° 𝐿𝐼𝑉𝐸𝐷 °

◜4◝

[IZUKU]
___

My mother never allowed me to go, always saying, "After school you must come home, immediately! I don't want you getting lost, that'd just bring me even more trouble!" And, being the obedient son I was, I followed her rules.

Even though she was mean, abusive, and overall a bitch, there was still a small part of me that loved her. She was my mother after all, I guess it was natural for me to love her. I also thought that, maybe, if I followed her rules and did everything she said, she'd finally return that everlasting love I had for her.

I can't help but laugh at my past self, did I really believe that? Nope, I was just lying to myself to find a reason to stay alive, how pathetic. It was just another one of my stupidly optimistic thoughts, the ones that held me back.

She only began to care and love me when I died, hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

But now that I was basically a ghost, I could do anything I wanted. I didn't have to ask permission from anyone, I didn't have to follow any rules. I was a bird escaping its cage, I was free at last.

Luckily, I knew exactly where the bookstore was located. I walked past it on my way home everyday, it was tempting but I never dared to step foot inside. Only being able to see the books on display as the others were too far to read, but now I could finally go inside.

I was ecstatic, so much so I felt like I could literally explode! The metal gate wall in front of the door and windows were already shut, they were just about to close, it seemed. Didn't matter to me anyways, it's not like they could see me in there. I flew in and the lights were still on, meaning the employees were still there.

I tucked my wings again and skimmed through the shelves, specifically the fiction section. I just adored the thought of a fantasy world, one better than this one. But I was unfamiliar with a lot of the books, I was quite sheltered when it came to these things.

Reasons being I had no friends, meaning nobody could introduce me to new things. My mother wouldn't do that either since she probably didn't want me to get interested in anything because then I'd ask for it. I wasn't even allowed to watch television, that's how much she sheltered me.

It was a given that I didn't have internet access or a gadget either, my mother didn't wanna spend money and get me one. She saw it as a waste, just like how she saw my existence.

I managed to get a gadget anyway, it was my her old phone. She attempted to hide it away but I still managed to find it because I was being nosy. When she found out she took it away and viciously beat me for going against her rules.

"My roof, my rules! No gadgets!" She said as she whipped me with a belt. I was twelve at the time and was pretty much used to all of it, not a single tear fell from my eye. My expression was blank and basically emotionless, I stared into her eyes with a slight smile.

I can still vividly remember her angered expression before she hit me harder, I didn't react. I didn't wanna give her the satisfaction of seeing me in pain.

She didn't deserve it.

I was pulled away from my thoughts when my eyes spotted a Harry Potter book, now this, this one I actually did know. I was somewhat thrown into the fandom while I had YouTube, the idea of wizards and a magical world completely captured my attention.

I squealed in excitement, I could finally read it! I was so happy, but I couldn't just yet. The employees still hadn't left yet and it'd be weird to see a floating book, I'l decided to wait for them to officially close before I could pick up anything.