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Hey Little Girl - Bloodwitch
The sky lit up in a hazy shade of pale blue as the sun slowly creeped up to the horizon, not showing quite yet. The moon still shone a dull, cold, white as it had not yet finished its own descent.
Birds nestled in nearby trees sang loud, annoying, trilling, notes which floated down from the branches above, aggravating the two down in the street below and the other as they packed plastic boxes into a silver car. Previously packed boxes got shoved farther back as more boxes were placed in front. It was going to suck to unpack.
(Y/N) placed his backpack into the passenger seat as their relative climbed into the driver's seat, closing the door behind her. A tired sigh left his lips, the warning of a headache lingering in the back of his head as he turned back to the house they'd be leaving in just a few minutes.
Shutting the car door behind him, (Y/N) walked halfway up the walkway and simply stared at the home that'd be left behind, sitting empty for weeks or months. It was completely unfair, the home that had so many memories sitting alone without a family to care for. In the faint morning light the house looked like a ghost, the comparison made (Y/N) shiver. The windows now eyes that wished for (Y/N) to stay behind, to relive the memories until the end of time. A shape moved behind the glass, the pale blue a familiar color. Was it? It had to be. (Y/N) stepped closer without thinking. It must be. He needed to get closer-
"Kid, we need to go!" The boy's aunt called out to him, breaking the trance. (Y/N) stepped back. It must've been a trick of the light. No ghosts lived here anymore.
Maria was leaning over the roof of the car, her long curly brown hair being blown in her crystal blue eyes by the occasional breezes that swept through the currently empty streets.
It was going to be fine. A brand new start.
"No more looking back" as she said.
Maria gave her nephew a sympathetic smile as he climbed into the car and leaned back his head.
"I know this is hard but-" She began as she started the car.
I can't do another lecture about loss.
"Can we please just go?" (Y/N) interrupted, not meeting her eyes as he stared out the windshield, unable to look at her or the house.
A soft, uneasy, silence settled into the car as (Y/N) put his headphones on.
As the sun slowly rose further into the sky, the family of two progressed out of their comfortable hometown and further toward their destination.
Along the road (Y/N) saw people going about their regular lives, though he did his best to ignore the shimmering figures standing among crowds, wandering aimlessly forever.
(Y/N) may have been too far away to see directly where the ghosts were looking but he could feel their eyes tracking him across the roads, he always felt it.
Skyscrapers passed overhead, coming and going as they passed through the shadows of the city. Soon enough though, the towering buildings gave way to open sprawling countryside. Peaceful nothingness. (Y/N) could get lost in it.
She'd have loved this.
Wonder if there's any flowers along the route.
Maybe we could stop and pick some-
No, we have to get to the airport on time.
(Y/N) only realized how much time had passed when his eyes caught a glimpse at a mile marker, their silver truck already passing into the threshold of a small town.
There seemed to be less ghosts in this town, which wasn't unusual, just uncommon. It meant less people died with regrets and unresolved issues in this place.
Must be a nice place.
A lot could be told by a town's ghost population, more than what could be learned from a town's living population.
(Y/N) could tell that there had been a horrible accident in this town many years before; ghosts dressed in 1950's apparel wandered the streets soaked in blood. Some of them had grisly injuries which left them looking like walking corpses. Must've been a mining town.
His eyes wandered over the muddied, blood-drenched, uniform of a man on the sidewalk. (Y/N) tried not to think about whatever family he'd left behind. It was probably preventable.
(Y/N) pushed those thoughts aside and sat up in his seat, looking away from the ghost.
He looked toward his aunt, then to the dashboard. Jesus that's a lot of dust.
Dragging his hand over the dashboard, (Y/N) grimaced in disgust as his hand came away coated in a fine grayish brown soot. Gross gross gross.
Before he knew it, they were pulling into the parking lot of a small gas station, the truck put into park beside a pump.
"You're on snack duty." Maria said, handing money to (Y/N) while taking the key out of the ignition.
"Yeah also cleanup duty apparently. When was the last time you cleaned this thing, it's practically a biohazard." (Y/N) climbed out of the truck, counting the coins and dollars in his hand repeatedly. It had to be right. One, five, five, ten, twenty, five, one. He held the extra dime out to Maria.
She took it back without comment, making a face at (Y/N)'s remark.
"Well it's my truck." She shrugged, getting out of the truck, closing the door behind her. She turned her back to (Y/N), facing toward the gas pump. (Y/N) made a face back towards her and closed his own door.
"See if they have anything strawberry flavored. I'm craving some artificial strawberries right now.." Her sentence trailed off as she focused on the gas pump.
"Got it, chief." (Y/N) mumbled as he shoved the money in his jacket pocket next to his phone.
Looking both ways across the parking lot before crossing over to the convenience store, he noticed an interesting lack of other cars, the only other parked car being a small shiny black car parked at the far end of the parking lot. The tinted windows left (Y/N) with an unsettled feeling.
The door jingled when he opened it, alerting the half-asleep cashier at the front desk. Unsurprisingly, the store was mostly empty. The only other customer in the store was looking at the drink fridges, probably comparing prices if (Y/N) had to guess.
(Y/N) immediately walked to the candy aisle, searching for anything strawberry flavored. She doesn't like the tart candies or the sour candies so.. That pretty much just leaves gum.
(Y/N) noticed out of the corner of his eye the customer who'd been standing at the fridges, coming up to his side and staring at the shelves of candy as well.
The man was fairly tall, with a black hoodie and a black backpack. Alarms rang in the back of his head. I need to see his face.
Trying to be discreet, he looked over at the man, only for the man's eyes to meet his own. Oh shit!
"I'm just um.. Trying to pick a snack." there was an uncertainty to the way the man spoke, his eyes darting back to the shelves every once in a while.
His faint accent made (Y/N) pause. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to be nice as long as I memorize his license plate.
"Well, um, what are you looking for exactly?" Hopefully this won't backfire.
"Uh- fruity candy i guess?" The man shrugged, moving his shoulders in a strange manner like he was also shrugging a pair of invisible limbs. (Y/N)'s eyes fixated on the movement for a second before he looked back at the man's face.
Strands of blond hair poked out from under the Man's hoodie, framing his amber eyes. For a moment (Y/N) wondered what the stranger's quirk was before correcting himself.
Stop it, that's rude.
"I suggest that." (Y/N) pointed to a bag of chewy candy. Great. Good deed done.
"Thanks." The stranger grabbed the bag and stared at it for a second, an awkward silence settling in. "I'm Takami, by the way."
Takami looked up towards (Y/N).
Is it that smart to give a complete stranger my name?
"(Y/N)." Why did I say that?!
"Nice to meet you (Y/N)." Takami tried a smile but it seemed forced. Is this guy okay?
"You too, Takami." (Y/N) smiled at the man, but it felt more like he was baring his teeth rather than smiling.
If there was anything actually wrong with his expression, Takami didn't seem to notice, as he just nodded stiffly.
"Would you maybe want to exchange numbers?" Takami asked, sounding just.. small.
(Y/N) weighed this idea. If anything goes wrong I could just, well, block his number.
"Sure."
(Y/N) pulled out a black gel pen from his pants. How lucky he'd forgotten it there. He motioned to Takami with the pen.
"You got paper or something?"
Takami patted down his jacket for a second before just pushing up his sleeve and holding his arm out to (Y/N). "Here."
The black ink stood out fairly starkly against Takami's paler skin.
A smile crossed (Y/N)'s lips. He felt like a middle schooler again, sharing home phone numbers via writing it on his friend's arms.
(Y/N) was mindful of how much he touched Takami's skin, quickly finishing the number and capping the pen. He gave a nod to Takami and, rather quickly, grabbed a package of mentos and rushed over to the counter.
He snatched up a small package of wet wipes as he passed by a shelf, placing both of the items on the checkout counter.
Making stern eye contact with the speckled countertop, (Y/N) pulled the money his aunt had given him from his back pocket.
"Four sixty-two's your total." The cashier said, causing (Y/N) to look up.
Right behind the bored teenage cashier, a tall man stood, nearly leaning over the lanky teen to stare directly at (Y/N)
⚠️
His eyes were coated with a milky white sheen, dulling his pupil and Iris with death. He was covered in soot, making it impossible to make out any defining features.
The skin of the side of his face was torn away, decaying purple muscle and yellowed bones showing though the blood and ragged torn edges of the flesh like torn paper.
⚠️
"Sir?"
(Y/N) tore his eyes away from the ghost and looked at the cashier, quickly tossing the money onto the counter and bolting out of the store, not even using a bag to carry the items.
He ran all the way back to his aunt's silver truck, barely losing speed when he threw open the door and fell into his seat.
His lungs ached from not getting enough oxygen.
Scattered was his mind, thoughts wild like a caged animal. Pounding in his chest, his heart felt like a bird beating itself against the bars of his cage.
Don't think about it.
Don't think about it.
Don't think about it.
Don't think about it.
Maria threw her nephew a questioning look as she climbed into her own seat, the key already back into the ignition.
"Ghost." Was all that slipped through the chaos of his uneven panting, Maria giving him an understanding nod.
With their short stop at the gas station at its end, they pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the open road, the small town now in the rear view mirror with all its ghosts.
(Y/N) caught his breath, staring down at the packages in his hands.
He placed the Mentos on the center console and ripped open the package of wet wipes, beginning to wipe away the dust on the glovebox and dashboard.
With each swipe, he pushed away the thoughts of the ghost he'd seen, pushing away the thoughts of blood and gore. Each swipe revealed a clean black color, clearing (Y/N)'s mind just the same.
Once the dust was cleared away, (Y/N) sat back and sighed, throwing the wet wipes into the trash can in the back. The sun shined off the clean dashboard.
Maria let out a quiet huffy laugh, one hand resting on the wheel while she rested the other on the door.
"What?"
"Oh nothing, just thinking about when you were little, how you ran around with those Todoroki kids." Maria laughed again.
"Oh.. yeah." He hadn't thought about that family in so long. (Y/N)'s brows furrowed as he remembered playing with the older Todoroki kids back when he lived in Musutafu with his family.
His family had been close with the Todorokis, but something happened at some point to make them stop interacting, something (Y/N) was too young to remember and, even if he did remember, probably too young to understand.
Whatever it was, it caused (Y/N) to get yelled at whenever he asked about it, about why he couldn't play with his friends.
(Y/N) wondered what the youngest of the bunch was up to now.
The youngest, Shoto, had always been more reclusive than the others. Except for the oldest, he was basically a shut-in.
(Y/N) always figured that it was due to their father, though he'd never said anything after the one time he did and his mother had thrown a plate at him. The things he'd heard about Endevour... he could write a full trilogy.
"You were such a cute kid. Less of a smartass." Maria said, making (Y/N) laugh this time.
"I know, I used it to make the staff get me more sweets."
Maria laughed quietly while (Y/N) chuckled, letting a comfortable silence settle in.
The radio crackled with a song, Maria gasped and turned it up.
She nudged (Y/N) excitedly.
(Y/N) rolled his eyes as his aunt started to hum along.
Maria looked over at her nephew, who stared out the window, and shoved him lightly with her hand.
Rolling his eyes again, he began to hum along as well.
Maybe everything will be okay.
The two bopped their heads to the beat of the song.
It's a new start.
The shadows of the airport loomed in the distance, steadily coming closer as they drove.
(A/N)
Sooo um... I may or may not have completely disappeared for a bit. I kind of had a massive messy break up with one of my best friends and for a while I was just like alone and that really just messed with my creativity as well as my mental health. And then classes started again and all I had the energy to work on was my assignments, so I just kinda left. I don't know if I'm fully back at it again but I do know that I want to work on this since I found the outline work I did about a year ago for the second chapter. I'll work on this when I feel like so don't expect anything with a schedule. Luv ya.