The starry sky vanished, engulfed by a thick sea of dark clouds. As dusk encroached upon the world of glass and solitude, the eeriness of silence rang across the lands hugged by a white layer of snow.
It had become a lonely world, one draped under the screeches and cries of its inhabitants.
There was no one to blame. No one to curse.
Shadows danced under the dim moonlight barely peeking through the grey blankets hugging the skies.
Everyone wondered…
Perhaps someone would save them.
Perhaps someone would rescue them from their plight.
It was only a slight hope… but those who could afford to hope did so. A time of abundant optimism was not too far back. But the desperation of the survivors and the malice of the wronged survivors…
It could not be erased.
Amid the vast snowfields was a hut. A hut built using the sturdiest of straw, perched atop a tiny hill and beside a frozen water stream. Outside the hut were a few wooden signboards, and the door was wide open.
The interior of the hut was dim and somewhat damp, with a single straw bed kept in the middle, and a makeshift stove to the side. A few puddles of water were sprawled across the floor,
The bed was cold; devoid of comfort or a blanket.
On the bed lay a lanky figure.
A child.
He tossed and turned, hugging his body restlestly as he tried to alleviate the sheer cold that assaulted his body. But alas, there was nothing, no one, to comfort him. His expression worsened with time.
As his eyelids fluttered open, his head shot forward. Crimson streaks ran through his sclera, and a certain caused his chest to throb. The child grabbed his temples, desperately trying to alleviate an unbearable headache.
But alas, it only worsened.
Goosebumps popped on his forearms as numbness engulfed his torso.
Suddenly, the child stood up, his breathing ragged and only a single thought revolving around his mind.
"Mom!" He screamed with all his might, yet to no avail. The eerie silence continued, only failure greeting the youth. He exited the hut, the fatal, chilly winds greeting his fragile skin draped under a thin piece of fabric.
His feet dug into the snow as they adopted a slight purplish hue.
Yet, he couldn't care less.
Despite the world's resistance… despite the dangerous weather… despite his mind begging him to stop, the child trekked across the vast land, his eyes searching only for a single, feminine shadow.
The only being that could bring him comfort.
But she was nowhere to be found…
Until.
"Mom!" he screeched, his lungs finally giving out. Preventing himself from faling face-first into the snow, the child ran as fast as he possibly could towards the stream of frozen water, his goal in sight.
His mother stood before the river, her back faced towards her child.
"Mom! I found you!"
A wave of happiness encompassed the child, the ends of his lips pulling into a slight smile. An expression of pure joy… truly a rarity rarer than even the most precious gems and minerals in such a world.
It was the first in years.
Without a care in the world, his body collided with his mother's, his arms wrapping around her waist as he attempted to hug her.
It was a pity.
A pity that such a soul had lived for so long.
A pity…
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Cracks lined the mother's body. The child's expression froze, cold sweat dripping down his face as he backed away.
It was as if the world had come to a stop.
The winds stopped blowing.
The child stood in silence, observing the scene in utter shock. As his mother's body collapsed into millions of tiny pieces, it was as if something broke.
The child… No, Ryan Hawk, landed on his knees, the entirety of his lower body engulfed by snow. Tears lined the edges of his eyes, but he endured. He endured the pain… the suffering… because he was not weak.
He refused to be weak.
It was the last stand of a soul who would never bow.
At that moment, Ryan's vision went blank. Darkness replaced the sight of his mother's crumbling body, followed by a violent flash of light that morphed into memories of the past he'd buried.
The sight of his father groveling at another man's feet, desperate for food to feed his starving family.
The sight of an empty chair at the dinner table previously reserved for his brother.
The sight of his mother breaking into tears as she tried to endure.
They were all sights he tried to erase.
He tried to forget.
To move on.
Alas, they refused to disappear.
***
I screamed.
Memories.
"Fuuuck…" I massaged my temples to alleviate an unbearable headache. Even then, white and black images continued to flash in my mind. I grew groggy, to the point where I couldn't form a rational thought.
I reached out, turning on my bedside lamp.
As a dim light illuminated my bedroom, I buried my head in my knees.
I couldn't live like this.
"Is everything all right, Young Master?"
A concerned voice echoed across my bedroom, snapping me out of my thoughts. My eyes widened, and I turned silent before releasing a sigh. "Yes, I'm all right, Caroline. You can go back to sleep."
"As you say, Young Master."
I nodded contently before standing up. Slipping into my slippers, I walked over to the door that led to the balcony. Pushing it open, I stepped on the marble flooring of my balcony which provided me a mesmerizing view.
As I smelled the beautiful scent of the tulips, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself.
The sky was clear, and the breeze pleasant.
The domain of stars smiled at me, the moon reflecting in my azure eyes. Humming to myself, I enjoyed the weather, trying to forget.
I knew it was too late.
But a man could try.