Bloodwalker

Chapter 27: Obligation

Trigger Warning/s: none

Pre-chapter notes: none

Art: Yusuf Joher on ArtStation. They have 19 years of experience in 3D modelling, texturing and lighting and all of the work on their portfolio is amazing. It looks very realistic! I hope you can support him.

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Scribbling. Scratching. The sounds of lead on paper fill your apartment like the scrabbling of mice, like miniscule fights over breadcrumbs. Like a slave at work, you keep your head down, writing, even though your neck aches from the weight. Still, you cannot stop, not until the sheet of paper is filled. Not until it's impossible to forget.

It's a new, potentially dangerous habit you've developed, or perhaps a new morning ritual of comfort - covering a blank sheet full of etchings of your real name. Y/N. Y/N. Y/N. Your name, all over the paper. As if you're afraid you'll forget it. No space can be left unfilled, for that leaves room for a lapse in memory.

The paper isn't even yours - it's not like you could afford another notebook for the number of times you've done this. No, you find crumpled, abandoned flyers in alleyways and overflowing trash cans. You find discarded posters in parking lots, the backs of them still white and empty.

You have to admit that by the time you're finished, the paper you've just worked on looks like you've gone through literal insanity.

Though, if anybody knew the real you, who could blame you?

It hurts. It hurts that you have to forget your name. It hurts that you're not your own person, but a menagerie of violent, stolen things. A creation of bloodshed, taken away from the childhood that should've been yours.

The papers filled with your name are reminders. Reminders of what was once yours, what is no longer, and what still is - so long as nobody ever finds out.

And so in the end, the papers can never see the light of day. You call on your blood and in a flash the paper you're holding is shredded to bits, drifting to the ground like snowfall.

Well, it's just another morning.

Time to go to school.

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Todoroki's looking at you funny, like he wants to ask you something, and it's getting increasingly difficult to concentrate on Kaminari who's currently trying to tell you a joke.

"Knock knock."

Why is Todoroki-san looking at me? Did I make him angry?

"Helloooo? Chiyo-chan? Knock knock."

You stare at Kaminari quizzically. Sero, who's leaning on the desk next to him, is no help at all, as he's fiddling with the collar of his uniform. Neither is Jirou, who just rolls her eyes and mutters for the boy to "stop being cringe".

"You're supposed to ask who's there, Chiyo-chan!" Kaminari whines. "Do you not know how a knock-knock joke works?"

"Why?" you ask, ignoring his question.

"Just try it," he pouts.

"...who's there?"

"Marry."

You think that Kaminari is a strange one. He always asks you weird questions, like the ones he's pestering you with now, and does many things you don't understand. You get the feeling that he doesn't really think before he speaks. Then again, the same can be said for you.