Drowning in Darkness [On HOLD]

Chapter 1 - Ending In Ashes

 It was a cold night with a frozen wind, dark and gloomy. A hooded figure lurked in the shadows, silently observing the scene. The figures body was shaking, in agony and grief. Tears spilled down his face. It was a young boy, who stood there with red eyes and puffy cheeks. That young boy was me, the very day I watched my whole world crumble down around me. The fire danced in my eyes, as they glazed over while I watched the raging inferno swallow my home; one which nearly consumed me too.

Horror, pain, and rage, that's all I knew. The fire cast shadows over my face as I felt the blistering heat coming from the raging inferno.  The only remains of the life I had, the place I never left in my life, gone. Just like that. I did not know what to think, I felt lost, confused. I saw flashbacks of scenes that just happened. Like someone who was about to die.

I saw things that should have been impossible. Things I couldn't comprehend, not yet. Blasts of fire and lightning, all coming from hooded figures. I saw my parents swallowed by the endless waves of fire, as they pushed me away to protect me from the inevitable; death. I remembered seeing my father's face as he pushed me away, tears streaming down his cheeks. My mother was nowhere in sight, I panicked, hoping she wasn't in the fire too. He shouted at me to run before choking back a dry cough, pushing me away before being engulfed too.

I was angry, so angry that I couldn't do anything. I felt incompetent, so useless. Fire coursed through my veins, as I experienced the worst pain I ever felt. It wasn't physical pain, no. It was much worse, you could cure physical pain but not the kind I was experiencing, the pain in my heart was much worse. The scars from something like this would never heal. "DAD!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face, but deep down I knew I couldn't change anything. I couldn't help him, I could only watch as his eyes that were so full of life, slowly dim.

I thought I experienced pain, I was so wrong. There's nothing worse than the pain and horror of watching helplessly as the life of your most loved one burns away in front of you. How the light fades from their eyes, how their expressions turn frozen. Like the worst nightmare that everyone fears, coming to life in front of your eyes. It was like knives piercing my heart, I felt broken, dead.

I could only continue to stare, as everything I ever knew was burned away in front of me. The home I never left, I never realized that I was so incredibly sheltered, I was never allowed out much. Thinking about my parents again I choked back a sob as I realized I'd never know why I was so sheltered. Or why we were attacked.

I remembered running into the forest, remembered the chill creeping in my bones. How numb I felt, torn apart. All tears had been cried out and I was left with nothing but a feeling of grief and exhaustion. Fear and anger kept me running, branches clawed at my face and arms. Thorns cut my legs, I didn't even notice. I thought I would die there that night but I somehow made it through.

Eventually, I collapsed of exhaustion, unconscious.