I Will Rake Away The Fallen Leaves Of Last Summer's Pain

Chapter 1

This is the playlist for their story if you would like to listen while reading!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqi6ZCDx3-M&list=PLjWo3wvwLZ_gl9Na6oha9dODgq1SCkbPt

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Pink flowers with five petals each. They were on the tapestry, going around all four corners of the room, in a row. He counted them again; but afterwards, he still couldn't remember how many there were. It went like that every time.

They were sitting in his sister's room, in the corner next to her white bed with the princess decoration. The covers were still unmade, and some of her plush toys were lying on the ground. Their glass eyes looked sad. It was still early in the morning.

He ignored the pain when she dug her fingernails into his upper arm, and he made a hushing sound when something shattered downstairs, again; it was a glass, probably, he couldn't tell for sure.

"It's okay.", he whispered into her ear. He doubted if she could even hear him, as she sobbed into his shoulder. She had her favorite stuffed animal, a bunny, in her other hand, holding it tightly, like her life depended on it.

Something else shattered, followed by screams, and he ducked his head. After a while, it was finally quiet. Still, they didn't dare to come out, crammed into the corner. Like always. It was somehow the same space, constantly. They've grown accustomed to it.

"Come on, Tsireya.", he murmured after some time; it could've been minutes or hours, he didn't know. "We have to get ready for school."
 
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The ceiling slowly started to make him dizzy. The fluorescent lights were still off, not blaring their brightness into his eyes like usually during practice.

He was the first to arrive at school today, and his coach had let him into the swim hall a bit reluctantly, as if he wasn't sure if he could trust a student being all alone in the water all of a sudden.

It took Ao'nung some convincing, he explained that he wanted to do some extra rounds by himself, and was relieved when the door to the boy's locker room was opened with a dangling key. The coach mustered him strangely, and he felt his burning look on his back when he walked inside.

"Are you alright, kid? Did you have a good summer break?", he slowly asked. Ao'nung had just shrugged.

"Yeah, why?"

Of course he was alright. And even if he wasn't, it wouldn't matter.

He had hastily changed into his swimwear and jumped into the pool. The sharp sound of his body hitting the water echoed through the hall; now it was quiet, aside from a distant humming he couldn't tell the source of.

The water was tickling his ears. He had been floating on his back, aimlessly like driftwood miles away from the shore. It was cold and he shivered a bit, the water was freezing.

He turned around and dipped his head in. The small tiles on the ground were blue and red, matching the school's theme colors. He dove deeper and absently started counting them, running a finger over each tile. They were smooth and clean, unlike the way he felt about himself.

Only the water had always been able to keep those stupid sentiments at bay; but they were still waiting for him, at the edge of the pool.

He got startled when suddenly a hand grabbed him by the shoulder, and he almost swallowed some water as he was pulled back to the surface.

"Yo! What the hell were you doing down there?"

Rotxo was flashing him a bright grin, and droplets of water were running down his face. He didn't even notice him getting into the pool as well.