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Shadow Stalker (1) - You're walking in the dark and soon hear the sound of footsteps following behind you. Every time you turn around, nothing is there. If you try to quicken your pace, the footsteps start running right along with you. No matter how you try to see behind you--if you use your phone camera or if you look in window reflections, you can't see anything...but you know it's getting closer. If you don't run fast enough, you can almost feel a hand on your arm, a breath on your neck...

You need to get out of here, fast. If you can.

Once you reach your destination and are safely inside, there might be a banging on the doors or windows. The air is heavy, but after a few moments it seems to lift. You have the distinct sensation that something is still out there, though. You just don’t know what.




BZZT, BZZT, BZZT!! A hand came up to slowly poke at the buzzing phone, an alarm going off to wake up the exhausted young man. The day began the same way as always, sitting up in bed and just staring off into the distance, thinking and pondering, pushing away the sleep that clung to him still. Sunrise was still a ways off, but there were things to prepare..

Inch by inch he moved towards the bathroom to begin that same old routine. Day in and day out, over and over and over again, and before he realized it, years had passed.

That’s what happened when one’s world would get shattered before them in a single instant. Well, no, that was wrong… It was a long time coming, perhaps even before he was born, the fate handed to him was already set in motion.

Two individuals who came to Destiny City to find happiness, being greeted with things they could never imagine. Of course they would indulge in whatever they could. Food, alcohol, partying.. And when you’re young, you never consider how it will catch up to you later. It started with Papa first, belly growing round and blood becoming too sweet. One beer too many, and he had one foot in the grave after a roaring laugh turned into a groan, then a thud on the floor.

And Mama, she never quite recovered from that. Every day she’d stare at the phone, waiting for a phone call that things were going to get worse, that the love of her life would never wake up again. He did get better, of course, and with Time, he came home and they got back to a semi normal state. But eggshells were everywhere, and there was no hiding the amount of fear behind those eyes… It was only after her own elderly mother came to visit that she found any sort of calm and relief in her heart.

Anxo saw it. Izzy saw it… the twins saw it. Each child saw how much better their mother was if she was with family… So one day they all sat down with her and their father, and offered them Peace.

Go back to Mexico. Be with your mothers and fathers and enjoy your time. We can handle it here. It was a selfish thought from every angle. Selfish that Mother would go out of her way for her own mental health, to the point where she’d leave her kids behind. Selfish of the children for wanting to be rid of her so they could focus on themselves and still be kids. Everyone would be able to be happy one way or another.

Except for Anxo.

For all of this to work, one dream would have to be put aside. One of them would have to suffer the most and step up to be the replacement parent for the younger ones… And he did so with a smile.

He had never been a selfish child… Anything he had, he’d give. And give and give and give until there was nothing left in his hands. And this time what he gave was time and dreams. Financially it didn’t make sense to simply keep going to University for a Degree that was likely to take him out of state later. There were still three minors to take care of back then. And as the eldest, he had to step up. It was for the best for everyone, and he knew that more than everyone.

Overnight, he had given up college, his love life, his freedom and dreams, and became a father to three rowdy boys, and the owner of a shop he didn’t want. But it was the family business. It couldn’t be abandoned after it took a lifetime to build. So he quietly accepted it as fate.

And for years he’d fall into that same routine. Get up at 4AM, prepare dough, decorate cakes, greet his coworkers. 7AM, get the twins up and ready for school, drop them off, return to open the shop by 9AM to open up, and work until 4PM when the kids would come home. Rush upstairs to make dinner, do homework, get everyone ready for bed eventually, then run back downstairs to finish prep for the next day, before finally collapsing on his bed to rest at Midnight, only to wake up and do it again.

Somewhere between that time, he managed to at least still take care of himself. At Least physically.. The very last thing he needed was to fall sick. Especially not this time of year when everything was already going to hell.

Halloween time was one of the worst in Destiny City. Plagued by a combination of crazier than usual incidents and the Negaverse getting up to their usual nonsense, it was a wonder people even still allowed their children to trick or treat. Honestly, that was the reason why his entire city block decided to do a Trick or Treat session during the daylight. Children would come by in their costumes and get loads of candy from the staff trying their best to just keep that little bit of childhood innocence alight.

But that also meant that leaving the bakery came much, much later. He was not the only one who had kids at home to return to. All of his wards were old enough to know better than to be out too late. Or at least had powers like his own and could take care of himself… So that left him alone to close down the shop by himself.

Unfortunate, but what needed to be done, would be. By the time he was free, the sounds of merriment had all but died down to deathly silence. 11PM in this area meant nothing moved… And while everyone normally closed down by 9PM, cleaning the cafe on his own took so much longer than normal… No one could tell Anxo he was a bad boss, having given everyone else the night off and cleaned up the entire place himself.

Once finished, it was time to head home. Back to where his second job started…

Yet nothing could EVER be easy. From the corner of his eye he saw it, the Shadows following him.

And also, at the same time, he just couldn’t care. Let the darkness take him, who knows, maybe it would be a sexy spooky ghost and he’d be isekai’ed into a better life. Izzy was an adult now, it was HIS turn to watch the children… He deserved a break.

The shadows could hound him and hiss all they want, but the tired young man just kept marching forward, out the shop, and up the external ladder that lead right up into the home above the bakery. Only a moment after stepping through the door way he could still hear them howling and screaming… <******** them. And ******** it all too. A finger was flipped up at the shut door before he collapsed on the couch and slept face down until the kids came home. And then it was time to start this bullshit all over again.

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