I was broken, shattered. I could not breathe. My hands were trembling, eyes an ocean of drowned emptiness. The cold floor was under me, the cupboard on my back. The bitter, cutting smoke of burned food was within my lungs, yet I had no resolve to move, not a spark of energy, nothing. My hand hung, holding a cut of paper with ink—the very thing that cut my soul, that broke my will. I could only say one word: "Son."
On the other side of the city, they were ready to go. The smell of gas was in their noses, the grip of his wife on his arm, but his eyes were on the road. The sound of police sirens was in his ears, the blue and red light glowing into the car through the window. He thought to himself, "We need to escape," the wet sweat stinging his eyes. Just like his car, his mind raced. She sat there, unstill, unable to hold herself. The pen was rolling on the dashboard, its ink leaking like the sweat on her hands. Her heart was jumping like a car going through potholes. Yet she had to believe in him. His focus was unmoved; there was no fear in his eyes. She looked back at the police behind them, the red and blue lights illuminating the back of the car. Countless crumpled papers were rolling and jumping. She looked into one of the cars, eyes locking with a police officer. Her grip on his arm got stronger. He took a small peek: she was frozen, unmoving. The light of the cop cars was illuminating a face of pure fear. He couldn't resist taking a look. Everything went white.
Darkness overtook the light. Everything went black. Then came the pain. Everything hurt. He couldn't open his eyes, his ears ringing, his head heavy. He felt as though he had woken from a long sleep in bed and was woken by a hammer smashing into his legs. The smell of burned gas was now stalking his nose. His world was now red. Yet he remembered his wife. He felt it—the warmth of a hand—and heard it—a scream.
"Wake up, please! No, God, not like this! Wake up!"
It was her, beautiful but now covered in blood, her arm damaged. Yet he wondered, why was she upside down? Was she sitting on the inside of the car roof, or was it me? Yes, it was me. I wanted to move, yet she told me not to. I was in pain; my legs, my arms—they felt broken. The worst of all, I felt this stinging I didn't know what it was.
She went to her pocket and pulled out something round. I couldn't see what it was. She took blood from her head and blood off a pole that was sticking through the car. She grabbed my hands as the world grew darker, my hearing fading, and she started praying—or at least something that sounded like praying.
I felt it. She was holding my hand, and in my palm, I could feel it again: something metal, like a big coin. She leaned over for a kiss and put her hand on the pole, then something in my chest felt pierced. It hurt so bad. Then I felt her lips. The pain went numb, and the world went dark.
Everything went soft and warm. My body felt tired, but it was the kind of tired that comes just after waking up. Then the quiet got rudely interrupted. Bang! The sound of a door getting kicked in blew me awake.
"Hey, hey, hey! Wake up, brother! We got work to do!"
The voice of an unknown man cut into my ears. I looked around. "Where am I?" I thought to myself.
Everything looked old, like I was in the early 1900s. There were old-school police uniforms hanging on the wall, the ones you would see in old detective movies. I looked at the man again. He was wearing a cop uniform. I asked him, "Where am I?"
He replied, "You're at home, and we're supposed to be at work, brother. Now get your ass up."
"My wife! Shit, shit, shit! Where's my wife?" I yelled.
He stepped back and looked at me with a face of shock, then laughed. "You a wife, brother? You couldn't even get with a girl if you made a trade for one."
I grabbed him with anger. "Don't play with me! Where is she?" I yelled.
"Did you lose your mind, brother?"
Bang! He punched me.
"I just ironed this!" he said. "What's wrong with you today? Now put on your uniform." He walked out. "I'll be waiting outside."
I got up, holding my head. I looked at the uniform and spat on it, then walked out. I didn't know where I was and got lost, every door looking like it led to something else. It felt like I was walking for minutes, then, bang! I walked into the man again.
"BROTHER! WHY AREN'T YOU IN YOUR UNIFORM? IT'S BEEN AN HOUR!"
"An hour?"
"Yes! Now get that uniform on, or I'll make you.
I looked at him with a smile, thinking he must not have known who he was playing with. I stepped back and put my hands up.
"Yeah, do that."
Yet he looked at me and said, "Not using your spend? Huh?"
He pulled something out of his pocket. I moved to go for the hit, then...
Black.
I woke up, next to a wall. Smoke was cutting through my lungs. I coughed, falling a little forward, then someone caught me, holding me by my collar. I looked back and it was that man, now smoking. I hit his hand off.
"You."
He looked at me with a face of disappointment and tiredness. "Are you still in that mood, hey?" Then his eyes went big.
"Motherfucker! Someone must have traded your mind for something."
"Traded?" I asked.
"Yes, tra... OH MY GOD! They turned my brother into a mindless dumb!"
"Hey!" I yelled.
"Don't worry, brother. I'll find who traded you into a dumbass."
"I'm not a dumbass, and I'm not your brother," I said. "I don't even know where the hell I am, or how the hell this cop uniform got on me."
"I put it on," he replied.
"You did what?!"
"Hey, you didn't listen."
"You don't put other man's clothes on!" I yelled. "And where is my wife?"
He put his hand on me again. It's okay. "You may now be delusional, but I still love you and you're still my brother."
I looked at him with a face of disgust and confusion. I stepped back and looked around. Everything was quiet. It looked like it was in the 1900s, but different. It was quiet, yet people were walking around. There were no cars, just homes and buildings, but no roads. Then it hit me. I looked at the man and asked, "What's the name of this city?"
"The Walking Men."
I stepped back and felt myself. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled it out; my eyes got bigger. There were big coins in it. Then it hit me again. I saw the memory of my last moments with her. Those coins… they felt just like…
I stepped back again and looked around. This world… I remembered now. This world is...
THE WORLD OF TRADED SOULS.
I didn't get lost. I died and got reborn.