𝕊𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝔸𝕨𝕒𝕪 | 𝚂𝚞𝚔𝚞𝚗𝚊 𝚁𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗, 𝚂𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚞 𝙶𝚘𝚓𝚘

𝟙.

I must have lost track of time and space, because when I came out of my thoughts, I didn't recognize anything around me. I must have walked farther than I knew, too astounded to pay attention to where I was going.

I looked at the texts Aaron sent me 20 minutes ago, again. I needed to memorize them. I needed the pain to transform into resolve, and to remind me of the reality.

I'm sorry I cheated on you. I read that once, I read that twice, I read that thrice.

Can you even be sorry to cheat on someone when you've been doing it for a month ? He told me he loved me straight to my face during it all, while he was... Tsk.

And when I thought we almost had s...

I jumped on my feet, snapping out of it. The oxygen in the air became sparse. I could feel cold sweat forming in the back of my neck.

"If you hear the chiming sound, you do two things: you pray, and you run". My mother's usual warning resonated in my head more than ever.

Chills went down my spine, I shivered. My legs were shaking in the hot summer night. I won't run, I won't beg. I repeated these words like a Tibetan monk would chant a mantra. I looked up at the sky, it was dark and empty. Empty of stars, empty of hope, and it has been like this for too long. Maybe I didn't deserve to see the stars until the end. I'll soon find out, for the chiming sound was getting closer to me. With a deep breath of fresh air and new found resolve, I walked to meet what might be my very end. 

My hands were tingling as my mind slowly emptied. They said it was worst if you ran away and made him chase after you.

He was getting closer.

It sounded like someone dragging pieces of crystal on the ground. I wondered what was causing him to make these noises. 

Oh. That's right... Useless thoughts went through my mind.

If I was going to die today, did Aaron's cheating even matter ? 

Will it matter in the afterlife ? 

Is there even one ? 

I hope not, I hope to become dust, swayed away in the infinity to blend in the void.

And then I saw him. Had he been human I could have hoped for a way to escape. But he was not. He nonchalantly walked toward me, hands in his pockets. So I walked knowingly to him. I didn't want to die a coward. It became harder to breathe, the air became dense as the space between us became smaller. 

 He appeared in our world three years ago, and shook everything. He shook our beliefs, our politics, the way we saw ourselves. He inspired stupor and fascination ever since he did what he did. The world crumbled before him that day. I knew all too well that if he wanted me dead, I will die.

I shivered and froze in place when his face fully emerged from the dark under a lighting pole. His cold eyes were locked into mine. He carried his head with an upright majestic position, his steps were assertive. Everything emanating from him made you want to bow down to him. The way he was moving was mesmerizing. He was wearing a somewhat very lousy white kimono with golden threads running through the fabrics.

How breathtaking. 

I was standing there, dumbfounded. Standing two meters away from me was the being who killed the Presidents of the leading nation of the world, in one night. They say he is a King, but I felt in the presence of a God. Yes, he was evil. Yes, I was scared shitless. But you couldn't deny his presence was hypnotizing. In sacred monotheistic texts, they describe encounter with angels as frightening. They said you would feel an overwhelming anxiety taking over you at the sighting of the heavenly beings.