Fallen Stars

Chapter 2

TYGRON

"Brother, please" came a shout which sounded faint. "Please, help me"

"Heeeeelllppppp!!!" There was a scream from a distance on my left. I turned to see where it came from.

"Pleeaaassseee!!! HELP ME!" Her voice's shrill and cracking showed desperation and the horror of pain she was in.

It was a woman shouting for help. Flames wrapped around her, in pain. Coated in flames, her subtle silhouette was jerking. She looked helpless as fire wrapped her. Her hands were placed on her forehead and wriggling in a futile manner. Fire danced on her hands as she wiggled it.

The shade of the orange flames surrounding us tainted the night sky. Houses of wood all around were burning. Scattered charred wood and burnt cobblestone were on the ground. I was standing in the middle of all of it barefoot. Smoke filled my nostrils, making it difficult to breathe.

Then there was another person, near the woman also screaming and shouting. It was a man, also screaming, jerking around as his body caught fire. With the continuous cracking of their piercing dissonant voices. Flinching himself as they went with their piercing screams.

"HELP!" People spoke as if they were chanting. Chanting for help. They looked poor and desperate. Their bodies burning on fire.

All I could hear was crackles of fire and screams of pain. Random noises started to mix in. Crackles of fire sounded louder, the wind blew through my ears, whispering of souls saying help them and many more indistinct mutterings were heard. The mixture of noises became louder. Along with it were subtle birdsongs and whistling.

"HEEELLLPPPP!!!!" The screeches and shouting just continued then...

I opened my eyes.

It was just a nightmare.

TWELVE YEARS LATER

Twelve Years had passed. Since what happened twelve years ago were nightmares and horrors every time, I put myself to sleep. Every single time I was in a nightmare Cathera was there to wake me up. It feels like I'm gradually getting used to these nightmares. It is like a constant cycle. A constant cycle where I sleep, I have a nightmare, and I get woke up by my younger sister.

It feels like it has become a part of my life. Being in this same nightmare again and again, I have gained awareness when I am inside it. I felt conscious while sleeping that I would just wake up if I wanted to.

Every single time that nightmare haunts me at sleep I just wake up if I want to.

Memories that hunt me in the form of a nightmare. But the nightmares that I experienced just became jumbled and gradually changed. It feels like the original nightmare has variated into a subtle different sensation, seen from a different perspective.

Sitting in my bed, I was wondering what to do today. The songs of birds outside as the yellowish landscape and the calm sky revealed itself through the window. Whistling of the kettle and clattering of metal can be heard downstairs. The faint breeze blew outside as the yellow grasslands danced with it while the ambient felt humid and bland. The sun is way higher in the sky than it should have been every time I open my eyes.

The light through the window was sufficient but not strong enough to illuminate the whole room brightly. The old-looking stained pinkish white walls of the house with scattered webs that are half cleaned and dust sticking on strings of web on the timberwork above the room silently stayed still. The half-dead color of paint on the walls makes the room look dull.

As my footsteps thumped on the oak stairs, I found Cathera right away in the kitchen. My younger sister sitting on a wooden chair beside the dated wooden kitchen table feeding herself with bread and also having tea. As her hands were placed on top of it, she tapped on the wooden plate with her blunt nails. The kitchen counter was dusty. The gray sink was filled with less dust than under the counter. The walls of the house, with its lower half brick and upper half dark oak filled the house with its amusing smell along with the vague smell of Cathera's tea that I can surprisingly smell from where I am standing.