End of a normal life

Chapter 3

Aiden POV.

My eyes opened to the familiar ceiling of my room. My body and mind were both in perfect health, and I felt as if there was nothing weighing down on me.

I felt hollow inside—no, I simply felt nothing.

No happiness, no anger, no sadness, no disappointment.

I could feel none of those emotions, even when images of yesterday popped up into my mind.

I sat up, my comfortable blanket slowly slid off my upper body and I glanced at the shivering figure on my left.

"W-why..."

I noticed the pillow he laid on was wet, he had clearly been crying and sweating the whole night, as the one who saw everything it was obvious that he would get nightmares.

I looked away, I had nothing to say to him at the moment, no words of encouragement or words of comfort. None of such came to my mind at the moment, my mind was simply empty, just like how I felt deep down.

But I would try, I would try to help him in the best way possible that I could once he woke up.

That's simply what it meant to be a brother.

Perhaps I was truly being guided by a sense of duty as his brother, or maybe I was actually feeling guilty but was unconsciously ignoring it in order to avoid the consequences of lowering my mental guard.

This was one of the main reasons why I refused to socialize recklessly, I had no intention of ending up like him.

I pushed myself out of the covers and stood up, stretching my body a little bit before I looked at the time.

It was six am, my usual wake up time. I walked to my desk and pulled out a piece of paper. On it, I wrote a message to my brother and placed it on the nightstand by his side of the bed.

I was sure he wouldn't wake up and go to school, not after what he had seen yesterday and as such I had no intention of waking him up and saying anything.

He needed to rest.

And rest he shall.

I on the other hand will go to class, whether I felt nothing of the bizarre situation that had befallen this family or not meant nothing.

I'd simply rather not be in this house.

~

I walked downstairs, my steps more silent than ever. My mind was clouded with thoughts about yesterday, how I was right, how I couldn't do anything, how I was late.

How I had left my brother to discover the truth alone.

Despite how these thoughts rampaged within my mind, as if trying to force me to acknowledge my own failure, I simply didn't care.

Yes, I did not.

I shook my head, a certain realization began to creep within me, threatening to spill out of my very being and present itself to the world.

But I couldn't allow it, my mental stability dictated that such a realization be kept hidden and unknown to both the world and even myself.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, my ears picked up on nearby sounds, the sound of sniffling.

Turning towards it, I noticed not only the woman in my mother's skin, but the woman in my sister's skin as well. The duo of aliens were crying, looking at a picture which had my brother, my late father and I as well as both of them in it.

The sight caused a slight tug in my chest but I ignored it, there was no reason to feel anything.

The moment I did so, I would go mad.