Chapter 03.The Road with No Way Back
1030 Words
My legs trembled violently, like they were about to snap.
My stomach twisted in pain, as if someone had gouged a deep hole right through it.
I dragged myself out of the motel room like a shadow disintegrating—formless, soulless.
“Instant noodles… water… anything…”
My voice rasped, dry and cracked like desert sand.
I shoved my hand deep into my pocket—empty.
Only the mottled bruises remained on my wrists, the marks from the ropes still raw from the last debt collection.
Hanoi at night was freezing cold.
The streetlights cast a sickly yellow glow on the pavement. My figure staggered along, like the drifting corpse of someone who’d drowned and washed ashore.
Every step I took dragged behind it the remnants of a broken life.
No sensation. No will.
Only instinct—the final thread pulling me upright, making me move.
Cầu Giấy Alley.
The smell of grilled skewers wafting from a roadside stall twisted my guts into knots.
Laughter and chatter.
The hiss of beer cans popping open.
It all struck me like a slap—reminding me: I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. I owe a hundred and fifty million.
I stopped.
Three figures blocked the alley ahead.
In the dim light, tattoos on their arms glistened like snake scales.
“Lục Dương?” – a low, sharp voice rang out, cold as sharpened steel.
I turned.
Three bald men, fully inked, their faces like stone statues—approached me.
Hùng Mập's crew.
My heart pounded wildly, like it was trying to burst out of my chest.
No way out.
“I called you how many times, and you didn’t answer. Thought you could run?”
The leader let out a mocking chuckle, tapping a metal rod against the ground: clack… clack… clack…
“One hundred and fifty million. What’s your plan now?”
I stepped back, legs barely moving.
My whole body was ice-cold.
The air reeked of sweat, cigarettes, and violence.
“Please… give me more time… I’ll pay… I swear…”
“With what?” – he hissed – “Sell your mother too, maybe?”
The words stabbed me like a knife straight to the chest.
And then for real—shhk!
A cold blade slid across my cheek, leaving a burning line like ice slicing skin.
No thinking. No hesitation.
I turned and ran.
“Grab him!”
Footsteps thundered behind me, echoing down the narrow alley.
I bolted like a madman, like someone who’d just escaped from hell.
Slipping through shadows, flickering lights, and shuttered windows.
My heart raced.
Breath ragged.
My head spun—from hunger, fear, pain.
“Run, you piece of s**t!” – the metal rod clanged against the wall like nails hammering shut a coffin.
I darted across a street.
Didn’t check the light. Didn’t care about traffic.
Only knew one thing: run.
BAM!!!
The world exploded.
Shattered sounds.
Light burst like fireworks.
I was flung into the air.
Then crashed down.
A c***k—like breaking bones.
My head slammed onto the pavement.
Blood spread—warm and wet.
Eyes wide open, staring up at a sky as grey and grimy as damp carbon paper.
And in that blurry moment between life and death—
I saw her.
Linh Nhi.
She stood there, bathed in a soft golden light like sunlight filtered through leaves.
Smiling. Light as wind.
And she spoke, her voice drifting from some place far, far away:
“You were my light… Dương…”
A gray-white void opened up—no borders, no sound, no movement. The whole world seemed to hold its breath.
I stood there, bare and stripped in the midst of nothingness. No shoes, no warmth, no memory to tether me to the world. Everything had been taken away. I no longer knew who I was, where I was, or what I had once been.
I couldn’t feel my body—only a hollow coldness seeping into every c***k of thought.
Then, through the pale mist, she appeared.
Linh Nhi.
She walked toward me like stepping out of a dream. The faint light brushed her hair, making it shimmer like silk. Her familiar face was gentle, but blurred, like an unfinished painting.
Her eyes met mine—not angry, not reproachful, just a quiet sorrow, as if she had long known this ending was coming.
“Dương… I used to believe in you so much.”
Her voice didn’t echo through the air. It went straight to my heart—like a blade sliding in silently.
I froze.
All the pain I’d felt—debts, hunger, blood—became mere scratches. Her words… were the deepest cut.
I choked.
“I’m sorry…” – I whispered, tears falling. But they had no salt, no warmth. Just a cold stream flowing down my cheeks—like my soul leaking out.
She turned away.
Her figure was small, fragile in the sea of mist. I reached out—not thinking, not begging, just desperate.
“Don’t go…” – I called, my voice hoarse, echoing from some abyss.
But my hand grasped nothing.
She dissolved.
I collapsed into the endless white, like someone who had just lost the one thing keeping them from total collapse.
The wind was still. The air stopped. The world quietly mourned me.
And then—from above—black letters appeared, etched deep into the grey sky:
NO MONEY – NO ESCAPE – NO CHOICE
My heart clenched.
It felt like some cold hand was crushing my chest. The blood in my veins stopped. Only despair remained—thick and choking, like sludge sealing off every exit.
The sky went dark.
The last light was swallowed whole.
And then—
"BANG—"
I jolted upright, pain stabbing through my chest. My breath caught. My whole body was drained, cold sweat soaking my back. My heart pounded like a war drum, like it was about to burst apart.
I opened my eyes wide—but around me was no longer the shabby old room, no longer the Hanoi I knew. No longer that gray, frigid limbo.
I looked around, dazed.
Where… am I?
- Writer
