I had failed at life.

  I dropped out of highschool, couldn’t pay for college, and was fired from every job I was in; truly, I had failed at life.

  And that was why, now, I was stealthily stalking the streets of the city during the early morning, with a pistol held in my hand.

  Twelve rounds, powder full, and glossy clean.

  I was ready for murder.

  And lo, I saw a man, standing upon the crest of the hill.

  He was unmoving as if in a daze, and his hands seemed blue.

  An odd man.

  I smiled.

  That was what I wanted.

  I raised my gun and pointed it at his head.

  I cocked the hammer.

  Bam!

  He fell face-first onto the dirty asphalt.

  How pathetic.

  “What a fool, standing alone at this time in the morning. He deserved to die.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I felt my head ache slightly; my vision fuzzed and swam.

  “Huh?”

  The world went dark.

  ———

  I was standing in the middle of the street, empty-handed.

  “What? Why am I here? Am I not further down the street? And where is my gun?”

  I heard a light-clicking sound from behind me.

  I began to turn my head-

  Bam!

  My ears rang and the world was pain and red and darkness. I felt my face connect with the oily ground. A voice spoke from behind me: “What a fool, standing alone at this time in the morning. He deserved to die.”

  The world went dark.

  ———

  I was standing in the middle of the street once more.

  “What, how could this be? I am alive?”

  I turned my head.

  There, standing behind me, was myself holding my gun, my face blanketed in deep shadows.

  I waved my hand above my head, and spoke to myself:

  “Stay, do not shoot, for it is you, it is I!”

  The me that stood behind me froze for a moment and then pointed the barrel at my face.

  I felt a trickle of cold sweat slide down my back, like an oozing snake.

  “Wait-!”

  Bam!

  My ears popped and bled, and my eyes melted within their sockets. My thoughts flurried and spun, and then slowed to a halt.

  The world went black.

  ———

  I was standing in the middle of the street once more.

  I spun around and jumped at myself as I stealthily moved through the shadows, and punched myself in the face. I immediately fell from the impact, and my gun slipped from my hands. I yanked it from the air before it could impact the dirty asphalt, and was satisfied that I hadn’t ruined its shine.

  “You are dead now,” I said to myself, and then cocked my gun and pulled the trigger.

  Bam!

  Straight through the head.

  I had died, and I had killed myself, and yet, I had saved my life.

  I laughed maniacally and fell to my knees.

  I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed.

  Then I cried.

  I buried my head in my hands and felt my tears dampen my skin.

  I felt something else as well.

  A hole, in the center of my forehead, and a warm liquid dripping onto my knees.

  “Huh?”

  I placed my left hand’s forefinger into the hole and felt around.

  It was warm, wet, and bumpy.

  It was the inside of my brain.

  The world darkened and blurred, and then went dark.