Silent City

5. The Station

 The Hollow Knight hears someone walking around near him. There's far off conversations coming from one side of the room. Their hearing feels enhanced. They suddenly become very aware of the cold metal on their skin. Their eyes blink open. They felt strangely calm, and best of all, they couldn't feel the Radiance's influence at all. It was strange-- her influence was so strong before they passed out yesterday.

That was yesterday? Were they really asleep for that long?

"Oh, you're up! Thank god. We really do need some information for that bizarre case." the Hollow Knight looked around. They were in a cage--no, a prison cell. The officer who spoke was looking at them through the bars. He looked relatively friendly, but the Hollow Knight wasn't really a fan of people by any extent.

"So, you ready?" he asked. Hollow stared back at him. "Come on, we don't got all day."

They stood up, but didn't start toward the door. The officer came over to unlock their door, as they brought their hand up to their left eye. It was uncovered, but it wasn't dripping with infection. They walked over to the toilet in the corner of the room and eyed their reflection in the water. The infection in their eye was gone.

"Come with me, big guy." the officer told them. Hollow turned back toward him, and stopped in front of the door. "Normally we'd handcuff you, but seeing as you only have one arm..."

The guy shrugged and took him out of the cell. A few other people sat inside of a cell, speaking in drunken tones with each other. Hollow tried to shrink themselves down, disappear like they tried to at their job.

They were led into a room with a wooden table and a chair on either side of it. There was a mirror lining one of the walls. The officer led the Hollow Knight into one of the chairs, and they sat down obediently.

"Now you just wait here for a bit. Somebody's going to come in and ask you a few questions." the officer pat Hollow's shoulder before turning toward the door. He considered something for a second, before turning back and handcuffing Hollow to the chair.

They were very aware of their surroundings. The hum of the air conditioner felt deafening. They shivered as they felt a small gust of air ruffle their hair. They could hear themselves breathing. In and out, in and out.

The door creaked open again, and another man walked in. He was a bald man wearing a uniform, and he looked relatively tired. He was carrying a brown file.

"Jesus..." he muttered, sitting across from Hollow. "You have no idea the drama you've stirred up about here."

He put the file in front of Hollow, and opened it. There wasn't a lot inside, just a picture of Hollow and a bit of information about them. "I've been getting questions from all my coworkers all day about you. This feels like an episode of a cop drama or something."

He looked up at the Hollow Knight. "I'm officer Wilde, but you can just call me Bill while we're in here, mkay?"

Hollow nodded, without really processing anything the officer just said.
Their hand was gripping the chair's arm, impatient for something to do.

"So... it says here in your File that your name is Samuel Richard Davidson, is that correct?"

Hollow had never heard that name in their life. Was it their legal name? They didn't recall ever even getting a legal name. But they had to have gotten it from somewhere. They only ever remembered people calling them boy, or "you," or on the rare occasion, mister. Where had that name even come from?
Hollow nodded though, figuring that nodding was the correct course of action.

"Okay... and you are 43 years old?"

Hollow nodded again, despite not knowing where that number came from.