Second Chances

Chapter 4

"Ste...eve," Alex whispered. Blood from numerous stab wounds dyed her shirt and dripped on the floor. She laid in a pool of the crimson liquid.

"It's okay, Alex. It's going to be okay." Tears ran down Steve's face. He reached out towards her, but Herobrine took his foot off of Steve's back and crushed his wrist. Steve cried out in pain, but Herobrine just grinned at him with sadistic amusement.

"Mom? Dad? What's going on?" Steve's son, Jacob, asked. He walked into the room but seemed unfazed by the nightmarish scene. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes and held a small stuffed toy in his arms.

"Jacob, RUN!" Steve screamed.

Jacob turned to run, but it was like he was trapped in slow motion. Herobrine, who was still moving at a normal speed, grabbed Jacob by the collar of his shirt, put the point of the sword on his back, and—

Steve looked away, but he couldn't block out his son's final scream. He sobbed with grief.

Herobrine jerked the sword out of Jacob and dropped his lifeless corpse on the ground. Except... Herobrine was now only about six years old. Steve scrambled away, panting in terror. His back hit the wall, and now there was nowhere for him to run. Herobrine slowly approached him, staring at him with the same wide-eyed, curious look he had since he first woke up from respawning. He shoved his sword into Steve's chest—

"Mister Steve?"

Steve's eyes shot open, and the first thing he saw was Herobrine. He screamed and fell out of bed in a pathetic attempt to escape Herobrine. Now on the floor and half tangled in a blanket, the memories of yesterday came back to Steve. Right. Herobrine was temporarily living with him. Steve ran his fingers across the old scar on his chest and got back in bed.

"Are you okay?" Herobrine asked.

"I'm fine," Steve snapped at him. "What do you want?"

"Um, well," Herobrine's gaze dropped as he worried at his hands. "I-I had a nightmare. Can I sleep with you?"

"No!" Steve scowled at him. "Go back to bed and stay there!"

"O-okay." Herobrine went back to his makeshift bed and bundled up in the blankets. "It's cold in here."

"Don't you dare start complaining. I don't want to hear it," Steve snapped at him.

Steve rolled over so he wouldn't be looking at Herobrine. Someone had to be looking for him. Whoever killed him last had to have known about his respawning, and probably wanted to kill him again. There were groups like the Silent Phantoms and the Netherwalkers who were dedicated to destroying him for good. The members of these warrior groups had been training since they learned to walk and wielded weapons that could probably kill Notch if given the chance. If Steve put out a notice that he had Herobrine AND he was incredibly weak, there were a lot of people that would pay any price for him.

As Steve started dozing off again, he thought to himself, I have some errands to run tomorrow...

...

Sunlight poured through the window, completely illuminating the entire house. Herobrine's eyes slowly opened, and he blinked a couple times as he sat up. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He looked around as he stood up, remembering where he was. Oh, right. Mister Steve was letting him stay with him.

Speaking of Mister Steve, where was he?

Herobrine looked around for the grumpy man. Herobrine didn't understand Mister Steve. He acted really mean, but he did nice things like cutting up steak for Herobrine. He really didn't understand grownups like Mister Steve.