This story revolves around a man destined to be a spawn of hell from birth but chooses a path divergent from his preordained fate. The dynamic shift in events starts with the ordinary tale of a guy who struggles to find happiness. Gradually, the plot becomes infused with mysticism, and the protagonist encounters things beyond his comprehension. The narrative intertwines fate, divine design, and elements of an old-school criminal thriller, crafting a gripping tale.

CHAPTER 1 «BEDTIME STORY»

– One evening, I was walking down a dark street, and I heard crying: «Waaah, waaah.» You were crying so loudly. I thought, «Well, this is unfortunate, but what can I, a homeless wanderer, do for this little one? I could use some help myself…» So, I continued walking, leaving you there, hoping that someone in this poor neighborhood would take you in as their own son. Sure, I could have taken you to the police, but then you would have ended up in a local orphanage, and finding a place worse than that is extremely difficult these days. I know from experience. With these thoughts, I walked until I realized that a young couple seemed to be walking behind me. You were crying so pitifully and loudly. I was sure that these people would somehow help you, but they just laughed and walked past, much like me. That’s when I realized that if I didn’t help you, no one else in this neighborhood would, so I decided to wait a bit longer for someone, anyone. I hid nearby and began to wait. After a while, a man passed by. He seemed fairly well-off, by the way, but this scoundrel pretended not to hear your cries and acted as if you weren’t there. «Alright!» I thought. «Sometimes you just need to wait a little longer.» And, as it turned out, I didn’t have to wait long. I heard the sound of a car approaching, and I realized it was time for me to take initiative. I ran onto the road and stood in its path. Honestly, the car’s headlights blinded me a bit, and I thought the car might not stop, but I was lucky. The car stopped right in front of me, barely touching me with its bumper, while you continued wailing loudly on the right side of the car. I heard a lot of swearing from the driver. He was heading somewhere with a girl or his wife, and he was quite well-dressed, and his car was very decent. Then I thought, «Here’s the jackpot.» «Honey, look, someone left this adorable creature here,» the girl in the car said. «Dear, stop it! Who knows if he’s sick or something. We have enough of our own problems, trust me,» the man-driver replied. «But we don’t have any,» argued the girl. «Then we need to fix that urgently!» the man laughed, and they drove off as if they hadn’t been there. Honestly, at that moment, I was once again deeply disappointed in people. If even well-off people behave like this, what can be said about the poor or the homeless, like me? Next came a group of young guys. At first, I thought about trying my luck again and hinting to them about the need to help you, but soon I realized that they were not just ordinary guys but a gang of local thugs. At that moment, I was really scared for you, Alex. I quickly ran out of hiding, picked you up, and hurried away from there, holding you in my arms. Who knows what they would have done to you if they had come across you on their way… Interestingly, when I picked you up, you immediately stopped crying and even smiled. Smiled at me… At that moment, I understood that I might be the only one who cares about you. I could have tried to move you to another place and wait again, hoping that someone would care for a crying baby, but I decided to abandon that idea after seeing what could await you, even if fate had something else in store for you. So, I brought you here! Honestly, the next day, when I realized I had nothing to blame myself for, I thought about taking you somewhere again, but soon I remembered my savings. In the end, I had to spend them all. But I don’t regret it at all, Alex, because I managed to raise an incredibly good boy,» said the old man, whom the boy considered his father, patting him on the head in a fatherly way.

– Why didn’t they want to take me? – little Alex asked, sitting on the floor.

– I’m afraid that some of them might have wanted to – at least some – but couldn’t. And some might have been able to but didn’t want to burden their lives. In general, I’ve lived quite a long time, but I still haven’t learned to fully understand people, – said the old man, appearing to be in his sixties, sitting on his mattress and sipping hot tea. He was entirely wrapped in an old, slightly frayed blanket, and only a worn-out white undershirt was visible, but this old faded shirt suited this smiling elderly man.

– Well, I’m glad you took me, or even homeless dogs could have eaten me.

– Oh, come on, they are kind! People are much scarier than dogs, believe me…

– I saw dogs gnawing on a dead cat, – the boy shuddered.

– That wasn’t a cat, – intentionally fibbing, the old man declared. – It just seemed that way to you. Someone threw them a big piece of meat – that’s what they were having for lunch.

– No, Grandpa Remy, I saw it, it was a cat!

– You’re just a daydreamer! – Remy replied. – The main thing with dogs is not to anger them, and they’ll never bother you. It’s especially important not to disturb them while they’re eating – that really irritates them… Otherwise, they’re harmless. Treat them well, and they’ll treat you well!

The boy felt a bit uneasy that old man Remy didn’t believe him. He turned away, picked up a stick, and began to either play with it or just examine it.

– Alright, if you ever want more stories, just ask, – Remy said with a smile. – I have plenty… And some are funny too! Like the time I went looking for breast milk for you – that’s a real laugh. But for now, go for a little walk; something doesn’t feel right for me today. I need some rest…

Remy lay down on the mattress, covered himself with the blanket, and curled up into a ball underneath it.

– Alright, if anything, I put the tea on that stand right next to your head, – said Alex and ran outside.

– Alright, thank you! – replied old man Remy as the boy headed out.

The boy was already dressed in what is commonly referred to as rags. What else could be expected from a boy living in the basement, abandoned by everyone except the elderly homeless wanderer? He wore an old brown leather jacket over a slightly torn dark-blue sweatshirt, and old, slightly oversized jeans with worn-out dirty sneakers.

Alex approached the exit from the basement, where he and old man Remy had comfortably settled, enduring the cold seasons. He looked at the drizzling rain outside and then at Remy, seemingly wrapped in a warm blanket, lying on a mattress near the old boiler room that heated the basement. Next to the old man on the mattress was an iron mug emitting steam. This steam illuminated a small portable lantern with a dim flame in its core.

«Get well soon, Remy,» whispered the boy, then pulled on his hood and stepped into the rain to witness the last glimmers of the setting sun breaking through the cloudy sky.

The boy walked into the streets of the ghetto where he grew up. Here, he didn’t feel like a stranger. Not many people living here had lives significantly better. Before his eyes appeared those crimson sunbeams piercing through the gloomy sky. He took a deep breath, facing his face towards the sky. Feeling the drops swiftly falling on his cheeks, caressing his skin like a gift from the heavens. Yet, as he briefly savored these moments, the rain instantly intensified, and the clouds completely covered the celestial expanse.

The boy sighed, adjusted his hood, and headed straight into the downpour. He walked through the impoverished neighborhood of the quite sizable city known as Detroit. It was already dark – in the autumn, the day plunges into night earlier than in summer. The boy observed what poverty and need could turn people into. To his left, young guys were buying drugs of unknown origin from some local dealer, while at the same time, on the right, a corrupt policeman, waving his badge, was beating a young girl. A man dressed inappropriately for the weather sat on the asphalt road near the steam vents of the city’s heating system, looking up at the sky. Raindrops hit his face, and from the nearby apartment with its illuminated window, the shouts of drunken men and women could be heard. All this darkened the already gloomy atmosphere prevailing in the area.

At some point, the boy, moving forward along this street, caught a strange smell of delicious food from a house right next to him and stopped. This smell didn’t match his surroundings at all. It made the boy walk up to the porch of a three-story apartment building, from which the wonderful aroma emanated. The boy couldn’t pinpoint which apartment the pleasant smell was coming from, but he firmly decided that this was the place where he wanted to stay a little longer.

The boy sat on the porch step under the awning, shielding himself from the rain, and began to watch the downpour. It felt warm here. Nevertheless, the edges of his sweatshirt sleeves, not covered by the leather jacket, and the hood got wet. This prompted him to start squeezing them diligently to dry them as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, behind him, he heard:

– Hi!

It was the voice of a little girl who wasn’t much older than him.

– Hi… – Alex responded with a murmur.

– What are you doing here? – the girl asked.

– Just sitting… – the boy replied.

– Are you hiding from the rain?

– You could say that, – Alex answered with a smile. – Although there’s also a delicious smell here. Can’t figure out where it’s coming from…

– Oh, that’s probably from me… Something special happened with Dad at work, and Mom made a big and tasty dinner for the whole family to celebrate.

The scent made little Alex’s mouth water. He wanted to ask her to share some with him, but all he managed to say was:

– Mm…

– By the way, I’m Anne, and you?

– I’ll tell you if you share something with me!

– Sure, no problem! – surprisingly, the girl said and went home.

When she came out and brought Alex a huge piece of cherry pie, he was completely speechless. Not only did he not expect such kindness from a stranger girl, but he had also only seen cherry pie on display or in pictures before.

– What are you looking at? Take it! – Anne said, offering him a piece of the pie right to his mouth.

Unable to believe the unexpected happiness that had fallen into his lap, he stood motionless like a statue.

– If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it! – the girl then said.

Suddenly, Alex snapped out of it, exclaiming, «No, no, I’ll have it!» He quickly regained his composure and, drooling, snatched the enormous piece from her hands.

As Alex greedily devoured the unexpected gift, the girl suddenly remembered something and decided to ask:

– What’s your name?

– Al-ex! – the boy managed to say with a mouthful of pie.

As soon as Alex got the pie, it disappeared in no time, and little Alex, with a stuffed stomach, exclaimed:

– That was so delicious…

Then a thought crossed Alex’s mind to ask the girl for something more for Remy, but after a brief reflection, he realized it would be too presumptuous and dropped the idea. The girl, on the other hand, exclaimed suddenly:

– The rain stopped!

– Indeed, – Alex said, looking around. – Do you want to go for a walk? There’s a playground nearby with swings and slides…

– My family just moved here, and my dad doesn’t allow me to go out alone yet. Although, judging by what he said about this place, he probably won’t allow it later either.

– Why? – Alex asked.

– He says it’s a dangerous neighborhood. He hopes to move away from here soon.

– Well, then we can sit on this porch a little longer, if you don’t mind, of course, – Alex said with a smile.

– I’m all for it! – the girl replied with a smile.

So Alex and Anne talked for a few more hours until the girl’s father finally called her home. It turned out that the girl, like Alex, had no friends. Due to constant moving, she had to study at home. She spent whole days locked in, occasionally allowing herself to go out on the porch or go somewhere with her parents. It didn’t matter to her how Alex was dressed. It didn’t even matter that sometimes a not-so-pleasant smell emanated from little Alex, as he didn’t have the opportunity to bathe often. What mattered to her was how he behaved and that she could chat with him tirelessly. At least, that’s how Alex saw her.

In the following days, their meetings continued day after day. Out of boredom, they could talk for hours about anything. It was the same on this day. Alex, once again, joyfully returned to his familiar basement after meeting with the sweet girl he considered his friend.

«Remi, how are you?» Alex cheerfully asked, entering the basement.

However, Old Remi didn’t respond. As he lay wrapped in his blanket on the mattress, Alex thought he might be sleeping. At that moment, the boy decided to warm up the porridge, which was stored in the coldest part of the basement and was periodically reheated to remain edible. Alex took a large pot of porridge, added water, and placed it on the hot metal pipe, from which steam was rising. Then Alex decided to rinse Remi’s cup, but when he approached, he saw that the cup was full of cold tea that Alex had poured for Remi earlier that morning. Suddenly, Alex became deeply concerned because Remi had never left the cup untouched until the evening.

«Grandpa Remi…» murmured little Alex. «Grandpa Remi!» he exclaimed loudly.

However, Remi did not respond to the boy’s call.

Then Alex grabbed and began to shake the old man, shouting, «Grandpa! Grandpa Remi!» The boy shook him harder and harder, yelling his name louder over time, but the old man remained silent and motionless. At some point, Alex stopped and, with fear deep in his soul, lifted the edge of Remi’s blanket, covering half of the old man’s head. Feeling his heart filled with horror, he saw Remi’s pale and lifeless face. In that moment, Alex placed his hand on Remi’s shoulder and tried to shake him a few more times, but without shouting. Still, there was no sign of life. Removing his hand from Remi’s cold shoulder, Alex quietly said, «Dad…» and then turned around slowly. He walked towards the exit of the basement, equally slow and silent, completely lost.

When he stepped outside, he simply walked wherever his eyes led him. He didn’t care about anything happening around him. He just walked and walked, trying with all his might not to think about anything. Until, by chance or as a result of unconscious muscle memory, he arrived at Anne’s house. Though the sunset was approaching, he knew she shouldn’t be asleep by this time, and he also knew which window emitted light from her personal room. Then Alex realized that an intense desire to talk to someone, to distract himself from horrifying thoughts, had overcome him. So, he decided to somehow reach out to his only friend, this girl, no matter what. The window of her room was quite high, so without much thought, Alex turned over a half-empty metal garbage bin near the building where the girl lived and climbed on it to barely reach the window. However, when he did this, to his surprise, he couldn’t find her or any of her relatives she often told him about. Instead, he saw an elderly woman in the room, surrounded by many cats and several dogs. Then he thought he might have confused something and decided to check two adjacent windows. Moving the garbage bin again, he climbed on it, and in the room, he saw only a few more of the woman’s pets, which likely also belonged to the old lady. Then he checked another adjacent window, but, looking into it, he found nothing but an empty room in semi-darkness. This greatly alarmed the boy, so he decided to check even more adjacent windows. However, everything he could see there bore no resemblance to what Anne had described, not to mention the fact that Anne herself was nowhere to be found. Then, in a hurry, he checked the house number, but it fully matched the house where the girl should live, which made Alex even more confused. After a little thought, he realized he had no choice but to knock directly on the door, hoping someone inside would open it and clarify what was happening. Alex approached the door, and just before knocking, he suddenly remembered that Anne had told him about frequently moving and that her father had long wanted to leave this rather criminal neighborhood. «Could they have moved?» he thought, and then, gathering courage, he knocked on the door. Of course, after the first knock, no one thought to respond, so the little Alex knocked again and again. He persistently banged on the door harder and harder until, at one moment, the door suddenly opened, revealing the elderly woman with a large number of pets.

«Are you crazy, little boy?» the woman shouted with obvious displeasure.

«Anne should live here,» Alex mumbled, slightly frightened by her.

«There’s no girl here!» she yelled. «Get out of here!»

«She has to be here!» he insisted. «Did her family move?»

«What family?» the woman asked in surprise. «There were no families here! Just junkies and drunks! God didn’t send a single decent person to this wretched building…»

«How can there be none?» Alex asked in amazement. «I’ve been talking to her here almost every day for about two weeks! Her mom always cooked deliciously, which made this place smell so good! And she lived right there!» he said, pointing to the windows.

«You’re pointing at my windows, kid!» the woman said warily. «It never smelled good here… It always stinks because of the local drunks! And don’t you dare come here again and knock either, or next time, I won’t be so kind – I’ll call the police!»

Then the boy looked around again to make sure he was where he should be and said to the old woman:

«I know she lives here! Or at least she used to…»

Enraged, the woman grabbed a broom and began to swing it while screeching:

«Get out of here, kid! Go away!»

This frightened little Alex even more, and he quickly ran away from her.

«And don’t you dare come back!» the old woman shouted after him.

Alex ran and was on the verge of tears. In an instant, he lost all the people he considered family. Emotions overwhelmed him. He ran headlong until he was completely out of breath and fell right on the asphalt. Suddenly, it seemed like all his strength was drained, and he couldn’t even cry. He stood up and, seeing a nearby playground, walked slowly towards it. Eventually, reaching a rusty carousel seat, he, completely morally crushed and broken, sat down. By that time, the sun had set, and everything around slowly began to darken. Besides, it was rapidly getting colder. However, Alex had no desire to go home, as there lay the pale and cold body of the person who raised him. Sitting on the rusty carousel, looking down, Alex could only continue to exist in these moments, sighing heavily.

Suddenly, as Alex was in a state somewhere between senseless self-flagellation and prostration, a pack of stray dogs appeared from around the corner of a house in the dimly lit street. There were so many dogs compared to the small Alex that when he saw them, he quickly forgot about all his incredibly burdensome problems and started thinking about how to escape from there as soon as possible without being noticed. Unfortunately, the pack of stray dogs noticed him as quickly as he noticed them, and they immediately rushed towards him. Seeing the rapidly approaching pack, Alex first thought of quickly fleeing, but then suddenly remembered that Remi, during their time together, had taught him many things. One of these teachings was that it’s pointless to run from a dog unless you’re the world champion in running. Running usually stimulates them even more to chase, as they often see their prey in a fleeing object based on their natural instincts. The best way out of such a situation is to do absolutely nothing – just freeze like a statue or pretend to be already dead. That’s exactly what little Alex, listening to his own reasoning, did. The dogs, surprisingly to Alex, just settled down or lay around him as if they were at home.

– And what? You won’t eat me? – Alex mumbled in confusion.

Suddenly, he heard a distinctly human voice say:

– Eat? Oh please… There’s only enough skin and bones here to play with.

– Who said that? – the boy exclaimed sharply.

Alex looked around, but no one who could have said such a thing was detected.

– Who is he talking to? – suddenly came again.

– Who said that? – Alex exclaimed again, causing some of the dogs to stand up abruptly.

– He’s not talking about us, is he? – came again from somewhere else.

– Why would humans understand us? – another voice came from yet another source.

– You didn’t say that, did you? – Alex asked in amazement.

– It seems like he does understand us.

– No, no way. That can’t be!

– I hear you! – Alex exclaimed.

Then even more dogs abruptly jumped up, and a few even approached him, standing right in front of him.

– What am I saying, little human? Do you really understand me?

– Yes, I understand… – Alex said in amazement, looking into the eyes of the dog that was staring directly at him. – But how do you speak when your mouth doesn’t move at all?

– Does he understand us?

– How?

– Unbelievable…

– Quiet, everyone! – suddenly declared the dog standing right in front of Alex, growling threateningly towards the others, and then asked the boy: – Who are you, little human, and why do you understand us?

– I guess I’ve completely lost it… – Alex said, suddenly bursting into tears. – Grandpa Remy left me. My only friend just disappeared… Or maybe she was never there?.. What’s happening to me!

– It seems he has some problems… – came from one of the dogs.

– Are you okay, little human? – asked the dog standing right in front of Alex.

– Today my father died while I was walking with, I guess, an imaginary friend. So – no, not everything is okay! – exclaimed Alex, crying.

– Can we help you with anything, little human? – asked the dog.

– Why should we help him, Nay? – suddenly said another dog, addressing the dog that was talking to Alex. – We have enough problems of our own. We still need to get a bunch of food, for example!

– You’re right, Boll… but when was the last time you saw a human capable of talking to us?

– Um… Never! – answered Boll.

– Same here! What if he can be useful to us? We’ll help him, and he’ll help us! – declared Nay.

Meanwhile, Alex, listening to the dogs’ conversation, was just trying to come to his senses, thinking that he was going crazy.

– So, how can we help you, little human?

– Are you with me on this? – asked a bewildered Alex.

– I don’t see any other little humans around…

Alex burst into tears again, saying:

– I must be going crazy!

The dogs looked at each other, and Nay, the dog standing right in front of Alex, suddenly growled menacingly several times in the direction of the crying Alex, who abruptly stopped crying.

– Stop doing that, little human, and answer whether you need help! – Nay declared.

– Help? – asked Alex, wiping his tears. – You can hardly help me resurrect Grandpa Remy. Or at least bury him… Although… He always wanted to be cremated…

– We can’t resurrect people, but we can help you cremate your Grandpa Remy, if you mean burning his dead body, of course, – Nay said.

– But you’ll help us get food in return! – added Boll a little discontentedly – and all the dogs around supported him with their barks.

– Can you really help? – asked the boy.

– It seems only if you help us get food for my pack afterwards, but yes, we will help you!

– It seems that even madness has its advantages… – suddenly, with a sad and uncertain voice, Alex said and finally managed to get up from the carousel seat with difficulty. – Let’s go; I’ll show you where he is! Otherwise, I’m freezing here… – rubbing his shoulders, the boy added.

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