Noel woke up to a ceaseless scratching sound from outside. For the fourth time.

He tossed and turned on his bed to sleep it off again, knowing it was just Snowball, his neighbor's cat, having a self-paid manicure on his door. But given how scarce his trust was in people, his legs pulled him off the bed even before his brain could agree with them. Grunting, he got up and cracked his door open.

He was right. It was Snowball, stroking his daily masterpiece on his door. He narrowed his drowsy eyes on it but instead of running away with its tail between its legs, it glared at him. Noel hissed at it while it snarled back and after few seconds of the staring game, it just swung around and started walking away with sass, like every other being was beneath his majestic feet. Noel scoffed.

You should have been the asshole born under the star and shit!

he thought as he tossed himself on the bed again in a futile endeavor of bringing back his precious slumber and in the process, landed perfectly on the big fat book that he left open on his bed.

Ouch!

Noel pulled the book from underneath him and tried recalling what he had learned last night. The book was called 'Man and War' which was a catalog of the history of all the wars this planet has witnessed so far which, he realized, had been going on forever. That also mostly over nothing but the gratification of a childish whim of one party or the other. The one with greater power always killed a greater amount of people and got to smile it off as collateral damage as he got crowned the victor.

Shaking his head, he got on his twos and headed for the washroom to freshen up. It had been six months since he ran away from the facility. Six months, since he stopped using his freak power to ice people in the name of lawful killing to save humankind, his so-called kith, and kin. And going through this book, he was more convinced than ever that he did the right thing running away. If anything, he was sure at that point that the prophecy of being born under a precious star to protect humankind and end terror for them was nothing but a pile of crap fed to him from his toddler days just to get his hands dirty for some brainless expeditions. They were nothing but targeted killing to take down anyone who stood on the facility's path of power.

Otherwise, why didn't they kill that brainless old man!

Noel splashed his face with water as he inspected himself in the mirror.

I'm just an astray picked up from the streets after the war and nothing else.

No messiah

And no monster no.

Noel sabotaged the facility in the foulest way possible and had been expecting a counterblow ever since. He was surprised, however, at their lack of retaliation. If nothing, he knew most of their trade secrets and he took down people for knowing far less when he was their lap dog.

He peeked outside through his curtain as he dried his damp hair with the towel.

Still all dull and grey

It took him a while to find this town but it was perfect for a base. It was a town of small-minded people stuck in their makeshift world. They were too caught up in small mundane snippets to butt their noses in his business.

Throwing the towel on his bed, he walked to his fridge, acrobatically ducking the books scattered in the process. He had been reading nonstop ever since he came here. To learn the trade of the land and stop being a freak if possible. He was not born as a walking icing machine and had no intention of staying one for the rest of his life. He deplored it with every fiber of his being and was determined to turn every page in the world if needed. To undo what had been done. But what he needed to do at that moment was fill up his stomach because the inside of his stomach was flipping and dancing, making him want to puke in hunger. He opened the fridge deciding on vanilla flavor for the day and realized.

Great! I didn't buy ice creams last night!

Noel's shoulders just dropped. Last night flashed in his mind in vivid inscriptions. He hastily ran out of the shop yesterday when he saw those local hoodlums run with their filthy teeth out like some hyenas on crack. That was when he knew something was off. Nothing excited the people in this town other than two things - money and women. And these folks were too indolent to run after money.

His jaws clenched just remembering it. He knew he was no saint but chasing someone just for satisfying carnal needs was a different level of pathetic. God knew he wanted to peel them off, slowly, shred by shred and pin them on the wall for the whole town to see.

But no! These aren't the scumbags the facility would send me to kill. They would rather have me kill babies than these bitches.

Noel's jaws clenched just st the thought. He could not afford to draw attention on him, no. But he was not someone to just stand and watch as someone got a piece of those bastards either.

But...he clicked his tongue

I still gotta walk out in broad daylight now and buy ice cream now. Uggh!!

Noel put on his black jacket and walked out grumbling. He hated sunlight and most importantly the attention he got under the sunlight. The beautiful praises that people exchanged about him behind his back did not escape his ears. He was glad they were scared. That did keep them out of his hair. But sometimes he just wished he could mingle around in the crowd like the rest. Like other humans and all. That was all he ever wanted.

Someday

For now, he laughed internally as the musty smell of ammonia tickled his nose as he neared the glowing evil pumpkin. He noted in his mind to tell the sweet old lady running the shop someday that those were not holy water that she sprinkled to 'ward off evil'.

Those were filtered sewer water and she had been conned for money.