Chapter 1 One Shot...And It Was Over.
'No..no, I don't want to get killed that way, I don't want that type of death. I don't want to get shot in the face...I won't get shot in the face'. Aiden thought to himself as he ran across the streets, fright evident in his face.
He was running from the gang that calls themselves, 'The Vipers'. And you know what? He was among the gang, he was among 'The Vipers'. Then, if he was among the fraternity, why was he running from them?...
That's 'cause the leader of the fraternity uttered these words to him through a text message…
'Today is gonna be your end. Remember our rule, you f**k up, you dare snitch on us, you don't conform to the mission given to you, you dare betray us. You gonna die, you gonna get shot in the face...just one bullet to the face'.
Now, that wasn't much of a nice death, getting shot in the face. Though it was a type of quick death, no one would love to get killed that way. So that's why Aiden was running for his life. The moment he got the text from his boss, he took to his heels...he evacuated his house.
'The Viper' was a notorious gang that engages in all sorts of illegal activities. Transportation of firearms, hard drugs, robbery, assassinations, and so on. And they do what they do for money...some weren't for money though.
They work for rich men, heartless men, men that make their money through illegal schemes. You know, they've got one phrase, one motto, and it was, 'We care about no one else, only ourselves'.
'The Viper' was made up of a group of young lads that felt like the world was unfair. Each of them has gone through some shits in their lives. Each of them has been bullied, almost all of them didn't get to experience the love of a parent. So that's what prompted the fraternity.
The leader created the fraternity, then young lads started joining little by little...most of them joining at their teenage age. Once you join the fraternity, you'll swear never to betray them, never to snitch on them, to be loyal always and willing to accomplish any mission given to you...whether it was dangerous or not.
If you fail to adhere to these things, the punishment was death. And what type of death are we talking about here?..
..A shot in the face.
This was the type of death Aiden was running from, 'A shot in the face'. Since each of them had gone through some shits in their lives, since each of them had been bullied, they felt they shouldn't care about anything. They were willing to do anything just to survive not caring who it would affect...as far as it would bring in cash.
..Some even ended the lives of their families the moment they joined the fraternity.
But how did Aiden join the fraternity? Why did he join the fraternity? It was the same case, the cruelty of the world and being bullied. His family was cruel to him, and he was bullied at school. But you might wonder, why was his family cruel to him?
Now, the cruelty wasn't from his immediate family, they weren't from his blood family...part was from his blood family though. His mother died when he was just 8 years old, he was the only child, he had no siblings. His dad mourned for weeks, and after that, he didn't waste time bringing in another woman.
After their wedding, she became his stepmother fully. And that's when the bad experience began for, Aiden. He was done feeling pain from the loss of his blood mother...now, it was time to feel pain from maltreatment. She maltreated him, complaining about almost every issue, he barely does anything right in her eyes…
..There were even times when he went hungry.
And you know the worst thing in life? For a woman to poison a man's mind regarding his own child. She poisoned his dad's mind saying all things about, Aiden. 'He isn't respectful', 'Disobedient', 'I'm sure he is doing all these 'cause I'm not his real mother'.
It worked, yeah, it worked, little by little, Aiden's dad started despising him...that's how evil some women can be. He goes to work everyday, so he didn't know the reverse was the case, she was the one being disrespectful to, Aiden...maltreating him. The woman was doing all sorts of things to him, and his dad wasn't doing anything about it.
At the age of 9, Little Aiden tried explaining to his dad that he wasn't being disrespectful to her, she was maltreating him without reason. But what did his dad say, 'So you saying she's lying? What reason does she have to lie?'. He didn't believe him.
Months after, his dad welcomed a child with his wicked step-mum, a baby girl, and things became worse after that. His dad showered all his love on the baby girl neglecting Aiden completely. He almost didn't care if Aiden was eating or not, that's how bad it was.
At that early age, Aiden suffered from extreme depression and sadness, and it reflected in his academic grades. You know? Some bullies tend to pounce on sad people, depressed people. Once they see that you're sad all the time, you become easy prey, they tend to bully you.
So apart from what he was facing at home, he was being bullied at school by boys of his agemate and the ones a little older than him. All these were happening to Aiden, and his dad didn't care. Numerous times, he contemplated suicide, at that early age.
This went on for years until he was 17 years old and in high school. Imagine the trauma he had to undergo for years, maltreatment at home, and being bullied at school. Even the daughter his dad had with his stepmom doesn't respect him...his step-sister doesn't respect him.
One certain evening after school, Aiden was sitting on a certain long chair at the side of an alley. He prefers to sit on chairs like this thinking than going home 'cause there was nothing pleasant about home. He sat there thinking about his pitiable life with his head slightly bent when a certain guy of about 20 years old sat close to him.
The guy had noticed his depressed state and decided to talk to him. He asked what the problem was, and Aiden was reluctant to reveal anything to him. Should he just reveal all his pitiable life stories to this guy? This stranger? The guy told him to trust him, and that's when Aiden started speaking, all the stored-up sadness and frustration...he revealed them to the guy.
It even felt good revealing them to someone, it was a bit relieving. Done speaking, this was what the guy said to, Aiden,
"Why don't you join 'The Vipers' fraternity? I'm a member of the fraternity. The group is made up of guys like you, guys that have been bullied and been through some shits in their lives. In this group, we care about no one else, only ourselves, we do anything to survive. We can even help you take revenge against that family of yours and the bullies".
Having no choice and wanting to belong, Aiden joined the fraternity at the age of 17 forgetting everything about school. Joining the group, he was told the rules, dare disobey them, you'll pay with your life.
What followed next after that? They began planning on how they'll take revenge for, Aiden. Two days after they were done strategizing, about four of them visited Aiden's house. The leader, Aiden, and two other guys. They did this at nighttime, and they all wore masks.
..Aiden watched as they rained bullets on his dad. After that, they did the same to his step-mum, she was shot about five times in the stomach. Then they left the house leaving his step-sister there, tears were just flowing out of her eyes.
After that, some of the bullies that took part in adding to Aiden's depression were killed also. They did a clean job covering all their tracks, so they weren't caught. And they used silent guns for each operation. And you know what? Aiden felt no remorse for what was done to them, they deserved it.
After that, Aiden joined the fraternity as they began engaging in all sorts of illegal activities. They didn't care about anyone, only themselves, they did what they needed to do for money, they killed who they needed to kill. Within Aiden's stay in the fraternity, more young lads joined.
Aiden joined in their illegal activities, he watched as they killed people, but he never killed anyone. He was 21 years old currently meaning he had spent 4 years in the fraternity. One certain afternoon, the leader of 'The Vipers' fraternity said these words to him…
"Aiden, you have to kill Collins, that rich greedy dude, you have to kill him and his daughter. That dude has outsmarted us numerous times in the past. And now, our close business partner told us to end his life. Now, we have a reason to kill him. You have to complete this mission, remember our rule? You have to follow them. You know the consequence if you fail to follow them".
Aiden knew the Collins the boss was speaking of, and this was the first time he had been given a mission to kill someone. He had been in the fraternity for four years now, but why was he finding it hard to kill someone? The thought alone was making him shiver. Especially killing his daughter? She was just a little girl.
Taking his silent pistol and mask, he began heading to Collins' house. Getting to Collins' mansion in the afternoon, he saw his daughter playing on the compound, she was making use of the swing on the compound...swinging back and front.
He had already worn the mask, and getting close to her, she inquired of him with puppy eyes,
"Who are you? And why are you wearing a mask?".
She was so cute, how could he kill her? How could he kill her father too and make this little girl an orphan? Glancing at her, he was already bringing out the silent pistol from his back pocket. But he suddenly shoved it back in and bent so he could be at the same level with the little girl, then he began speaking,
"Go tell your dad that some people are after his life. Not only him, you're also involved. Go tell him now".
With a terrified face, the little girl ran straight into the mansion, then Aiden left the compound.
Getting home, he began asking himself questions like,
'What did I just do? What came over me? Did I just betray my gang? I forgot the rules. Holy shit! I'm f**ked'.
Sitting on his bed for minutes contemplating what to do, he decided that he'll go complete the mission, he'll go kill, Collins. Now would be a better time to kill him since it was getting dark…
..And that's when the death message popped into his phone from his boss. Terrified, and without wasting time, he evacuated his apartment, he was sure his apartment was the first place they'll come to. He doesn't want to get shot in the face...he doesn't want to die.
..But in this life, you won't be the one to decide when you'll die, death can come at any time. And you won't be the one to decide how you'll die. Just 'cause you don't want to die doesn't mean death cannot come at any time.
He was running on the streets, hitting people out of the way, and receiving insults, but he didn't care about that...securing his life was more important. Getting to a certain boulevard that was silent and dark 'cause there were no street lights there, he reduced his pace and began walking letting his guard down.
As he was about to take a step, he heard a voice behind him say,
"Just stay where you are, don't you dare move, if you do, your head would blow up right now".
Aiden recognized that voice, that was one of the guys in the fraternity. He raised his hands and turned around, there were about two of them, one was pointing a pistol directly at his face...seems like he was truly gonna die.
How did they get here? How did they track him? That's what was running through Aiden's mind.
"You'll have to follow us gently". The other guy uttered, then they began strolling toward, Aiden.
Getting to Aiden, one of them brought out a handcuff, and at that moment, Aiden tried fighting so he could take to his heels, he tried hitting the pistol off the guy's hand, but he received a hard punch in the stomach and a strong punch in the face...and that was enough to weaken him.
They handcuffed him as blood was already oozing out of his nose, then they led him to a certain black car and forced him to enter it sitting in the backseat. One of the guys joined him in the backseat pointing a gun at him, and the other guy sat in the driver's seat putting the car in motion…
'Shit! I'm truly gonna die, I'm gonna get shot in the face'. Aiden thought to himself.
They drove until they arrived in front of a certain building, Aiden recognized this building, this was one of their meeting points...where they do stay to strategize things.
They dragged Aiden out of the car and led him straight into the building arriving at where the boss was. He was sitting on a chair with some other guys in the fraternity behind him, but the moment he sighted, Aiden, he stood up.
They forced Aiden to kneel, and he couldn't even glance directly into the boss' eyes. The boss walked around for some seconds, then he glanced at Aiden and said,
"Aiden, you betrayed us, Collins knows that we are after his life now". Then he raised his voice, "Do you know what you've done? You've ruined a lot of things!!".
"I couldn't kill an innocent poor girl, that's why I snitched". Aiden voiced out.
"You couldn't kill an innocent poor girl? You've been in this fraternity for four years now, and you're still as weak as this? Well, your life is gonna end now, you've seen me gun down guys that betrayed us, the same is gonna happen to you. You didn't conform to our rule, so you gonna get shot in the face". The boss uttered.
"Please, boss, don't kill me". Aiden begged.
"There's no amount of pleading that can save you, Aiden, you've done enough damage".
He pointed the gun at Aiden's face, then uttered, "Bye, Aiden".
'So this is how I'm gonna die. Did I live a satisfying life? No, part was depressing, and part was filled with violence and blood. It's gonna end now'.
The moment he thought that,
'BANG!'
Sound of gunshot echoed. Aiden's boss pulled the trigger as bullet came out of the pistol, headed straight to Aiden's face, and penetrated it...
..Blood spilled out as Aiden fell to the ground completely. It was a quick death, he felt very little pain. And by now, he had already given up the ghost.