Rebirth Of The Forsaken Son-in-law

The prison was dimly lit by the light spilling in from outside the corridor. 

Four bunk beds was crammed into a tiny cell and a sickening odor filled the air.

It was a foul, suffocating smell that only those who had been here for a long time could adapt to.

In a corner of the room where the light couldn't reach, a thin figure sat on the bare ground. Ignoring the chilling cold that dug into his limbs, threatening to incapacitate them.

His bones protruded at the joints. He looked unhealthy thin.

"Were is the last one? Is he still sleeping? Does that bastard think he came here for a vacation?" A prison guard yelled from outside the cell.

 He slammed on the criss-cross of iron door angrily. Face greasy from sweat. "Come out I don't have time for this!"

"No wonder his family sent him here as a scapegoat. Such a useless good for nothing. Even I would do the same." The guard said to himself, thinking the person inside couldn't hear him.  

The lone back moved. He tilted his head slightly, just enought for a peak of his face to be illuminated by the light.

Although the prison guard had seen it many times before he still couldn't help but curse in his head.

Fuck. This is like some top level japanese haunted house shit.

At this rate he might as well register as a guard in hell.

This person looked more frightening than a demon that crawled out of the underworld.

But he didn't understand. This person was under an imaginable amount of pain.

His face was wrapped with yellow bandages. Between small gaps one can see raw uneven skin, matted with blood and dirt. What was more terrifying were his eyes. 

One was sucken, like a dark hollow cave. The eyeball was gone. But it wasn't as scary as the eye that stood open. Dark, deep and soulless. 

Rapheal stood up slowly. A single glance was enough to send the prison guard shrinking back. He subconsciously lowered his voice.

"Lunch has been served. You also have to clear the work assigned to you for the day." The prison guard gritted his teeth and also added warning with a trembling voice. "There are inspectors coming today. You have to be on your good behavior. No fighting!"

Raphael paused in his steps. 

He muttered something inaudible under his breath, which caused the guard to hold his breath.

He hadn't offended him, had he? The prison guard regretted running his mouth earlier.

He watched in horror as Rapheal smiled at him before walking past.

That was a threat! That was a threat, right?

 The guard trembled with fear. 

Am I going to die? 

No. He better changes his shift or he feared his dead body will be delivered to his family the next day.

Meanwhile, Rapheal was in a world of his own.

Today made it approximately two months.

59 days and 1416 hours since he arrived in prison.

Coming to terms with his disfigured appearance and the pain it brought along was way easier than the betrayal.

Set up by his most trusted people.

He had thought about it countless times but still couldn't understand.

Why? 

Raised as the heir of the Devereux family he had everything, until the truth came out.

He was a fake, switched at birth. The real son returned and everyone turned on him. Even the people who he called mom and dad.

But his grandfather who was dead left Raphael a lot of inheritance, so they forced him to marry his younger sister so they could control him and the assets.

He didn't complain and was very obedient.

The family that once used smile at him, cursed and humiliated him. He was known as the trash son-in-law by everyone. Treated less than a slave.

His wife was disgusted by him.

He bowed his head and took it all without complaining feeling he deserved it, working at the bottom of the family's company.

 While he was settling a riot at one of the company's construction site, a worker poured acid on his face. Before he could even recover at the hospital, his family sent him to prison for a crime he didn't know anything about.

The memory burned in his mind. 

That relived and happy expression they all had on when he was dragged away by the police.

And on top of it all was Dante, his brother in law, and the real heir of the Devereux family. 

"This is what you get for trying to take my place, you disgusting commoner." Dante said to him, the satisfaction of running him evident on his face.

But did anyone ask him if it was what he wanted? Wasn't him a victim too?

Both his wife and child. Even though they hadn't come to see him. Not even once. He was still worried about them.

Funny, the child wasn't even his.

A hush silence descended in the canteen the moment he stepped in. The guards stationed around adjusted their postures. Shoulders tense.

Like Moses at the red sea, a path was cleared out all the way to the serving table. Wirh no one daring to stand in his way.

They treated him like a monster, but Raphael didn't care.

It wasn't always like this. Infact it was the opposite when he first arrived. He was picked up, abused and every morning was like waking up in hell.

Until he retaliated. He fought, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. Tearing them apart like a bloody beast.

Raphael didn't know himself anymore. 

He detested what he had become.

"What the fuck are you looking at? Are you trying to get us killed." A round fatty glared hard at him companion who kept taking glances at Raphael. Voice hushed. 

Both were standing at a far corner of the room.

"Why? Is he like the big boss around here?" The person was a new inmate and shared a cell with the fatty. He asked curiously.

"Big boss?" The beards of the fatty trembled as he spoke. "That is the devil himself. Do you you know what he is called?" He questioned mysteriously, then spat before the other could give a response. "One eyed ghost."

The new intake asked thoughtfully. "Because he has just one eye?"

"No. Because he carved out the eyes of two people with a rubber spoon in the first month he arrived. Both of their left eye. I was there that day. The blood kept pouring and you could hear the screams...I have never heard a grown man scream like that in my entire life."

The last person only got an eye injury and that was because the guards stopped Rapheal before it could carved out.

But to pierce deep into flesh with such a blunt object. How much strength was needed?

Just thinking about it was enough to send a chill shiver down both men's spine.

With him not having one eye too, it created a sort of dark significance. Something more of a ritual that created a burning dread.

The three people where actually his roommates. 

It is quite a pity that one of them escaped and was immediately transfered out of his cell. Raphael thought.

Yes. He was a monster.

He remembered the look on their face.

 That unveiled dread. All signs of haughtiness gone.

He tortured them until they revealed who sent them and wasn't shocked when he found of that it was his brother in law, Dante and his wife.

They paid them to kill him. It seems sending him to prison wasn't enough but they also wanted his life.

At that moment he thought.

So this is how it is?

Nothing mattered. There was no reason for the 'why' 

In this world people fell into two categories.

The predator and the prey.

He was weak and vulnerable. So even when he did nothing his fate had already been decided from him.

Such a fool. Rapheal mocked himself.

He picked up a tray and filled it with food. There wasn't much choice. Everything tasted the same. 

Like shit.

As he turned around to find a empty table to sit he saw someone walking in his direction.

It was a young lanky guy who looked not a day older than eighteen. Rapheal hadn't seen him around before.

Probably a new intake.

But that dismissive thought was what lead to his short lived life.

The kid suddenly ran towards him. Rapheal was slow to react, or perhaps he didn't want to.

A cold object dug into his stomach and there was a loud ripping sound.

Rapheal grimaced.

His hand shot out and grabbed the neck of the boy who struggled to withdraw but was pinned in place by an extraordinary force. 

"Fucking stop them. What are y'all motherfuckers looking at?" A loud yell racked through the canteen followed by stumbling footsteps. 

The boy's face was bluish purple from the lack of oxygen and his eyes rolled to the back of his head leaving just the whites.

In the last minute the guards rushed in to separate them from each other.

"Get the doctor!" Someone was shouting but there was a siren going off in Rapheal's head.

He looked down at the knife lodged in his abdomen. Blood pouring out without stop and creating a pool right at his feet. 

So you finally sent someone else to finish the job? Rapheal thought bitterly.

He struggled against the darkness as his consciousness started to waver.

He couldn't die. Not yet.

That would be too pathetic.

His father-in-law who framed the tax evasion on him, his mother-in-law who always cursed and insulted him, his wife who gave birth to a child that wasn't his, all those people who stepped on him and humiliated him. All of them were still here.

Alive. Living well.

If he had a chance. Just one chance.

He would make sure they all paid.

His eyes close ad he fell to the ground. Limbs gradually turning stiff.

A second later a sharp ding rang out. It was loud but no one could hear it.

[INITIATING SYSTEM..... SYSTEM HOST DETECTED.]

#ERROR.

#ERROR OVERWRITTEN.

[ .....BINDING PROCESS COMPLETE.]

[......HOST CONFIRMED.]

[HELLO HOS....OOOOO]

The system's mechanical voice rose sharply followed by the blaring of a loud alarm.

[ERROR# ERROR# ! THE HOST IS DEAD!!]

           [TIME REVERSAL ACTIVATED]