Once In A While

Prologue

The sun shone bright in the sky and he had been dead for several hours before we came to understand the gravity of our sorrowful situation.

The aftermath was the hardest- we had no idea what his lasts words were, and how his end came to be. The glimpse I caught of his lifeless body has been engraved deep in my mind ever since. Those eyes that once sparked with kindness looked so dull and empty now.

It all happened so quickly, it almost felt like a fever dream. I screamed till my vocal cords felt damaged before repairing. I was sure I was going to collapse, my knees giving up on me as I kneeled to the ground, whilst sobbing loudly.

Our dreams would have been accomplished, had he lived just one more day. One more day. For me, and for him. For the three of us.

Walking through the chaos of it all, was one thing- walking away, though, had proved to be quite another. I once thought I had left the corpse filled streets of Trost forever on a sunny noon months ago, but now I am not so sure. Now the paramedics and soldiers looking for their fallen comrades have departed, and life has grown quiet around me once again. I might have had the illusion that I was somewhere else, but the truth is, I've been there all this time;

Kneeled on the harsh pavement, the sun shining on the stones and destroyed roofs of the buildings surrounding us.

I took one last glance back to his lifeless body sprawled on the street, before I was ushered away. And I have only to glance over my shoulder again, to see that vivid, horrifying image in front of me.