At the heart of a crowded city, the day began in its usual rush. People hurried to work, children clung to backpacks on their way to school, and cars sped by with an urgency that ignored speed limits. The roads pulsed with motion, alive with purpose... or at least the illusion of it.
Amidst the rushing, Amidst the chaos, a lone teenager strolled along the edge of the sidewalk, dressed in simple streetwear, minding his own business.
A pair of black headphones hugged his ears. A cold soda can sat gripped in his right hand. Dark sunglasses veiled his eyes, reflecting the morning light. On the surface, he was just another face in the crowd, yet he moved through them untouched, like a ghost.
Everything around him was loud, except for him.
Well, everything except his music.
The young man was in a state of inner peace. He was cold, not freezing because the weather, the sunlight warmed his face just enough to keep the chill at bay anyway. He was nonchalant, his expression was unreadable. Phonk beats played low in his ears, drinking his favorite icy soda, and taking a peaceful, relaxing walk.
"Just a bunch of cowards wasting their lives with nothing in return." he muttered after a sip, his gaze sweeping over the frantic crowd, Disgusted from all of the rush he sees daily.
The problem wasn't within the fact that they wanted to catch on with their work, it was their duty to work and provide for their families. It was the emptiness of their routine that disgusted him. None of them, not a single one, seemed to love what they did. They worked for the sake of duty, survival, and expectations... False expectations. But passion? Freedom? That was lost. He couldn't help but feel pity for them.
Why would they stick to this kind of overwhelming working schedule and not venture outside of it and build themselves instead? That was the young man's point. They could easily work on themselves rather than working for someone else.
His thoughts swirled as vans and sedans roared past him, the wind of their speed tugging at his shirt. Yet he walked on, steady and detached, as if the entire city was racing.
"Well, it's none of my business, really." Shaking off his thoughts, he tried to empty his mind and pressed forward. But the irritation lingered, subtle and sharp. Only the rhythm of his footsteps, the icy fizz of the soda, and the pounding phonk in his ears offered a fragile escape, enough to keep him moving, if not quite at peace.
As he walked peacefully among all people who rushed past him, he saw with the edge of his eyes a van parking ahead. Shifting his gaze away, he continued walking on his own with his music, feeling the harmony of his most favorite habit.
Suddenly, a stranger dumped on his shoulder by accident, resulting in him to tremble and fall to the ground. The fall was somewhat quite strong. Fortunately, the stranger knelt down to help him.
"Uh! Sorry. I didn't mean to push you. My apologies." The stranger aided Ash to stand up, that's when Ash realized that his legs hurt badly. Something happened to his legs when he fell.
"Ah, shit! I think I broke my leg." Ash said.
The stranger paled and rushed to help him in a state of fear.
"Sorry, I'm so sorry. It was an accident!"
The stranger helped Ash and got him into his vehicle which was a white van.
Ash couldn't think properly. The pain was just too overwhelming. He didn't think for a minute that breaking a bone in his body would cause so much pain!
The stranger seated him in the back seats and drove his van.
"Hang in there! The hospital isn't too far from here."
Ash couldn't reply. His mind was focused solely on the pain. He even tried to look outside of the car, trying to shift his thinking into another thing. But his pain was too powerful to let this pathetic idea slide.
Ash didn't even know either it was just a twist in his leg or it was really broken. He only felt pain and nothing else.
Several minutes passed until the van suddenly stopped in a deserted area. Ash felt it coming ahead. He knew where the hospital where situated, yet the stranger drove away from it.
Ash knew very well that it was a trap!
When they arrived at that location, Ash was already focusing his gaze onto the stranger. His eyes were burning from under those glasses, he was furious!
"And... what is that place exactly? IS this the hospital you talking about?"
The stranger, however, didn't respond and just stepped out of the van and said:
"Fellas! We... are here."
Just a second had passed until so many people dressed in white pulled out a shattered building nearby. All of them wore a white mask. Ash silently widened as he realized that he didn't fell in a trap...
He was kidnapped!
And he knew very well why would they choose someone like him.
"Oh! You actually managed to get this heterochromia bastard here!"
A group of 20 men emerged from the darkness residing within the shattered building. The middle one spoke with the stranger who brought Ash with him.
Heterochromia, a very rare phenomenon that affects the person's eyes. Basically, it's a genetic trait that separates the eyes' color, making the eye color different from the other. And Ash was one of them.
"Yes, he is."
The stranger responded with a shift in his expressions. His lips curled upwards, and his eyes narrowed. He was grinning.
Ash, on the other hand, fell in utter terror! His eyes widened in fear... fear of losing his eyes!
Ash Verlane, a complete heterochromia with one dark eye and the other pure vermillion. His body was slim, like most average people are. His hair was crimson with a slight hoe of darkness.
As for why Ash had fell in terror, well, it's all because they knew he was heterochromia. Which only means that they... want his eyes!
And maybe some of his organs, who knows?
Those men are actually... Organ Traffickers!
Ash immediately pushed the door of the van open and fell to the ground, feeling pain coursing through his whole leg. He still doesn't know whether it was a twist or it was actually broken. But none of that matters now, his life is on the edge.
He tried to crawl his way but it was in vain.
And pathetic too.
The man who spoke from the group closed his fist on his crimson hair, pulling his whole pathetic corpse all the up. His legs didn't even touch the ground, the bastard was really tall.
"Our boy tried to run. Hahahahahaha! Do you think we would let our first victim flee?!"
Fear gripped his heart even harder. Their first victim?! That means that whatever he does... None, none would ever know his place. Even the CPD won't even get to know his place. Those bastards aren't even known. It's their first operation and fate made him the first prey.
'...I'm grounded.' Ash thought, his pulse growing faster with each passing second.
The man who held him like a slave was a bald, bulky bastard. Even if Ash was well and had the opportunity to run, he wouldn't be able to do so.
Imprisoned! And no where he could run to.
The bulky straightened his arm downwards and walked toward the shattered building, forcing the victim's lower body to fall helplessly on the ground. Ash felt unimaginable pain. If his leg wasn't broken before, it's bound to be broken this time.
Pulling Ash from his hair, his leg collided with the stone road beneath, making his pain soar up high enough to make him on the verge of losing his mind.
The bulky entered the shattered building. The first thing Ash saw was a narrow corridor with two rooms on the left as well as two on the right, yet the bulky chose to ignore them and headed to the room facing both of them ahead.
The rest of the gang followed them as well as the stranger who brought him. Who broke his leg.
Upon pushing the door open, one of the gang came with a rope and tied Ash from his hands and his legs. Ash was about to fall unconscious, his broken leg felt like it has broken again.
The bulky, however, didn't care one bit and threw Ash on the ground. He looked at his hand and saw a few of Ash's hair stick to it.
"Oh, The heterochromia gave me some of his hair. How brilliant!"
The fall was too strong for his body. letting out a groan, Ash fell on his legs directly. The worst of it was that... he fell on his broken leg!
The glasses he was wearing fell off his eyes revealing his magnefi- Huh!
"What!!!"
"HEY! YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE! YOU BROUGHT THE WRONG PERSON!"
The bulky roared, spinning toward the one who brought Ash in.
All eyes turned. The stranger's mouth opened in disbelief, frozen in shock.
Ash's eyes were both black.
No sign of vermillion. No heterochromia. No prize.
Just a worthless, ordinary kid.
Or so it seemed.
Ash slumped forward, breathing hard, pain wracking his frame. Yet behind that pain, behind the tremble in his hands and the blood crusting his lip… something stirred. A ghost of a smile flickered beneath his mask of agony.