He was in his cell, waiting to be executed, and he asked as a last…See more.

He had not always been “The Hollow Man.”

There had been a time—long ago now—when he had been simply Elias.

A boy who laughed too loudly. Who ran through fields until his lungs burned. Who once believed that the world, for all its flaws, held something worth loving.

But that boy had faded, piece by piece, over the years.

Not all at once. Not in some dramatic, singular moment.

It had been quieter than that.

A disappointment here. A betrayal there. Losses that carved into him, slowly hollowing him out until something essential was gone.

Or so he had thought.

“You don’t look like a monster,” the guard said suddenly.

He hadn’t meant to speak, but the words slipped out before he could stop them.

Elias glanced up from the mirror.

“What does a monster look like?” he asked.

The guard opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

Elias nodded. “Neither do I.”

He lowered the mirror slightly, though his eyes remained fixed on it.

“They called me hollow,” he said. “Said there was nothing inside. No feeling. No soul.”

He paused.

“I believed them.”