[REVAMP] A Fateful Encounter Under A Tree | Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan-Fiction

The Collar on a Dog

Joey stared at the poorly bolted wood on his bedroom ceiling. He heard echoes of water droplets leaking from a corner, falling onto a soaked spot on his mattress, which was almost like a pin cushion with the number of shards of glass and blood smears on its white, cotton surface. 

He tried to sit up, at least move his limbs, but every nerve in his stomach flared up and he hissed. He moved his bloody hands to a large wound on his stomach. A horror-large shard of glass is shoved into a gaping wound that almost seems to breathe with the dry blood running out of the glass. Every time he even breathed, he felt his stomach hurl and the pain grows increasingly more painful. Every move he made caused the shard to dig itself deeper into his stomach. He even fears that it may fully enter his body. Just the thought sends another painful shiver down his spine. 

He tried to think how many hours he has sat on his mattress with such a wound. Minutes? Maybe even hours? He hoped not a day, but he didn't seem hungry. The pain he felt could very easily be overpowering his appetite though. Blood flow has stopped by now, but he felt so dizzy. He wonders when the wood on the ceiling started to spin. He almost laughs at how delusional he's become, but it caused him to hitch his breath and fold over again. He held a scream of pain as he bit down his teeth. So much pain. He felt as if he was dying. The shard almost comically pokes out of his stomach, maybe a few inches out of his dry skin, but even more inches into it.

How did he even end up like this?

He remembers with hazy memories a shout. The same twisted and deep shout of his father requesting more money from him. He thinks he walked out of his room and told him that he hadn't been able to get any work done due to his workplace closing, something about a bad storm. He remembers a strong pang of pain thrusting itself onto his neck, his feet swaying off of the ground. 

He remembers strong but veiny hands gripping his neck like an animal. Nails dug into his skin. He choked, making a gargled noise. Weak hands scurried to pull himself from the death grip, but he felt his vision blur. 

In a fit, he stabs his teeth into his father's skin. He still remembers the taste of blood. He thinks his father dropped him and Joey leaned himself against the wall. He coughed aggressively, maybe a bit of blood being drawn too, as he held his neck. He didn't expect a strong stab into his stomach though. He froze as he stared down at a shattered bottle head stabbed into his shirt. 

He coughed out blood. Maybe a pool of it fell onto the floor. The smell became almost putrid. His father stepped back as Joey fell to the floor. His eyes were skewered closed as he pressed down on the gushing wound. Blood, blood, so much of it poured out of him like a faucet, the pool growing as it stained the rug. He felt terrible kicks against his chest and ribs. He almost heard a bone break. 

He huddled close to himself, wishing, praying it would stop. The pain clawed at his skin and dug into his guts, and he almost felt bile build in his throat as he coughed out more and more. The kicking, the bleeding, the breaking... He couldn't hear his own thoughts anymore.

He thinks the kicking stopped after an hour, maybe two. He couldn't bare to remember. He lifted his head and peeked into an empty living room. He slowly propped himself up, biting down as he looked to the door. It seemed pried open as if an animal had forced its way out. 

He knew getting up was pointless and painfully crawled towards the bathroom. The glass bottle remained in fragments in his stomach. He thinks it probably broke during the kicking. He was able to pull out the smaller shards, but the big bad one was a lost cause.

He crawled on his side towards the thankfully open bathroom. It felt almost nice to feel cold tiles on his warm skin. He dug around the cabinets and found his roll of bandages. Everything after that went hazy but he knows he was able to make it to his own bed by the end of it. And that's how he's here...

He hasn't heard his father return ever since. He probably took his money by his own means, seeing that his wallet had been thrown on the floor when he had entered again and he remembered he had at least enough for food in there. Guess he wasn't eating for a while again.

'Should I just leave?'

He heard a small voice in his head speak up in the silence of his skull. 

He had thought about running away but almost every time he felt a sort of guilt in leaving because who would take care of him? Where would he go after leaving? He felt like a burden staying at Yugi's game shop and he knows Tristan's living arrangements won't cover the both of em either. 

And even if he was able to, his father would always put on a big frown, tears and all, and report him as "Missing" to officers and they were damn good at their job now with how many times he has run away. And he hated how good he was at acting. He could get an Academy Award if he wanted to, he joked.

But maybe if he ran farther... Now that his father was away, he could make it farther this time. He didn't know where, but at least he would leave this dump for longer.

Joey looked down at his stomach though. He wasn't going anywhere with this wound though. Maybe he should rest more.

Joey sat himself up, the pain still definitely there but more sufferable. No, he couldn't wait. He needed to leave now to get a head start, especially with this wound. It would only make it harder if he waited; This type of opportunity was once in a lifetime. 

 He moved to his wallet and looked inside it, seeing small smears of blood but saw a few bucks still inside, along with his ID and other cards. 

He grabbed a black sack from the side of the bed and stood up, though wobbly, and made his way around the room to grab more items. It was more of a routine to grab what he needed the most, in case he was forced back in and ended up losing more than what he had. He grabbed clothes, a kit for his medical items, a pocket knife, wallet, keys, and some more personal items like his duel deck, but decided to leave his duel disk. He probably wouldn't be able to duel in his state, but his deck carried more to it than just the game. Specifically his Time Wizard, Baby Dragon, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon cards. He wouldn't be caught dead without those cards. 

He placed it on the mattress and went to his closet to grab a hoodie. With this weather and this nasty thing on his stomach, he shouldn't go out so lightly. 

He grabbed the bag and pulled it over his shoulder, looking out the window of his room. The rain started to get denser outside, even creating a bit of fog. Joey gulps, he's always left the house on much nicer days, but seeing how bad it was getting got him nervous about getting some sort of illness out there alongside his wounds. Gah, he can't waste time like this.

"If it were by my terms, I'd at least make it sunnier." He muttered, throwing the hood over his blonde hair. He took a deep breath as he pried the window open and painfully squeezed himself out. He landed on the wet grass, water almost immediately smacking him like grains of rice. It almost hurt too.

He sighed, readjusted his bag, and began to walk. A hand covered the glass shard, which was hidden under his hoodie, so it didn't bleed out. Even if he had the items for it, it sure was a hassle to deal with in these conditions.

'Why can't the power of fuckin friendship help me out when I need it..' He muttered, less as a question and more to vent out the aching. 

He made his way down the street and took a turn. Very few cars and even fewer people were out at this time, obviously. He liked how quiet Japan was in public; Fewer questions and more walking along. I mean, right now there were both quiet and no people, but the quiet just made him remember Japanese streets. 

He crossed the street in a slow jog and made his way down to a park. He had never been to this side of his section in town, but it looked peaceful. 

He felt the wound on his stomach flare up again so he wasn't able to see much of it before he entered. He thought it would be a nice place to hide away, till morning at least. 

He felt his vision go again. 'Fuck. Not again, get to a tree damn it...'

He stumbles against a large tree and falls against it, now sitting on wet grass. He lifted his hoodie to see his bandages loosening and more and more blood pooling out. Fuck, he thought he was being careful but all that walking and rain made the bandages wear out. 

His breath quickened, he felt his eyes dim and he even felt his heartbeat in his ears. 

"Fuck... Not like... this.."