Caden stares out the window of his car. Well, he's finally done. Finally, he's graduating tomorrow! Ahhh! He's so excited! He's majored in Art, he can do so much with it! Not to brag, well okay, bragging, he's pretty decent with any kind of pencil, even digital he's pretty talented with, not bad with oil, paint and so on either. He wishes his family was here to be a part of it. His mother left when he was young and his dad disappeared when he was in his sophomore year at high school.

What was so wrong with him that they just had to get away from him? He wasn't so cocky as much as he was confident...at least about his art skills. Was he too ugly? Annoying as a kid? They just couldn't take it anymore?

He's tried so hard to make friends, but he just can't. It all screwed him up, maybe people can see that. But maybe he's trying too hard, people are kind, but it feels like he's the only one trying to be a friend.

He turns his car over and starts to his apartment, he would usually walk, but he can afford a car now, and it's December, it's freezing outside. He is also decent at programming and has helped people locally for cheaper than other options. He's made decent money from it. He looks up at the sky, it looks like it might rain, not snow though.

He parks at the nearby apartment buildings and walks up to his apartment. He walks into his apartment building and walks up the stairs to the sixth floor.

"Ugh! I need to workout more." he mutters,

Caden looks down the hall, at the end is a window, in the reflection, he sees his figure but there's someone behind him. He jolts and turns, but no one is there. He looks back at the reflection, it's just him. He turns again and leans over the railing, looking down the stairs. No one's there. Not even the sound of feet moving or of breathing.

What the heck?

"Okay, I need to go to bed." he mumbles to himself as he rubs his eyes,

He's seen people rubs their eyes like that in movies, he has no idea if it does anything but he just did it almost automatically. He shakes his head and walks to his door. He opens the apartment door and walks in. It's dark and quiet, John is still out most likely. Caden throws his bag into his room and hops into the shower. John usually doesn't talk to him much, he'll just say hey or whatever.

Caden loves taking hot showers, it's where he relaxes, he can feel the stress of the day and everything in between, melting away. He gets out and dresses himself. He planned on going to bed but he's hungry and hasn't eaten dinner yet. And he knows that of course, again, John 100% forgot to go shopping or hasn't yet.

Caden throws on his thermals, jeans, long sleeve and a jacket. He walks out of the apartment with his keys and wallet and looks at his neighbor's door across the hall. He smiles at the thought of him. Matthew is the one person who actually talks to him like it isn't some chore. They don't talk much, it's kinda a friendlyish neighbor relationship where you just say hi or briefly talk every once in a while, but it's still nice. He's visiting his parents for a week.

Caden walks out of the building, he starts to his car but hears someone shouting behind the building. He frowns and turns, at least two people. He hurries to a small alley between two of the apartment buildings. A girl flips through the air, Caden watches as she disappears from view. Caden jumps over two trash cans and rushes down the alley to the back of the buildings.

As he rushes out, he takes in the scene. A young woman with a purple blindfold over her eyes off to his left, she turns her head, as if looking at him through the blind fold, she then looks at the woman who was thrown. Caden looks at Juliet, Matthew's friend who shared his apartment. She groans and rises to her feet. She staggers and falls to her hands and knees.

Caden looks at the blindfolded woman. "U-um...hold on."

The woman snorts, "Stay out of this."

Caden can see it in the woman's entire body and stance, she means to kill Juliet. Caden rushes at the same time as her, Caden throws himself into the air, he slams into the woman and they tumble to the ground. The woman pins him to the ground and rams her fist into his cheek, He cries out. Geez! It feels like a truck just slammed into him.

He groans and rolls over in pain. The woman stands up and runs over to Juliet. Juliet and her move so fast, like a dance, each anticipating the other's move, until finally the woman breaks Juliet's arm, Caden can hear the snap.

"Agh!" she yells out,

Caden turns to see Juliet flying towards him, she sails over him and hits hard, back first, sliding against the grass. Caden looks at the attacker and jumps to his feet. Juliet just fly like 12 feet through the air...

"Stop! Please!"

The woman growls, "I don't have time for you pest."

She bolts toward them, Caden sprints in between the two of them. She tries to backhand Caden, but he ducks and jabs her in the stomach. She doesn't even grunt, just stumbles back, she grabs his arm, pulls him close and grabs his throat. She lifts her leg and kicks downward, but not at him, at Juliet. She yells out shortly again and hits the ground flat. She seems to hit with such force. Caden had totally forgotten he had it, he pulls his knife, flicks open the blade as he gags and coughs awkwardly, begging for air. He rams the blade into her upper stomach. She gasps and lets him go. He drops to his knees and coughs harshly.

She pulls the blade out as if it had been a fuzz on her shirt and growls. A pure level of anger and hatred fills her body. She throws the blade at him, but he ducks, He sees her going for it and runs, he hears her yell in frustration.

He is grabbed by the arm, and yanked, he spins around her, his feet moving as fast as they can until the sudden stop. "You wanna die so bad!?"

She thrusts her arms forward, several sharp things pierce into his chest. He gasps and swallows hard. Are these...her nails? He looks down at her hand, they are, her nails are in his chest. She kicks him hard and he flies back and into the wall of the building.

He slams against it and falls to his side. It feels like his whole body is broken. He looks at her, she screams out as Juliet stabs something sharp into the woman's side. She swings her arm out and backwards, trying to hit her, Juliet drop kicks her. The woman soars backward and hits the grass, rolling violently across it.

Juliet looks toward Caden, his vision is fading and getting blurry. She hesitates for a moment and hurries over to him, the pain seems to fade as well. He's dying.

Juliet pulls him into her arms, "I, um, this is going to hurt...more than anything you've ever felt before." She says, though it was almost impossible for Caden to make out what she said,

She bends down close to him, what is she going to kiss him? Then it hits, searing pain. Impossible to describe the level of pain he feels. He gasps, he couldn't scream if he wanted to, the level of pain is so intense that it just leave him in shock, stunned, feeling the full force of it all. He manages to whine softly. She appears above him again, but the pain increases more and more, deeper and deeper, as if there were nerve endings on his bones.

It lasts for what feels like ten minutes and finally everything turns black.