Au Revoir

Prologue

   His screams split the night air like razor blades, but my vocal chords wouldn't even squeeze out a pathetic whimper in return.

Our pain was mirrored - exact and yet opposite. Mine was emotional. His was physical. But there wasn't a damned thing I could do to save him. My legs were trapped in a state of jelly, mocking my inability to change the inevitable.

All I could do was merely stand here and watch.

Watch as my brother was murdered in cold blood.

That man... That murderer... Mikel Skids... That was his name. He was the man who stole away my eldest brother's life, at the disturbing age of just 21. If it wasn't for him, perhaps Harry would still be here. Maybe then I wouldn't have been forced to move to the other side of the country with my parents and Luka.

Another cry of agony cut through the cool air as Mikel's fist came down hard over Harry's cowering figure. A thousand icy waves seemed to rush over my skin as I stood by and witnessed my brother's torturous death, unable to even make out the facial features of his assailant.

But, of course, that would be because I was never really here.

Mikel reached for his weapon, although I couldn't even determine whether it was a knife or a gun. As his hand extended towards my brother's helpless, beaten form, white light began blurring my vision, engulfing everything in pure nothingness.

I tried desperately to scream, desperately to see, desperately to run forward and tackle the piece of shit to the ground. But all was futile, for there's nothing that I could do for someone when I had already missed their untimely demise.

It didn't matter how many times the nightmares pulled me back to that moment.

What's done is done.

I blinked. Luka appeared before me. I attempted to find my voice yet again, but he didn't even wait for me. He turned and pushed his wheelchair away. My vocal chords buzzed and sound finally escaped, but it was a lie in the form of Luka's voice. It echoed through this space I was in, so suddenly empty and alone, trapped inside my own mind.

"He's dead... Harry's dead. We have to leave. Leave, now. Far away. All of us."

The lies. The slander.

Harry couldn't be dead. It wasn't even an option.

Because he never said goodbye.