I walked back to the wooden chair after turning off all the lights in the building. Once I sat down, I take out my lighter and tried to spark up some flame with the little oil it has. After the fourth attempt, the small flame finally appeared, lighting up the area around me. I move my hand to where the white and blue striped candle is, putting the string that was sticking out of it on fire. I put my lighter back in my sweater pocket and I looked at the flame. I watched it move for a while, then I averted my eyes to the small, chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and the candle sticking out of it. Then, I looked at the tape recorder that lays next to the plate. I reach towards thee play button, hesitating before pressing on it.

[Happy Birthday, Vladimir]

I take a deep breath when I heard mother’s voice. Even if it isn’t real, that she’s not here with me, her voice can still bring me to tears. She recorded this when I was 3, since it was the first year that she missed my birthday.

[I’m sorry that I can’t be here on your special day, mommy has gotten really busy lately. I’ll get you a special gift when I come back home to make it up to you. I love you, my son]

I wiped my eyes to fight off the oncoming tears when the recording ended. I look back at the lit candle, taking a deep breath and breathing out to put out the flame. I’m officially 19 years old and it’s been officially 12 years since I ran away from home. Ever since I ran away, my life became very difficult. I refused to talk to anyone since that day but yet I was still taken into several families. The first family that took me was when I was still 7. I was hiding in the alleyway, sitting next to the dumpster. I was still wearing my white shirt that had father’s blood on it. I heard some voices coming close to me, so I buried myself closer to the wall. I saw a hand reached towards me and when I looked up, I saw a nice looking couple. After that, I was living with them for several months. It was the day after my birthday when I discovered the guy’s secret, well, actually, I discovered his secret a few weeks after I moved in with them. It turns out that he was a pedophile and that he has taken a certain liking to me. Everyday, when he would come home and his wife wasn’t home yet or that she was showering or something, he wouldn’t stop touching me. He was disgusting. He was a disgusting human being if he thought that cheating on his wife with an 8 year old boy would be fine.  I couldn’t take it anymore, so when I got the chance, I attacked. It was a day when she wasn’t going to be home all day and that I was hiding underneath my bed. He kept calling out my name, telling me that it would be ok. I didn’t trust him so I just stayed there with the kitchen knife in my hand. He eventually found me and tried to get me out of there. I couldn’t let him grab a hold of me, so I stabbed his hand with the knife. I took the chance and ran away from that house. After that, I was on my own. So many families took me in, all of them horrible or disgusting. One of them was too abusive and they have beaten me close to death. I still have that scar on my side of when one of them tried to stab me. After all of this happened, I gave up on relying on others for help. Before I turned 9, this family that I was living with moved to this island called Midorijima. I was in Kyoto before, so all of this was new to me. I decided to run away from that family once we settled in, since it was another perverted one. I was wondering around the North District when I found this place. It’s a shut down musical theatre that I’m living in now. For the first 3 years, I’ve been struggling to get food and water as I lived here, but I was also struggling with strangers that barge in here out of nowhere. I didn’t want anyone to trespass in here, so I set up a few traps to keep them away. Mostly to scare them away, since I planned on spreading a rumor that the musical theatre was haunted. After that, no one ever came in. I didn’t know what to do, I still had no food and water. But then something weird happened. When I was 13, I was walking around the North District to salvage what I can find, I bumped into this red headed stranger. He said his name was Markus and then he struck a deal with me. He asked me if I can make alcoholic drinks, I nodded. Of course, I had to learn something since I wasn’t at school or anything, so I found a bar at the back of the theatre and taught myself how to make drinks. The same goes with teaching myself how to play the several instruments that I found in the storage room and the piano that was left on the stage. Anyway, he said that if I can make him some drinks, he can give me homemade food and a supply of water. I was surprised by his kindness to a stranger, but yet he was doing it to get something in return, so it wasn’t kindness. I agreed and after that, my skill with making drinks have increased. From the food he has given me, I have the strength now to improve my traps and my skills with the instruments. But my hatred for father has never disappeared. He was the one who killed mother in cold blood. He deserved no forgiveness, he doesn’t deserve anything. After these 12 years that passed, my hatred for him gets stronger and stronger and from that hatred, I have developed my own way of living. I don’t need anyone in my life, I can learn how to take care of myself. Jeez…I need to calm down. This stupid journey on memory lane has gotten me feeling down a little. I take the candle out of the cupcake and ate the small dessert. Then, I got up from my chair after wiping my mouth and I made my way to the stage where the piano is. I lifted myself up on the stage and I walked towards the piano, then I sat down on the small bench. I looked at all the keys and tested each one of them, just in case if one of them is broken or that the piano needs tuning again. Once I know that everything sounds good, I take a deep breath and started playing the happy birthday song on the piano. I have become some kind of musical genius after living in this music theatre for so long. I can say the same for my skills in making drinks. Anyway, once I’m done here, I have to take a look at my traps, to see if I have to reset any of them. I decided to place more traps around the place, in case that someone snuck in without trigging any of the traps that I have set up around the area. I always make sure that no one ever comes in here, not even that Markus guy. He doesn’t even bother coming in, he just knocks on my door and gives me a basket of the food he made and he waits outside as I make the transfer. But other than that, everything is going according to my plan. I get food and water, I learn something new everyday, I keep  people away from here. Yeah…life is going good.