Chapter Text
Here's the original if you want to read it.
"IZUKU!"
A scream ripped through the dingy two story apartment creating waves of sound that bounced up the stairs and down the hallway.
Izuku shot up out of bed too quickly and fell to the floor feeling the edges of his nightmare still pull at his brain. He quickly scrambled for his alarm clock and saw that it was blinking at 0:00. The red light from the numbers on the display screen taunted him. They must have lost power somewhere in the middle of the night again which wasn't uncommon where he lived.
Oh, you've done it now.
They lived right smack in the middle of the red light district. It was all they could afford with his mother's job. A dingy two bedroom apartment that had already been broken into multiple times, but luckily while no one was home. It wasn't a big deal to them because they didn't have anything worth stealing anyway. They didn't even own a TV anymore. That had to be sold off to afford groceries.
It wasn't always like that. They used to live in the middle class part of town in a nicer apartment but that was before he was diagnosed Quirkless and before his father left them because of it.
"IZUKU!"
Izuku scrambled back to his feet just in time for his mom to swing the door wide open so the doorknob dug into the wall.
He had missed the most important part of his day and he was about to pay dearly for it.
"Mom, I'm so s-sorry. I'll go downstairs right now and s-start on breakfast. I can be a little late for s-school," he offered but his mother was already stepping into the room with her hand up.
"Mom! Ow! I'm s-sorry!" Izuku braced himself by throwing his arms up as a shield as his mother wailed on him with so much fury in her eyes. She was breathing heavily and was putting as much force behind her hits as she could.
"I tell you to do one thing and you can't even do it, you useless piece of shit!"
"Ow! I'm s-sorry! I'll do better!" He didn't dare bring up the excuse that the power went out again and wiped his alarm.
He slowly sunk to the floor sobbing as she continued to hit him moving her aim to the top of his head once he was low enough. Izuku squirmed back and forth as he tried to cover up his head as much as he could. He would definitely have bruises on his arms later from how hard she was hitting.
"I have given you everything! And you have given nothing in return and I'm sick of it!" she screamed and left the room, leaving her son trembling and crying.
Izuku's fear settled into his bones as he saw her stomp out of the room and down the hall like she was his age and not a grown adult. He heard the linen closet in the hallway open and close. And then more stomping.
Next thing he knew, an empty duffel bag hit him square in the face nearly knocking him over.
"Pack your shit and leave. The lease ends in a month, but I better not see you back here. I couldn't care less where you go or what you do. Just. Get. Out!" she screamed the last word and left slamming the door shut. Izuku could only stare at the door with tears streaming down his face and his body trembling.
He couldn't totally tell if she was being serious or not. Arguments in the past had led her to want to kick him out but the next day she would pretend like it didn't happen. Arguments. Plural. It was a pattern that Izuku knew well.
But she had never wailed on him that hard before for that long. Sure she would slap him occasionally and hit the back of his head with a force greater than the north wind, but she had never bruised him that badly before.
She was serious.
Izuku was frozen. Ice degraded his muscles as he stared at the door, breath heaving.
Where would he go? How would he make money? Maybe she wasn't as serious as he thought she was?
"I want you out in thirty minutes!" he heard her scream from downstairs.
That seemed to kick his body into gear and he began to scramble through his drawers stuffing as many pieces of clothing as he could carry. He could only afford room for a thin throw blanket that had his favorite hero on the front.
All Might.
He wished he was All Might right now. He bet he never had to go through whatever he was going through at that moment. He bet he had normal parents because he had a Quirk. He bet that he had a normal life before he rose to fame. If only he had a life like that for himself, he would have so much potential.
Fifteen minutes passed as he sniffled in between putting clothes away. He made sure to put all of his school work and notebooks in his yellow backpack. He was also able to smuggle a couple of snacks he had been hiding under his mattress for days like those into his backpack.
He could go to a local shelter but that would raise suspicion because he was so young and he would go into the system immediately. He wanted to avoid that at all costs. He'd rather be homeless and by himself than placed with another family who would hate to have a Quirkless kid around. There were homeless camps but the same thing would apply. He had to find a space all to himself.
He knew how hard life was for Quirkless people like him. He was unfortunately a part of a statistic whether he liked it or not and he didn't like it one bit.
Forty-two percent of the Quirkless population ended up homeless before the age of twenty-one. That was almost half the population.
He was just another statistic.
When he finished packing, he was hiccuping by then struggling to get air into his lungs from the excessive sobbing. He kept having to take short ten second breaks to wipe at his eyes because he couldn't see.
Stop your crying and get the fuck up.
There was that voice in his head again. The mean one at least. Of course the nice voices weren't active at the lowest point of his life. He hated to imagine that the mean voice in his head was his father, but maybe it was, and knowing that was terrifying.
He took one final look at his room. His All Might posters were going to have to stay. He couldn't take most of his things and he felt a weird dissconnect about that. Were they really ever his to begin with?
As quietly as he could, he hoisted his duffel and his backpack over his shoulders and opened his door.
He was expecting his mother to be stomping around downstairs angrily but that wasn't the case. Instead, she was poised in the kitchen in front of the stove, shoulders relaxed and a neutral expression on her face. She was humming a tune that Izuku recognized but couldn't quite name.
"M-mom?" he stuttered, walking slow as if not to step on eggshells.
She only hummed louder.
She wouldn't even look at him.
"M-mom?" he tried again.
The humming continued to get louder. It was like she was a tea kettle about to start boiling and he knew what happened when she reached her limit. He wanted to avoid that at all costs so he opted to head for the front door instead.
Tears still streaming down his face, he opened the door, and in one last act of rebellion, slammed the door hard enough to rattle the walls. He had no idea where that suddenly came from, so in an act of terror, he bolted out of there like his pants were on fire.
He didn't know how he was going to take care of himself. He didn't know how he was going to get food. He didn't know how he was going to protect himself in a rather dangerous section of the city. He didn't know how he was going to keep up with school. Speaking of…
He would have to find a place to stash his stuff before school, but he didn't even know where to start.
Let's go to my hideout.
Hideout? What hideout?
Suddenly his legs started moving in a random direction and he couldn't control them. It was like he was watching his body move from the outside. It was freaking him out but panicking wasn't getting him control of his limbs.
He was possessed. He had to be. Otherwise how else would he lose control of his limbs? Maybe it was someone's Quirk that randomly went off on him? Maybe he was specifically being targeted?
It lasted like that for the whole trip over to what looked like a small abandoned shop on the edge of the red light district. The front of the shop was dilapidated and its old washed out sign was hanging off the wall above the doors. It looked like it was going to fall off at any point of time the way it slightly swung in the gentle breeze. The windows and glass doors were boarded up with thin sheets of plywood.
It looked like it used to be a ramen shop that went out of business. There were still a few bar stools outside that were knocked over, but no tables.
Izuku stared at the building for what seemed like forever until that rude voice in his head snapped him back to reality.
What are you waiting for? Go in already.
He found he had control over his body again by moving his arms and looking down at his hands. Blinking, he looked back up to the shop and slowly made his way to the glass front door that was locked.
Great, how exactly was he supposed to get in there without a—
Key is in the front pocket of our backpack.
Our?
Izuku swung his backpack around to the front and futzed with the zipper of the front pocket until he was able to fish out a key. Where did he even get this?
I know a guy.
He knew a guy? Izuku didn't remember this guy. What guy? Huh?
With many questions swirling around in his head, he took the key to the lock and opened the doors and what was inside shocked him.
The inside was fairly clean. There was no furniture but you could see scuff marks on the floor where they used to be. The kitchen part of the shop was vacant and for the most part clean. There were only a few forgotten dirty dishes on the counter and an interesting stain on the front of the fridge. The bar itself was dusty but not stained at least and the door to the office in the back was open.
How did he get the key to this shop? Why didn't he remember it? Was his body really possessed? Was he sick?
Get a hold of yourself. We still need to get to school numb nuts.
We?
Blinking, he urged his legs to move towards the back where the office was. It was empty but clean and there were already blankets and a thin mattress plastered to the floor in the back of the room. He raised his eyebrow at it questioningly.
Had he prepared this room already? Or was he taking this from someone else?
I've been coming here for months. This is our stuff.
Our stuff?
That wasn't true. He had no memory of this place. How could he have been going to the abandoned shop if he didn't remember it?
Taking a closer look at the bed spread in front of him, he recognized the blankets from his own room that he had remembered disappeared a while ago. How did they end up here?
Upon closer inspection of the room quite a lot of his stuff was there. Inside the cabinets a few of his collectibles of All Might was there as well as more stashed food in packages, cans, and some of his notebooks. There was even a small poster on the wall of his favorite hero. He was absolutely dumbfounded.
He guessed that this is where he was going to live now. He could renovate it to the best of his ability to make it more homey. It could definitely use a good clean.
Hey. School. Get your ass into gear.
The voice in his head was stern but not as mean as it was earlier. Izuku had gotten distracted taking a deeper look around the place. There was a generator in the break room that if he got it to work he could use the lights. That would be helpful so he didn't have to do his homework in the dark. Though maybe he should go to the library to do that now.
Izuku grabbed his yellow backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and headed out of the restaurant locking the door behind him. He looked around for anyone watching and once the coast was clear he was on the way to school.
—
Luckily the school was only a thirty minute commute on foot and no one even spared him a passing glance as he made it to his class three hours late. Well except for Kacchan who was glaring daggers at him the whole time.
Kacchan used to be his childhood friend but ever since he was diagnosed as Quirkless he had transformed himself into Izuku's bully. He never fared well against his explosion Quirk.
As he thought, it was hard to concentrate in class so he took out one of his hero analysis journals—number thirteen to be exact—to write down notes he had stuck in his head about the punching hero Death Arms.
Writing analyses about heroes had the same soothing factor as a baby sucking its thumb. It was the only thing he could turn to after everything.
Inside the notebook was a rudimentary drawing of the hero with arrows pointing to his costume and labeling what they were and their purpose. On the other page was a multi-paragraph breakdown of his Quirk and the best ways to use it.
He didn't even know when school was over until Kacchan snatched his journal and took a peek at the open page.
"Death Arms, huh? You got a crush on him, shitty Deku?" he barked out a laugh and his cronies behind him snickered along.
"V-very funny K-Kacchan," he said nervously, acting like he was laughing along but he wasn't.
"Hero analysis for the future? What a delusion!" one of his cronies laughed.
"I told you to stop calling me that, shitty Deku!" Kacchan slammed a hand on Izuku's desk which made him jump.
"And I t-told you to s-stop calling me D-Deku," Izuku quipped back.
"What was that?" Kacchan grit his teeth and slammed the notebook in between his hands. A small explosion rang out completely singing the outside of his notebook. Izuku looked exasperated and tired.
After the notebook was securely ruined, Kacchan took one more step and tossed it out of the window. Izuku shot out of his chair and ran to the window to see where his notebook had landed. Great it was going to have water damage too.
"You're such a Quirkless wannabe," Kacchan laughed and started heading towards the door.
"You'll never be a hero. What a freak!"
"You know if you really wanna be a hero that badly, there actually might be another way." Izuku's ears perked up at that but it was misplaced. "Just pray that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof of the building." Kacchan finished before he left the classroom.
Izuku looked devastated but for a moment it didn't seem like a bad idea. He had just got kicked out of his own home by his own mother. He had to take shelter in an abandoned restaurant in the shady part of town. He didn't know how he was going to take care of himself. He didn't know how he was going to survive. So maybe he shouldn't.
Maybe he shouldn't.
Don't be a fucking coward.
That mean voice again.
Izuku bit his lip and waited until he was sure the group of boys were gone so he could leave the classroom.
A couple of koi fish were gumming at his notebook in the pond in the front so he gingerly stole it back to assess the damage.
He shook it off and thumbed through it finding that a lot of his paragraphs and drawings were washed out and bleeding through the pages. Great. He was going to have to copy everything into a new notebook which he didn't have the means to get at the moment.
He took a moment to look up at the school building. It was tall there was no doubt about that. Maybe it was a good idea.
With a new found resolve, he felt his legs move in the direction of the building again and up the stairs inside towards the roof.
The roof door was heavy on purpose but he pushed through feeling a gust of wind pull at his hair. For the first time that day he felt a calmness wash over him as if he knew it would be over and done with soon.
Pussy. Useless fucking cunt.
The voice in his head was more agitated now but he couldn't care less. This was his body. This was his life. It didn't belong to anybody else. This was his decision.
He took a long look up at the sky that held several funny shaped clouds and took a deep breath before continuing to the edge of the building.
Everything would be okay.
He just had to end it first.
—
Katsuki felt something pull at his stomach after he left the building with his friends.
He didn't really want Deku to die. He didn't even know why he said that. Now he was just as bad as everyone else in his class that ever suicide baited him. It just flew out of his mouth before he could stop himself. It wasn't a very heroic thing to do.
He was just so angry at Deku for always looking down on and thinking he was better than him. Ever since they were little he had this gnawing feeling inside of him that Deku was better than him and it royally pissed him off every day. He couldn't help but let it bother him.
But something was different about him today. He was quieter than normal and that was saying something. Usually he would have verbally retaliated more but he only had a pass at it twice and that just wasn't like him. He was always defensive. Always on the defense.
So what changed?
"Guys I'll see you tomorrow. Forgot something in the classroom," he told his cronies.
"Really Bakugo? You're slipping," one giggled and Katsuki sneered at him.
"Say that again and I'll explode you," he said with vigor, raising a hand with sparks popping off of it. His friend raised his hands in mock surrender and the other one just waved goodbye before they set off.
Once they were far enough away, Katsuki turned and bolted for the front doors.
—
"Deku stop!"
The spiky haired blond shouted at a green curly haired boy who was standing on the ledge of the tallest part of the school building. Red shoes scraped the edge back and forth in contemplation, untied laces waving in the wind. Green hair whipping back and forth.
The view was beautiful but damning once he looked down. He would do it. He would jump and it would all end. It would all end.
You let me out right now you bastard!
Izuku slowly turned around to face him and the look on his face was nothing short of chilling. The bags under his eyes were deep and dark. His eyes had lost their luster. His skin was pale making his freckles stand out more. His posture was deflated. He was ready to give up.
This wasn't the boy that Katsuki once knew. He was remembering bright green eyes and a wild grin to match with a hand outstretched to him. This wasn't him. This wasn't Deku.
And that absolutely terrified Katsuki.
He shouldn't have opened his stupid mouth.
He didn't look good at all. Katsuki didn't remember him looking this bad in class earlier, but this might have been the first time that he got a good look at his childhood friend in a long time. He was finally seeing him again but it might have been too late.
They stayed like that, staring at each other. Katsuki was huffing from flying up three floors of stairs and there were tears starting to bloom in Izuku's eyes.
"We can talk about it Deku! Just talk to me!" Katsuki shouted.
"Now you want to talk?" Izuku's voice was calm and low, barely audible above the wind winding around them like a security blanket.
"I didn't mean what I said! I just say shit. You know that!" he pleaded, slowly inching closer to the boy on the edge.
"The 'shit' you say has real life consequences Kacchan, but it's not just you," Izuku added and began to unbutton his school uniform. He slipped it off leaving his white button up shirt underneath. He extended his arm behind him, holding his black school blazer over the open air and dropped it as if to promise he would do the same.
The blazer floated down wistfully on the wind until it settled on the floor just behind the last group to exit the building. They didn't notice.
The green haired boy unbuttoned his white shirt and opened it up to show his skin underneath.
He was littered in scars and gnarly green-purple bruises.
Burn scars, lashing scars, and self-harm scars. Katsuki was gobsmacked. Where had all those come from? Not to mention the boy was skin and bones. Were his parents not taking care of him?
"Who's hurting you, Deku?" Katsuki asked desperately, inching closer and closer. He would reach out and grab him and never let go. Not again.
He felt a protective energy swell in his chest and he really wanted to murder the people who were doing this to him. If he had known this was happening. No.
If only he had earned his trust enough to rely on him when something like that was happening. It was all Katsuki's fault.
He was the one who rejected Deku. He was the one that put him down every day ignoring the tired smile on his lips. He was the one that told him to take a swan dive off the roof.
Izuku began to button up his shirt again to conceal his story.
"Life— it's not made for Quirkless kids like me," the end of his sentence held so much bitterness and malice as if he were copying the way it was said to him. "My parents—" he cut himself off as Katsuki scanned his face.
The burn scars.
No way.
Hisashi Midoriya was a well known fire breather who traveled the world with his talent in a group of other performers. It was a well paying job, but one of the only Cheviots of the job was that he was barely home and it seems like when he was, he was abusing his son.
Anger bloomed onto Katsuki's face like a firework. Izuku must have realized that Katsuki put the puzzle pieces together and immediately looked ashamed like it was his fault. Katsuki wanted to beat that asshole to a pulp.
The blond wasn't really fond of Deku ever since he was deemed Quirkless but that didn't mean he wanted him to kill himself for real.
He knew what he said was wrong. The consequence was playing out right in front of him. Of course he wanted to take it back. He would do anything to take it back.
But he couldn't.
Izuku took a deep breath, his chest heaving slowly.
"I'm tired Kacchan," he said sadly and moved one of his feet slightly back. Katsuki could have sworn he saw him wobble. Katsuki's body twitched as if getting ready to run to catch him, but he stayed where he was. His legs wouldn't move.
Izuku was tired of feeling like a burden to everyone around him. It seemed no one truly liked him. No one wanted him to be around. If that's what everyone wanted, he could make it happen.
"Don't do it Deku. Stay here with me you asshole. Stay!" Katsuki pleaded and started moving faster towards him, careful not to startle him.
"I can't Kacchan. The world would be so much better without me. My parents wouldn't have a Quirkless son. No one would have to take care of me and I don't have to hurt anymore. Win win situation," and then he smiled. "You won't miss me."
"I would miss you, you asshole!" Katsuki practically screamed at him. Izuku's smile turned bitter.
"I'm only doing what you told me to do."
And then he stepped backwards off the ledge.
"IZUKU!"
—
Reiterate.
—
Izuku could feel the wind pass him as his body tanked towards the ground. He couldn't see anything because his hair kept whipping in his face but he was sure he saw Kacchan look over the ledge and scream his name.
In his mind there was another string of curses from the mean voice but there was another voice that he didn't recognize. It sounded like a woman's voice.
He closed his eyes with a smile and waited for an impact.
—
"Don't do it Deku. Stay here with me you asshole. Stay!" Katsuki pleaded and started moving faster towards him, careful not to startle him.
Izuku blinked and looked around him. He could have sworn he was already falling off the edge but there he was on the roof again safe and sound. He didn't want to be safe. He wanted to be falling.
It felt like a major case of deja vu but he could feel a subtle yank in his brain telling him that it wasn't.
What had just happened?
"I can't Kacchan. The world would be so much better without me. My parents wouldn't have a Quirkless son. No one would have to take care of me and I don't have to hurt anymore. Win win situation," and then he smiled. "You won't miss me." He said again, hopefully for the last time.
"I would miss you, you asshole!" Katsuki practically screamed at him. Izuku's smile turned bitter.
"I'm only doing what you told me to do."
And then he stepped backwards off the ledge.
"IZUKU!"
—
Reiterate.
—
There was that strange feminine voice in his head again and the wind. He was hoping the wind would gobble him up whole, but that was only wishful thinking.
—
"Don't do it Deku. Stay here with me you asshole. Stay!" Katsuki pleaded and started moving faster towards him, careful not to startle him.
Not again.
Izuku looked around him again trying to gauge what was happening. He could have sworn he jumped twice but kept going back to the time right before he jumped. Was this someone's Quirk being enacted on him? Was he stuck in a time loop? Was he doomed never to die? What a cruel twist of fate if that was the case.
And what were these voices inside his head?
"I can't Kacchan," he said and stopped there not wanting to go through his whole explanation again. He simply walked backwards off the ledge.
—
Reiterate.
—
"Don't do it Deku. Stay here with me you asshole. Stay!" Katsuki pleaded and started moving faster towards him, careful not to startle him.
Izuku sighed a deep frustrated sigh which seemed to come out of nowhere for Katsuki. Izuku's head was pounding. There was no way it was his Quirk at work. He didn't even have one. Did he?
"Why can't I just die Kacchan?" he said with a desperate laugh as he opened his arms as if to say 'someone come get me'.
"Because it's stupid, that's why!" Kacchan yelled back balling his fists.
"Then don't say what you don't mean."
He jumped. Again.
And again.
And again.
Without letting Kacchan get a word out.
There was always that word.
Reiterate.
What did that mean?
—
Reiterate.
Reiterate.
Reiterate.
—
Izuku's head was in an indescribable amount of pain as he warped for the last time back to the roof top. He couldn't even hear the same words that Kacchan was saying because his breathing was overpowering any sound that tried to break through to his ears.
He was panicking now. His chest heaved and he was grabbing at his hair trying to pull back any sanity he had left.
It wasn't working.
"What the hell is going on!" Izuku shouted which caught Kacchan off guard.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Kacchan shouted back. "You're the one on the literal edge!"
Izuku stumbled backwards feeling his legs give out from underneath him. He collapsed into a seated position on the ledge.
"I don't feel so good," Izuku groaned and held his head in one hand. His whole body ached but his head was the worst. Maybe if he fell one last time the loop would end.
"Yeah, I can see that. Let me help you away from there," Kacchan started walking towards him but Izuku shot a hand out to stop him.
"Kacchan I keep trying but I'm not dying," and then another desperate laugh. "Why can't I have anything I want? Why can't I have this?" he cried, tears streaming down his face. He was frustrated. He was in pain. He just wanted it to end.
"What are you talking about? You haven't even jumped yet," Kacchan pointed out and Izuku sighed.
"Maybe this will be the last time. If it is a Quirk there is a limit to how many times I Reiterate. Maybe this time will be the last time. I can finally get what I want. I can finally be free," he mumbled to himself but Kacchan couldn't quite hear him over the wind.
"Izuku wait!"
Izuku was already tipping back with his eyes closed and a calm smile on his face. This had to be the last time. It had to be.
Izubay, now!
Izuku could feel himself get pulled to the back parts of his brain as he fell, his vision tunneling. What was even happening?
He drifted away.
—
Izubay locked himself into the body, the fear of the fall rocking his joints. He could see Kacchan looking down at him with the same amount of horror in his eyes.
He couldn't let Kacchan see him like this but he had no other choice. He was going to find out eventually.
"Thwip!"
Izubay's—or rather Izuku's— body transformed in the blink of an eye into an adolescent green barn owl. It took him a moment to open his wings to get the air underneath him so he was just spinning slowly in the air until he was able to glide up and away. He was out of sight in three seconds.
—
Katsuki blinked, his terror caught in his throat as he looked over the edge of the building expecting to see Deku's body spatter on the concrete but that's not what happened.
Instead he turned into an owl and flew away?
That damned nerd had a Quirk this whole time?
What did he mean he couldn't die?
Did the damned nerd have more than one Quirk?
Did he set this whole thing up to make Katsuki look like an idiot?
Was he really looking down on him their entire life?
Why did he lie about being Quirkless the whole time?
There were so many questions swirling inside of Katsuki's mind and none of them had any answers. His anger was rising more and more as he searched the sky for that damned bird.
What in the ever loving hell was happening?
Was Izuku getting abused at home? He saw the scarring and the bruises. It was obvious even though he didn't put blame on anyone. That was just like him though.
Katsuki didn't know what to do. He didn't know who to tell or how.
Yeah, I told this kid to kill himself and he tried and turned into a bird instead and flew away. Oh by the way he gets beat at home.
That wouldn't go over well.
—
Izubay flapped his wings hard trying to get away as quickly as he possibly could. He knew the way back to the restaurant so he was going to go there and hope for the best.
His fear was still thrumming through his veins as he looked at the scenery below him. Navigating the city from the sky was a whole lot easier than navigating from the ground. He got lost easily unless he could see everything he could.
A few minutes passed and he entered the red light district and swooped down to the street the restaurant was on.
Once he was behind the shop in the alley, he transformed back into his normal self and picked through his pant pockets distressingly.
Luckily, the restaurant key was in his left front pocket and he was easily able to enter the back of the building with it. He didn't have his backpack anymore but there wasn't anything important in it anyway. He could always make new analyses journals. It wasn't the end of the world.
Well not yet anyway.
When he got in he headed straight for the office and curled up on the thin mattress. It was then that floodgates exploded and he burst into tears.
He couldn't go back to school now. He couldn't see Kacchan anymore. He couldn't even begin to explain what happened. He didn't really know what happened himself.
The last thing he remembered was his father laying hands on him and then he was falling and had to save himself quick. He only knew where to go after that because he helped decorate the little office with some merch.
Izubay tucked his knees into his chest and gripped them tightly. He didn't know what was going on. He was confused and he was scared. All he knew was this restaurant now. He had no one. Nothing.
Tears and sobs spilled from his as he mourned his home and his mother. He just wanted his mommy. He just wanted her to love him again. He missed that feeling of being loved. He missed the feeling of being whole. He didn't know how long he could last in the world by himself. He was just a kid after all.
Don't worry about it kid. We'll survive.
Izubay sniffled at the voice in his head and wiped at his eyes.
"I want my mom," he sobbed stuffing his face into his knees.
No use crying about it now. Grow up.
"Leave me alone!" Izubay responded out loud and he didn't hear anything else from the voice.
He lied there in a fetal position on the mattress surrounded by his blankets and cried and cried.
It was a long night filled with fitful nightmares and sobs breaking through the silence.