Chapter 6: 8 Story
As the sun began to set, and day turned into night I looked out into the ocean. I took a minute to recover my breath. I looked down at my feet covered in blood and sand remembering what I had done.
I looked around the office, desperately waiting for the shift to end. I couldn't stand to be here any longer than I have ever since I started three years ago.
At the time, I was a young, motivated kid who was very naive when it came to how the world worked. I joined this company alongside another person who appeared to be a year older. I had met him a few times throughout the interview process, and I thought we got along pretty well.
After our first day, many of our co-workers took us out to party to celebrate our working relationship. This was what my younger self always wanted.
During school, I was a star athlete who always had people giving me attention. There was nothing I couldn't do and I became addicted to this attention.
After this, things were relatively fine for the next week. However, things began to decline after that. I noticed that people began talking to me less outside of work-related conversations. At first, I didn't let it get to me and thought that maybe everyone was just busy. It wasn't until I saw the co-worker who started with me that I began to feel jealous.
As I paid more attention to him, I noticed that he seemed to be almost constantly engaged in conversations with numerous other employees. I wasn't used to feeling like an outcast, I thought I could be the center of attention. Over time, my workload seemed to get heavier while everyone else spent more time goofing off.
I was tired of it. I didn't enjoy working here, and I had no motivation to move forward in life. I decided to spend my free time pursuing certifications to teach people how to surf. Having lived near the ocean my whole life, it seemed like it was set in stone for me to try it out at some point.
Over the years I got proficient in it, and feel like I may be able to relieve some stress from work by teaching people what I enjoy.
This got me through the majority of my time in this office. I was able to keep my head down and push through it knowing that I had something to look forward to when it was done.
The man I joined was the only person I had many conversations with. He is the only person I told about this new hobby of mine.
Over time, however, I began to despise him. He had what I wanted, and I couldn't get it out of my mind. Sure, I was able to distract myself with my lessons, but it still bothered me while I was in the office.
There was nothing I wanted to do more than steal his spot.
Entering our third year I had become a successful surfing instructor. I started to feel as though I was finding a good balance between my work and personal life.
One day, my co-worker along with 3 others walked up to my desk.
"Hey _______, we were just talking about the beach and I remember you telling me something about teaching people to surf now right?" he asked me rather cheerfully. I hated the look on his face.
"Yeah, I've been doing it for a while now," I responded.
"Do you think that you could maybe teach us over the weekend? We haven't talked much recently and I think it would be good to help build a connection with everyone." If I rejected this request, I'm sure it would just send me even deeper into the pit I'm in.
"Sure, just tell me when." With that, the matter was settled.
This was my first time interacting with my co-workers like this in years. Usually, the only interactions I have are them emailing me about work that they couldn't do during office hours, so now I have to do it while I'm at home.
I can't believe I am nervous about this. I haven't felt this way since I started working here.
We arranged to meet up on a Saturday slightly after lunchtime. I was the first to arrive, I didn't think I was insanely early but it did bother me. Everyone else slowly trickled in around the time we picked to meet.
I had set up enough boards for everyone the day prior and had rehearsed how I was going to teach them. At first, I thought everyone seemed eager to learn but quickly realized that was not the case.
Two girls who came quickly became disinterested and preferred to lay on the beach and take pictures. The other man who came with us also went back to the beach after he realized the girls weren't paying attention.
It was just me and my "friend" for roughly an hour. He managed to get a good grasp on surfing and had the potential to surf on his own. But in the end, he decided to go back to the beach as well.
I hated him.
I hated everything about our situation. We joined at the same time and yet he's over there laughing and having fun while I'm sitting here helpless in the ocean. I began having thoughts that I never had before. I thought of a way that I could finally claim what I had been searching for.
It would be getting dark shortly, and the others seemed to be planning to leave soon. I approached my "friend" and asked him if he wanted to catch one of the really big waves that come around this time. He seemed rather reluctant but ultimately agreed. The other three went their ways and it was just the two of us.
I grabbed something from my bag and we took our boards into the water. I was waiting for a good wave to surf, but my "friend" began talking to me.
"Hey, I know that they didn't stay in the water that much, but don't take it personally. They just saw a beach trip and decided to spend more time doing that I guess. It has nothing to do with you. I thought you taught us very well."
"Thank you, but it doesn't bother me that much". I replied. Of course, it bothered me. Listening to him say those words to me filled me with even more rage.
At that moment, I saw my opportunity. A big wave was forming and I motioned for him to follow me.
I'll give him credit, he was a natural when it came to surfing. The only reason I know I can carry out this plan is because I can leave him unattended. We swam out and prepared to begin surfing the wave.
This wave truly was a monster, bigger than I anticipated. I made a quick look behind me to make sure he was keeping up. I could feel the adrenaline surging through my body. I had one chance to do this. I had to succeed.
I made one more quick look back while trying to maintain my balance. The wave was slowly making its way overtop of us as we rode it. As time was running out, I pulled out a small bag that I had put in my trunks before going into the water. I unzipped it and pulled out a blade.
I gave myself one more second to gain confidence before I turned around and jumped at my "friend".
I was barely able to reach his body as we slammed into the water. With the knife in hand, I began stabbing relentlessly into his body.
After a few seconds of this, I surfaced and realized we weren't that far off from shore. I began swimming back with no sign of my "friend" coming back.
When I reached the shore, It took a moment for me to realize what I had just done. I sat down and stared at the horizon. The sun was setting and the beach was vacant. It felt surprisingly peaceful like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
For a second, my heart dropped when I saw his body floating back to shore. I quickly looked around once more to ensure no one was nearby.
I quickly ran to my car to grab a garbage bag and returned to the water. I looked at his lifeless body with plenty of stab wounds to take someone out.
I felt happy like I accomplished some impossible task.
I fit as much as I could into the bag while cutting it up into parts to make it harder to identify. I then took the bag back to my car, where I would later go and burn it.
I walked back to the spot where I found him, while there appeared to be no trace of him remaining.
I looked down at my feet covered in blood and sand remembering what I had done.
The time had come where I could continue the life that I always wanted. I hated him more than anything. I thought I could finally get what I deserve.
I'll forgive you when I get what I want.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone