***

"I'll be back before you know it, you don't have to worry... I'll be fine, I promise" Henry smiled trying to convince Alfizar. Alfizar sighed from behind the desk, the office chair he sat on was turned away from Henry, he gazed out of the window.

"I'm not worried about you, remember what you just promised me... bring along a few more men with you." Alfizar's confident words betrayed his own feelings. Henry looked at Alfizar sadly.

"Right, I'll be back soon," he said before he left the room.

Four days have passed peacefully. But that was not the case for Alfizar. Four days have passed and there was still no news from Henry, even his whereabouts were unknown. The worry almost drove him crazy, he had lost so much of his friends and family. He can't afford to lose any more of them!

Being torn by anxiety, Alfizar couldn't bring himself concentrate on the files in front of him anymore, instead of waited restlessly for the men he had ordered to look for Henry. The young man was unsettled from all the stress, he gripped his pen tightly then threw it towards the wall where the dart board hanging. Bullseyes.

He was so happy when his men came to him, claiming that they might have a lead as to where Henry was. Yet, when they arrived at that place, he found nothing; rage almost blinded him as he dragged his informant to him by his collar.

"You are one of the best hackers in the country! How could you get deceived by that traitor?!" He yelled at the young promising hacker that has been following him for a few years. He could see the fear in the young hacker's eyes.

"B-boss! I'm sorry! I promise this won't happen anymore!" As he regains control over his emotion, Alfizar lets go of the poor young hacker. The feeling of guilt almost consumes his heart as he muttered a word of apology. He will make sure to compensate him later. It's unbecoming of him to act that way.

___"...a-..? ...Wa-...up!..."__

Bang! A loud bang from the double doors of his office made Alfizar jumped in surprise, a week have passed since Henry went to do his mission, and until now he has not received any news from him or his men. One of his informants stood there with a pale complexion and gasping "Boss!" The following words from the informant's mouth led Alfizar out of his office with a series of orders.

__"...fiz-...?!" "Hen-! He's...no-.... res-...!"__

Too late... they are too late... it took almost an hour to reach this place, where Henry had sent his signal. When they arrived at the warehouse that isn't far from the port, Alfizar wasted no time and began to order his men to break into the warehouse. With his men dispersed, it didn't take a long time to find Henry. The smell of blood and gunpowder assaulted his nose. Corpse. Bodies everywhere. The trace of battle was clearly visible.

Skins torn open by the broken bone inside, there was also a corpse with a smashed head and limbs bent in an awkward angle; probably fell down from a high place. Bodies with severed limbs lying around; a few with their stomach destroyed, the insides out on the ground.

The ones who did the job were obviously psychopaths; a group of people who took pleasure by severing the bodies of their target.

__"...wak-...up...!"__

Blood is everywhere. "He's over there!" Alfizar's men direct him to one of the big boxes. One of his men opened the box for him. It's Henry; his chest no longer moved to breath, pale scarred skin that almost looks gray because there was no blood flowing beneath it, blank eye staring at the space while the left one has no eye, only an empty socket with dried traces of blood flowed down, mouth open as if he's screaming in a silence, his cheek severed giving Alfizar a clear view of the exposed bloody jaw bone and teeth.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Someone gave him a piece of paper which he received it with trembling hands. He read the message on it.

As if he's losing his strength, his legs gave in, he fell on his knees staring at the body lying stiff in a pool of blood bloodBlOoD blOod red bLOoD B l O o D WHY!!??

***

"Alfi! Wake up!" As Alfizar became aware of his surroundings, he could feel his cheek stinged in pain. A middle age man with a calm face that looked forced, looked like he just injected something into Alfizar's IV line.

He saw Henry's frantic face, restraining a fifteen years old girl and pulled her farther from him. He could guess what had happened; it was obvious who had slapped him to wake him up from his nightmare.

No... it was not a nightmare, that nightmare was too real to be a simple dream. Memory? But something like that never happened before, and Henry is still here, right in front of him.

Alfizar moved his sight away from Henry; he can't bear to look at Henry's face. That face was shadowed by the horrible image of a corpse; one with empty eye socket, bloody face, severed cheek, bloody jaw bone, pale, death, blood, Henry, death-

"BROTHER!"

Alfizar was breathless; a cold sweat streaming down his face, the beeping sound of the ECG machine rang loudly along with his heartbeat. When they saw that he has regained consciousness, Henry's hands that were previously on the girl's arms, restraining her, were now on him.

Henry's left hand moved closer to Alfizar's face, he jerked back as if he fears the touch. Henry's hand stopped approaching Alfizar then he pulled it back, his eyebrows furrowed at Alfizar's gestures. His behavior was like two years ago when he just lost his parents in 'that' incident.

"Brother! You made me so worried! We can't wake you up! I'm sorry, but I have to hit you just now!" The girl said with a regretful face as she held onto his hands. Her brown hair was lighter than her brother, her waist long hair was usually tied into a half ponytail. She's Aurina, Alfizar's little sister.

Another occupant in that room was Zio Rozar, Henry's uncle who double as their family's personal doctor. Just like Henry, he has both black hair and eyes, but he is a bit fat, not muscular at all.

After he was sure that Alfizar is fine, Henry's hand brushed away the hair that was dampened by the sweat backward, his body was clearly still stiff. Henry arranged the bed so he could half-sat again.

"Do you want to talk about that nightmare?" Henry asked him, he acted as if he was the eldest sibling when he was only a distant family, but he has been taking care of him and Aurina for years. Alfizar shook his head.

"Can you keep this down?" Zio warned, "You need to recover your strength." He offered Alfizar a bowl of soup.

"I'll try." Alfizar nodded his head.

"I can feed myself, Aurin," he said when Aurina tried to feed him.

"Shut up! I will take care of you. You want to feed yourself when even sitting is tough for you, nonsense." Aurina said then mumbled the last part.

When they left him alone to rest, he can't help but feel like there was something wrong with this whole situation and that version of himself... as if he was losing his grip on reality and his sanity.

Another scene flashed through his mind.

***

This time, Alfizar was standing in a graveyard, in front of someone's grave; he put down the flowers he brought with him, Dahlias and Zinnias flowers. "I'm sorry, I couldn't save you, I have failed you, betrayed your trust in me..." Then he gritted his teeth as he couldn't hold his tears back.

"It has been two years, I miss you..." His mouth moved to say the name of someone who was buried underneath, but no sound came out of his mouth. 

Alfizar knelt near the tombstone, he caressed the tombstone as if he was touching someone's face instead of the cold hard stone. He then looked at the words carved in the tombstone

[Here lies ___________

The girl who was taken from her remaining family

Now together with her parents in the heavens

Stood strong until the very end of her life

Leaving this world for the next great adventure in the next life

May she find peace in the afterlife]