When One was born, One was praised, for One was their parents’ pride and joy.

But then Two came along, then Three. Four. Five.

One suddenly seemed to be forgotten in the shadows of their younger siblings.

One, at school, was mildly popular. One had many friends, who all seemed to care about them.

But then One’s parents died. Then Two, Three, Four, and Five.

One’s friends didn’t want to have anything to do with One anymore. They avoided One like the plague, afraid they would catch the sickness of death that loomed over One.

One then went to live with their uncle. One’s uncle ignored One all during the day. One had to do school at home with textbooks because One’s uncle never dropped him off at the public school. One was too young to go themselves.

But at night…One’s uncle payed One all of his attention.

One didn’t like this attention. One didn’t like the smell of their uncle’s glass bottled drinks, or his grimy hands.

One didn’t like this at all, they wanted to be forgotten like in the day.

But One’s uncle didn’t wish for himself to be forgotten. He wanted to be remembered.

In whatever form he could be.

Over time, One felt…distant from his reality. Their brain isolated them, made them mute and numb to all connections.

Even after One grew into an adult and took their uncle permanently out of their life. They felt…off.

Wherever they went, no one looked at them, spoke to them, even when they bumped into them.

One worked alone. Society had found their existence…pitiful. That had to be why.

So One played into their role. Day, after day, after day, after day, after day….

One soon grew old and weak. They knew death was coming. Though they were not afraid. Maybe death had forgotten about them as well.

That was untrue, though death found no favor in ending such a small, weak creature.

One had died in their bed, staring into the ceiling.

Alone.

Extra, because I hate a bad ending.

***

A Few Years Later…

“Ugh, what is that rotten smell?” Kain covers his mouth at the stench overflowing the air as his partner, Brantley, kicks open the door connecting to the bedroom.

“Looks like this place hasn’t been used in a looong time,” Brantley says, “Don’t know why we gotta go and clean it though.”

“Shut up, man,” Kain growls, words muffed as he still covers his nose, “Let’s just get this over with.”

They enter the room, flashlights in a hand and a trash bag in another.

Brantley flashes his light around, stopping on the bed.

“Holy—!!”

A body is there, skin reduced to bones and a bubbling matter of red tissue. Flies and maggots cover the body from head to toe, eating, sucking the rest of the matter off the body. Leaving nothing behind. The eyes are gone, only black holes left behind in their wake.

Kain gags at the sight, moving backwards toward to door. “Oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!”

The two men leave after that, rushing to tell their business partners what they saw.

One watches, smiling. He had been forgotten for so long; someone has finally found him.