Prologue: A Rainy Anniversary
The sound of the rain falling on top of the roof made the outside view through the window as serene as it could possibly get. Lightning would sometimes appear on the horizon, and only the echo of the thunder could temporarily relieve me of my somber mood. The glass pane of the window was painted with numerous colours by the lights of the streets and the droplets of the rain. The antique grandfather clock echoed through the hallway each tick of time that passes by as I sit here alone… just watching.
It’s October 3 of 2072. A day that I could only feel loathsome about my own life. A day that I remember so clearly in my mind.
2 years ago on this very day, my twin brother died from a shooting. Some would call it a hate crime, some call it an unfortunate occurrence. It was all the same; it was murder.
The sky was overcast past 3pm while I was walking down the street. Turning around the corner, I noticed a huge crowd gathered on the sidewalk. The crowd extended all the way into the roads, which left me to wonder what could it possibly be.
During that time, I was stupid, naive, or ignorant. I assumed it was a performance, and I should leave it alone. I almost walked past the crowd, only thinking about getting home, and eating whatever is available in the fridge.
Only when the muddled sirens a few blocks away from where I was did I notice something was strange. People were whispering to each other and looking at me oddly as if they’ve seen a ghost. Unfortunately, the bus stop I took was in plain sight of where the crowd was..
As far as I could remember, it was then the ambulanced sped in the direction of the crowd. The crowd moved aside for the man when he came out of the ambulance. They parted like when Moses divided the Red Sea to cross it.
I then noticed a familiar silhouette. The figure looked similar to my own. That’s when I thought ‘there’s no way’. As I squinted my eyes to see further ahead, my heart dropped when my mind confirmed who was on the stretcher of the ambulance.
I started running my fastest. A few things from my loose pockets fell off, but I couldn’t care less at the time. I only looked at the objective in front of me. As soon as I got near, people tried to stop me. They quickly let go once they saw my face as if they understood the situation.
They let me in the ambulance all the way to the hospital. The ride to hospital seemed to go on and on forever. The murky sounds of the siren. The muddled voices of the arguing crew of the ambulance. And of course, the weakening heart rate of my brother on the stretcher.
To me, he was someone that’s always there. Not really thinking about losing him or ever having a falling out with him, we knew each other the best. We didn’t need to verbally communicate when we want the other to do something. It was just something like a snap, and ‘oh ok’ happens. Even if our interests are totally different from each other, we understood why the other is interested in the specific subject.
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It was an understanding of a deeper level. So deep that one could almost call it a second nature for us to know what each other is thinking.
A lot of the times during high school, they wouldn’t let us be in the same team just because we would wreck the other team single handedly. Our classmates deep rooted hatred for us. being together in the same team. extends all the way to signing a petition to never let us be in the same team for P.E class ever again. Of course, that’s also the reason why our school, during our years, placed top 3 in every team sports we participated in.
The ambulance stopped right in front of the ER reception door. The gusty wind blew into the interiors as soon as the doors opened. At this point, everyone that could hear, heard something that didn’t make anyone believe what they were hearing.
—The heart rate monitor flatlined a few seconds after the door was opened.
Out of the 7 present in the vicinity, only one person did the action of signing the cross. It was meant to be of respect, yet all it did was put my emotions into a stir. It was a state of disbelief which had gotten me into a swirl. A disbelief that the one whom I cherish the most is now gone. Something or someone that should never leave my side. The person who should always be there in my time happiness and sadness.
During the night I went to bed, my eyes stayed open until 5 in the morning. At that time, I heard a mild whisper that came from inside me.
"Live for my sake."
Immediately after that, I lost consciousness. The scenes of that night were burned in my memories.
“Andrew, are you going to stay at that spot for the rest of the day? Hurry downstairs. We’re all ready to go to the memorial.”
Her blank detail-less face made me wonder what her expression was during that dialogue. However, the colour of her words answered my question. Her expression was a slightly unsaturated dark blue green.
That night, not only burned my memories, but also changed me. People’s faces were now a clean blank, and most importantly, I saw the colour in people’s voices.
Chapter 1 >
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Hi everyone! This one is a short chapter :)
This is going to be my new story. This one is set on Earth in the near future.
Most likely, this will be a side project while Hero’s Ballad will be my main. On the side note, this will take on a more serious tone compared to Hero’s ballad.
I hope people like this one. Though, the demographic in RRL isn’t really catered towards these kinds of stories. Oh well, it’s for fun!
As always, comments, feedback, and proofreading are appreciated!
And please, check out Hero's Ballad in my signature if you haven't yet!