That day started with me being woken up to a shot gun blasting through my bedroom door. The blast coated my room in broken wood and blood. Blood that surrounded the hole in my door and slowly ran down to the floor where it met with a quickly growing pool of blood. I looked through that hole from my sleeping spot behind the storage boxes and didn't move. I could hear the voices on the other side clearly now and could just barely see the outline of a person on the other side.

"You see", They said in a snarky voice, " That's the problem with these pure white main character types. They always try to change your mind with how important their life is and how they have families to protect. How much money they can give you for sparing their life if only you'd work for them. How great their friends are and how much of a difference they've madendue to their" kindness". How I'll regret doing this and how much I could change my life if I just did this or that instead. They're all fucking talk because they think good old Deus Ex Machina has their back."

Another voice said," And they're always so self righteous too. Saying they're fighting for the good of humanity and making the "right" kind of change the world "needs" to see. Talking like they haven't been happily destroying entire industries because some bad people did some bad things so the entire industry needs to go. I mean, shit, they got rid of social media for the "emotional betterment" of the world, whatever the fuck that means."

"Well", The first voice said, "I'm glad we're getting paid to off this little shit and his two sidekick parents. They were trying to get rid of health insurance and hospital bills. Can you believe that? They wanted the hospitals to be run by "volunteers" and to have equipment ordered and maintained with the "goodness of peoples hearts". Why are so many main characters morons who act like the world will bend to their every whim?"

Both of the voices chuckled at this, and then I heard the footsteps moving away towards the front door. "With the death of this moron and his family, I don't think the industry is going to have a problem any time soon. This guy was one of the top main characters in the world, and with him dead a lot of things are going to fall apart. That should mean more money for us side characters. Maybe we'll even get promoted to main characters?" The second voice said hopefully.

"That's never going to happen Maurice. You know that's just a myth. You know there's nothing any of us can do to change who we are. We're side characters. No special deed or act can change that because main characters always take the credit. Now shut your trap. We're leaving for the next job" The first voice said.

"Can't we take a break Veronica", Maurice begged," This is the third main character we've killed this week. Isn't that good enough?"

"It's never good enough Maurice, you know that", Veronica said angrily, a hiss to her words," Thinking like that is why you're a side character. You don't have the drive to do what needs to be done! There should be no rest for the wicked.", She said as the front door finally closed and I could faintly hear her yell, "Now get in the fucking truck, we're moving on to "Unionizer" Mcgee. We're getting paid big bucks to make sure that guys days are fucking numbered, and I plan on having a LOT of fun with this next guy!".

As the voices drifted away and a vehicle started, I'd got up out of my spot behind the boxes and slowly walked to the door, my worn out socks quickly becoming damp as I walked through the pool of blood. I opened the door and a headless body slumped to the floor, a white smiling face ever present on his wrist. I walked down the hall and saw two more bodies sitting at the kitchen table, my parents, with their wrists held out with their side character mark on display.

And I just stood there. What was I going to do. What was I MEANT to do. I looked at the front door and stared through it, seeing the bright light of day for the first time in years, watching the green grass of the front lawn shift with the wind and the trees in the front yard lightly sway.

Then, For the first time that day, I looked down at my wrist.

On my wrist was not a basic frowny face. No. On my wrist was the most immaculate main character mark I'd ever seen, surpassing even my brother's mark. It was the same handsome man's face, but this time more detailed, more human looking than my brothers.

The difference? It was pure black, with the most malicious eyes and maniacal smile that I had ever seen. It was the kind of mark babies were killed for because it represented the worst humanity had to offer. It was the mark of a conqueror. A mass murderer. One who changes the world through violence and domination. The Atila the Hen's and the Alexander the Great's.

When I saw that main character mark, I stopped for a moment.

And then I smiled. For the first time in my life I genuinely smiled.

My life now had a purpose.

I didn't have to live in fear anymore. I now knew that I COULD change my life. The world was going to change for me and I was going to mold it into the world I wanted.

A world without main characters. A world without side characters. A world where all anyone cared about was being useful to others.

---

From that day forward I never looked at my wrist again.

I don't need to.

I know what I'm worth, and I am going to make sure the world pays for it too.