AoT: The red thread of fate: A new world

Chapter 27: Abandoned and betrayed

(Flashback 2 years ago.)

Ed returned from his time at school, and instantly got called names and had stuff thrown at him. He went to his room where he shared it with two other boys there as well. "Cody get off my bed." Ed said tiredly with him only moving a tiny bit and staring at him in the eye. "Why?" Ed then just pushed him off and jumped on tossing his bag in the corner with all the other bags.

"Shit day?"

"Yeah. What about you two? Get up to any trouble again?"

"Well, Cody thought it was a good idea to steal lunch off of one of the bigger lads. You can only guess what happens next." Chaz muttered his feet against the wall and cap on. Ed found Chaz a bit mysterious, his way of speech was foreign to him, the nonchalant attitude he gave off left a bad taste in his mouth. Ed and Cody were fourteen years old, with Chaz being sixteen, the oldest out of Cody and Ed. Chaz had been experiencing nonstop nightmares of his family's death, each night he spent staying alert, to stop himself from suffering.

But even that didn't stop him from suffering. His scars marked him as an easy kid to pick on, the older kids bullying him by pushing him into a corner, taking his lunch from him, even making derogatory comments about his family. Ed's family lost custody of him after being taken to court for pouring a liquid substance down his throat. Ed managed to get half the bottle to land on the floor but was still rushed to the hospital anyway to get the fragments of acid out of his system.

Cody's family abandoned him when he was only a toddler, so he's been here for most of his life. His hair was always shaved off leaving him with a buzz cut trim. These three formed a mutual understanding of their past traumatic experiences and started a friendship with each other. Chaz rarely thought about Levi's family, seeing as he could never forgive him for what he caused upon him.

Isabel was pondering in his mind, an echo that couldn't be silenced, bouncing around inside like a ringing tower clock. He hated himself, so much. But he couldn't go back there now, Levi made that clear enough to him as it was. The door then knocked, with the three looking over to see the doorknob twisting and turning viciously. "Open this door right now you three!" The lady asked them loudly, with Chaz just ignoring it with the other two being quiet to not make a sound, afraid that they'll get punished for it.

"Wait a sec you old crone! Jeez, some people." Chaz muttered as he hopped off and undid the lock. It swung open with quickness and force, with Chaz going back to his bed, hopping on it. "You three! Stop locking this door! You know it's not allowed!" The woman scolded them, as she breathed in calming her tone. "But, anyway, Chaz... I need you to follow me." Chaz just tutted a response back to her, getting up and nudged past her. Ed and Cody were always frightened of these svelte tall women who abused the kids of the orphanage, but they were very good at covering their cruel acts to the public.

Chaz walked down the linear walkway, seeing all the separate four-bed sized rooms on each side made it feel more like a prison camp than a haven. Levi always burned in Chaz's mind, hating him for abandoning him the way he did. No remorse, no sympathy. He just wanted to disappear at this point, let the world suck the life out of him and purge him of this world.

But then he looked down to his right seeing a nearby window opened. He glanced at his surroundings, seeing no guards, no wardens, no gates, just a gap of freedom awaited him. '.... Fuck it.' Chaz put on the afterburners and bolted for the window, the staff member only catching his sudden movement. "Hold it! Stop!!" She ordered, but Chaz denied, moving forward to his freedom, his ticket out of this place, he could taste the fresh air from his dried crust lips. However, a staff member cut him off, standing in his way.