The violent beginnings of a beautiful ending

The ugly beginnings

Clang!

The dishes shattered against the floor, and Michael stood there trembling.

"P-please, stop..." Michael whispered, looking at what was his only food for the week, now on the ground and inedible.

"What? Are you gonna cry? Just go ask your mom for the food! Oh, wait I forgot, your mom doesn't care about you!" Drake announced loudly to the crowd that was forming around them.

"That's not true!" Michael yelled, gasping in horror at the realization of what he's done.

"Did you just talk back to me?" Drake said, quietly and calmly, unlike his normal loud and arrogant self.

Michael didn't say anything but gulp, slowly backing away from Drake with an expression of fear on his face.

Drake pulled his right fist back, and drove it straight to Michael's stomach, making Michael curl in on himself and gasp.

Michael looked up in fear only to be slapped in the face.

"Who said you could look at me?" Drake sneered, and a couple of students that were watching laughed.

Drake then kicked Michael in the ribs with so much force, Michael had to physically force himself to keep breathing.

Before Drake could punch or kick him again, Michael made a run for it.

"Hey! Who said you can leave?!" Drake yelled, but Michael ignored it for the sake of keep breathing and trying to not bump into anything.

He ran out of the school field, not caring if the teachers saw him or not, but as soon as he turned the corner, a rough hand grabbed him from behind and something wet touched his nose and mouth.

After a few moments of struggling, Michael felt drowsy, and his eyelids started to droop despite his protests.

About a minute later, Michael went limp completely, but the kidnapper held still for another thirty seconds for good measure.

---

Michael woke up to the clanks of scalpels and razors hitting the metal tray, but before he had a chance to move, a middle-aged man in a bloody white lab jacket approached him.

"Do we move him?" He asked someone behind him in a gruff voice.

"No, leave him there, he won't be up for at least another hour. We just need the elixir to speed up the process," A female voice replied.

Just then, a loud bell rang.

"It's lunch break, can we finish after? Im starving," The man asked, not waiting for a response before shuffling away and through the door.

"Get back in here Damian- oh I swear to god that man if he is the reason our experiment fails-" The woman muttered, before shooting a glance at Michael and walking out the door too.

Michael groaned as he sat up in the now-empty lab.

He wasn't wearing anything, and he had a big scar on his stomach.

What had happened?

At least the necklace he got from his sister was still there.

Michael stood up on his shaky legs and checked his surroundings.

He had to get out of there, even if no one was looking for him out there.

He saw the emergency exit door, opposite where everyone had filed out of previously.

Trembling and bracing himself against the wall, Michael started walking as fast as he could, the scar on his stomach pulling and straining with each step.

He could feel something in his body that wasn't there before, lodged between his organs, the scientists had put something in his body.

The prospect scared him, but he grit his teeth and kept going, agonizingly slow, but still making progress.

At last, he reached the door, and with a mighty heave, the door finally creaked open, just enough for Michael's small frame to slip out.

Michael blinked.

The lab he just escaped from was apparently located under the governor's office, and he was currently standing naked outside the back of the building.

He looked around his surroundings and saw a clothes donation box.

A few moments later, he found himself a pair of jeans and an oversized hoodie, as well as a pair of shoes.

Micahel trudged out of the alley, and headed home, where his father was no doubt waiting for him with a beer in his hand, mother probably at a stripper club or something.

Sure enough, when he got home, he was met with a can of beer to his head.

"You brat! Where the hell is my beer? Go buy me some right now, and tell your mom to get f*cking home!" His dad yelled.

"I'm a minor, dad. I can't buy-" He was cut off by another can of beer thrown at his head, a little bit of what was left sloshing out onto his head.

"Then f*cking steal or something, you useless mutt," His dad growled, and Michael hurried out, not wanting to get another can be thrown at his head.

The beer on his face trickled down to his mouth, and Michael nearly choked on the disgusting taste.

He was making his way to the liquor shop very slowly when an ad panel caught his eye.

7th.

Three days.

Three days had passed since he was kidnapped, and no one had noticed.

What even was his life at this point?

Just then, he arrived at the liquor shop, and the store clerk eyed him suspiciously.

Michael had actually been here before, and he had stolen from here too.

The store clerk started to walk outside toward him, and Michael panicked.

"Hey kid, you lost?" The clerk asked, but Michael couldn't hear anything as he panicked.

"Oh my god, hey! Hey kid! Ki-" The clerk's voice cut short, and Michael blacked out.

—

Michael slowly woke up, and the first thing he noticed was the plastic bag with lots of beer in it.

How had he gotten these?

He had no recollection of what happened after he blacked out, had he stolen these?

He leaned against the wall and started breathing deep breaths.

Suddenly, a jolt went through his spine, and he flinched.

His head started pounding, and his breaths were getting more and more labored by the second.

Just what was happening to him?