Eternity... or only a few seconds?

Brrr! Brrr! Eren's hand rose from underneath the thin blanket he slept underneath reaching for the old alarm clock. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes he looked outside the window of the utility room where his parents made him sleep, a few early birds could be heard in the distance. The darkness outside tried to fool Eren into going back to sleep although he knew not to, the last time he had decided to rest longer he was awoken by his father throwing a bucket of ice cold water over his frail body.

This was everyday life for Erin, forcing himself out from underneath the thin blanket didn't get easier even though he did so every morning Eren always tiptoed towards the stairs in fear that he would wake up his mother or farther. After safely traversing towards the downstairs floor he proceeded with the start of his gruelling day, starting with cleaning down and preparing his parents family owned restraint he also had to do this as quiet as possible to not wake up his parents on the top floor.

Now after finishing his morning duties he would change into his school uniform just in time for the caretaker to open the school gates. The school gates would open at 7 and school would start at 8:30, Eren would come early to hide from his parents and use the time to revise for his studies before the rest of the students arrived. Eren's appearance was somewhat creepy, with pale skin pared with jet black hair and eyes complementing his frail body and expressionless face his peers didn't interact with him at all he hasn't ever had someone he can call a friend. He was attractive but the bruises on his body kept away any suitors from coming close. Because of his studying in the morning he was always top of the class, he was the perfect student, in the past Erin had tried to reach out for help from his teachers when his body was in really bad shape from a particularly brutal beating he had one night, but alas his teacher reported it to the police but when they went to investigate this claim the lack of evidence stopped them doing anything. After that Eren was beaten even harder, the next day he went into school with a black eye but the teacher just gave him a dismissive look instead carrying on with her lesson.

All of this left Eren feeling less than human, emotions were a thing of the past that had been long since been beaten out of him leaving the world looking grey to his eyes. The only emotion Eren had felt for the past 15 years of his life was fear and even that was dwindling away day by day.

Completing yet another pointless day at school Eren dragged his feet back towards his house sighing at the thought of working and getting beaten.

"Hurry up and get working you little shit" shouted Eren father as soon as he arrived home.

"Yes father"

"I've been working all fucking day while you've been sat on your arse at school"

One of the reasons Eren was beaten was to relive the stress of both his parents, the family business was not profiting and Eren fathers put all of the blame onto his son for being incompetent. His excuses were wild and he seemed to be to far gone from any common sense that there was no point even trying to reason with him. Working hard between being a cashier and cooking fast food took a lot out of him. After another arduous day Eren retreated to the utility room to hide from his father, when he went through to his room there were many bear bottles littered throughout the living room sighing in relief that he made it to his room he brought out his school text book and revised the teachings of today. Bang!!! Eren's father opened the door to his room.

"Oi, you little shit go downstairs and clean the restraint" He shouted the pungent smell of alcohol emanating from his breath

"Sorry father, I have already finished cleaning"

"Don't you dare talk back to me you little shit, do you think your better than me just because your top of your class?" Enraged at his own incompetence Eren's father smashed the half full beer bottle against his son's head splitting it open revealing a large gash. A stray piece of glass had lodged itself into the artery in Eren's neck.

Eren was used to this kind of treatment but today a new emotion was rising up through his chest, it was coursing through his blood his body felt warm and his vision blurry.

Eren's father was looking down on the bleeding boy with a grin on his face. In front of him laid a large shard of glass the shard of glass glistened with his own blood looking at this a question entered Eren's mind. Why can't I do the same?.

The pale hand of the young boy reached out towards the shards of glass, the otherwise stoic expression normally planted on the face of the young boy was now replaced by an eerie grin. Turning his back to Erin his father started to walk out of the room still holding that same grin, little did he know that silently Eren had wrapped his frail arms around his neck. Feeling his sons arms around him made his mind blank momentarily until there was a sharp pain in his jugular followed by the immense pain of the shredding of his veins, muscles and skin.

"Gaaaarghh"

These were the dying sounds his father made chocking on his own blood, these sounds brought pleasure to Eren's ears. In front of him was the person he hated most now dead it was enough to give Eren his first and last smile as his consciousness drifted away from the blood loss seeping from his neck.

Eren's soul drifted through space and time for what seemed like eternity or only a few seconds… he couldn't quite tell which it was. But little did he know his soul would find a home on the small continent of Elengor.