Chapter Text
I'd grown up pitied. According to the staff at the group homes I stayed in in between foster care, my mother and brother were killed in a car crash, where I was the only survivor. They left out the tiny detail that it was a murder-suicide, but I guess explaining that to a four year old is challenging. Luckily for me, I didn't remember jack shit about the crash. Some sorta trauma response.
If you asked me to show you how many foster and group homes I'd been in, I would run out of fingers. Why, you may ask, was I in so many? Because my dumb ass decided to run away every single chance I got, starting from the ripe old age of six.
Ever since the crash, I'd had an aversion to maternal figures, or just woman in general. Not that I was, or am, misogynistic, but women scared me. I had this constant feeling that they wanted to kill me, just like my mother had tried with me. What was the solution to that? Running away as soon as I possibly could.
When I was nine, I was in my last ever foster home. Once I ran away from that, I didn't have to deal with terrifying women ever again. Instead I had to deal with pedophiles, rapists and drug dealers. So much better!
I learnt pretty quickly that I could sell my services in exchange for a number of things: food, a place to sleep for the night, a bit of money. For a little while, I ended up helping a dude sell drugs in exchange for a 'safe' place to sleep. That place was a cramped room in a cramped apartment with a couch and mattresses on the floor that I shared with five other kids, the oldest being seventeen. Said seventeen year old showed me how to distract myself from the world by cutting into my skin. One time he even did it for me. Disgusting creep. I hope he died from a drug overdose or some shit.
After the weeks of selling drugs, I got sick of it. (Go, me. I was smart enough to not get addicted to drugs.) It seemed that what little I had used had lasting effects on me, though. Every other day or so, I would see a monster of some sort. Seemed I was hallucinating. Spoiler alert: I was not.
One pleasant day, a group of two half-snake creatures cornered me in an alley where I had been rummaging through dumpsters. I could practically smell their malicious intent. The only weapon I had to my name was a sharp piece of plastic from a bucket I used as a knife. I doubted it would do much good against them.
Think, I urged myself, eyes dashing around for any way out. There was a door on the side of one of the buildings crowding me in, but it was locked. I wasn't sure how I knew that — it was like a sixth sense, almost.
"Heyy, ladies!" My voice cracked pathetically. "You guys hungry? You know, there's an all-you-can-eat buffet just down the street. Full of very tasty... meats."
I sounded like an idiot. I absolutely did. How hilarious would it be if these two weren't even hungry, but just wanted to kill me for the fun of it? Or if they really were just hallucinations?
"We like different meat," the one with green scales hissed. "Demigod meat."
What the fuck was demigod? Some weird deer species?
"Okay, great! They have that there, too." I made a waving gesture with my hands as if to usher them away. "Feel free to go."
They both let out rasping sounds. I figured that was their way of laughing.
"Hermes' kids think they're so sneaky," Green Scale's partner said. I was beginning to think they were insane.
"Yeah, not sure who this Hermes guy is... Definitely not his kid. Definitely not demigod either. So, maybe you could let me go?"
Another unsettling laugh. Their stances changed, more threatening. I took my 'knife' out. Everything in my head screamed at me to run. So what if these may just be illusions? I sure as hell didn't want to risk it.
Green Scale lunged, moving scarily fast for the fact she was half-snake. I instinctively ducked out of the way. The other, with blue scales, took advantage of my unsteadiness as I stood back up and advanced. I raised my arm to protect myself, and she slashed it. I couldn't help but scream.
Blood poured out of my arm and splattered onto the ground. I held it protectively close to my chest, using my other limb to brandish my weapon.
"Get away from me!" I screeched, and I found that I was crying as the salty taste of tears fell into my mouth. "I'll kill you both!"
"Hmm, you can try, demigod, but you'd need Celestial Bronze for that," Blue Scale sneered.
My blood was on her claws and she made a show of licking it. I nearly threw up.
I glanced desperately at the exit from the alley. Our positions had changed, so now I had a clear shot to the street, if I ran fast enough. My attackers seemed to realise this too, moving to block my path as I bolted past. I could feel the wind shifting behind me as one of them slashed where my head had just been.
I burst out onto the street, panting, but I didn't stop. I needed to find a crowd, find safety in numbers.
Turning down the road, it was disturbingly void. Figuring it was the next best option, I ducked into a shop, panting.
"Gods!" shrieked a woman. Looking up, it was the cashier. "Oh, sweetheart, what happened? Hurry, let me help you with that."
She rushed forward from behind the counter, a look of genuine concern on her face. Alarm bells rang in my head. Danger, danger. She wants to kill you. Run.
"Don't hurt me," I whimpered, too tired and scared to run. The adrenaline rush was fading.
"Oh, sweetheart, no! Come to the back, I'll—"
"No, I wanna stay here." In the back, there was privacy. In privacy, she could do whatever she wanted. She could kill me.
"Alright... Wait a minute, I'll get some stuff," she said kindly, speed-walking into the aisles and out of view.
I slumped against the wall, panting heavily and crying. I didn't realise the woman returned until she gently wiped away a tear from my cheek. I jerked away.
"Don't touch me!" I screeched.
She pulled her hand away.
"Alright. I won't touch your face. But I need your arm. Would you feel better if I said what I'm going to do before doing it?"
After a few moments of deliberation, I nodded. She let out a sigh of relief and put down a red plastic basket of supplies: disinfectant, bandages, a towel, a water bottle.
Slowly, she began to tend to my wound. Before each step, she would announce it, wait for my approval, then do it. I couldn't remember the last time somebody was so gentle with me. Tears sprung back to my eyes.
"I'm sorry. I know it hurts," she cooed.
I shook my head, wiping away the wetness with my free hand. "No, it's just... you're so nice. It's scary," I murmured, almost ashamed.
She smiled sadly. "I don't want to scare you, honey. I hope more people are kind to you. You're a very sweet boy." She reached for the bandages. "I'm going to bandage your arm, okay?"
I nodded, slightly shaken by her words. Me? Sweet? I'd been called many things. Told I had a 'sweet ass' (ew). But never, never, had I been told that I was sweet.
"There. Good as new," she assured.
I launched myself at her, wrapping my limbs around her and sobbing.
"Th— Thank you," I warbled pathetically.
Her arms ran up and down my back, and she cooed softly into my ear. It was comforting. I hadn't known comfort for a long time.
"Of course, honey. Could you tell me your name?" Her voice was so gentle, like she was blscared to break my with words.
"Elis," I hiccuped.
"A lovely name for a lovely boy. I'm Sally. Would you mind telling me how this happened, Elis?" Sally asked gently, gesturing to my arm.
She leaned back to look into my eyes. I turned away from her gaze as heat rose to my cheeks.
"You won't believe me," I mumbled.
"You believe it, so I believe it. I don't think you're the type of kid to lie."
I chewed on my lower lip, thinking. Slowly, I untangled myself from her, but she kept a hand on my shoulder. I liked it.
"Uhm, these snake women attacked me. They called me stupid names. Didn't even make sense."
Sally's expression turned contemplative. I got anxious. She thought I was a freak. She was going to kick me out of the store.
"What names?" she asked. Her voice was more serious.
"Like, uh... this god thing. Mentioned some random guy. Hermes." I looked back into her eyes, suddenly very ashamed. "I'm sorry. I was probably hallucina—"
"Demigod? Is that what they called you?"
I moved away from her until there was a good few feet between us. Standing up on shaky legs, I stared at her. Danger.
"You're a monster, too!" I accused, jabbing a finger at her.
"No! Elis, listen—"
"Shut up! I'm not an idiot!"
I began moving towards the door, tracking her every move. Why did I ignore my instincts? I should have run as soon as I saw her.
"Elis, please, I know somewhere—"
I didn't hear the rest of her sentence, as I bolted out of the store. There was no sign of the snake women. That didn't mean I was safe though, so I kept running until I physically couldn't.
After sprinting about five blocks, I decided it was clear. I slumped against a wall, panting and clutching my throbbing arm.
Glancing up at the sky, I saw it was getting dark. Shit. I needed somewhere to stay. If I was lucky, maybe I would find a mattress to sleep on in an alley. I wasn't in the mood to find somebody willing to let me stay the night. What if they were a monster too?
I rested on the pavement until I caught my breath and the pain subsided. Walking down every alley I came across, I searched for something I could sleep on other than lumpy trash bags.
An hour or so passed. It was getting dim, and the street lamps were bound to turn on soon.
I was hungry. I was tired. I was cold. I was in pain. At this point, I considered just laying down on the pavement. Not wanting to die to hypothermia, I decided to go down one more alley. No mattress. Just a dumpster. Seemed that was where I would be sleeping.
Climbing in was a bit of a challenge, as using the left arm sent sharp stings through my whole body, but I managed. It smelled rank, but certainly not the worst dumpster I'd slept in. 4/10 on the lumpiness chart.
It took a while, but eventually I fell asleep, my thoughts and dreams plagued by monsters.