Thud.

Just the sound of an apple falling on the asphalt, the only thing his brain was able to register correctly at this instant. Everything felt so surreal.

A few seconds ago he was still hopping around on the empty road, playing with the shadows that the sunset was casting on his brand new shoes that he bought with his mom this morning. They were dark red, exactly the shade of his mom's hair. He fell in love with them a few weeks ago when he saw them behind the shoemaker's window on his way from school.

He actually pestered his dad about it every second since then, and he finally allowed his mom to buy them for him today as it was his birthday. He was so proud of them that he spent every waking moment walking, jumping or running to "Test their speed" as he answered to his mom's amused question. She was the fastest running when they play catch together so the mom's coloured shoes would obviously be going faster than his last pair. But he wasn't so sure if it was mom or dad actually, his dad seemed so happy every time she kissed him after he was caught that Aelius wondered if he wasn't losing on purpose.

No matter what he really wanted to show them off to Nikki at school tomorow, she was always saying that she was the best runner of their generation even if she was only one hand quicker than him at red light, green light. Time to take back his crown from preschool with his new magic shoes.

But for now, he was on a mission : Bring back a sack of apples from the grocery store down the street. "Objective apple pie" said dad, mom seemed to worry a little about letting him go alone but dad said that he was a big boy now and it was time for him to take responsibility.

Aelius was so proud of it that he very seriously repeated every sentence he's gonna tell the clerk again and again on his way to the shop, he only began to jump around when he made sure that every apple was safely secured in the kraft bag that Tanya, the grocery shop owner, gave him to hold them all. She even threw in one of his favorite cherry flavoured lollipops, Tanya thought she did it discreetly but he saw her in the reflection of the soda fridge behind the counter.

He thought about it on the way and very responsibly decided to keep it for tomorow, tonight mom's gonna make an apple pie for dessert so he should keep his sugar stomach empty for it. Well, he may find some place for the lollipop in his candy stomach but he'll think about it later. He was five and a big boy now, gotta be responsible.

Thud. Thud. Thud...

All these thoughts were colliding in his brain right now, trying to make sense of what was entering his line of view but not really fitting like a puzzle piece of the wrong colour. Where was supposed to be his house were now rubbles, some of which were burning, and in the middle of it all, a huge and monstrous creature seemingly fighting with a black haired man in a blue laminated shirt while a red haired woman seemed to be supporting him from behind. It looked like one of his super-heroes cartoon fights. But less clean. He couldn't believe that it was happening in his house but he recognised the linden tree right next to what was left of his mailbox, forcing his mind to accept it.

Finally, a rolling apple poked his right shoe.

Mom ! Dad ! he thought in a flash as his brain began to process his environment again.

Without thinking he began to run toward the fight. Toward the chaos. Toward them.

He never ran as fast as he was right now.

His feet were burning inside his new shoes but he didn't stop, he almost didn't notice as his chest was burning twice as much.

His eyes were stinging but he was too focused on the white flannel shirt of his mom. He realised that what he took for her hair sticking to it from afar was in fact much darker and irregular like blood. A lot of blood. His eyes stung even more. He moved quicker.

He vaguely felt his knees complaining.

Someone screamed his name behind him.

Mom. Mom ! MOM !

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The only thought able to go through his mind right now.

He even forgot the apple he was supposed to bring back, he just dropped the kraft bag on the street when he started running.

"AELIUS ! NOOO ! COME BACK !"

He understood that one of his neighbours screamed something at him but his brain didn't register it.

His lungs were breathing fire now, it hurts.

Finally, he reached the wrecked door of his home, jumped over it and screamed for the first time since what felt like an eternity.

'MOOOOOOOM !!!"

Everything freezes suddenly. The fight stopped for an instant as if a sacred truce was imposed from this single heart wrenching cry. His mom turned back toward him like in slow-motion. She was smiling. A very soft, gentle smile. The same one she did when he fell down the stairs and cried from the pain and shock. The same one she did when Mr Duffle, their old cat, died and they made a little ceremony to bury him. The same one she did every time he woke up from a bad dream, lulling him back to sleep.

She made a quick movement of the wrist, quick even for the slow-motion, and an off white shield enclosed him. Every sound felt so strange from inside. The same strangeness he felt while playing in the bathtub, when he plunged his head underwater and tried to understand the words his dad was articulating for him from outside. Like a filter between him and the rest of the world. Even the burning in his chest felt mute.

Still smiling, she hugged the white sphere.

Warm words were flowing from her charcoal and blood tainted lips, trying to reassure him that everything will be good.

Meanwhile, he saw from the corner of his eyes the monstrous form surrounded by dark gas in front of his father straightening up, as tall as a two story house. He heard its scream through the white filter like through distant water.

"Trrratatat'ka Ks'Trattak KkkKtrk !"

Those alien sounding words will haunt his dreams for a long time and he will not understand their meaning until much later in his life. << I will delight feasting on your progeniture >> was what the creature said. And it seemed to have angered his dad as suddenly multiple thunderous arcs were flowing from his sleeves.

His dad jumped at the creature in a sizzling sound and the fight resumed.

Mom continued to whisper to him, seemingly ignoring what was happening behind her. Each time she caught him looking over her shoulder, she said his name just a little bit louder, trying to force him to focus on her hazel brown eyes, overflowing with love.

And with every muttered word of her, the white filter seemed to become stronger, her voice becoming more and more distant, the view of the fight more and more opaque, the burning in his chest more and more muted.

He began to feel sleepy.

His mom's regular voice begins to slowly sound like a lullaby.

But just before he let himself go to Morpheus' soothing embrace, the white screen darkened abruptly. A tuned down gargling scream reached his ears, a few seconds late. His mom trembled, her soft smile breaking down while fresh blood trickled down from her cheek. Behind her, only a few metres from them, one of the monster's serrated limbs was transpiercing his dad's chest, his face deformed by pain. Still standing on his feet in what seemed to be a supreme effort, he was holding the creature in place and turned his face toward them. His eyes plunged in his mom's for a few breaths, communicating some untold secrets like he's seen his parents do so many times when they didn't want him to hear "adult things".

Then dad looked at him with an obviously fake smile that made him feel loved like never before. It was a fake smile. He knew it. But something inside this fake smile was so honest, so true that he didn't mind. It wasn't fake to hide things from him. It was fake to show him something too deep inside. His dad's lips moved slowly without sound before looking back at the creature.

"Live, big boy."

Immediately after it, which felt like hours but didn't took more than a few short seconds, the faltering number of electrical arc spiked up drastically. His dad skin began to be streaked by thunderish line, blood flowing from his eyes, a single defying roar rising into the sunset like the last regal howl of an ageing lion about to die against a younger, more fit one.

Just before the intensity of the lightning raised enough to drown the last view of his dad in a new sun, Aelius realised that amidst his, once full, black hairs, they were grey ones.

Another sight that would haunt his dreams for a very long time.

As this dad's made star grew up, slowly devouring everything around him, the creature screeched in what seemed to be fear, even terror for the first time.

"Aelius..."

His mom called him while the new sunlight approached them in a deafening silence.

"I love you. We love you. Now. Before you were even born. Until the very last of your days and beyond that."

His chest burned anew.

His heart burned. Even through the white filter.

No... NO. NO ! NO MOM NO !

"MOOOM ! MOOOOOM !"

Tears were staining the dark red of his shoes.

"Aelius, listen to me. No matter what. We're here. We're with you. We love y...

The light reached them before she had time to end her sentence, silently breaking down her skin while she tried to comfort him one last time.

He wasn't able to say anything anymore, sounds were stuck in his throat trying to leave it all at once.

Everything around him was white now.

And silent.

And burning.

It burned so much inside him, he wondered for an instant if he would catch fire and join his parents.

But his mom told him they were there with him.

And his dad told him to live.

He was a big boy now, he was already five.

Gotta be responsible.