Work Text:
Mikey can't cling to many things anymore. Familiarities have been washed out of his mind, leaving only a inky, wet canvas behind.
Most times he flits through the streets like single sheet of paper, jerky and disconcerted. Can't feel and can't think.
On odd nights he'll lay in bed and try to use his bare hands to reconstruct what remains of his memories, emotions, personhood; a child desperately trying to build castles out of too-wet mud.
His mind can't cling to many things.
The shapeless grey mass of the past rolls over his concious like slippery oil.
He doesn't have many things to grasp but what he does have haunts him like a sin.
Either in the solitude of his home or on the bustling streets, sometimes Mikey finds himself jarred by the image of a spectre. One since long dead and gone to him. In an instant he'll find himself in a state of panic and confusion; it's painful to see the past after so long.
This spectre is not wispy or soft. It does not dance in the corner of his eye, taunting the very idea of its existence to him.
Mikey would fair better if it did.
Instead it comes suddenly and with an intensity that could pierce the body and soul like a bullet.
Sharp blue like a chilled riptide and filled with enough emotion to tear the body to shreds like torrent, this phantom of Mikey's mind commands attention.
Even with such ferocity those eyes are filled with serenity. They're gentle. Like a fragile song bird. And maybe that's why they're look has been burned into his own.
Mikey's life could never be characterized by softness. He was never shown that path and was more than glad to walk the path farthest from it.
He never did anything to deserve such a kind look.
But when it was given to him, God did it fill Mikey up.
So now, even after all these years, Mikey finds that those eyes look upon him.
Beautiful eyes.
Beautiful eyes filled with love.
Beautiful eyes that have remained long after their bearer has left.
It's Mikey's curse.
He can hardly recall the face or name of those eyes but the way they looked at him has been burned into soul.
Today, Mikey will once again be a man with nothing to cling to.
Nothing save for the eyes of boy long since dead.