Born with nothing

A snowy night

In a world where people are regularly born with amazing superpowers are also some who aren't as lucky as them. The bigger part of the population has one of these special powers. The society started calling these powers 'quirks'. Generations ago these quirks manifested upon the world and quickly spread, nowadays the unnatural has become natural. This story is about a boy who wasn't lucky enough to be born with a special power of his own, a boy who yearns and wishes every single day he had gotten such a special gift.
It's snowing, it's been a harsh winter so far. Snowflakes slowly descend from the air, twirling in elegant circles onto the ground. The sound of footsteps going trough a pack of fresh snow could be heard. A boy is walking down the empty streets. There's not a single soul to be seen, except for the boy. He's trembling from the cold, he isn't wearing a thick coat at all. His nose is running and his fingers feel frozen and stiff. His cheeks are red from the cold as well, he just keeps on wishing that he had something warmer to put on.
The moon was shining so bright tonight, it was a beautiful full moon. The boy stopped in his tracks and turned his head towards the moon to take a look at it. His gaze softened when he looked at it and his bright blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight. He turned back to his original direction he was heading to and continued walking down these freezing cold streets. Snowflakes settled themselves on top of his messy blonde hair. His hair was an absolute mess in the back, he couldn't remember the last time he brushed trough it properly. Maybe it's been a few days, or a week or even months? He really couldn't remember. A warm memory of his mother came forward, his hair used to look a bit neater. His mother always took good care of him, he used to look like a perfectly groomed kid. The memory brought a smile upon the youngster's face and a small sigh of relief could be heard. A moment later his smile faded when his happy memory turned into a horrible one. His eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks once again. His eyes had started to water. He didn't want to think about bad things anymore, he wanted to happy thoughts and memories back. He continued his path in a quicker pace until he reached the sketchy side of the city he was in. His tears had dried up by now. Nobody wants to be in this part of the city, it's known for its bad reputation. Crimes happen here daily and people have gone missing regularly as well in this area. The young boy made his way further into the sketchy part of town and reached a part where a lot of boxes were gathered, along with some other rubbish. The rubbish and boxes looked like some sort of cheap house if you looked at it really closely. He got onto his knees and crawled into the tiny space that was created by all the rubbish. He closed the space off with a big piece of metal rubbish, it seemed to serve like a door. He grabbed some boxes that weren't in use and folded them flat. He laid down on the folded cardboard and used his arms as a pillow for his head. The boy felt exhausted, he had walked across the whole city today. His eyes felt heavy and they slowly closed. His breathing slowed down and got slightly heavier.
"Toshinori, get up!" A woman's voice echoed trough his head in a gentle tone. The boy was suddenly wide awake and got up. He crawled as fast as possible to get out of the boxes and rubbish, causing the whole makeshift house to break down onto the ground. The boy stood there in the shady alleyway, all excited. "Mama, I'm here! Where are you?" The boy exclaimed loudly, loud enough to echo trough the surrounding streets. There was nobody there other than himself. The voice wasn't real, it was all in his head. "Mom..?" He quietly sobbed, tears falling from his eyes. He nervously fiddled with his hands and looked back at the makeshift house, it was completely destroyed. He kneeled down and tried fixing it as best as he could, it looked even worse than before now. He sat down inside of the makeshift house he had made. The cold sharp wind still blew trough every opening, blowing away every last bit of his warmth. A shiver got sent down his spine and he covered himself up with some folded boxes. He could feel his eyelids close themselves again, he felt drowsy and tired. The boy fell asleep due to the exhaustion, he hadn't slept for two days.
He got a dream, a dream about having a happy life. He had a family, a big warm house, his own toys, his own blankets, clean clothes and a big smile on his face. The corners of his mouth curled up in his sleep because of the dream. He wanted to stay in that dream for forever, but he obviously couldn't. A few hours passed, it was around 3A.M. now. The kid got woken up by a loud sound further in the dark alleyway. He was sitting straight up now and carefully peeked trough the openings of the makeshift house. He could see some shady shadows but wasn't really sure if the shadows were from people or just objects. He slowly crawled back into the spot from before and pulled his knees up to his chest. He rocked himself back and forth to soothe himself, and he softly whispered: "Oh come on Toshinori, you're just imagining things. First the voice and now this random sound. Stop it stupid brain!" Toshinori hit himself a couple of times on the head, hurting himself slightly.
An intimidating voice could be heard from across the alleyway, it said: "Come on, give me the money, scum!" Toshinori's eyes widened when he heard the loud voice. What was happening over there? He sighed and peeked trough the openings again; trying to see what's going on over there. He could hear a lighter voice talk: "S-Sir, I said I'd deliver the money end of the month, I-I've still got two days!" Toshinori's bushy eyebrows furrowed when he heard what was going on over there. There was nothing he could do about it, what's a quirk-less 14 year old boy going to do about it? His hands nervously twirled trough his hair. He kept on trying to see what was happening over there but he couldn't see. He slowly got up and crawled carefully out of the house he had made before, this time it didn't collapse. The cold wind hit him hard, causing him to shiver even more than he was already. He walked closer to where these people were arguing. He started to see their shadows more clearly and started eavesdropping them. The man with the intimidating voice was tall, he was surely over two meters tall. The guy with the lighter voice was a lot smaller and weaker, he was pinned to the wall by some weird tentacle-like quirk by the taller man. "Stop making excuses, we both know you won't have the money in two days either. Now say goodbye to your pathetic life." the taller man spoke calmly yet intimidating. The smaller guy was begging for his life at this point. Toshinori couldn't bear to watch this and turned back around, quickly making his way back out of there. The moment the boy had turned around he could hear few snapping noises. The weak man screamed at the top of his lungs, those sounds from before were his bones snapping into pieces.
Toshinori took one small look back and saw the weak guy in multiple pieces, he felt nauseous at this sight. He felt sick, so sick! His heart rate went trough the roof! He ran, he ran as fast as he could. He needed to get out of here as fast as possible! Luckily the tall man didn't notice Toshinori. The boy hid in his little makeshift house and pulled his knees back up to his chest.
He brushed the snow off of his shoulders, his clothes were cold and wet. Toshinori hates the winters, they're cold and wet. The boy was calming down again, his heart started beating a lot less fast now. "Jeez, what was that about? That was quite an interesting situation. Just... wow." the kid whispered to himself. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and ran his hands trough his blonde hair. "What do I do now? I just saw a man get brutally murdered. Well, it's not like it's the first time." Toshinori sounded so casual about it, he had gotten used to the things that happened here. It's an actual wonder that the boy isn't harmed after all this time spent in the shady part of town.
Somehow he's safe, and that's actually the only thing that matters to him. He tries his best to not get involved into anything, and it certainly pays off in a way. He tries his best to relax right now, he lays back down on the flat boxes. He's curled up in a little ball to save as much warmth as he can. He knew the night wasn't over yet, so he closed his eyes yet again. He tried to get as comfortable as he could and used some random pieces of cloth as a blanket.
Footsteps seemed to be approaching the location of the boy, they approached very slowly. But Toshinori didn't seem to be aware of the approaching footsteps...