Jace woke up; it was early in the morning.
He was feeling weird these days.
It had been two days since he had his first kill, but in truth, he felt nothing about it.
However, he did feel different—like he was not the same guy anymore.
This change within him was not because he had killed Bobby, but because he had killed him and felt nothing.
That realization was what made him feel different.
Though Jace was peculiar about his emotions, he was never truly emotionless.
He remembered the time his father died. He had felt nothing for him even though he loved him.
But he also remembered his remaining family crying, and he had cried with them—not because his father was gone, but because seeing his family so sad made him cry.
It was weird.
"Oh well," he muttered to the empty, quiet room.
He got off the bed and started preparing his breakfast, which consisted of dry bread and a bit of jam.
Not much to begin the day with.
After his "breakfast," he sat for a moment, reading a romance book he had bought.
Entertainment was lacking in this world. He missed the days when he could simply scroll through his phone for hours.
Here, books and plays were the only amusement, and it was sad.
The romance book itself was mediocre at best.
It was about a man who fell in love with his childhood friend, but she had chosen a rich man instead; she wanted a life of comfort and luxury that the protagonist could not provide.
Thump.
He closed the book and threw it into the corner for the rats to eat.
It was a piece of shit.
Jace had always hated love triangles.
What was the point? If you love someone and that person doesn't love you back or doesn't want you, then there is no point in pursuing them.
It was pathetic when a man clung to a woman who didn't like him.
He never wanted to be anywhere near such a position.
It was the reason he had given up on Jane, who looked at him only as a younger brother.
That was fine with him, but he knew Jane wouldn't be attracted to him because it was "improper."
Wait, what the hell am I thinking about?
With nothing to do, he lay back on his bed, eyes open, staring at the cracked ceiling.
He remembered his night with Catherine.
It was perhaps the only highlight of his life other than becoming a Beyonder.
He realized over the past few days that he was depressed.
It wasn't extreme, but it was there.
The reason?
It was because he was in a different world where no one truly knew him.
A few people knew "Jace," but he was not entirely Jace anymore.
What was left of the original "Jace" were just memories and a few strong emotions, like his feelings for Jane.
Other than that, "Jake" had mostly taken over and accepted Jace as himself.
It was because Jake's sense of self was stronger than Jace's.
All of this was brought to the surface by the depressing environment of the East Boroughs and his days of doing nothing but acting as a clown.
But that was all irrelevant right now.
Jace realized that he was... lonely.
Incredibly lonely.
Usually, Jace did not like physical touch, but currently, he couldn't help but want to be embraced by someone.
Oh boy, I'm really going dark, huh? He got up.
Jace knew overthinking such dark thoughts would only lead him into more darkness.
"I need to get therapy," he hissed to himself, and started preparing for another day of acting as a clown.
---
In the afternoon, Jace went out to investigate the crime he had committed to see how people were reacting to it.
But apparently, it was nothing.
It was quite normal to find dead bodies here and there in this place.
Bobby was found dead, suspected to be brutally murdered by one of his own drug-addicted customers.
As for the drugs Jace had spread on the body?
As it turns out, when someone found the corpse, there was no white powder on it.
Jace figured that either the rats ate it all up or someone had collected the drugs off the dead man.
He shook his head. This place truly is pathetic.
But he had found a goal here: he would kill all the drug dealers.
He would find their headquarters and eliminate them.
He didn't decide to do it for the sake of the people—no, he wasn't that kind—it was just something he decided on a whim.
Jace figured there would be at least one or two Beyonders at the head of the operation.
This was going to be fine entertainment for him.