Winged and Hurting (AU!Virgil One-shots)

Shadow Personified

Shadow Personified, Age 11 [5/19/2020]

Just let me die.

The world was such a cruel and dark place. He felt so hungry and weak... he's gone hungry before. He's gone without food for days on end without eating but this time it was too much. He felt so faint.

He wanted release from his prison. He was trapped within the four walls of his room and the only way out was locked by the prison guard: his mother.

She never wanted me. She never cared. The boy thought to himself. She hates me!

A sob escaped his lips and he clenched his stomach. He wanted to scream and yell but he was too weak to do anything.

He was well familiar with these walls. He's been trapped here before but never for longer than a week, maybe two. It's been months. It's been so long he's lost the concept of time. He felt so lonely, so disconnected.

The only social interaction given was when his mother would occasionally bring him food and water.

Had she forgotten he was here? Had she forgotten to bring him substance?

The eleven-year-old boy unwrapped himself from his blankets that kept him warm. Body fat was scarce on the boy. If you were able to see under the hoodie he wore, you would be able to count his ribs.

He struggled to stand up, his body fighting against him. He felt weak and the air felt like it was weighing down on him. At this point, his struggle was to see if he could muster up energy. He was fighting against his own body.

He slowly but surely made his way toward the door, using the wall to support him. It felt good to use his limbs again.

Once he made it to the door, he knocked on it. He continued to knock until he could hear footsteps get closer.

The door opened to his mother. "What do you want?"

"F-food." He struggled to speak. Even the spit in his mouth was not enough to hydrate his body let alone his vocal chords to be able to speak without a rasp.

Mother blinked at him, a quick flash of regret in her eyes. "Hmph, I guess it's been awhile since I last permitted you to eat." She muttered, turning heel. "Go sit at the dining table. I will prepare you something."

Was she actually letting him leave the room? His lips parted in surprise and he stared after her, unable to move for several moments. Quickly realizing how behind he was from her quick walking, he walked to the table. His body didn't want to work and it was a struggle to push forward to the table.

The ringing of a phone sounded from the direction of the closed off kitchen. It stopped with a voice. "Aeneid Storm, speaking. Who's this?"

This was when the boy got an idea... he could run. He wasn't locked in! His mother was distracted. He could escape this... he could escape the hurt.

"But you won't." A voice whispered in his ear. "You aren't brave enough to go out in the world alone, Virgil. You can't take care of yourself! It's a big scary world out there with people who will hurt you. You don't know how they work. You don't know how to tiptoe around people out there. It's scary out there. In here is safe-"

"'In here' is not safe!" He cried out. "'In here' is awful! 'In here' is bad for me! This is not normal! I know that it isn't! I need to escape-"

"What would escaping do for you?" The shadow voice carried on, sounding like it was dipped in poison. "They'll just find you. They'll always come back and haunt you, even if you do manage to escape." The shadow's breath was on Virgil's neck, causing the hair to stand up and goosebumps to cover the surface of his skin.

"Shut up. Shut up!" Virgil covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the voice. "Just leave me alone!"

"I will never go away, Virgil~" The shadow drew out the syllables of his name. "I am a part of you. I will always be here, even if I'm hidden deep inside your mind. I say what you know is true."

Virgil uncovered his eyes and ears, staring his shadow self straight in the eyes. "No." He wasn't going to allow this personification of his own thoughts and fears hinder him. 

"No? Are you really not going to listen to me? You know I'm correct. I am a part of you, remember?"

Virgil willed his weak legs to move forward. He tried his best to reject the shadow's thoughts- his thoughts.

Virgil put his hand on the door knob and the shadow started to scream. All confidence the shadow had was gone. As soon as the door opened, the shadow vanished.

Virgil was brought out of his head and out of the swirling thoughts in his mind. He had to act and he had to act now or he would never have a chance. Self-preservation kicked in and gave him an unearned boost of energy he didn't have to spare. He darted down the apartment hall and down the stairs. The elevator was too slow to trust.

Once he reached the bottom floor of the apartment, he darted out the door and then down the street. Everything became a blur but he didn't care. He was powered on pure adrenaline at this point. He had escaped his mother and there was nothing but possibility in store for him...

{To be continued}

A/N I try not to do these but I felt the need to mention that I wrote this for English in six hours so- I didn't edit it and it's probably not good seeing how long I spent on it but ya know I'm calling it a day.