The slum smelled of wet concrete and burnt oil, a stench that clung to the cracked walls of Dane's one-bedroom apartment. Seventeen years old, and Dane had already learned life was mostly endurance. Every day was a balance of exhaustion and hope, scraping enough together from multiple part-time jobs to feed two people—him and his little cousin, Nina
Akito. His best friend. A Japanese immigrant who had grown up alongside him in these broken streets. He was ambitious, clever, but reckless. He had dreams, just like Dane, and he hated being a burden. Dane had money saved from his jobs, but Akito refused to ask for help. "You've already got two mouths to feed," he'd said. "Let me handle this."
Tonight, that decision would cost him everything.
Akito had borrowed money from the local gang,a low-level trio that controlled the streets with petty extortion and violence. He intended to give the cash to Dane, to help cover expenses for Nina, to ease some of Dane's burden. It should have been simple. But the gang was ruthless, unpredictable, and unforgiving. They saw ambition where they wanted submission, and Akito refused to kneel.
When Dane got to the alley, he found chaos. Akito was pinned against the wall, blood mixing with the rain on his clothes. The gang jeered, a trio of shadows dancing in the neon puddles.
"Dane,don't" Akito gasped.
Dane's hands shook. He had trained, sort of, in street fights with scraps and misfortune, but nothing prepared him for this. Rage flared. Instinct took over. He lunged, fought like a cornered animal, and for one moment, he felt alive, as if every calculation and moral lesson he had ever known didn't matter.
He managed to kill one of them. One of the shadows fell, lifeless. But it wasn't enough. Two remained. They were faster, smarter, and fueled by cruelty. They dragged Akito toward the river, laughing, taunting. Dane's heart froze. He could only watch, screaming, powerless.
Then, as the second man raised a blade, a siren split the night,the police, arriving just in time. Dane stumbled backward, rain slick and bloodied. But it was too late. Akito had been thrown into the river. His body disappeared under the dark, rushing water before Dane could reach him.
The chill of the night seeped into Dane's bones, deeper than the rain or the blood. He had fought, killed, survived,but he hadn't saved the one person who mattered most. Dane didn't cry. Not yet. Instead, he stared at the river, feeling something fracture inside him. He still believed there was hope, that people could survive, that good could exist. But somewhere, deep under that flicker, a shadow stirred,a cold whisper that promised the world would never play fair, and if he wanted to survive, he would have to change.
The river carried Akito away, and with him, Dane's last piece of childhood innocence.