Crash. Crumble. Thump.

Silence.

Crowds gathered around the strange little boy that had dropped out from the rip in the sky, now crouched at the center of the playground. Worried mothers poked and pried as fathers spread out in search of his parents or guardians. The boy curled himself into a ball and clenched his eyes shut. He could hear nothing but the explosion that reverberated in his small ears. His body shook and twitched with fear, unaware of the commotion he had created nor of the attention he received.

“Leave ‘im alone,” an old woman spat, staring down at the boy with her lazy eye. “He just got here after all.”

“Y’eah, they’re all like that,” her friend added with a cackle. “Y’all were like that s’well.”

“B..but they don’t u…usually come…this…way,” a frail young woman stuttered worriedly, obviously a newcomer as well.

The two old woman snorted and continued on their daily walk through the park as if nothing was wrong. Together, the two women were nearly two centuries old and they had seen enough in this world to sleep through a hurricane.

“Uhh–yeah, I’m sure he’ll be fine,” another woman said, picking up her toddler. “Come on honey, let’s go.”

Slowly, the crowd began to disperse and the large face in the sky ticked away. A second. A minute. An hour. Another hour. Then a few more. Soon, the noise began to recede and the boy willed his head to rise at the slight tap at his toes. A rainbow colored ball had rolled it’s way to his tiny feet. His eyes fixed curiously on the object, wondering what type of contraption it was.

“Hey! Hey you!” a girl called, running towards him. “Can you hand me the ball?”

He ran a hand through his dusty hair and looked up at the girl. “Ball?”

The girl laughed and rolled her eyes, brushing her tangled hair behind her ear. He examined her dust and dirt covered face — or rather, body. Her cheeks and forehead were smudged and spotted with dirt, matching her mud-ridden, tattered dress. He eyed her right wrist and the dark blue design tattooed onto her skinny wrist, but did not have a chance to ask about it. “Yes, it’s kinda what these are called.”

Slowly, he picked up the ball and handed it over, contemplating each step and action he made as if the ball was going to explode any second. Or worse, as if the girl would turn into a monster and eat him alive. Shaking his head to clear his train of thought, he managed to string together one of the most common and simple sentences heard all over the world. “What’s your name?”

“Who me?” she chirped, lowering her head to the floor. After a long silence, she lived it up towards the cloudy sky, “I don’t remember anymore. Names don’t really matter. Well, not here anyway.”

“Here?” he repeated, finally taking notice to his odd surroundings. He knew there was something wrong with the aura around him when he fell. His eyes grew wide at the sights he saw. Thatched roofs and sturdy houses lined the horizon. In front of him were swings and slides, sandboxes and sandcastles. The day was bright and children ran around without a care in the world. They had their fathers with them. Their mothers weren’t bloody. This was a world he only knew in storybooks. Only in legend. This could not be his world. This was not his world. This was..

“Hell.” the girl answered with a giggle.

—> Chapter 1