Henry shot up in his bed, gasping for breath as if he were drowning, and panted desperately as he tried to calm down. He looked down at his bed, the blanket and sheet now a tangled mess, most likely due to him moving around a lot in his sleep. He gazed around the dark room, which was only illuminated by the moonlight shining through his bedroom window.
Everything was exactly the same.
The cactus on his bedside table still looked dry, his red beanbag still worn from time. His figures, plushie, and over strange trinkets sit clumsily on the shelf above his headboard. The poster still glaring at him from the dark corner.
Nothing changed... He thought to himself, taking in a deep breath and sighing with relief. He got up, gently so that he didn't wake up anyone in the apartment, and fixed his sheets. He sat back on the bed and covered his lower half with his blanket, but didn't lie back down. Instead, he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around his legs and leaned his chin on his knees, examining the sharp, misshapen scars on his bare arms.
He remembered how he got every one. There were multiple bullet wounds from all the countless times he had been shot, and many more scars where he was injured too many times.
Those times were he was beaten, crushed, crashed, ran over, fallen, burned, drowned, frozen, cut, stabbed, blown up, punched, eaten, melted, electrocuted, shredded to pieces, thrown, dismembered and decapitated.
No one would've survived that.
Ellie and Charles had asked Henry about these scars, an he had told them that they were from failed heists.
At least it was true forsomeof his scars.
He remembered the timelines he went through when he got these scars. Some timelines where he was still a reckless thief, some where he sided with either the Government or the Toppats, some where he pretty munched destroyed so many lives ...
He gave each of these timelines little nicknames, just so he wouldn't lose track. There were the Ggreat timelines, like the ones he called 'Special Brovert Ops', where he and Charles were the Government's best crime fighting duo, 'Toppat King' where he was leader of Tthe Toppat Clan, and Ellie was second in command, and, his personal favorite, 'Triple Threat' where he could have both his friends at once, working for the Government on very important missions.
Then there were the not so pleasant ones. He knew their names, but it was too painful to remember the events of each one.
'Toppat Civil Warfare' ...
'Revenged' ...
'Valiant Hero' ...
He shook his head, flopping down on his back and groaned out of frustration with his hands covering his face.
Leave me alone, he pleaded in his thoughts.I can't keep doing this.
I don't want to remember ...I don't want to hurt anyone ...I ... don't want ... to be hurt ...
Sobs erupted from his sore throat, hot tears streaming down the sides of his head and dampening his pillow. He was choking on his own cries, now stuttering some of his thoughts out loud.
"I-I d-d-don't want ... I ..."
The door creeaked open, and Henry held his shaky breath.