Hollow Bird

'I need to move'

The boys former words echoed in his head like a hammer against flint or steel as if mocking his current situation

Move…move where? Where was he moving? Where could he go? Where was he to go?

He lacked an identity. Memories of this previous owner of this body and much... much more

He was entirely blank canvas with no paint to put colours to paper and draw. Entirely dull

A boy that shouldn't exist or more to say wouldn't be able to exist.

All streets outside of the 200m radius of nothing he had escaped from looked all too unfamiliar. No human in sight like they had all vanished at the thought of him - the living ghost

A dystopian city of emptiness holding a human with so much desolation it was overwhelming and entirely confusing

Take your throne once again…King of Curses!

The voices called to him once again, clawing at his mind forcing him to stagger and clutch his head in frustration

His hand graced the unloving cold brick of a nearby wall for support as he held back the whispers with sheer willpower

…They were calling him to him. Begging for something that he couldn't come to understand and would never be able to at this rate

Deprived of answers to his wave of questions all he could do was keep moving through the foreign labyrinth known as the New York alleyways

'Who am I?'

Once again the same all too familiar question was raised in the back of his head and yet once again he received nothing in return, nothing that could satiate his thirst for answers

Lethargy began to grip his mind with sweet promises of release and rest but his body wouldn't stop moving like it was on autopilot

But finally as he was about to take one more step onwards a sharp wrinkle of newspaper and trash was heard forcing his head to whip back in search for the source of the sound

And that's when his eyes fell upon a man. A man with rags and rubbish draped over them in place of clothes, their eyes bloodshot and their stench was practically palpable that it burned

"Money" he whispered with rasp laced in his voice, "Hand over your money! Now!"

Hear us

Kill this insec-

"-No!" The boy cried out as the events played out once again, the very real vivid picture of a decimated city

"Fuck you mean no?!" He rushed at the boy and swiftly delivered a bond crunching knee to his side

A groan of pain escaped from his mouth as he collapsed to his knees as the thug drove his fist into his stomach

Accept the Shrine once more!

"No!" The boy screamed which seemed to feed thief's rage even further

Grabbing the tufts of pink hair atop his head, he brought the boy up to his height, "Hand over your money now!"

"I-I have none" the boy managed to get out after expunging the blood trapped in his throat painfully, trying his best to catch his breath

"We'll have to see about that" The thug's eyes grew more crimson and clouded, with red spider web like cracks collecting around his eyes. He rounded up another fist to launch at the boy until the loud crackle of a gun halted his movements

His eyes were baffled, looking precariously at his torso followed by the boy's similarly confused gaze. Their leers were directed to a small ever growing circle of blood lined around the rags of the man

It oozed. Dripped. Squelched.

And only moments later, the realisation hit as he instantly collapsed to the ground with a heave, dropping the bloodied boy to the ground

The two of them slumped across the ground as the boy fell on his back, coughing wildly as another well of blood forced itself out of his throat

"You alright, kid?" Appearing from the stretch of trash and shadows that was the alleyway a scuffed up, dirtied man emerged with a smoking gun attached to his hand

. A muddied beanie draped around his head, a large dark green overcoat covered most of his torso and a variously stained pair of jeans - stitched and patched with time

Hearing no response from the barely conscious pink haired boy, he analysed the harsh wounds upon his body with an aggrieved expression, "..Hm You got banged up pretty badly...let's get you moving"

Kicking aside the corpse of the former thug, he lifted the boy onto his back with some effort and trekked further down the alley until their characters were just small black dots on a canvas 

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The boy awoke.

The scent of chemicals and sterile air hit his nose and he recoiled slightly in discomfort, followed by a repulsed expression that adorned his face

He was confused...though that feeling wasn't so foreign giving it was the sentiment he had shared ever since he had arrived here

Removing the white blanket from his body, he moved to arise from the bed he lay in but was met with an aching pain in his body that made him fall back into the comfort of the sheets

He felt it. Bandages wrapped around him like a snake slithering their way from his shoulder to his hip and around once again over his stomach

Writhing slightly he adjusted himself appropriately before speaking, "Where...where am I?"

The scenery around him was strange. A plain white room with surgical equipment decorating it's interior. It was cold, uncomforting, apathetic to his situation but most importantly isolating. 

He hummed to himself in silence in contemplation

He remembered his last moments before going unconscious, being hoisted up on the stranger's back and carried to an unknown location before everything faded to black

And now he's here. Laying here in the sweetness of a bad wondering where to go from here

He didn't need to keep moving - at least right now. Right now he could use it to rest, use it to finally mull over the events behind him and who or what he is

The time gifted to him was a time to think and he would choose to do so

And so everything came back full circle.

Who was he? Did he even have an identity? A name at the very least? Wasn't that a key aspect of what made a person.. a person? And yet he even that lacked that

A family? Parents who loved an cherished him? Siblings? Friends? Cousins?

Nothing.

Once again he was reminded of the blank emptiness that he currently was and he despised it thoroughly

What did he have in this world except his body and mind?

'Hear us' His brain played back their words like a cassette tape

"...The voices" He was reminded of not just his hollowness but their existence as well and the mystery that encompassed them. What were they? Could they be trusted?

The second question he was reluctant to lean towards the side of 'Yes' after experiencing the destruction he caused once he gave in

But still....they could possess answers that he currently didn't, they could know what he didn't and satiate his thirst for answers and more

What is the Shrine they talked of?

"Great.. more questions that I can't answer at all" He spoke, feeling almost tempted to laugh at the dilemma he found himself in but before he could delve further the door creaked open.

And a long black haired man with golden spectacles entered the room with a charming smile

"Oh? You're awake?" He waltzed into the room with evident familiarity with his surrounding before speaking once more, "You may be confused but stay calm. My name is Dr Jans and this is my clinic. Welcome..."

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