Hollow Shadows; 中空の影 [Jujutsu Kaisen]

Prologue

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SHE sat cowering in the corner of the room that she was in, her gaze fixated on the floor where two walls meet.

She was scared.

No, that wasn't right.

It wasn't even close.

She was beyond terrified.

Her whole body shook with visible force as she buried her head under her arms and hands, making herself smaller and smaller, hoping that whatever.... Thing.... was in the same room as her would go away and leave her alone so that she could go home and be in the embrace of whoever was there at the moment. She didn't care whoever was inside her house, she just wanted to curl in their arms. Heck, she would even do it with a burglar or a kidnapper, just so she could be in the embrace of someone.

She was scared, almost crying – there were tears already pooling in the corners of her eyes, she could feel it and she could see that her vision was slowly starting to blur – but she kept biting her lower lip to prevent her from uttering any noise – she thinks that she could already taste blood from her lips at one point, but whether or not she bit her lip too hard to make skin break, she doesn't know – thinking that the thing with her would get its hands on her small body if she were to make any form of sound.

That was the last thing that she wanted.

She just wanted to go home.

Even with the young, naïve – utterly stupid would probably be the right words to use – mind that she currently has, she knew that the situation wasn't good for her. Even if she survived the whole ordeal, she knew that nobody would believe her if she were to tell others what had happened. As if they would believe a young, fifth grade school girl if she said that she saw monsters follow her around and attempt to trip and hang her high up a building. Heck, she probably wouldn't believe it, either, if she was an adult.

She knew that they would just brush her off and say that she was probably just day dreaming or imagining – they would probably say something along the lines of "She's just a kid, give her a bit of merit by playing along." or "She's just probably making things up. She's still young and she's at the age that kids have imaginary friends playing with them." She would've actually preferred it that way.

She secretly hoped that she was really just crazy – heck, she even thought that it would be better if she had a mental disease or disorder that she was only learning about at that moment – and she openly hoped that she was just imagining things. That way, things would be a million times better and she wouldn't have to feel so terrified. She knew that the people at home would love her no matter what and that they would try their best to help her any way they can. At least, if she had an illness, she will eventually know that nothing she was seeing and feeling were probably real.

But, no! What she was seeing is most definitely real and she would never lie about a monster trying to kill her! Heck, it even touched her!

Every sound around her spot echoed around. Of course it would, she thought to herself. She was inside a large room in an abandoned warehouse. Thin metal and hollowed out walls surrounded her on all sides, that's why everything sounded so hollow. She couldn't find any place to properly hide so she stayed in her corner.

Earlier that day, she had been calmly walking down the road and was peacefully whistling her favorite tune when a giant thing blocked her way home. It looked hideous, like a large animal was merged with a human in so many ways that would make it look like it was practically mutilated from the inside out. Blood was gushing out from all the holes and cuts on its body, but it looked like the various wounds and holes weren't bothering – whatever that thing was! – and it looked like it was smiling at her with the corners of its mouth ripping as the smile stretched.

Without looking at anything else, she turned at her heels and blindly ran until she ended up to where she currently is. Home would have to wait. She has to survive, first.

She firmly pressed the inside of her biceps to her ears, blocking out whatever sound was coming from around her. She mentally prayed that she would miraculously get out of the warehouse without anything else happening. Even if she would get out with an illness, she would take it as long as she would get back to her house and be in the embrace of the people there.

"Someone, please help me!" she prayed in her mind. By that point, her tears had already spilled from the corners of her eyes and salty water began sliding down her pale cheeks, eventually finding their way to the cold, dirty and solid ground below her.

"Someone! Anyone!" she mentally cried out. "Please, get me out of here!"

There was a loud banging on the floor below her – she didn't even notice that she was not on the first floor of the building she was in. A couple of minutes earlier, after the monster showed itself to her, she just ran into the warehouse and continued to blindly go right and left until she came to a corner – she practically hit the wall with full force, she wonders why she's still conscious. Well, it did make sense that she would not be on the ground floor because she recalled that she went up a couple of flights. Maybe she isn't just on the second floor, maybe she's on the third, or maybe even the fourth, she doesn't know.

All she knows is that there was a monster behind her and that she was powerless with her small, young stature. All she could do was pray.

"Please, someone...."

Someone – no, something – touched her shoulder from behind. It was cold, wet and big. It felt soft, but at the same time, it felt very, very icky. She was so scared that she didn't even flinch at the contact.

She immediately knew what touched her.

But she was too frozen and terrified that she didn't move an inch. She didn't utter any noise. It was like time stopped for her. Nothing moved, the thing was still holding her shoulder. She didn't know whether or not her tears continuously flowed down. Her eyes didn't blink; she couldn't even feel the pain from not blinking them.

She just sat there, frozen to the bone, unable to think – much less, do anything.

Behind her, there was a little scuffle and then a small laugh echoed in the room that she was in.

"You look so delicious; I couldn't help but admire your body for a little bit longer. I'm going to relish every fleeting second that I tear you up and eat you, piece by piece."

She doesn't exactly know what happened next.

All she knows is that there was a sharp scream that echoed in the room.

By the way that her throat burned so much, she immediately knew that it was her that screamed.

Blood splattered everywhere and pooled on the ground.

By the way that her chest suddenly felt hollow, she knew that she didn't have a heart anymore.

There was a sudden overwhelming presence around the room. It felt like she was going to get crushed in between the walls as she stared into absolutely nothing. Abruptly, the presence disappeared and so did the.... Thing.

She suddenly felt wet.

She suddenly felt light.

She suddenly felt no pain.

She just wanted to go home.

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