10 years have passed since that horrible day.

It’s merely a burning memory now, but even after that long, I can still feel the embers that surrounded me on that fateful day. Yes, the flaming inferno of the place that I used to call home is still etched in the facets of my subconscious, like an annoying splinter that I could never pick off.

From what I can remember, it was a night that is just like any other night. Nothing special, nothing extraordinary to speak of. No one could’ve predicted that something awful would’ve occurred back then. We were all simply trying to enjoy the night and prepare for the tomorrow that would sadly never come for a lot of us.

“You seriously can’t stay up all night, Rolo. Tomorrow is a huge day for you! You wouldn’t want your first day in school to end up miserable because you were tired, wouldn’t you?” my mother told me as she tried to tuck me in my bed.

“I can’t help it, mother! I’m far too excited to sleep now!” I replied.

“Not that I don’t understand that, but you need all the energy you can get for tomorrow. Your excitement should be enough to psych yourself up into sleeping,” my mother suggested.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I muttered.

“You know what I mean.”

“Alright.” I sighed, as I pulled the blanket up to half of my face. Before she left, I grabbed her hand and asked, “Are you sure it’s going to be okay? I mean, transferring schools half-way to the school year is a little weird, right? I don’t think I’ll be fitting in, considering I’m an outsider.”

My mother brushed my hair and told me, “Don’t think too much about the circumstances. You’ll do just fine, alright? I mean, you’re the smartest guy I know!”

“Am I really?”

“You’re smart enough to ask about fitting in and stuff, y’know? Like, 4th graders don’t really think about those, usually.”

“I see,” I mumbled. “Then, am I smarter than Father?”

“Way, way smarter than him!” she boldly exclaimed.

“Really? Then, how about my big sister?”

She chuckled and kissed me in the forehead. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay? The bottomline here is that, you’ll be just fine.”

“Okay! Good night, mother!” I responded.

“Good night, Rolo. I love you.”

She turned off the light in my room and closed the door behind her. I can still feel the excitement and worry inside of me, as I try to drift into the night. And as I tried to be in a state of slumber, that’s when everything changed forever.

All of a sudden, something started to echo through the walls of my room. It was faint, but I could distinctly hear the sounds of clapping reverberating through our entire house. There’s also a light tremor on the ground, enough to shake my bed and keep me awake. Something was definitely happening at the time, and I wished I was able to call out to my mother at that time.

Before I knew what was going on, I heard the third clap.

And after that, everything exploded.

The entirety of our small town was blown to smithereens, leaving nothing but a burning inferno in its wake. I couldn’t remember where the explosion originated, but what I do know is that it was strong enough to send my flying meters away from where my house was and it made me crash harshly on the ground, along with the burning rubble. It was so bad that it broke both of my legs upon impact, leaving me helpless and unable to get away from the flames.

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The heat from the flames was excruciating, as it engulfed half of my body. The entirety of my left side seemed to burn for eternity, as I was surrounded by the sounds of my fellow townspeople screaming in pain as they also burned like me.

“It hurts! Mother, save me!” I yelled out, hoping my mother would miraculously come and save me from this pain.

But, there was no response.

My mother and I lived alone here in the town of Bourbaki, as my father had passed away when I was still an infant and my older sister had left us to pursue her passion in life. We only have each other, and now… my worst fears have begun to be realized.

Mother is probably dead, and now I’m all alone.

The flames in my body hurt badly, but nothing compares to the pain of knowing that my mother will no longer be with me. She’s never going to come and save me, ever again. I thought to myself that maybe, this might as well be my end.

But despite thinking that, I had a shrieking fear of death. I couldn’t let myself die, since I don’t know what’s behind that wall when we all die. In a panic, I rolled away from the flames and somehow, it extinguished some of the fire that was burning my body. The burns were very painful and I couldn’t even use my legs to save myself, but I can’t let myself die.

All alone… and yet, I still tried

The noises of the people around me have all died down. It was safe to assume that everyone has also bit the bullet.

I clutched my chest and belched out a cry.

This was without a shadow of a doubt, the worst thing that ever happened to me. I never knew my father and my sister left before I could even form memories, so this is definitely the first time I’ve ever suffered a loss of that magnitude. For a 9-year old boy, that’s certainly too much to handle.

I cried and cried, until there were no tears left to shed. It felt like forever, and my mind was probably at its breaking point. I was feeling tired of it all and at any second, I was going to lose consciousness. The fear of dying is still in me, but I was powerless to fight. It was pointless and perhaps, I thought, I might see my mother again.

I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.

But it seems like fate has something else in store for me.

As I am now 19 years old, alive and standing at the site of my pain. The barren wasteland that used to be the town of Bourbaki, seeing it all these years later still brings me pain deep in my heart.

As I stare solemnly through the land, a hand gently taps me in my shoulder.

“Are you doing alright, Rolo?” she asks me.

“I’m fine, I suppose.”

“I know that it was your request for us to come here, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed by this, we can always go back home,” she suggests.

“It’s been a decade… so much has changed since then. I just felt like I needed to come back here and… I don’t know, settle some things. You understand what I mean right, Raina?” I ask her.

“I suppose,” she says.

I sit down on the ground as I continue to look towards the view of my former home. Raina also sits down beside me. I then say, “The place that I used to call home no longer exists in reality; they will only remain deep in my memories now. That day, I genuinely thought that I was going to die.”

Raina turns to me and says, “Do you hate me for saving you?”

“Not at all. If anything, I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. You took me into your family, for pete’s sake.”

She laughs and says, “Well, you certainly are a Valero now, Rolo.”

That’s right, when I was about to lose my consciousness back then, I heard a voice from afar.

“Lady Raina, there’s a young man who’s still alive here!”

“What?! Oh my God, thank the heavens! Someone’s still alive!” That was Raina, a fellow 9 year old kid, who saved me from certain death. The last words I could actually remember back then was her telling me, “Don’t die on me, okay? We’re going to get you to safety and save your life, you got it?”

And here we both are,10 years later, back at the site of where we first met.

A few moments later, our butler Claris walks towards us and says, “Sir Rolo, Lady Raina, I believe it’s time for us to go back home. Your father is waiting for our return.”

“Whoa, father is back home? That’s great!” Raina excitedly stands up.

I can’t help but crack a smile at that sight. I also get up from the floor and before walking towards our limousine, I take one last look at the former town of Bourbaki. I took a deep breath and said, “I will find out what happened back then. That is my vow, to all of you.”

After that, we all get inside the limo and drive back home.