SUNSHINE | john hancock | fallout 4

aint no sunshine

╭┅┅┫ -ˋˏ *. ❂ .* ˎˊ- ┣┅┅╮
❝ ᴀɪɴ'ᴛ ɴᴏ sᴜɴsʜɪɴᴇ
ᴡʜᴇɴ ʜᴇ's ɢᴏɴᴇ.
ɪᴛ's ɴᴏᴛ ᴡᴀʀᴍ
ᴡʜᴇɴ ʜᴇ's ᴀᴡᴀʏ.
ᴀɪɴ'ᴛ ɴᴏ sᴜɴsʜɪɴᴇ
ᴡʜᴇɴ ʜᴇ's ɢᴏɴᴇ.
ʜᴇ's ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ɢᴏɴᴇ ᴛᴏᴏ ʟᴏɴɢ
ᴀɴʏᴛɪᴍᴇ ʜᴇ ɢᴏᴇs ᴀᴡᴀʏ. ❞
╰┅┅┫ -ˋˏ *. ❂ .* ˎˊ- ┣┅┅╯

My brother and I were the last ones to enter the underground nuclear shelter before the bombs got to us. Vault 109's door closed with a slam just before the wave of radioactivity reached us. As the screams of the people left behind turned from a cry of anguish into one of unimaginable pain, a tear slid down my cheek.

My brother began to sob, which broke me far more than any bomb could. He was only twelve. In the past hour, he experienced more heartbreak than anyone should ever have to endure. He looked up at me, with his eyes red and nose runny. His voice was barely a whisper:

"Do. . .do you think Mama and Pops m-made it?"

Another tear slid down my cheek, but I couldn't let him know the obvious truth. That would destroy him.

I was the second person to hold my brother, and the first person to look in his eyes. Throughout the birth process, I was right there beside Mama, giving encouraging words because Pops was overseas. A few hours after he was born, the doctor came back, holding him swaddled in a blanket. Mama was knocked out cold. The doctor asked if I wanted to hold him, I nodded my head eagerly. As I took him in my arms and gazed at his face, I made a vow to always protect and love him. Then he opened his eyes.

It's easy to talk about the natural beauty hat comes with green or blue eyes, but no one talks about the beauty of brown eyes. His eyes were honey brown, with green and yellow flecks around the pupil. They held the all the complexity and beauty of the universe.

And now as I gazed into those same honey eyes, I remembered that promise. Although he was almost a teenager, I was still fiercely protective of him. He was too young and too innocent to experience such a degree of heartache, but I couldn't lie to him. I grabbed his hands in mine and kneeled, inches away from his face. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done to keep my voice even.

"I don't know. We may never know. But we've got to hold onto the hope that they did, okay?" I paused and put a hand on his cheek. "Our parents are tough, Buddy. I'm sure they're perfectly alright."

Truth is, they weren't. Because Pops was a World War II veteran, we should've all been able to be added to the local vault's list. But there were only two spots left. Although they didn't think China would actually drop their nuclear bomb, Mama and Pops both made the decision to register my brother and I just in case.

He wrapped his arms around my neck, and I hugged him back softly. After a few minutes of my rubbing his back and silently crying and his dampening my shirt and crying not so silently, we pulled away.

"We've got each other. We're gonna get through this, okay?" He nodded and we stood as he continued to sniffle periodically.

There were mixed emotions from the crowd of approximately fifty people that surrounded us. Some people were celebratory, rejoicing that they made it to the Vault before it was too late. A good number of people were riddled with grief, slumped on the floor, their bodies heaving with sobs. I recognized our neighbor's fiery red hair among them, and I wordlessly reached out and squeezed her shoulder.