Fragmented Shift

2

Humming an aimless tune, seven year old Izuku skipped down the street, a soft smile gracing his thin cheeks. His mama had let him walk home from school all by himself! It was the first time ever and he really wanted to show her how much of a big boy he was. Maybe then she would ruffle his hair and say he did a good job! Or- or if she was super proud, maybe she would let him eat dinner with her instead of leaving him to get it himself!

Excited by the idea, Izuku sped up a little. Not too much, he still had to cross a few roads and he knew he had to be super careful, cars were dangerous! 

His skipping was interrupted by a hand shooting out of the alley next to him, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him into the darkness, ripping a surprised squeak from the boy.

His head hit unforgiving brick with a dull thud, making his eyes water as he tried to see what was going on. A man stood in front of him, pinning him to the side of the alley with his fist clenched in the front of his uniform.

His hair was covered by a black beanie, a generic face mask hiding everything except his wide pink eyes that were taking him in.

"Damn, I'm not usually in the business of killing kids but, desperate times am I right?"

The words slowly sank into Izuku's head, opening his mouth to scream when it was covered by the man's hand.

"Now, now," the man chided, reaching behind him to pull a knife out, waving it threateningly in the boy's face. "None of that, I'm getting a lot of money to off you quietly, be a good boy yeah? I need the money she's gonna pay me."

Pay him? Who was she? Why did she want him dead? What did he do? He didn't remember annoying anyone!

Tears streamed down Izuku's face as he wriggled and twisted, trying to escape the man's grip on his face-

.

.

.

Blinking rapidly, Izuku strained past the blurriness of his vision. His face felt wet, had he been crying? What had happened?

Glancing around, the first thing he noticed was that the sky was dark.
'Wait, wasn't I walking home from school?' 
The second thing he noticed was that it wasn't just his face that was wet, his school uniform was drenched too, like he was dunked under water. 
'But that doesn't make sense, I-' His mouth dropped, eyes widening as he realised what he was looking at. 'That's the canal! How did I get here?' Eyes dropping, he saw splashes of water leading up from the waters edge to the small puddle surrounding him.

Ok, this wasn't a big deal right? Right, he just had to get home and forget this ever happened, not that he knew what happened but that just meant he had less to forget, right?

Swallowing down his panic, small hands squeezed the water out of his uniform as he stumbled away from the water, the journey back to his home a big blur and before he knew it he was standing in front of his apartment, hand shaking as it raised to knock on the wood. His mama hadn't given him a key, he hoped she wouldn't be mad that he was late!

The door flew open with a bang that made him flinch, his mama stood there, hands on her hips as she glared down at him. For a long time she didn't say anything, just stared as her face changed from anger to disappointment.
"Go to your room, I don't want to look at you right now. Can't even do one thing right."

Skirting around her, the green haired boy rushed to his room, closing the door quietly before shedding his damp clothes.

He hated that he let his Mama down, she had trusted him to walk home alone and now he had disappointed her. He was such a bad son.

The next morning Izuku ate his breakfast as he watched the news and wondered why the picture of the man they showed looked familiar, all he could focus on were the wide pink eyes glaring from the screen.

Shrugging, he moved to grab his spare backpack. He must have walked by him on the street or something, he had been murdered last night in a presumed mugging gone wrong, not too far from his apartment but that was a common thing, they lived in a bad area and everyone knew if you were out after dark your life was at risk.

Humming under his breath, Izuku closed the apartment door behind him and started skipping towards school.