All Chapters of A Hero's Penance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

The alley was dark, and my blood was gushing with the rain into the ditch beside me.As I clutched my stabbed stomach and leaned against the moldy wall, my white T-shirt now dyed a crimson red, I realized there was no stopping the bleeding.The stab was deep, and I could feel the knife twisting against my intestines.Even so, I held on to the black microchip, which held evidence of a drug lord whom my father, Gus James, had hunted for three years.I went undercover for three years to get my hands on this, flirting with the worst of humanity, and even suffered from cirrhosis from boozing with them.And now that I got it, I didn't think I was getting away.I could hear shouts and footsteps of the cartel members outside the alley, searching.I reached for my phone, my trembling fingers leaving bloody fingerprints, and called the only contact I kept pinned to the top which read 'Father.'It took a long while until he finally answered, and I immediately heard cheerful voices singing

My younger brother, Yorick James, was on the couch scrolling on his phone, but his eyes kept darting to the door.Seeing Gus, Wanda hurried over, peeking behind him. "Where's Lisa? Didn't you pick her up?"Gus took off his shoes as he replied nonchalantly, "Why? Doesn't she have legs to walk home?"Wanda's face paled. "But it's pouring outside, and she didn't have an umbrella—""Well that's her own fault!" Gus snapped, cutting her short. "Or did we tell her not to come home? Let the rain clear her mind!"Yorick dropped his phone right then and stood up with an annoyed glare. "Can't you be nicer to her for once? It's… a special day for her!"Special day?I was stunned—so Yorick remembered that it was on this day three years ago when I was forced to meet the cartel boss' son for the first time.It was raining heavily too, and Gus accused me of stealing money, even though it was Nana who had taken it to buy a Burberry bag.I refused to say that it was me, so Gus shut me outside,

Gus collapsed to his knees in the puddle, all strength drained out of him as he could not stand up at all.Disbelief and despair had struck him all at once, sending his mental fortitude crumbling.That was when Phil came running with his laptop. "We got a read on the microchip, chief—it's all ledgers of the drug lord's transactions, along with a voice recording."Gus' fingers were still shaking as he took the headphones and pressed the play button.I floated behind him, curious as to what I'd left behind myself.It was first the noise of the rain, and then I was being audibly struck while I grunted in pain.A man's voice soon spoke. "Hand it over, and we'll let you live."I was gasping, my voice weak. "Dream on."There were more hits, and Gus cringed. Soon, my phone rang while recording, and a cheerful birthday song could be heard.Gus then heard himself say, "Vermin like you dying is simply good riddance anyway."And in the recording, the thugs were all laughing."You hea

It was a pawn shop receipt kept in my corpse's pocket, and it read:[Luxury handbag, $3,000—seller: Nana Smith.]I bought the bag days ago before I died to clean up Nana's mess, and I kept the receipt so that I could defend myself.That chance simply never came.Flinging the receipt at Nana's face, Gus snapped, "Then tell me what this is?!"Seeing the receipt, Nana's legs buckled and she fell on her knees. "It was a mistake… I was just feeling vain and didn't want you to get mad… Lisa is your daughter anyway, and you'd just yell at her a little. If you knew it was me, you'd chase me out…"As Gus stared at the adopted daughter he'd spoiled for five years, he was suddenly left wondering how evil the heart beneath that sweet appearance was.She would do nothing as Lisa was thrown out of the house just so that he wouldn't get mad at her, when Lisa was being yelled at and beaten up?"You didn't want me to get mad?" he asked, his voice as cold as ice. "I broke a broom beating her and

Wanda and Yorick were crying themselves hoarse in front of my grave, having learned the truth of everything including my grief and sacrifice.However, those tears meant nothing now.Gus never cried.He stood at the very front in his uniform, his medal-laden jacket having one more added to it—the one he earned in exchange for my life.He took it off and put it on top of my gravestone, saying, "This is yours, Lisa. I've earned it for you."-Eventually, everyone else left the graveyard, leaving just Gus standing there alone.It was raining again, just like the day I was killed.Gus took out his phone, the photo of him giving me a piggyback still on his screen.He called my number and put his phone in front of the gravestone.As the dialing tone rang, it turned out to be that cheerful birthday song—an ironic choice on a cold rainy day."Hey, Lisa?" he said, speaking to thin air. "I'm coming to pick you up… I won't be bringing a patrol car. I'll even give you a piggyback…"You