Chapter 1: Wake Up

My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold

Until you find it there and lead it back home

The sounds of birds chirping somewhere above, or around, made the young man casually laying on a rooftop of a building stir. He wasn't jumping up right away just in case there was someone around that had caused the explosive headache and what felt a spectacular bruise on his back.

But then again he probably wouldn't be able to even lift a finger. And from the colorful blobs dancing behind his closed lids and warm but gentle caressing on the side of his face he could tell it was a sunny day, hence the birds. And not just that, he was flat on a hard but slightly rough surface and high enough for the sun to peek through. Last he knew it was supposed to be New York. Unless somebody had taken him somewhere else. Which meant many bad things but most notably great worry. About what exactly he wasn't yet sure but deep down his heart clenched uncomfortably.

So the next thing that registered was the not-so faint sound of the traffic below but also not as lively as he knew it usually was.

Judging from the myriad of specks on his eyelids the sun was still high enough so it wasn't gonna get dark immediately but also the angle of the gentle caresses on the side of his face meant it wasn't exactly midday. However which side it was he couldn't tell. Something told it wasn't morning for sure. But maybe it was and his brain was too rattled to think clearly, which he obviously wasn't.

So it was either a morning close to midday or late mid-to-late afternoon. And obviously a summer because it wasn't cold. And definitely birds could chirp this lively only during summer. He decided they were sparrows, if his memory was sparking such idea then it must be. However what else was there his brain hurt too much to imagine.

And now that his consciousness has taken the reality as the resting place the rest of the pains made themselves known with a vice grip. Just by the laying there half numb he knew his head was if not the most hurt then at least one of most hurt places in his body.

His skull felt like close to bursting from all the mixture of pain and pressure but maybe it was just his ears that suddenly decided to feel like close to popping.

The next thing that screamed at him viciously was his back. He wasn't sure he could move yet to tell if that was intact or not really but he knew a bad bruise was already making home and, possibly on heavy kitchen duty of whoever was in there and making it feel as if he was some sort of meat being prepped for some gourmet event, judging by the immense pain and possibly numb legs. For some reason the dark haired man didn't feel the usual amount of fear that goes with not knowing if ones legs would move again or not, but that was pretty cliché reaction expected in society, or that was what his brain assumed.

He laid there for a long while, allowing a butterfly to land on his broken body and together they soaked up the sun rays lazily sliding over his face and body, giving the man time to let himself loose in his pondering about what was what and eventually who he was.

Yet, this wasn't frightening experience for the man, which, according to general population of human beings, was already a warning sign of some sort.

Slowly over the time it took the sun to lazily slide across the sky to the point it was sinking into sliver of free space between the two tall buildings in the distance across the city the birds had calmed down their heated discussions over the last crumbs from the kind gentleman couple floors below who had allowed them to share his unfinished sandwich that somehow ended up flying out of the window and then having another post-feasting discussion about another lone gentleman casually laying on the rooftop. The teenage part of the massive group wanted to check for more possible crumbs, while the elderly mourned the body of such a beautiful human being lost to whoever he might be dear, and meanwhile the baby bird bunch braved the possibility of the man actually suddenly jumping at them to take a closer look. They'd taken cautiously inspecting his glossy, almost black, hair and poked rather gently at the caked blood covering large part of the man's face and head, not even a flinch from the little explorers as suddenly there was a weak hitch in his chest causing the ones peeping into his waistcoat pockets stumble, not a hesitation from the ones down at his feet sniffing at the scuffed once upon a time rather fancy dress shoes that still were keeping the previous glossiness of the leather material. They discussed their adventures as they hopped down to the hard surface of the roof and tumbled around the body to the rest of the group.

And while it wasn't easy to make the adults listen to the smallest ones someone did take a notice of the faint rise and fall of the human's chest and together they shared a deep, sad sigh. If he was still alive he soon won't be if nobody came up to rescue him.

And another sight went out to the last rays of the orange sun finally slipping down the crevice between the two tall buildings afar and then the relative silence of a dusk settled over the city and the large group of birds took off to their home to wait out the following dawn and maybe travel back to check on the man, if he was still there.

And while the city was slowly sinking into the night, the lone figure laid still….

You can't just leave me

Breathe into me and make me real