Wounded Existence

1 | Who am I?

Quick scratching echoes against the cold cobblestone walls of a dark alley. Next to the dirt-covered planks thrown next to one of the walls, a starving rat is desperately searching for something to eat. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, the rat gives up and decides to search elsewhere.

While running around, the rat notices something lying in the dirt. It is completely motionless, but there seems to be warm air that is heading from its direction towards the investigating creature. This piques the curiosity of the rat, so it carefully approaches the source of the warmth.

The whiskers of the curious creature lightly touch the source. Suddenly, air comes out in a huge burst towards the rat, which causes it to immediately flee in fear. The tiny body filled with terror ends up accidentally hitting various objects right before disappearing from the alley.

A series of gasps for air break the silence that had consumed the alley. Those gasps quickly calm down as the source of them slowly begins to rise. The heavy breathing of this being is accompanied by the sound of dirt scraping against its skin while it props itself up.

With a lot of struggle, the figure manages to take its upper body off the ground, but the legs still remain flat on the ground. After a while of sitting down, some awareness of his own body approaches and the built-in knowledge of being a young boy surfaces.

His sluggish eyes stare directly forward. Despite his active movements seconds ago, there isn't a lot of energy in him. With a lot of focus, the small build manages to understand that he is staring at a stone wall. This realization helps him slightly clear up his mind.

With the intention to understand his surroundings better, he looks to his left just to find another stone wall facing him. After absorbing the differences between the two walls, the boy turns to his left, wondering what's there.

It was just another stone wall, just like the ones before. He began to notice a pattern, to confirm his assumption, he continued to turn right to look behind himself expecting to see the fourth wall.

But to his surprise, he sees a bright light. The eyes of surprise swallow his face as he observes the scenery that is at the end of the alley. Unable to recognize what he is looking at, his curiosity moves his small body towards it.

A jolt of pain throws him down to the ground, he begins to realize the pain that has grabbed hold of his entire body. It might not be everywhere, but just enough to disturb his focus on the light in front of him.

As he begins his investigation, the young build notices he has various wounds and marks across his body. However, the hole-filled rags prevent him from checking the full extent of his body. Slowly the damaged face turns into confusion as the boy notices a weird taste in his mouth, it tastes strangely metallic.

Feeling overwhelmed by all the sensations the kid's body clenches, and a surge of various emotions entraps him within his own body. Unable to utter a sound or even cry, the boy stares in front of him as if he is searching for something through an infinite emptiness.

After the air has exited and entered his lungs several hundred times, he finally moves. As if they had completely forgotten what just happened, the tired eyes returned their focus to the light at the end of the alley.

Just like before, the pain sharpens as the small build pushes himself off the ground. His mouth fills with the same taste as before, this time though, it doesn't seem to affect him. Despite the suffering, he does not give up and manages to get off the ground, unfortunately, the wall next to him is essential to keep it like that.

Gotten so far only serves as a strong motivation to push forward to the desired goal. Waves of quiet gasps and grunts escape the boy's mouth after each step. The cobblestone walls are uneven and sharp, which causes him to obtain new smaller wounds. The desperation to reach the end of the alley is much stronger than any sensation that he is experiencing over his body.

As he draws closer to the light, his eyes manage to adjust to the sight in front of him. There are some people walking around, while others just stand. Those people who are standing in one spot have various items next to them they continuously do their best to address the ones that are walking around.

Having finally reached the end of the alley, the boy freezes at the corner of the alley as his eyes dart all around the sight in front. He is amazed at everything that he sees, but wondering what any of it is.