?

Those were thoughts that sprung in my mind for the first time in my life, they felt so foreign...

Hatred, rage, and regret consumed all my senses and a glimpse of spirit mode was shown as I punched all the boys into oblivion. Yet, they were the least of my concern as I immediately rushed to Oliver's side and untied him from his bindings and removed the bag from his head in haste.

But at that point, I was too late… I wasn't even able to get any last words from him as I stared into his lifeless eyes and cried for the first time seemingly since birth…

All that I could remember were his final words that I simply disregarded like nothing. If anything, I think I took it as a joke instead, but looking back at it I could tell he was being completely serious.

"Alex, I know that what you did today was technically all self-defence… But it was kinda your fault bro. You're really strong, wouldn't it be fun to try to do something else with your power for a change?"

A passerby reported abnormally loud sounds coming from one of his warehouses and the police came immediately after to see me crying my mind off over my fallen friend.

The 3 boys I beat up seemed to have barely survived the impact of my attacks and were later taken into custody.

I was depressed for weeks on end, it was like I lost a part of myself that I didn't know I even had… I didn't even go to school or muster myself to talk to even my parents…

That was when one day, something abnormal happened…

I began to see light… Light in people's hearts… One not pure, but full of corruption and malice. I could not tell if I was dreaming or simply going crazy. But, everything I saw seemed too accurate to be fake.

The light was a mixture of black and yellow with hints of distortion, a small, dim aura flowing from it all the way up into the sky.

When I looked at my own heart, it seemed almost completely pure, but the heart that flashed into my head was most definitely not… It was a memory of my old heart when I was younger and it was the most distorted light I have ever seen, the light flowing above me was also thicker than any other.

The only person that even managed to compare to it was Jayden, which was part of why I so adamantly despised her…

From that point forward, I lived my life anew. It was like I had opened my eyes for the first time since I was born.

I tried to tell others about it but all they did was call me crazy so I decided to keep it to myself.

From that point forward, I promised myself that I would never allow such a tragedy to happen again and do the same mistakes.

I promised myself, and for Oliver that I would change my ways and use my power for something other than to pray upon the weak like some king.

That was what I lived for. I had a purpose in life.

From that point forward, I used my new hidden powers to save those who were not distorted and pure of heart, which was even harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

From what I noticed, hearts rarely ever change and people with no abilities had significantly less distortion than those with abilities, so those became the people I tried to save and help the most.

I managed to find 3 or 4 other friends but none of them would really last since they always thought I had something else planned for them like a trap seeing the status and power I held.

That was why I was so ecstatic to see you two! Moby and Ray! Your hearts held little to no distortion so I saw myself gravitating towards you! Especially you Moby! Your heart was pure like snow and held little to even zero distortion at all! It was my first time ever seeing something like that!

So, protecting you two was my new goal which I did take a little too harshly looking back at it.

Jayden, your heart has also definitely changed! The distortion is still there but nowhere near as bad as before!

And, Abby's heart was also unnaturally pure and innocent with also little to no distortion which might be the reason I fell for her since she was better than any girl I've seen before.

Anyways, that's all I wanted you to know… I know this corrupted light in the heart sucking invisible dust into the sky seems really hard to believe so take of it what you will, I just wanted you to know it and I hope it helps you! Maybe you can uncover something that even I didn't!

Sincerely, Alex Hart, the dead man that hopefully accomplished something with his death and brought happiness to others.

:)

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