Chapter 1 Prologue: A Waking Nightmare

• Thunder rumbled in the distance as flashes of red lightning streaked across the blackened sky. Drops of icy rain lashed against the dusty window panes of a modern white-walled house, while a murder of ravens fluttered over it.
• A lean young boy in his early twenties sat in the dimly-lit dining hall, his hunched back pressed against the damp wall, and his head leaned into his bloodied chest like a drooping flower.
• Half his face was shaded by messy black hair, and his clothes were ripped to shreds. In his right hand, he held a small kitchen knife, its dull blade drenched in blood and its chipped handle clenched tightly within his sweaty palm.
• Barely a few inches from the boy lay the cold, dead body of a middle-aged woman dressed in a neat black skirt and a bloodstained white shirt.
• There was a gaping hole in her head, ripping through her right eye socket, and mushy pieces of bloodied eyeball lay scattered all over the wooden floor.
• A putrid stench hung in the damp air, mingled with the metallic tang of dried blood. The once cheerful house now stood completely silent, brooding over its tragic fate.
• Dizzy from the blood loss, the boy who was slumped against the wall looked down at the deep wound on his chest, and then painfully shifted his gaze to the blood splashed all over the floor.
• His eyes moistened with a sense of unspeakable terror as he slowly dropped the knife. Trembling feverishly, he clutched his head, curling his bloody fingers around his disheveled locks.
• “This can’t be happening. There’s no freaking way!” he groaned, his anguished voice tearing through the gloomy darkness.
• It was supposed to be another quiet night for Liam. Everything had been normal just a few minutes ago, but his whole world had suddenly come crashing down.
• Now, he was sitting in a dark corner, soaked in blood and desperately hoping he could turn back time and change his fate.
• If life gave him another chance, he would toss everything he held dear just to bring back the pale woman lying dead on the cold wooden floor.
• “Why…why did it have to be this way?” He wept, barely holding back his tears. “I…swear I didn’t mean to do it. How the hell did this happen? Why did it have to be you?”
• With blood constantly dripping from his open wounds, Liam felt weak and dizzy, but it wasn’t enough to wash away his guilt.
• In just a few hours, Liam’s life had turned into a waking nightmare, and every time he stared at the woman’s pale, lifeless body, he could feel an overbearing sense of guilt gnawing at his heart.
• “I am…so…. sorry. I am so sorry!” he cried. “I didn’t have a choice!”