You know, living in the kind of life he did, I don't think that any sort of anxiety could have ever been sparked from thinking about where his future would go.
He had a large family, friends. He was confident in his job and skills back home, he knew exactly who he was and who he was supposed to be. He had the perfect life, as far as I'm concerned.
I don't think he even knew how to worry back then, not really. He never was given reason to, he was never exposed to that kind of thing.
I'm not surprised that he completely shut down when he was first introduced to loss, especially on the large scale he was dealt.
I know I definitely would've, had I been in my friends shoes.
"Perry! We don't have time to pack such things, my boy, we must leave this instant!" Was the rough translation of what his uncle had told him when the chaos went down.
"If we can't come back, I need to have this, I have to have this. Just let me grab this one thing, Marius, please," He'd muttered back, placing a circular device and papers into a bag, animalistic, feathered ears pressed to the sides of his head to the point that he had a difficult time hearing anything.
"Just hurry up, we can't have them reach us, you know what they can do to people!" He was forcibly dragging him out of the house by then.
And they ran, the whole neighborhood split up and bolted for the city as if bolting was all they knew.
And darn right they were the best at it.
"This way! The copylooks are in the way, we can sneak past them through here!" Someone had yelled.
"Dennis already went that way! We have to get him!" Marius let go of Perry, leaving him to freeze in place. Shock settled in.
"He's a dead man, we have to leave! The portal is already too close!"
A guttural roar sounded some meters away.
"Marius! You need to get your brother!"
"I'm already gone, keep the portal open as long as you can!"
"I'm coming with you!" my friend snapped, still unmoving.
He was shoved behind a buildings remains as one of the bird faced monsters walked past.
"I'd rather you not witness the possible murder of your father, Perry, go with the rest!"
The portal was the next thing he saw, voices telling his neighbor to close the gate, someone saying something about waiting.
On the other side of the portal where they landed, there were smaller creatures, scary ones, yelling at the runaways in a language that took only a moment for his mind to pick up.
English.
The creatures had smaller ears which did not move, no feathers, shorter limbs in proportion to their already tiny bodies, and they didn't look happy. As a matter of fact they looked ready to feed the runaways to the things that chased them here.
Human beings.
"I need to know what your purpose is here, are you here to invade?!" One shouted, pointing a long, hollow object at them as though it were a weapon.
Police officer. One that was terrified of what was going to come with my friend and his neighbors.
The smaller being stood nearly two feet smaller than him, but he was still terrified of the otherwise good-and also terrified-creature.
All he could think was where was the rest of his family?
He was already broken but what shattered what was left of the man that he was before was the sight of his uncle and father finally coming through the gate. The two bursting through at high speeds and yelling like it was all they could do to distract themselves.
The humans did not like what they saw, and took away his half frozen father and became hostile.
He was even worse when his neighbor took a stick and destroyed the portal, cutting off his only way home. His only way to what should have been safe.
My friend, Perry, lost everything he had left from home, only to be given a world where no one would offer any sympathy.
He'd never forgive it.
And neither would I.
YOU ARE READING
Hope's Shadow: Cause of the Crossfire
Science FictionWhen creatures from another dimension come to Earth, things spiral out of control and become very dangerous for a group of teenage protesters when the cause of the interdimentional "invasion" decides that human beings are a threat to its mission. Mo...