Shattered Happiness

Let's Try This Again

Serena let out a sigh and took her first step. "So...Where do we begin?"

The dark haired boy picked up a guitar from the corner of the room and strums its strings. He took a deep sigh and looked at her, eyes full of longing and regret. "From the very beginning."

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Ash let himself go, like a fallen leaf drifting aimlessly on a fresh autumn day, and his fingers softly strum the strings of his guitar. A melody started filling up the room, a sound fluttered between them--one person brimming with energy and, the other was a shadow of her former self, yet with a faint glimmer of hope dancing in her eyes as she watched the boy in front of her. 

Serena slowly sat in one of the chairs, her gaze fixed upon him. Part of her hoped this would get done right away, but the other part wondered what had led him to this place. 

The music he's playing felt too familiar to her, but she couldn't completely recognize it. Like trying to fit the final pieces of a puzzle --So close, yet, so far from seeing the whole picture. 

The guitar spoke in a familiar, soft voice, like an old friend trying to reach out to her from her past.

She took another deep breath and close her eyes, taking in everything. 

Focus on the music. 

That's what she would love to do back then, but...

What's so familiar about it?

Serena's head started throbbing the more she thought about it. Or is it just me...?

She took another glance at the soft expression on the boy's face as he continued to play. 

She blinked and noticed that her vision is beginning to blur under the room's lighting.

She blinked again, her breath hitching as the sight in front of her started to transform. The sight before her started to shift. The boy sitting there no longer looked like the Ash she knew now, but instead... a younger version of him. His face was rounder, softer, his eyes sparkling with the boundless wonder of childhood. His smaller fingers danced confidently across the strings, plucking out the same familiar melody with surprising grace. 

Serena's chest tightened, her expression shifting into one of quiet astonishment. A memory stirred--one that she never knew she had. 

The atmosphere around her changed, subtly but unmistakably. Like she was transported somewhere distant yet somewhere familiar. The air suddenly carried a scent of fresh wood and the golden warmth of the late afternoon sun.

Then came a flicker of laughter--childlike and bright--echoing in the space around her. In front of her, two small figures were in front of her. Him as a young boy with a guitar in his lap, strumming eagerly, while there's another child--wide-eyed and clutching a silver flute--watched him in awe.

The memory was too blurry for Serena to understand it properly. But she knew one thing for sure... Of course, how can she not recognize her younger's self happy expression before all things went downhill. 

The vision slowly faded, the golden light dissolving back into the present. She shook her head before lifting her head back to him as he played the final part of the piece. Was she really going insane to the point she's having hallucinations?

Her fingers twitched at her side, but she stayed frozen, letting the melody give her a some kind of sense of nostalgia. The music carried on, weaving through the silence, until his fingers stopped completely.