Chapter 1- Something is missing
Prologue
I am running. So fast that I can barely breathe. But the world only seems to crawl by. Someone is behind me. I can’t remember their face, I can’t remember why I have to run from them. All I can remember is that I need to run. I run down alleyway after alleyway. It seems endless. Why can’t I make my way to the street? I turn into another alleyway, the same collection of rubbish bins in the corner. I trip on something. The world shudders to a stop. Something crashes to a halt just in front of me. It’s found me. A blackish blur lands on me, pinning me to the ground. I hear my ribs crack underneath the weight. The pressure releases slightly and I see something sharp glinting in the dim light as it’s lifted up to strike. I struggle, but the weight on my chest is too great. The knife... or talon falls and everything fades to a pain filled blur.
I wake up in darkness. The surface beneath me is soft. Am I in bed? Was it a dream? Relief floods through me. I go to turn on my lamp. Nothing happens. I try to turn my head. Nothing happens. I wait a few minutes, fighting the urge to scream. I try moving my arm. Nothing. My legs. Nothing happens. Sleep paralysis, I think. That’s what’s happened. Just wait a few minutes, it’ll pass. I wait for a few minutes, my mind straining, almost pleading with my body to move. But everything feels so heavy. Heavier than it should. And something is missing. Something important. I need to focus. Where am I? I’m sure that I’m not in my room. I listen for a moment and hear a low buzzing sound. It was grating and metallic. The faint sound of carousel music filtered into the room from somewhere close. The sound of flapping wings. There’s a bird in here. A big one by the sound of it’s wings. But something is still missing. The bird moved again, swooping so close I could feel it’s breath as it’s talon darted across my face. Breathing, I thought, numb with horror. That’s the sound that was missing. The sound of my breathing.
A piercing light blinds me. I feel my arm being lifted. A small sigh. Pain spikes through my arm as something is tightened. It judders to a stop as something skitters to the floor. A faint curse. I wince as a scraping sound fills the air as the tightening continues. I brace against the pain. My whole arm is being screwed closer together as something... pushes it’s way further in. Hands gently caress my arm. They then walked over to the end of the bed and tutted. They lifted my leg and roughly shook it, jolting my whole body. I brace against a horrible feeling of something slowing pulling away from my leg, grinding against it. Something then clattered to the floor. My whole leg was on fire. It was like someone had scraped the skin off my knee. They sigh lovingly and take a few steps, bend down to make themselves level with my head.
“You can still hear me in there... can’t you” They whispered. I hear them reach for something on a workbench nearby. “And when I do something like this”
I hear the roar of a blowtorch. I feel myself almost faint with agony as I saw the space around my eyes grow red hot.
“You can feel it” They mused. They chuckled. “Once you’re finished, you’ll be perfect”
"I'll be back soon" They tell me cheerfully. "Just need something else" They say almost half to themselves.
They stood up and walked towards the other end of the room. The sound of carousel music increased. Then cut off. I heard something land next to me. Examine me. Then moves away. I want to scream. Can you help me? Who are they? What am I? What do they mean finished?
