The Beginning

This is the origin of the main character.

The heat of a steamy August day in the city starts to cool as the sun dips below the horizon. Rain has started falling at a rhythmic pace while the congestion of the streets begin to clear out. It is an unusually quiet night for this neighborhood. The normal hustle from the ladies of the evening, as well as the local dope pushers, seem to be on a momentary hiatus until the rain ceases.

The crescent moon takes position high above the city, hiding ever so slightly behind blackened clouds. Every time it peeks from behind its heavenly covers, the darkness of the city is briefly illuminated. Shadowy figures can be seen shuffling in and out of back alleys. Stray cats skitter across the streets as traffic has now all but completely dissipated. The rain and its unrelenting pounding upon the pavement finally comes to an end. All is now quiet. All but the sounds of a pair of footsteps loudly echoing off of metal steps.

It is now well past midnight and only a single figure can be seen making its way down a rusty old metal fire escape. The cloud cover completely blankets the moon and only the dull orange of the street lamps reflecting off of the rain puddles bring any real light in the darkness. The figure is all dressed in black and appears to be holding a suitcase. The fire escape is raised about 10 feet above the ground but this person does not hesitate to leap from the final step, landing softly upon the ground. As the pounding thuds of sprinting feet start to trail in the distance, smoke begins to billow out of the top floor window located right next to the fire escape.

The sound of a woman’s scream breaks the silence of the night. Passing through the thick black smoke and entering the apartment window, we see a young woman tied to a bed. It appears that her hands and feet are tied tightly to the bedpost with thin metal cables. Her screams give way to fits of coughing as the smoke grows thicker. “Oskar!” She yells in a concerned panic. “Please baby, you need get out now.”

“Mommy, I’m scared.” A tiny voice utters from inside the closet.

All of a sudden huge flames begin to shoot up between the cracks of the floor boards. “Oskar hunny, I need you to open the door and climb out the window onto the fire escape just like mommy showed you before. Can you do that for mommy baby?” The woman spoke calmly and deliberately.

Slowly the closet door opens and a small boy peers out as if he had been hiding from someone for some time. “C’mon sweetheart, it’s okay.” The young boy starts to tread across the now smoking floor boards making his way to the bed. He is visibly frightened and every step is speckled with fits of intermittent coughing. “There's my brave boy. Now I need you to climb out the window and down the stairs just like we practiced hunny.” The woman said while trying her best to suppress her coughing

“But mommy I’m scared, why can’t you come with me?”

The woman looks into the boys eyes and gives him a big smile. “Mommy can’t get out of bed until daddy gets home okay baby? Now give mommy a kiss sweetheart and I’ll see you outside at the bottom.” She says with a reassuring tone to her voice.

The woman leans over as far as she can and kisses young Oskar on the forehead. Oskar looks up at his mother to see her still lovingly smiling at him. He begins to grin as his mother starts to speak.  “I love you Osk… but before she can finish the ceiling gives way and crumbles on top of her. Young Oskar doesn’t even have time to scream as the flames engulf the floor and he falls through.

He crashes through the ceiling of the room two floors below and settles in a pile of rubble as more debris lands on top of him. He begins to fade in and out of consciousness as the fire starts to build around him. As he stares ahead eyes half open, he fixes his gaze on a burning chair leg in the distance. He watches as the flames flicker and dance all around. He only hears the sound of light popping going off around him.

The flames get closer and closer to him. They begin to dance right in front of him. One jumps up and licks his face. Another begins to smolder his shoe strings. He watches the orange and yellow lights of the fire converge and split between each individual flame. He closes his eyes and a bright reddish hue can be seen through his eyelids, Everything fades to black and all he sees is his moms face. Her beautiful smile brightens the room as the fire gets pushed out of view. “I love you Oskar.” “I love you mommy.”