Sora didn't understand what was going on around him when he first opened his eyes and slowly sat up in his bed. He found himself in a room that was completely unfamiliar to him. Or, in his heart of hearts, that's what he wanted to say...
As he stared ahead of him, blinking a few times to clear his vision, he saw a wall painted a light blue and a table with many drawers. There were a lot of things arranged on it. It was full of the strangest things in the world, things he had never seen before in his life. Yet somehow Sora knew exactly what they were.
Notebooks, textbooks, pens, notes, posters, and photographs. But none of the pictures depicted people.
All the things were piled up and almost on display. It was like a bizarre altar in front of him. Everything was completely clean and dust-free. Giving the feeling that everything there had been used every day, or at least regularly dusted and tidied. Everything lined up neatly, as it should be.
As he glanced up a little higher with one eye, he noticed more things on a wooden shelf as the sunlight streaming in through the window gently fell on them. As if the sun were afraid to creep into this room.
The shelf was also full of books, but in the middle were action figures in various poses. It was as if they were desperate to brighten the place up a bit. But of course, without a chance. Everything looked so colourful, but in Sora's eyes it was grey. It was as if a storm was brewing on the wall, even in the depths of his mind.
He wanted to look around the room a little more, but his body wouldn't obey him. It was as if it wasn't his, and he was beginning to feel it.
And when his body moved against his will and he stood up, he was sure of it. He was sure that what was about to happen was not his doing. That there was nothing he could do. That he would only be an outside observer of the events that would follow.
His toes dug into the carpet as he stretched his numb limbs. Then he glanced at the clock above the door, and he was out of the room.
He managed to stay awake and wake up on time. But for some reason, this knowledge did not reassure him. It was like swallowing stones, and his whole body felt heavy.
Maybe he stayed up too late to take care of the important papers for university. He should have at least slept it off.
But lately he's been putting off going to bed more and more, now that the constant checks after lights out have finally stopped. Now he had some time to himself. A bit of time for his hobbies. Which, of course, whatever free time he had, he always put on the back burner so as not to disappoint.
So that whenever he was called upon, he'd be ready to pounce. So there'd be no problem. So that everything would run smoothly, and there would be nothing for his parents to get upset about.
But even after all that effort, nothing was ever perfect. No matter how hard he tried to walk the golden middle ground... or rather, balance on the golden thread, he always managed to fall. Down into the deep darkness where his thoughts were eaten alive.
So he wanted to get out of this house as soon as possible. This nightmare... He just wanted to get his shit together.
His nerves were no longer up to it. Nor his mind. He had already managed to get simple things wrong, or he was no longer able to pay attention to them, which used to come easily to him. He could switch emotions and tasks almost at the snap of a finger. Depending on who gave the orders and when.
But as time passed, he began to feel pain in different parts of his body. Stabbings in his chest. Stones in his stomach. And completely random burning pain in random parts of his body. And he could consider himself relatively healthy. He very rarely caught any illness. Once or twice a year at the most.
Except for the basic illnesses, he was constantly lured into. These illnesses gathered around him as if he had collected them himself. As if he had a deck of cards to collect. But no doctor could tell him the cause.
As these thoughts ran through Sora's mind, it was as if he was seeing his memories before him, his heart going into his head. He didn't want to see those images. He didn't want to hear those things in his head. It wasn't him. But it was. His feelings and his thoughts were starting to blur together. He didn't understand where he began and where this horrible place ended. As he thought about it, new thoughts began to form in his mind.
He didn't want to relive those things. Things he should have forgotten long ago. And here he was again. In this horrible place.
Sora, as he put his feet in front of him, one after the other, getting further and further away from his shelter. Or perhaps the prison she had created for himself, he finally reached the dining room. He was greeted by complete silence. There was not a soul around.
'Perhaps they are still asleep...' He thought slowly to himself.
Slowly, he started to look around the house. He looked into every room, but found not a soul. It was empty. He walked to the large window of one of the rooms and looked out.
An unknown world lay before him. Buildings rose from the ground like great stone pillars. Houses with storeys. The word suddenly came to him, and he tried to look further away. There was hardly a trace of nature anywhere. Only a few trees and green grass. But not a single person. And the sun appeared in a strange colour behind one of the houses. It was a sickly purple light, and it shone brighter and brighter until Sora had to hold his arm over his eyes to keep his retina from burning out.
Then, from behind him, he heard a sharp metallic clanging sound. He quickly jerked his head back, but there was nothing there. Nothing. The other side of the room disappeared into the darkness, and it was closing in on Sora. He tried to run, but he couldn't. He leaned his back against the glass of the window and could only watch as the darkness slowly moved towards him, enveloping him.
Suddenly, the ground under his feet disappeared and he started to fall. He was scrabbling. He frantically searched for something to hold on to, but there was nothing. He just gripped empty cold air that slowly bit into his skin. He just closed his eyes wearily and let whatever came next.