Chapter Text
It happens before you see it, it floods your senses. A sharp crack and the inability to move your body, invades your mind. The light, the sun’s warmth enveloping your body despite the cold consuming your being, penetrating down to your very bones. A warm liquid spreads around your head, making it difficult to focus on the screams you hear. You can faintly see the outline of a woman standing over you before you decide to close your eyes.
When you open your eyes again, you’re falling. Panic shoots through you as you desperately try to grab onto something—anything—to save yourself. But there’s nothing. Because you're in the air, a fact that registers shortly after. Confusion takes hold through the panic. ‘Why am I in the sky?’ was your first thought. You can vividly recall just a few moments ago, you were at your college campus. The sun was blinding, and the wind lightly rustled your hair along with your bouncy steps. There was a giddy feeling in your chest because a cool hippie girl had just given you a compliment. Your eyes widen with realization thinking of the warm substance that had pooled around your head shortly before waking in the sky.
“Did I die?” you speak aloud, trying to process what happened before your second death happens when you hit the ground. “Holy shit. This is so ass. I'm going to die again before I even get to live my second chance.” You pause for a moment before continuing, “Or maybe I'm falling down to hell.” Your hand comes up to brush against your hair clips, a gift given to you by a friend of yours a few years ago. The two clips had seen you through high school and you brought them with you to college. Having a constant in your life, something that doesn't change or leave in this ever changing world has been a consistent feeling of stability, a feeling of comfort. Your fingers trace the edges of its star shape, the slight stabbing feeling when pressing on one of the points grounds you with reality.
You’re falling to your death.
Though you had constantly joked about dying since you were thirteen, and had even attempted to take your own life on one occasion, the reality that death is on your doorstep is never an easy one. The closer you get to the ground, the more intense your wish to survive becomes. Not only that, but a pungent smell fills your nose. Your face scrunches with disgust, a gag rising from your throat.
“That’s a demonic ass smell. What the fuck?”
Tears well up in your eyes from the putrid scent assaulting your senses. “Am I actually falling into hell?”
You pull your shirt over your nose to try to cling to some form of shelter from the diabolical odor punching you in the face only to realize, these aren't the clothes you put on this morning. White and gold cover your body, draping off your limbs, clearly a size or two too big. The dress you now notice you're wearing flutters violently in the wind, whipping against your legs as the air pushes you every which way. As you near the ground, tears blur your vision but you can almost make out big piles of what looks like, ‘trash?’ On the ground. ‘There’s no way,’ you think ‘Am I falling into a dump? AM I GOING TO DIE IN A FUCKING DUMP???’
The adrenaline pumps through your system, your mind urgently trying to find a way to survive, to live.
Nothing in your life had ever prepared you for a situation like this, you weren't some thrill chaser, some sky diver who glides through the air, no! That wasn't you. The most you had ever done was a rollercoaster, or maybe the tiny zipline at your childhood pumpkin patch. What are you supposed to do when you’re free falling from.. who even knows how many feet! You briefly wonder if sky diving instructors gave instructions on what to do if your parachute doesn't open, and somewhat regret not going with your friend when he invited you last year. Though knowing your luck, you would've been in this exact situation.
Suddenly, and not so suddenly, your body is inches from the ground, you rotate your body to attempt to brace for impact. Better your back then your face, you think. You let out an animalistic scream you didn't even know you could make, pure unfiltered terror tearing through your mind.
“OH FUCK I’M SO DEAD.”
All at once, your body crashes into the tallest pile of garbage, the air gets ripped from your lungs, stabbing pains all throughout your back as you try to catch your breath with an intense struggle. This is the second worst pain you've felt all day. You fight your body's urge to black out and force yourself to sit up, it's truly a miracle that you even survived that fall to begin with, let alone with what appears to be no broken bones. Your hand combs through your hair, praying your clips stayed with you through the fall, sighing in relief when you feel the cool metal. You begin to look around and run your fingers over their smooth surface to calm yourself in this strange situation. “Huh.” you say aloud. ‘This feels almost…familiar..’ you scan the area, piles of trash as far as the eye can see. This is not some random dump. Jagged metal scraps and ripped plush toys, broken and new things. Discarded items that no one wanted.
Your eyes narrow. There's a crunching sound getting closer to you, glancing in the direction you try to focus on whatever is nearing, is it dangerous? You hope not, your body is kinda sore. You scramble to your feet anyway, preparing to make a run for it if necessary. You soon come to realize the crunching was footsteps. Footsteps of a giant monster. A monster made of trash. You freeze. Your heart stops. Your eyes nearly roll back into your head.
You’ve been isekaied into GACHIAKUTA.
You are SO dead.