Everchanging

Sleeping

!!TW!! Car crash, blood/injury, coma, hospital, psych ward (setting)

The child's head rang, and everything felt burning hot, like he had swallowed hot magma. He could hear people yelling out, hands reaching through the shattered windows and grabbing for him. What looked like red paint leaked at his chubby hands, making it harder for the child to crawl to the beckoning hands. Glass and metal crunched under him while he slipped his way towards the broken window.

"Mommy?" He whimpered, a sob building up in him as he noticed the pain in his body and the absence of the woman in the front seat. But before the boy could say anything else, two hands snatched him and started pulling him from the wreckage.

"Got him!" Some man yelled out; the world too wobbly for the child to see much of anything. He could feel the cold rain washing away the paint off of him, making his black hair fall into his teary eyes. "You okay, kiddo? Help's on the way."

Suddenly, his eyes noticed his own leg. He was like 80% sure that his leg wasn't supposed to be bending that way and it was scary. His whole body ached, his hand useless at his side and his leg in a scary direction. Blood dripped from his hairline, making his bangs stick slimily to his forehead. His eye was stuck shut from the liquid, making it much harder to see on the rainy night.

"Mommy?" She wasn't here. Mommy wasn't in the destroyed car, and she wasn't coming for him. It scared the boy, making him scream hysterically. He hurt and he was scared, he wanted his mommy. Some random man was holding him, trying to soothe the screaming child, and his toys were stuck in the crashed car. So, he kept crying. "Where's my mommy?!"

"Help's coming. People are helping here, bud. You have to calm down, we need to know how hurt you are." The man hushed, turning to a woman to say something that the child couldn't catch. The boy noticed that not that many people were there, only this old man, an old woman, and an adult couple. The old woman was speaking into her phone, saying something about running and license plates, as the couple were huddled over something that he couldn't see. They were yelling at each other, panic in their tones but the old man was speaking to him again, so the boy ignored it for now. "What's your name, kiddo? Can you tell me how old you are?"

It took a little too long for him to remember his name, his eyes fluttering between shut and open. Who was he again?

"Kaigaku? I'm Kaigaku Inadama. I'm eight years old." Kaigaku recalled his class introduction, remembering his mom having him practice it so he could make many friends. "My mommy is Sakura Agatsuma. My daddy is...he's Kaiyo Inadama?"

Was that it? Did he get it right? His head hurt too much to really know.

"Okay, good job Kaigaku. I'm gonna set you down so I can check your leg really quick. Okay?" The old man smiled at him, his eyes flickering to the huddled couple before returning to the boy. "You're being real brave right now. Such a brave boy, your mommy's gonna be really proud of you."

Oh yeah, mommy!

The man didn't get much of a chance to check the boy before the child lunged himself towards the couple. He didn't know where his mommy was but maybe they would. The old man wasn't very useful, never answering Kaigaku's questions, and the old woman was too busy talking about a 'hit-and-run'. Whatever that meant. So, the boy reasoned he would ask the couple.

There was a lot of shouting, like, a ton. Kaigaku yelled because his body felt like it was being dipped in the hottest of oil, like what mommy used to make his favorite katsu. The old man yelled out for the child, the couple were arguing loudly, and the old woman was snapping at her phone. But Kaigaku wanted his mommy. Mommy always knew what to do. Mommy would know how to get the magma out of Kaigaku's veins. She would know what's going on, who that old man is, what a 'hit-and-run' is. Mommy had to know, so Kaigaku needed to find his mommy.