Parallel

Prologue

Hugo felt the rain coming down on him. But he couldn't move. He wouldn't. His mother, his last friend, had died. A tragic accident too.

"It wasn't her time, it wasn't fair." He'd told himself.

He wished someone was there by his side. He wished that anyone else cared, that anyone could even see him, he felt invisible. He dropped to his knees and placed some flowers carefully on top of the gravestone. He began his long and tedious journey home. He walked for a decent while before coming to a tunnel, he ran inside, it wasn't much, but he was out of the rain. ?

He sat down. He felt his legs collapse beneath him. He couldn't think of a reason to go on. No one loved him. No one understood him. He just cried. No one would care.

"Excuse me, sir, are you okay?" A voice asks from behind him.

He slowly looks up and looks over, there stands a figure. He wipes his eyes and stands.

"Oh- Um... Yes, I'm okay, thank you." Hugo says. He wipes his eyes one more time before looking over.

"You don't have to be brave for me, I'm a total stranger. I'm not going to go tell everyone that you're sad about something. What's going on?" The figure says,

This comment catches Hugo off guard. He wanted to say something, but he was unsure of how to respond.

"I don't like crying." He manages to blurt out. He bites his tongue after that one. "That was stupid of me, no one likes crying, I'm completely fine. But I appreciate your concern." Hugo says, before turning away from the figure. He begins to walk away slowly, but he feels a pair of arms wrap around him.

"It's okay, you can trust me. I understand." The figure says.

"No one understands."

"Well, I do."

There is a moment of silence between them. Hugo stops resisting and hugs the figure back. The rain stops.

"I didn't catch your name," Hugo says.

"I'm Sophia, Sophia Magginson." The figure says.

"Thank you, Sophia. So much."

"Any time."

Sophia finally releases Hugo from her grip.

"I didn't catch your name either." Sophia blurts out before Hugo walks away.

"I'm Hugo. Hugo Carter."

"Well Hugo, I'd love to talk to you again sometime," Sophia says.

Those words still echo in his mind to this day...

It had been years since that first day he'd met Sophia. They'd been great friends ever since. Always meeting right there, in their tunnel. Today was no different. Hugo was just walking back to the tunnel. Today, it had been decided that he had to fulfil his destiny. Not decided by him, not decided by Sophia, decided by fate. Hugo saw the tunnel, just off in the distance. Sophia was standing there. Waiting for him. It was at that moment he began to have second thoughts.

"Why am I even trying, she'll say no."

His nerves hit hard.

He stopped walking in the middle of the road. Sophia seemed confused and began to walk over.

A gleam of light hits Hugo's eyes.

"Hugo! Move!" Sophia exclaims, but a moment too late.

Hugo is airborne, soaring.

Sophia watching his body soar through the air was one thing. It was even worse as his body slid across the floor. But nothing hit harder than when she ran over to see the engagement ring, in his hands.

What could have been...