The Nobodies Ch. 1&2

The Nobodies


Ch. 1 The End †


I’m dying, I’m dying at only 13 years old, right on the sidewalk, oh god please help me! Please don’t let my die! Delia kneeled on the sidewalk, clutching her waste and coughing up what felt like her whole stomach.
         Why isn’t anybody helping me?  What’s wrong with these people?!  She thought as many people passed her on the busy sidewalk in New York, New York, but all of them keeping at least three feet away from her.
It was getting late and the sun was setting. Sister Anne-Lisa is going to be worried sick that I’m not at the shelter before sunset. She tried to stand up but then she coughed so hard she could taste blood in her throat. She looked up at the orange sky, trying to determine how late it really was but she couldn’t tell.  She dropped her eyes back down to the ground, concentrating on keeping tears from them, when something caught her eye.  A black blur moving on the sidewalk.  It was a long haired black cat with incredibly beautiful large blue eyes.  The cat came up to her, sat, and meowed.
         At that moment, everything made sense.  People were swerving away from her and ignoring her not because she was dying, but going through something much, much worse.  Delia was going through the Change, the Change into a Nobody.  She looked down at her arms and, sure enough, there were large blue and black markings that looked like a big bruise spreading all over her.  It moved up her arm further and further, so far she had to pull her sleeve up above her shoulder.  It moved up over her shoulder and then it was gone.  She couldn’t see it moving anymore.
         Then she panicked.  She didn’t know why but not being able to see the bruise-like markings anymore scared her.  Seconds later her vision became tinted red and blotchy, she became light-headed and dizzy.  With a loud smack, she fell and her head hit the sidewalk. Everything was Black.

Ch. 2 Early Hour †


         Darkness, total darkness.  That’s all Delia could see.  But she could feel something like a soft pillow floor.  But that was it.  There were no smells, no tastes, no sight, just the pillow floor.  But it also felt, slightly, like there was something sticking to her skin, all over.
Don’t panic Delia, just relax.  Use your head, gather information, what are you lying on, are you on your back or your side?  Can you hear or smell anything at all?  She thought to herself.
From what she could tell, she was lying on her side with her knees tucked close.  She tried moving, to see if she could sit up, but she couldn’t.  There was something holding her down, something strong but stretchy and it felt a little like a thin layer of skin.
She could move her arms and feel around the skin, which helped her realize that she wasn’t blind, she was just enclosed in this…thing, whatever it was.  After a bit more studying of her enclosure, she realized that it was like a cocoon wrapped around her, and it wasn’t that strong.  A bit of struggling and within a few minutes, she could push herself out of it. Delia put her hands up and shoved hard on the skin.  It stretched at first but she pushed harder and it ripped open.
“I’m out!” She said to herself.
Her first thought was to look around and see where she was.  As soon as her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was still on the sidewalk from before.  She looked down at the skin cocoon that had held her.  It was a skin like thing, it looked a little like the skin of a bat’s wings.  Sitting inside the cocoon with her was a pile of pitch black feathers, which were also scattered around her from when she burst through her cocoon.  When she looked down at the feathers, she also saw her arms, they were covered in black feathers like the ones in her cocoon.  Not only her arms either, it was her entire body! Delia starred in shock at her arms, she wanted to scream but no noise would come to her throat. Looking into the window of the store next to her, she saw a giant black feathered monster.  Black feathers, coating her entire body, she could barely even see her own eyes! The feathers stuck all over her and even clung to her short auburn hair.
After staring at her new coat of feathers for a while, Delia decided she better find someone to help her.  The first person she thought of was Sister Anna-Lisa.  Sister Anna-Lisa had always been there to help her, Delia only hoped that she would help her now, even though she had become a Nobody, and rather strange one at that!  In all the Nobodies Delia had seen form from the other orphans, she had never seen one that had an all over coat of feathers!  They always had wings, some wings had feathers, some were like butterfly wings, some bat wings, but never was there a Nobody with feathers all over.
Just as Delia was standing to leave for the orphanage, something – or somebody – swooped down in front of her from atop the dim lamp post.  It was a boy, standing in front of her.  He had long black hair that looked like it was stained with blood!  He had no shirt, just black pants, his face and chest was very scarred and dirty.  With just these features alone, he would look like just another homeless kid, but he wasn’t.  Arching out from his back were two, large, black bat wings.  He was a Nobody!
         “Welcome” he said, but in a way it didn’t make her feel welcome at all.
         “w-who are you?” Delia tried her best not to stutter, which she always did when she was scared.
         “My name is Jayce.  I don’t have time for a proper introduction, Zeter will be here soon. If you want to live, then tomorrow you will meet on of my helpers, they will come to your home, her name is Emily.  She is a human. Please, just tell me where you live and I will answer any questions you have tomorrow.” He said
         “Uh……wait why should I tell you where I live?  I don’t even know who you are!  Your just a stranger!” She said, as her mind became more clear.
         “You’re a Nobody now, so you don’t have much to worry about.  You’ll own very few belongings with your new life.”
         She thought about that.  What did she have to loose?  He was right, she was a Nobody, she would soon have to leave the orphanage and live on the streets, hiding from the humans, shunned. “I-I live at an orphanage. It’s called Haven Childrens Adoption Center.  It’s on 24th Street.” She said.
         “Good.  Now what’s your name?” He asked her.
         “My name is Delia. Delia Gaven.” Delia chocked, as tears ran down her cheek.
         “Thank you Delia. I would stay longer but I know that Zeter is fast approaching, and so is the morning.  Emily will be at your shelter at 8:00, meet her in the front, and do your best to hide yourself. Now Delia, you must run to your home as fast as you can. Zeter is not only a threat to me but a threat to you too, and so is the morning sun, so move quickly.” And with that, he was gone.
         Delia sat on the sidewalk for a while.  She’ll probably never see Sister Anna-Lisa again, accept for maybe tonight, then Sister will be gone forever.  Delia will never be allowed to see another human again.  No more Sisters from the Shelter, no more friends from the Shelter, and no more strangers that come to adopt but never adopt her.  Well that part she wasn’t too sad about, she would never have  to worry about having a family again, Nobodies don’t have to deal with  human matters such as families, at least that’s what she thought.
         Deciding she was ready to leave, Delia stood and started her run down the dim lighted sidewalk towards her now ex-home.


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The orphanage was silent. Every light in the place was out. She would have been locked out if it weren’t for the back entrance Sister Anna-Lisa showed her one day.  Delia snuck her way to the third to top floor down the left hallway, to room 113, her room.  She had a feeling that she wouldn’t want to pack a lot of stuff, so she grabbed a second dress to wear, a scarf and hat, and a necklace Sister Anna-Lisa had given her last Christmas. She thought about taking the time to sit down and write a letter to Sister Anna-Lisa, telling her what happened. But she quickly put it out of her mind, telling herself it would take too much time. She figured it would be better this way.
         Delia exited the orphanage within twenty minutes, great time. But now she had to work on finding a place to hide from the sun until 8:00, and she had to do it fast, the sun was starting to rise! After running like crazy around the city, she found a nice quiet park surrounded by tall trees. At the base of one of the bigger tree trunks was a large burrow big enough to fit an infant, it was the perfect size for Delia to fit her petite little self in and nap until tonight. She scooted herself in just in time, the horizon was pink and the sun was starting to throw shadows. She didn’t actually know what kind of threat the sun was to her, but she didn’t really want to test it, who knows what kind of rules apply in this new strange life! Using her duffle bag as a cushion, Delia lay down and closed her eyes. She was simply exhausted from the whole night, and within seconds, she was fast asleep.
         Delia fluttered her eyes open. She was groggy, but she forced herself to poke her head out of the burrow to see. The horizon was pink, like when she fell asleep, the sun was setting. She checked the watch she was wearing, 7:57, oh no! She was going to be late! Delia grabbed her duffle bag and crawled out of her burrow as fast as she could manage. Her feet stomped on the sidewalk as she raced down the streets, not even thinking to hide herself in the alleys. She didn’t even notice all the people staring and gasping and swerving far away from her, the only thing that mattered was making it to the orphanage.
         Finally, after what felt like hours, Delia came up on the right street corner and ran into the front of her orphanage. There was a girl sitting on the front steps, she had auburn hair that fell over her shoulders and she was wearing a long sleeve dress with puffy sleeves, her face was soft, sad but kind. She saw Delia running up to her and her face became rather shocked.
         “I’m sorry, but, are you mad?! You can’t just go running in the middle of the streets in pure day like a crazy person! You’re not even a person! You’re a Nobody!” The girl said to her.
         Delia didn’t reply, she was too busy panting, trying to catch her breath.
         “Come on! We’ve got to get you out of public sight right now!” The girl said. She grabbed Delia by the sleeve and dragged her away to some dark alley. Once they were in a secluded area, the girl’s voice and face softened. “Sorry I yelled like that, but you really shouldn’t be out in such public, you could get arrested, or killed or who knows what else!” She said.
         “You can get arrested for being in public?” Delia said, now that she caught her breath.
         “Well technically, no, but they’re humans, who knows what excuse they’ll find to throw you in jail, probably for disturbing the peace or something like that. Now come on, we got to get you home, I’m sure there are loads of questions you’d like to ask. By the way, my name is Emily.” Emily said, then she and Delia were off, to where ever Nobodies stayed.
         

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Emily took Delia to an abandoned warehouse on the outside of the city. Delia’s old orphanage was in the middle of New York City, so it was a very long walk. By the time they had gotten there it was about 8:00 in the morning. The place was very quiet, not what Delia expected. The first room you see is just a very large room, with really tall ceiling. Around the room, scattered everywhere were couches, beds, chairs, benches, and even two or three cupboards and refrigerators. Hanging from the ceiling in this room was lots of rope and ladders and a few small lofts that had obviously been hand made by the Nobodies that lived her out of wood.
         Emily took Delia to a long hallway with a big metal elevator. The elevator then took them up to floor seven. Floor seven had about twelve really big rooms in it, she guessed that the rooms had once been used to make toys.
The room Emily showed her to was plenty big enough, probably only about ten by ten feet smaller then the first one she saw! The walls were metal and rusty. An old wooden dresser with a cracked mirror had been set against one of the walls with a rickety bench on it, the dresser was worn and dirty, but it didn’t really matter, she only had one dress. There was a hat rack sitting next to the door, it had a missing peg, and it looked even older, but again she didn’t mind, and she hung her scarf and hat on the rack. Sitting against the far wall was a fair sized cot bed with wheels and a rusting metal frame.  There was one dirty pillow and old tattered sheets on the bed, but at the end of it was a warm, fuzzy knitted blanket made from wool, the blanket was hand knitted and it smelt clean.
Emily told Delia that it was pretty late right now, and everyone was asleep, which was odd, because she would normally be just waking up at this time. Emily said that she should unpack her things and then get some rest, they had walked all night and to be honest, Delia was exhausted. She put her dress in the old dresser and her hat and scarf hung on the hat rack, taking up the remaining two pegs. She took off her shoes and lay them next to her bed, then, when she was about to go to beg, she noticed a small box sitting on the dresser. The box looked old and was  a little wobbly, but it was newer then everything else. Delia opened the box, on the inside was a note, it read:

Dear Delia,
I hope you come accustomed to your new life style,
I know it’s a little dirty and used, but it’s better than nothing.
I thought you might like to use this little jewelry box
Not many of the girls around here have jewelry, so when I made it, they
Had no need for it, but I thought that maybe
You might had brought some jewelry, or you might
Like to require some in the future, if not, then just enjoy the thought for now.

Sincerely, Jayce

Delia smiled, and put her necklace in the little box. Pulling the soft wool blanket over herself, Delia lay down in her new wobbly bed, and drifted off to a comfortable sleep.
         


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