Everything colpsed with a single word. “Thief!” The supervisor’s shout pierced his ears. Kai froze behind the counter, his fingers still dusted with the gray powder from the coins. The drawer had been open for barely a minute. Just one minute. He had been helping an old man who was trembling too much to hold the bill.

  But someone else had reached in. And now everyone was looking at him. The customers’ heads turned in unison. Kai felt those stares stabbing the back of his neck. They’ve already decided. I’m the guilty one.

  “Let me expin, sir,” he said, feeling his voice crack. The supervisor grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward the exit. No questions. No checking. Just a silent verdict.

  They’re not even going to listen to me.

  That afternoon they fired him. Before nightfall, two police officers knocked on his door. They didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him, but that didn’t matter. The rumor was already alive.

  This isn’t going to end well.

  The messages stopped coming first. Then the calls. His girlfriend opened the door that night with red eyes. “If everyone is saying the same thing… you must have done something, Kai.”

  She didn’t yell. She just closed the door slowly. Not even you.

  His parents were more direct. “You’re embarrassing us,” his mother said over the phone. “For us, you’re dead.” The call ended.

  Kai stared at the bnk screen. Dead. Perfect.

  The following weeks were a gray blur. The apartment smelled of dampness and spoiled food. He slept in the same clothes because changing seemed pointless. What for?

  He cleaned windshields at traffic lights. He endured insults from drivers who wouldn’t even look at him.

  Every night he came back with his pockets almost empty. It always falls on the same person.

  In the end he accepted the night shift at a convenience store on the outskirts. No one recognized him in the dark.

  The night it all ended, the buzz of the fluorescent lights filled the silence. Kai was counting bills when the door burst open.

  A hooded boy entered with a trembling gun in his hand. “All the money. Now.”

  Kai slowly raised his hands. “Don’t be a hero. Just hand it over.”

  “Easy. I’ll give you everything,” he said with a calm he himself didn’t understand.

  The shot caught him by surprise. A dry blow to the chest. The air vanished. He fell backward.

  Heat. Blood soaking his shirt. The ceiling became blurry. Is this how it ends?

  The boy ran out. Kai didn’t try to move. It wasn’t even my money.

  The pain began to fade. At least it doesn’t hurt anymore.

  Darkness wrapped around him. And this time he thought nothing more.