A Firefly's Glow

Prologue

Note: The prologue is in 3rd person. Weird, weird, weird, I know. But here it goes!

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His eyes slowly inched open, and his gaze cautiously skimmed his surroundings. A high, domed ceiling towered over his head. The droplets of rain clattered against the roof and against the glassed window beside him. It was just another second before a sound of thick thunder cackled from outside the window.

He sat himself up and wiped the bits of crust off of his eyes with his wrist. Silky bed sheets were sprawled across his body. Identical curtains surrounded him on racks that towered halfway to the ceiling.

He laid a soft, pale hand on his forehead, and recognized an excessively warm sensation that met his fingertips. His cheeks felt flustered, and he wished to lie back down onto the comfortableness of the bed and return to sleep.

Before he could attempt to lie back down, the curtains that surrounded them whipped open with a clatter.

“Hanabusa?” a cheery voice chimed from the entrance through the curtains as a tall, young nurse entered before the boy. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” the boy named Hanabusa answered dimly as he blankly glanced towards the nurse. “How long was I out?”

“A couple of hours,” responded the nurse as she sat herself down on the stiff chair that sat forlornly beside the bed. “Are you still drowsy? You can return to sleep, if you wish.”

He glanced at the fatigue in the nurse’s wide eyes. It was obviously evening, and the silence that droned around the compartment he inhabited insisted that he was the only patient left.

“No,” he fibbed weakly, sliding himself over so his feet rested on the polished floor. “It’s getting late—I should return home.”

“Are you sure?” the nurse questioned, glancing at the analog clock that hung above their heads. “I have a couple more hours. You may rest—“

He slowly stood himself up, trying not to stumble on his feet. He spotted a familiar briefcase sitting against the wall that lingered beside the bed and he clutched onto its handle. Swinging the briefcase over his shoulders, he slid the curtains another few inches open and stepped out of the compartment. “Thanks for your time. I’ll walk myself home.”

He slipped out the large double doors before the nurse could catch up with him and object.

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She quickly scribbled the last of the math problems into her thin notebook with a flourish. She eagerly sat the scrawny mechanical pencil onto the table and toppled backwards onto the floor behind her with a relieved sigh.

“I’m finished!” she chirped happily, glancing at the imperfect ceiling above her head. She enjoyed the relief she felt, knowing that her homework was finished and that she had the rest of the night to herself.

She skimmed her gaze across the low ceiling that sat above her. Thin, scrawled cracks were scattered across the ill-painted wood. She found it interesting to encrypt the patterns scribbled throughout the wall. The cracks seemed to grow further across the ceiling through time, so she was never bored. There was nothing she could do to fill them. Besides, she found a cracked ceiling much more interesting than a perfect, spotless one.

As if on cue, she felt a groan of displeasure that roared from her stomach, and she clutched it guiltily.

She hopped onto her feet and hurried towards the refrigerator. As she kneeled down on her knees, she slowly opened the small refrigerator door to find it bare.