Ⅰ.

He tries not to think about his past and his childhood, but he sadly remembers every moment perfectly well. He was an only child, living in a small village in with his abusive, alcoholic parents. They were always either drunk or hangover. He was treated more like a servant than a son, he was always the one to clean the house, make dinner, do the shopping etc. He had to take up small jobs, like helping other people in the village just to get some money. He was often bullied by other kids his age for being weird and an outcast, acting differently from other kids. His looks were also a cause for the bullying – he stood out from the kids his age, he was taller and had a bulkier build than his classmates. Once his bullies found out he has hallucinations and sees and hears thing that aren’t real, they took that to their advantage and were scaring him pretty often, causing him to freak out and have panic attacks. He sadly couldn’t find any comfort or reassurance from his parents, since they didn’t really give a damn about him. Thoughts of running away often occupied his mind, but he couldn’t just leave, he needed to have some sort of plan... And money.

Ⅱ.

But one day all his plans got ruined. This day his classmates were especially mean to him, when all his lessons finally ended, he ran home, sobbing throughout the whole way. Before even opening the door to the house, he could hear his parents arguing vigorously. He knew that once they see him, they will start screaming at him too. So, he tried to sneak past them and get to his room unnoticed. That didn’t go well for him – his father noticed him in the corner of his eye, yelled at him, and – when he turned around – threw a burning hot cup of coffee in his direction. Alberich didn’t have any time to react, this happened so quickly. The cup his right eye, shattering into pieces and spilling the liquid on his face. He screamed in pain and started crying, not being able to utter a single coherent word. Without much thought, he ran into the kitchen, as he was being haunted by his hallucinations, which were telling him to “make his father pay for what he’s done”. Something inside him snapped. He took a knife from one of the kitchen drawers and rushed towards his dad. He stabbed him over and over again, until he stopped moving. His mother, who saw everything, was too drunk to react accordingly to what just happened. After staring at his father’s lifeless corpse for a moment, the hallucinations snapped him back to reality, reminding him of his mom. He made his way towards her and stabbed her in the same fashion. Once he realized what he has done, he started panicking. He found comfort in his hallucinations, they soothed him and helped him calm down. He went to the kitchen once more and poured cold water onto his burned skin around his eye, took some painkillers and bandaged his eye, which now had worse vision. He knew he couldn’t stay here. He emptied his school backpack, threw some food in it, all his money savings (which wasn’t really a lot) and some meds, just in case. He waited until it got dark outside, so he could leave the house and not be seen by anyone. He was 16 when this all went down.

Ⅲ.

He walked for a good week straight. Hallucinations kept him company most of the time and motivated him to keep going. He mostly traveled though forests and meadows, to avoid being spotted by anyone. He unknowingly wandered to Brightburn, a place known for its thick forests. One of them being The Crimson Timberland, a forest in which any sort of camping was prohibited, through which he was traversing right now. In the distance he spotted a forester's lodge. He was unsure what to do at first, but after a moment of counseling with his hallucinations, he decided to walk up to it and knock on the door. He was so exhausted after escaping his house that he really could use some rest in a comfy place. A man in his 40s opened the door and rushed him inside. Alberich told him he’s older than he actually is, so his presence here won’t raise any concerns. He mentioned to the forester that he was just out camping and that he burnt his eye while heating up water on a campfire. The older man offered him to help with it, he had some medical equipment that he could treat the wound with, he also suggested Alberich to stay for the night – to which he agreed as he didn’t have a place to stay anyway, anything was better than sleeping outside. The next day Alberich asked the forester if he could stay with him for longer, luckily for Alberich, he didn’t dwell on why he wants to do so and allowed him to live with him under one condition – he would help him with his duties. Alberich got hired as his helper.

But after 5 years of living with the forester, he was left all alone in the lodge. One day the forester left the lodge for a usual evening patrol around the forest, but he never came back. Alberich went looking for him, he was searching for him for a whole day. Sadly, he didn’t find him alive – he got attacked by some animal, he had bite marks all over him. Now he had the lodge, and pretty much the whole forest all to himself. He had to start fending for himself, with the forester now dead, there was nobody who would stock up on resources, luckily there was a small greenhouse connected to the lodge where he could grow food. He also started hunting animals for food, water wasn’t a problem since there were a couple of rivers running through this forest.

Having nobody but the hallucinations to keep him company for a whole decade, he started going a little crazy. Through the 10 years of living all alone in a huge forest, he rarely ever spoke. His hallucinations intensified. During those 10 years, he also killed, pretty much, every person who entered The Crimson Timberland. Part of him remembered that camping there was prohibited, but now executed that rule the only way he knew – murder, the hallucinations coaxing him further into doing so. He found satisfaction in killing the intruders, they were always bothering him and being loud, throwing parties deep in the forest and acting uncivilized. He didn't feel bad about slaughtering them in the slightest.

VI.

One day when he was walking around the forest to set up traps, for either animals or morons who step into the forest (which was happening way more often now, he became a part of a "local scary legend” others were telling among themselves, so the forest he lived in became some sort of an “attraction”), he heard desperate screams and cries in the distance. He slowly approached the direction from which the noises were coming from. He saw a girl, who was running away from two big bears. She ran past him without noticing him. She didn’t run for long though, she tripped on some exposed tree roots, fell over and lost consciousness as her head made contact with the roots. A voice within him told him to save her, so he listened. He killed one of the bears, which caused the other one to run away. He approached the girl, picked her up from the forest floor and carried her on his back all the way to his “house”. He laid her in his bed, cleaned the wound on her head and tucked her in, before quickly leaving the house to retrieve the bear’s corpse. When he came back, the girl started slowly gaining back her consciousness. She was scared of him, he could see it very well in her eyes, but he tried to show her with his actions that he means no harm. He offered her tea and a warm meal (the bear he killed earlier). To his surprise the girl accepted. Over the meal, they chatted a bit (the girl did most of the talking, Alberich just listened), that’s when he learned her name was Chocolatte. After a few days, she showed no signs that she wanted to leave, so Alberich asked her out of concern why has she stayed so long. Chocolatte confessed to him that she wanted to stay with him, forever, because he made her feel safe. Deep down, he was hoping for that outcome, he wanted her to stay. The lodge gained one more tenant. They have lived together ever since.