The next few nights passed quicker than he would have thought.
Having been degraded to a teenage vagrant, nobody was going to help him. How could they? Even if he explained his situation in truth, they had most likely run away from him with nervous faces before he could even finish getting his story across.
Even then, finding someplace to sleep was problematic. of course, the city is no push-over, and that was a factor Zeke had to account for whenever he'd come across gunshots in the distance or police sirens wailing, or even someone shouting. He couldn't get involved, so he spent the better half of the nights searching for safety outdoors. Therefore, Zeke stuck to sleeping on the cold, hard ground of darkened alleys, different each night. He often found himself shivering as he pulled over the flattened cardboard boxes he used for a mattress and blanket, but even then, outdoor air remained bitter and wet. Probably the worst combination to be sleeping outside, and it made things only drearier.
It also didn't help that he had so little cash on him right now. His allowance was merely enough to get him through the school day and lunch, that's all. He could not buy anything with the money he had in his pocket now, and that's not an overstatement. Everything these days was so overpriced due to slight inflations in the region's economy. He had to skip meals, and his own hungry empty stomach growing progressively more so with time was just as terrible to bear as the nightly chills. As things stood, it was a contest to see which he would die from first: freeze or starve.
It only took about a couple of days on end, withstanding harsh natural elements and his own body's weakening conditions, for him to start looking as worse as he felt. Dark bags formed under his eyes. His stomach and other muscles were shrinking. His walk had become much more like the limp of an old man, hunched over and merely letting his arms swing at his sides when he did not have his hands shoved into his pockets.
Too scared to even show his face anywhere, he didn't want to be noticed. He thought that it would only lead him back into the sharp, inescapable clutches of his uncle. Perhaps, subconsciously, he was using this incident as his one and only opportunity to break free of those chains. Even if he was now homeless, foodless, and down on his luck. And so he walked aimlessly through the city, trying to avoid contact with anyone else, especially with the few people he actually knew and cared for in this city.
Matti and Bella were his only two trustworthy friends in and outside of school, and even then, he hasn't seen them at all recently. How would they react? He doubted they would help him after seeing him like this. The elongated stares he got from random strangers passing him by on the sidewalks at the daylight told him that already.
"Who the hell is that dirty guy?"
"Looks like he's been through hell!"
"Don't go near him! You'll catch his sense of failure!"
"Whoa, who's that loser?"
"Jeez, I'd sure be sorry to be in his shoes."
"I'm glad I'm not him right now."
Each pair of eyes spoke to him worded things differently, but that didn't change to root of what they were saying. And they only made him feel even more inferior about himself.
His uncle and Dr. Fellows were probably still recovering at the hospital and were even more so worried to death about their little apprentice. Wanting to make use of their tool before it wears down completely. But as things stood, Zeke might not make it another night.
He was trapped. Like completely unable to even move.
He didn't want to feel powerless. He didn't like how everything was playing out like the people, including himself, were all just pawns in a big game. With no control over his life anymore it seems, he was feeling terrified and alone, now more than ever.
Truly, it was a scenario he never thought he would be stuck in. And it only went from bad to worse.
By the fifth night, buckets of rain were pouring upon the city. Most pedestrians daring to go out on the streets carried open umbrellas over their heads and were extra careful not to slip on the wet sidewalks. The winds picked up pace in all directions, and the air was growing rawer and colder. As precipitation collected into the sewer drains, that didn't stop it from coating the streets with a sheet of water. And countless ripples formed and faded just as quickly on the surface every time the rain droplets penetrated through and added more to that sheet.
The night came rather rapidly, though it was hard to tell with the black and gray clouds hanging over the skyscrapers, turning the daylight into darkness without trying. Even the streetlamps were on at one o'clock in the afternoon.
As for Zeke himself…well, the toll he had endured all this time was taking its grander effect, and his body could give way at any moment. And yet, he kept going as though he was not broken. The rain was drenching him with its cold, natural liquid. His hair and clothes were soaking wet, the fabric utterly saturated with water and piercing to his skin, making him chill to the bone. He didn't want to look back, but at the same time, he couldn't and wouldn't look forward.
Stuck at a crossroad, many paths were ahead of him, speculating his decision on which one and only one to take. However, he saw only two of these paths clearly.
Die now or die later.
'Am I really that willing to just give up?'
The thought repeated itself over and over again in his mind as he put one foot in front of the other, almost on instinct, but also gradually slowing its pace.
'Would anyone even care if I disappeared forever? Maybe just died in a ditch somewhere?'
For a while, he did not think he had made any real significant engraving for himself in this world. The only thing left for him at this point would be being six feet under with a tombstone over his head.
'Am I that worthless? Should I not have been born at all?'
'…No, it can't be that way! It just can't be!'
Dying seemed so sweet and tempting. He had never wished for death, but not once feared it either. That was something that he knew made him not so normal, and it was his one true secret. Humans don't understand death, so the instinctively fear it. But now, thinking it could be the only way to end his misery and suffering, Zeke could not help but think about it.
What would happen then? Would his heart simply stop beating? Blood stops flowing? Brain seizes to operate? Muscles shut down? An eternal sleep with no bodily functions whatsoever?
Then the rain stopped hitting him, but the wind continued trying to push him back. He had entered a small tunnel without realizing where he was heading. The vehicles rolling along the bridge overhead slightly vibrated the ceiling of the tunnel, and screeching tires could be heard from where he stood. Eventually, this was where he stopped walking.
He stopped, his balance was wobbling and soon he lost track of where his own footing was. He moved sideways, trying to catch himself before he would fall but couldn't, and so he collapsed straight into the tunnel's wall on his right. Leaning up against it, he still held himself up with his legs that were growing numb with every second that passed. He was breathing much heavier now, panting like a dog in the sun on a hot summer's day. His body trembled a bit as he was demanding it to not fall any more than it already has. But the pain was spreading throughout his muscles, and he was sweating profusely. His vision was getting darker from hunger and exhaustion, but he was fighting against the need to sit down and rest, fearing that wouldn't be able to get up ever again.
He was all alone now. He was going to die alone. That is what he always thought. Until the voice of a man suddenly spoke out from behind him.
"Hey, you there, kid. Is everything alright?"
Zeke was stunned. This was the first time someone was concerned with him in over a week. Then again, he could just be hallucinating that somebody was talking to him. But then he heard the footsteps approach him gently. He gathered all his remaining strength to turn his head to the side and met the gaze of the man's oh so light gray eyes staring at him, worried.
Something came back to him in that moment. The realization struck him as lightning crashed just outside the tunnel while thunder boomed above, signaling the oncoming of a storm. And as he looked harder at the man still standing next to him, Zeke could tell, even with his failing eyesight for the moment, that he recognized those eyes from somewhere before.
"Hey kid, hello? Can't you hear me? Or are you deaf?" the man questioned as he approached the high school boy closer to see his face, "Oh man, you don't look so good! You look like you got hit by a truck or something! What the hell happened?!"
Zeke wanted to respond. He really did but couldn't. Every time he opened his own mouth, not even the slightest noise emitted from it. His voice had turned off from not talking to anybody for days.
"Hold on. You look…kinda familiar," the man said as he took a step closer towards the high school boy, "Don't I know you from somewhere? I swear I recognize your face. Weird."
Just then, Zeke felt himself about to slide down the wall as he had finally lost all feeling in his legs. But with an urge to figure out why he knew those light gray eyes so well and why they meant so much comfort to him now, he tried to stand back up. His efforts were futile, and he ended up falling forward. He thought he had hit the ground, but him being able to see his own arms dangle from thin air meant something else. It was the first time in a long time he felt warmth. He couldn't think anymore. His body couldn't move anymore.
"Whoa, hey! Are you alright?! Kid!"
At last, Zeke's eyes closed, and he succumbed to the blackness with a sweet frown.