"He's gone, there's nothing we can do. He died to give you a better life, don't waste everything he struggled to give you, Peter! Peter! Look at me, I'm talking to you! I need you to understand this!" - the hoarse voice said, muffled by the sound of rain and the strong wind that shook the branches of the mango trees.
Peter could feel the damp weather in the city. The strong wind that made his skin colder, but not enough to make him feel freezing, the raindrops that fell on his face were heavier than they used to. The young man with straight hair and brown eyes slowly tilted his head to answer the middle-aged bald man dressed in military clothes on his shoulder resided three stars encircled in a prickly yellow circle and in the center of these stars resided a blue circle with another five stars, on his chest lay the inscriptions Cel. Ferreira.
"How could I make that promise? Next year I turn sixteen, no? Won't I have to serve in this damn war? Even if I get out alive what will be left after that? Live until enemies invade us? Or live mutilated like one of those traumatized postwar ones? Or will you send them to fight in the rear? If you could do that, why didn't you do it for him?" - Peter said
Young Peter's Hand trembled as he pointed to the Tombstone.
"If you can do this for me, why didn't you do it for him?" - Peter questioned while looking at his uncle waiting for an answer
Even with the heavy rain, a salty taste permeated Peter's mouth. The Colonel adjusted his beret hiding his eyes a little before retiring he looked at the young man once more and spoke. - "He made his own choices, I may not have been able to save his life, but I will definitely save yours, at least half of the promise I made to my brother will stand."
And then he withdrew, Peter could see his uncle's face gradually being obscured by the heavy rain as he walked away. As time went by, kneeling near his brother John's grave, the heavy rain weakened until light drops remained while the orange evening sky cast a light breeze over the place.
"It's already five in the afternoon..."
He knew the time without having to look at his watch and knew that it would be dark soon, the reason for this was nothing extraordinary but because every day it rained twice in the city at the same times, with rare exceptions, in this city despite being one of the capitals of the Brazil was a quiet, small, monotonous city a little different from other urban centers, as it was the gateway city to the Amazon rainforest.
When Peter got home he left a little mess behind his wet clothes soaked the floor until he put them in his laundry, and his dirt-stained shoes left some mud on the floor, as usual he put some rice to cook and he turned the television on at a high volume as he went to shower, the television played a reminder of his recent thoughts that the world was against him, a documentary about the third world war and how it all started and where.
Five years ago, in 2021 ago humanity was waiting for an event that did not happen very often, the arrival of a meteor to earth, it would fall exactly on December 25th, Christmas Day, in fact it was a great gift from Mr. Santa Claus to humanity, but a terrible catastrophe for others.
Many people at the time were waiting for the meteor that had strange behavior to fall into the sea and even others debated that it could fall to land. Some theories arose about the meteor called at the time of BT-102A was a manned spacecraft, as official information suggested that he had changed course slightly three times, some raised that it was due to the influence of the planet's gravity, others said that he was adjusting his course to collide with the earth.
On that day like most families in the city we had returned to the interior of the state more specifically to our hometown which was not far from the capital. Where we celebrate the festivities together with the whole family a little different from how it happens in most western peoples in our region, we usually return to the hometown and visit uncles and aunts, old neighbors and close family friends and generally in these countryside towns you are known for his offspring until his adult life. There I was Peter Filho de Francis, Maria's grandson of the Ferreira family, from all the other places I've lived that sounded strange to someone who wasn't from the region. After spending Christmas with the family, we head to a neighboring town known for its river beaches.
We traveled about an hour until we arrived at the house of my father's aunt called Dulce. It was afternoon and we went to the place to wait for the meteor to arrive at the edge of the beach hoping that there would be a good view despite the cloudy weather in the mid-afternoon. which used to be before the rain we decided to stay there to enjoy the place even if we couldn't see this event I was near the Cabana on the beachfront that had a covered patio that held the barbecue and a large table for guests, I had placed a plate on the table and was getting a piece of meat for me was when my brother waved to me running from the edge of the beach to the hut screaming excited and with a smile on his face then since I can remember that was the last time that I saw him smile.
"HEY, LEAVE ME A LITTLE MEAT." - John said
When I looked at the landscape behind him the sky started to turn orange and the clouds seemed to run away from opening a space, a round space to the sky covered with fire, that day we didn't know it yet, but we would be in one of the places of the fall. Years after the fall we would call it Prometheus' rain.