Chapter 1
Rain was hitting the windows of the bus, which was driving a load of humans to the great city, Springmon, known to be the place where all your dreams come true. That is what Lynxes father believed before moving there. Now they were stuck in a place that is full of trash, which would be the description some would give the humans that live there.
Lynx was not all that happy going back home right now. His father was not the best, not the most supportive father of them all. The other day Lynx came out to him as trans. That did not go as planned, but despite the fact that he was still gonna call Lynx his daughter, in the kid‘s own brain, he was still a boy.
The bus stopped. Lynx pulled up his hood and left the bus, stepping into the rain to walk the rest of the way. The streets were quiet, nobody here liked the rain. All that the boy heard in it was a beautiful, calming melody. A few more steps then he was home. A shiver went through his body. He stood in front of the door. Silence entered him fully, not sure if his father was still mad at him or not. Slowly but surely he pressed down the door handle. He was quiet when entering the house, until a voice called out " Lynx, is that you?"
Lynx flinched upon hearing his name. "Yes dad, it’s me" the kid replied, taking off his shoes and bringing his bag up into his room. Setting it down, he immediately ran down to the living room, which was filled with plants his mom used to really like. It always smelled heavily of flowers in this room, whoch was not necessarily bad, just overwhelming at some points. Lynxes dad was sitting on the couch, watching one of those old man shows in TV. Shortly the man glanced over at his child. There was some sweet madness to his eyes. He wasn‘t smiling, but he definitely did not feel bad about the guilt he got erupting in Lynx.
"I have some homework to finish, so I will stay in my room over the afternoon. I love you dad" Lynx quickly said to his dad to save his self the embarrassment of a longer conversation. No response back. That, he took as a sign to leave now or never, so he quickly went up to his room. One thing was left to do. Put on headphones and blast hos favorite music. He sat down at his desk and hummed along to the music while getting to his homework. Nothing was special about this day. It didn‘t go different than the others. Finishing his homework, Lynx took his time now to read. He loved to escape the sad world out there by reading into the Beautiful fantasy novels his parents thought were good gifts for a kid without many interests. Truly, now his father regretted buying these books all the time, because Lynx never left his room, so he could read in peace.
As it got dark outside, Lynx got up to go downstairs and check on his dad. The man had fallen asleep on the couch. On the table was a grocery list which Lynx soon realized was still yet to be marked as done. He picked it up and took the estimated amount money he needed for all items. He left the house, locking the door behind him. The store was only gonna be open for another hour, so he really needed to hurry. On his way there he saw a lot of the people who fell for the trap of the 'perfect' life. They were insane, trying to get attention from people who passed by. It was dangerous here alone, but Lynx had to push through. he entered the store and quickly grabbed everything he needed. It felt weird to be here. The store was oddly silent. He was the only one here. A presence was nearby which Lynx could not make out to be a person hiding around. But in the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by people. He had bumped into a woman. Looking up at her he widened his eyes. "I am so sorry!" He quickly said as he got up. The woman just nodded at him before continuing her shopping. Where did all these people suddenly come from, or rather, where was Lynx one second ago? He got up and finished his shopping, quickly leaving the store.
Now he was back on his way home. The same path, more maniacs. Someone grabbed his arm and yelled "what did you see? They are calling your name, what did they say to you?“ and shook him aggressively. Lynx squealed and pushed the person off. He started breathing heavily and his fight or flight senses spiked as he started running away. The person didn’t follow him, but he kept a worried frown on his face. That was a close one. Lynx never had struggles with the insane before. What if that man was not insane? His thoughts were running wild, his adrenaline was high for him to be able to think as far as that this was a serious situation.
Now he was almost home again. He quickly ran to the doorstep. He was never so happy to be home before. The situation outside scared him a lot. He went into the kitchen and put down the groceries, sweat flowing down his forehead. He went to the living room. To his surprise, his dad was gone. He started checking the other rooms. He was nowhere. His car was outside. His key hung by the door. Where was his dad? Lynx felt like he was going insane, first the situation in the store, then that crazy man and now his dad was gone with no evidence of him having left to go somewhere else?
He checked his phone, looking for his dad‘s number, but soon he realized, the number was out of service. It belonged to nobody. How was this possible? Lynx stared at his phone for another few minutes before starting to break out in tears. This whole situation was throwing him over the fence. Soon, Lynx blacked out on the floor.
