challenge 226 entry
May. 12th, 2010 04:11 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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kh_drabbleTitle: Beneath the Street Lamp
Challenge: 226 [survivor]
word count: 572
Notes: Ironically, when I decided to write for this challenge, it was just about Traverse Town itself, and how it collects people and things. Somewhere between staying up until 8 a.m. and an shower, it transformed into this.
He can't remember much, when he finally wakes up. There's the lingering flash of swirling blackness, the echo of screams still scratching at the back of his mind, a voice calling out for him to run run run, don't stop! He waits for a moment, desperately wishing the names and faces would bubble to the surface, anything to try and loosen the knot of panic in his heart.
There's nothing. Not his name, not the names of others, he can't even remember what his home is called. All he knows is the place he wakes up, Traverse Town, isn't it. The air tastes different, claustrophobia sets in as he tries to stumble out of the alley that has covered him.
Nothing rings of familiarity. He is a stranger in a strange place.
The man who runs the cafe in the First District offers him a place to stay, a hot meal, until he can find anyone else who survived from his home. He doesn't tell the man that he can't find people he can't remember.
When the man presses for his name, he gives him the first word that comes to mind. "Luz," he knows it's not right, but the soft light in the cafe makes him feel safe, and it makes the cafe owner feel visibly better to have something to call the boy.
Every day, he waits beneath the street lamp, hoping if there's anyone left that they'll find him there, recognize him, and be able to tell him who he really is. Of course, nobody ever comes to claim him and each day ends with a little more panic settling over his heart.
People do visit him under his post on occasion though.
The tall man who prowls around the town, securing the borders, Leon or something. Leon asks him all the time who he's waiting for, and he won't respond because he can't. It's okay though, Leon seems to understand this, leans against the other side of the lamp post for a moment before giving his shoulder a rough pat and ambling off.
Then there's the self proclaimed ninja girl, who comes flitting by most afternoons to spin circles around him and babble aimlessly about things he can't begin to process. She's not bad company, but he won't speak to her either for fear of losing what little sense of self he has.
Aerith stops by occasionally, drops off a jacket for him when the days start turning cold, offers a thermos of warm drink and a friendly smile before slipping back through the doors to the other districts. Some days, he wants to follow her, fold into the little pocket of a family those people seemed to have formed together. Maybe it would be okay to be just Luz and start over...
He shakes it off, reminds himself that he can't be the only one left from There, and he can't give up now. Whoever he really is, he didn't make it this far just to call it quits. Someone, he tells himself, will come just like he did, and they will lock eyes and they will remember each other, and it will be okay.
He thinks maybe they've just forgotten for a little while too, like him. So in his heart he forgives them, and promises when he remembers them, he'll go look for them too.
It's all he can do, to survive.
Challenge: 226 [survivor]
word count: 572
Notes: Ironically, when I decided to write for this challenge, it was just about Traverse Town itself, and how it collects people and things. Somewhere between staying up until 8 a.m. and an shower, it transformed into this.
He can't remember much, when he finally wakes up. There's the lingering flash of swirling blackness, the echo of screams still scratching at the back of his mind, a voice calling out for him to run run run, don't stop! He waits for a moment, desperately wishing the names and faces would bubble to the surface, anything to try and loosen the knot of panic in his heart.
There's nothing. Not his name, not the names of others, he can't even remember what his home is called. All he knows is the place he wakes up, Traverse Town, isn't it. The air tastes different, claustrophobia sets in as he tries to stumble out of the alley that has covered him.
Nothing rings of familiarity. He is a stranger in a strange place.
The man who runs the cafe in the First District offers him a place to stay, a hot meal, until he can find anyone else who survived from his home. He doesn't tell the man that he can't find people he can't remember.
When the man presses for his name, he gives him the first word that comes to mind. "Luz," he knows it's not right, but the soft light in the cafe makes him feel safe, and it makes the cafe owner feel visibly better to have something to call the boy.
Every day, he waits beneath the street lamp, hoping if there's anyone left that they'll find him there, recognize him, and be able to tell him who he really is. Of course, nobody ever comes to claim him and each day ends with a little more panic settling over his heart.
People do visit him under his post on occasion though.
The tall man who prowls around the town, securing the borders, Leon or something. Leon asks him all the time who he's waiting for, and he won't respond because he can't. It's okay though, Leon seems to understand this, leans against the other side of the lamp post for a moment before giving his shoulder a rough pat and ambling off.
Then there's the self proclaimed ninja girl, who comes flitting by most afternoons to spin circles around him and babble aimlessly about things he can't begin to process. She's not bad company, but he won't speak to her either for fear of losing what little sense of self he has.
Aerith stops by occasionally, drops off a jacket for him when the days start turning cold, offers a thermos of warm drink and a friendly smile before slipping back through the doors to the other districts. Some days, he wants to follow her, fold into the little pocket of a family those people seemed to have formed together. Maybe it would be okay to be just Luz and start over...
He shakes it off, reminds himself that he can't be the only one left from There, and he can't give up now. Whoever he really is, he didn't make it this far just to call it quits. Someone, he tells himself, will come just like he did, and they will lock eyes and they will remember each other, and it will be okay.
He thinks maybe they've just forgotten for a little while too, like him. So in his heart he forgives them, and promises when he remembers them, he'll go look for them too.
It's all he can do, to survive.
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Date: 2010-05-12 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-13 05:53 am (UTC)thank you for the comment ♥ glad you enjoyed :3
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Date: 2010-05-13 12:36 am (UTC)And now I'm really curious to know whether Luz is intended to be anyone in particular. XD
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Date: 2010-05-13 06:33 am (UTC)He actually is in the game! When you first visit Traverse Town, there's a boy that stands under that lamp post by the cafe. I gave him a bit of a story, and I had intended to include the lady that stands next to the cafe, but I was pushing the world limit ^^* Maybe I'll expand on this piece later.
Thank you for your sweet comment ♥
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Date: 2010-06-02 03:35 pm (UTC)