My hazy consciousness flickered back to life as I woke up. Well, sort of.
My eyes darted around as I inspected my surroundings.
It was like an eternal night sky stretching out forever in every direction. Stars burned brightly and flickered out, dispersed everywhere. Streaks of red and blue fire flared across the sky brilliantly.
When I came to I was standing up, my feet resting against seemingly nothing. I took a step forward, looking at my feet as I did so. Seeing my foot stop out of seemingly nowhere was very disconcerting.
"Well, well. I never expected one of you to show up here... how delightfully interesting!"
An energetic voice startled me. Or rather, it should have.
Much like how I remembered being so full of emotion before I'd woken up and yet as so calm now, it felt like I was internally paralyzed.
My eyes slowly drifted up to look at the figured to my right.
I couldn't tell its gender since its overlapping voices, yet its words rang out clear and pronounced.
"What... are you?" I muttered quietly.
I squinted my eyes as I tried to look at the figure, but for some reason my eyes refused to focus. I could make out the figure's black and dark grey pinstripe suit, accompanied by a royal blue tie. However, when I tried to make out its face and upper body my eyes seemed to get blurry as a loud ringing sound assaulted my ears.
"No, no, no, little one. There are far more important things at hand right now than who I am. The question should be who you are."
The figure walked around my in a tight circle as it spoke, the heels of its dress shoes making sound as they tapped against the "ground."
"H-huh?"
"Well, you came here as I was doing my sorting. Since that's never happened before, I suppose we should... investigate your situation. Right?"
"Sorting?"
The more the figure spoke, the less I seemed to understand.
"Yes, sorting. I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that, though, being mortal and all... Well, in any case, lets take a look at what we're working with."
The figure chuckled slightly as the sound of its footsteps grew louder and louder until the point that they were deafening. Overcome with a sense of vertigo, I stumbled to the side.
My consciousness flickered as the world grew unsteady until...
darkness once again.
"P.gg."
What... what's going on? Where am I?
"C'mon piggy, hurry up!"
I felt a sharp blow to my stomach, causing my eyes to snap open.
"What the fuck are you doing laying around? I asked you to get me a soda!"
A familiar voice, one I recognized immediately. How was I back here, back with him?
Fuck off, you bastard.
I tried to open my mouth, to speak, but my lips didn't budge. In fact, none of my body listened to me. It was like I was an observer in my own skin.
"Unghh..."
A groan came from my mouth, as I rolled helplessly to the side.
"You really don't know how to listen, huh?"
Another swift kick to my stomach caused me to cough violently as laughter resounded around me.
There were four of them, like there always were. They changed sometimes, they couldn't all get away from classes at once or it would seem suspicious so they rotated. All but one of them, the leader never missed a single round of abuse.
Sandy blonde hair, tanned skin, a chiseled jaw, and green eyes. He was standing over my trembling body right now, smoking a cigarette with a handsome smile.
Alexander Carnegie.
He hadn't always done this to me. We used to pass by each other meaninglessly in the hallways of the expensive private school we both attended, Jamison High. Of course, he'd had a reputation for being the unsavory son of a reputed Senator, but we'd simply had no interaction until... well, that day. Just one decision had led to all of this, the beatings, the scars, everything.
"Hey, if the piggy won't listen we'd probably be better off cooking it, right?"
"Yeah."
"For sure."
"Definitely."
I knew what was going to happen, it wouldn't be the first time or the last time either. Still, just remembering it made me seethe with rage.
"Too bad we don't have an open fire. I guess these'll have to do..."
Alexander removed the lit cigarette from his mouth and leaned over me before grinding it against my skin.
"ARRGHH!"
I screamed in pain as the others followed suit, burning my back. It was nothing but a sea of pain as tears escaped my eyes. I could barely hear the school bell ring to signal my being saved.
Ringggg
"Fuck, guess we're done here. If you're faster next time, piggy, we might not have to do this again. See, I'm fair like that."
The other three grumbled as Alexander signaled them to return to the school building. Throughout the years, this would happen often. Usually it was just the beatings, but three or four times over the years they would end up doing what they'd done today. The faint burn scars on my back, stomach, and arms proved it. They were what stopped me from ever taking my shirt off in front of anybody again, a constant reminder of what I'd gone through.
"Oh, how interesting. So much anger and hatred in just one memory, you're getting more and more interesting. But where did all of this pain and suffering start? Forgive me, it seems I'm not overly familiar so I didn't hit the root the first time."
The overlapping voices resounded in my head as the world filled with pain grew hazy.
You're... in my head?
"Well of course I'm in your head, how else would I sort you? Though usually I don't have the person tag along themself."
Seriously! What is this?! Why am I reliving this?!
"Relax, relax. We're not done yet..."
Suddenly, the hazy world turned black once more.
"She... she was a good person, a great mother. Throughout her life..."
Another memory, one very familiar to me. The people dressed in black, my sister and father sobbing beside me as I sat silently. I could remember thinking why, why did you have to leave us as all manner of complex emotions welled up inside me.
It was my mother's funeral, the pictures of her smiling her easy, beautiful smile made that clear. Her blonde hair like Alice's, swept to the side. I'd hated those pictures that they put everywhere. It was like no matter where I looked I couldn't escape.
I didn't listen to the speeches and well-wishes of the people around me, I couldn't. Quite simply, it was sickening for me to listen over and over again to people's empty words as they tried to summarize my mother's life or to suck up to my father.
After my mother's death, all the work she did to help run the company now fell on my dad. A multimillion dollar organization, this was far from easy. He never really had the time to properly mourn her.
"Boo-ring~!"
The overlapping voices spoke in a singsong manner.
W-what? Why would you take me back here if it didn't matter?
"Of course it mattered. It's just pointless stay here if I know exactly what'll happen. Some crying here and there, some suppressed emotions, etc etc. I'd much rather watch what happens when all that emotion explodes. Ah, no offense. Anyways!"
Clap Clap
Before I could think a response to the figure, I was once again in darkness.
"Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family..."
It was the week after the funeral, my first day back in class. I didn't even bother listening to the biology teacher as she spoke, instead preferring to let my eyes wander around the class.
I was filled with so much rage, so much hatred, that it brimmed from my very gaze. And that was when we met, really met for the first time. As my angry gaze wandered through the room, it just so happened to meet his gaze.
Alexander Carnegie.
Normally, I would've simply scanned past him. However, something about that day made me hold that gaze. I was angry, angry at the world. However, as if my anger were a joke Alexander's face simply grew into a monstrous smile.
He simply pointed at himself, then me, then outside.
WHAM!
A fist to the face.
WHAM!
To the stomach.
I wasn't used to fighting; I was basically a punching bag for him. I couldn't fight back, which only made me angrier.
He continued to whale on me over and over again until I was collapsed on the ground, barely able to move.
"I think I'm gonna like playing with you. Let's call you piggy."
