Spine

This is, without argument, Ayden’s worst Christmas Eve come Christmas morning ever. While most families are asleep, with the occasional child creeping down the stairs, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa piping through the chimney, or feeling slightly disappointed upon the sight of the absence of the cookies and milk they had left out earlier, Ayden is sprawled out in an alleyway.

Awoken by a piercing scream, Ayden realises that every part of his body is visible to the world, but his feet – which are adorned with a non-matching pair of socks, and a small area of his stomach, on which, a cellphone he recognises to be his, is resting. He covers his ears instinctively, but they continue to feel as though somebody might be jabbing them with a nailgun repeatedly.

Ayden comes to know that he can’t will his legs to get up off the ground, and continues to shiver. With a raw panic, and the help of his arms, he lifts his head off the filthy asphalt and looks around the area, hoping to recognise the strange place he’s inhabiting, but other than his naked body, nothing seems familiar. With no recollection of how he got there, Ayden throws his head back down. It lands with a thud and he is unconscious once more.