The Black Tiger 22 A Change In Fate

A blurred shadow layered nicely towards a grey dirty wall while Gabriel stood in the middle of a tiny apartment. The floor looked fine and he thought this was a nice beginning of a new life. His belongings were brought into the apartment in a box, he didn't have much. The only things he owned was some baggy clothes plus a pair of jeans which was to big for his short legs.

Gabriel was relieved. He couldn't believe he had managed to buy this apartment with his own money. He had worked part-time in a restaurant in the town and had saved up for a cheap apartment for six years.

His small figure moved to see how the bathroom looked, a bit moldy, but he could manage to clean it unlike his old room at the Warren property. The bed where just the same as the madras he usually slept in and the lightning made the room look a bit cozier.

-Total evaluation: not bad-

Still trapped in his own mind he went towards the small window located on the other side of the room above his kitchen which consisted of a red sink, red benches and a normal looking tiny fridge. The view did only show a heavy brick wall which was separated by an ally with trash cans.

Gabriel investigated his wallet to se a little amount of money which he was supposed to use to buy food for this week. The sight wasn't pleasing, and he started scratching his head with his left hand trying to not freak out.

-I'm going to get my monthly payment next week… sigh…. Ramen from the nearby grocery store it is! –

Gabriel was going to work the whole summer and begin attending the biological academy of Rue from August. He was so exited and couldn't mentally understand that he got accepted into such a prestigious college. If Marie had been there in his apartment, she would be so proud of her achievements and celebrate by eating her well known chocolate cake with white-, dark- and milk chocolate topped with vanilla droplets. On the other side, he knew she couldn't come. This is caused by his parents which doesn't allow any servant to grow close to their youngest son.

He cleared those thoughts and told himself: "It's time to live a silent life" while his mouth formed a gentle smile which rarely occurred. "Well it's time for grocery shopping".

One week pa.s.sed and Gabriel had barely survived the week with such a low budget and was happy he could buy something other than ramen, he really loved ramen, but he wanted to have something else than just ramen and water to each and every meal of the day.

Gabriel had just returned from his job and sat down on the bed and picked up a book from the newly cleaned floor. It was a book explaining the fantastic worlds on the other side of the portals. Gabriel had asked his family about it multiple times when he was a child, but they always ignored him or got angry. How wonderful it would have been to experience the wonders residing on the other side of those gates.

"Well, I will most likely never be able to encounter those creatures anyway. Why am I still talking about this, I should go to the convenience store to buy a more healthy diet than instant noodles." Gabriel stunned while brus.h.i.+ng his wavy hair backwards. The book got placed Gabriel's pillow, then he continued to prepare himself to exit the apartment by taking on his olive-green raincoat and a pair of old black boots which he had got from Marie when he turned twelve years old. Ready to exit the cracked metal door he took one last turn to view his magnificent apartment.

The rain shot down like bullets on the pavement down from the dark grey sky. Kl.18.01. Gabriel walked towards the convenience store which was located only half a kilometer away. When he was only fifty meters away from his destination, he crossed the road while the crossing light was still green but then…

"Gabriel!"

Gabriel didn't recognize the voice, but he turned around anyway to see who called out for him. However, there were no one in sight. Gabriel's hart started pumping faster as he got nervous by the missing piece of the puzzle. He then continued to cross the road when a blinding light blinded him, so he didn't see where he was going.

Pain… Blood… Gabriel felt his left side getting crushed with a tremendous force and his lungs emptied of oxygen. Lifted from the ground his shattered body spilled blood and he could hear voices screaming for an ambulance.

-I might as well just give up, it's not like I would be missed anyway…-

"How is my son, will he survive!" A platinum blonde haired lady in her forties cried desperately when Gabriel slowly regained consciousness. He felt like he had been ripped apart and his sight was blurry. After a couple of seconds, he could see the white curtains flow gracefully in front of the windows which emitted a strong light.

"Everything will be fine Mrs. Warren. He sustained many injuries, but it seems like his injuries will heal properly within a span of five months." A calm feminine voice said to ensure the woman that everything would be alright. Gabriel could now fully see the doctor and his mother talking, unfortunately his mother noticed it.

-Here it goes again-

"My baby, are you alright? Look at you, my poor little boy. I thought I lost you…" She sniffed while the fake tears flowed down her fair skin. The cold-hearted mother who treated him like he was nothing and always felt disgusted by him. If it weren't for them being in public, she would have acted like he always did, but of course she wants to be viewed as a kind and good mother. Unfortunately for her, she is the direct opposite towards her youngest son.

-WOW! At this rate she can be nominated an Oscar within the end of the year-

"What happened" He said with a shaky and almost not present voice. "Baby, you got hit by one of the local busses. Don't you remember?"

Gabriel's father stood beside the doctor while watching his wife acting like she had been in the profession. Mr. Warren did then proceed after letting out a loud sigh. "You should just have died at that dirty road, you're just in the way anyway."

There it was, his father's straight forward statement and Gabriel could tell that his father was serious. Not that it was that difficult to understand, since his father was always serious in all situations.

"Damien, he is your son… You shouldn't say that!" His mother nagged at his father. "Drop the act, Pia. Everyone in this community knows that you hate him just as much as I do." The room went silently the moment his father finished speaking, and it took quite a while before the nurses and other patients started to talk casually again.

-Sometimes I don't understand why they married each other-

His mother continued to keep up her act while discussing with her husband, until a nurse came up to them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but doctor Seter needs to borrow your son Mr. and Mrs. Warren" The nurse said politely while showing a caring smile. His parents nodded before they left, leaving their youngest son behind for the doctor.

After just a mere minute the doctor entered the room with a folder of both doc.u.ments and medical pictures. "I'm sorry Mr. Warren that I can't inform you about this in a more isolated place. However, your scans show a total of 68 fractures. Luckily for you they all seem to heal slowly, but this will make you immobile for some months before you can return to your old lifestyle." The man said calmly. "Rater than that, I want to inform you about an astonis.h.i.+ng discovery which I think you will appreciate." Gabriel couldn't move his face properly, so when he replied the sound got a bit wobbly. "Plees ploceed". "When you where out of consciousness we did both a hormone a.n.a.lyses and a brain scan. The brain scan showed a bigger activity than the last time you visited us, and especially near the hypothalamus and hypophysis. The hypothalamus sends signals to the hypophysis that it must produce LH and FSH which stimulates the production of testosterone in your t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. That's why we conducted a hormone a.n.a.lyses which came back with a much higher quant.i.ty of all three hormones."

Gabriel couldn't contain himself; he was so happy because this meant he would finally go through p.u.b.erty. The doctor must have understood that he was quite shocked by the news, since he quickly said: "I know understand that this can be difficult, but I hope it won't bother you to much".

After the doctor had left Gabriel started to laugh, even if it felt like daggers went into his chest.

-Why did you do this? When I have finally accepted my fate as an outcast…-