𝙸'𝚖 𝚂𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚍 ~ 𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚘𝚛 𝙰𝚄

𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝙽𝚒𝚗𝚎...

Begun April 4th, 2020.
Completed.
Sequel published and in progress.

~December 25 1939~
~England~

Brian, a tall, curly-haired 16 year old boy from a small town in England sat in a row of chairs with his head hanging low. The chairs were set up outside a shopping mall.

He sat among many others who were grieving. There had just been a shooting in town. An enemy soldier went nuts and had attempted to raid the city on his own. This was the memorial. The soldier was German. He had run into the middle of the pandemonium of the Christmas eve shoppers and had fired a machine gun in every direction, hitting anyone in his path, and then himself.

Brian had watched the whole thing happen as he was there with his parents. There was blood everywhere. Drops and splatters of it all over the floor of the mall. there were people on the ground bleeding from all over. some even from their mouthes and some even from their eyes. Brian was absolutely horrified. People's clothes were stained a bright red with blood.

Brian had even seen someone who had gotten a bullet to the face. It was a woman. It looked like the bullet had hit her just below her right eye. Blood sprayed from the opposite end the wound as she fell.

Brian had run away and hid behind a counter in the nearest store. he crouched behind it shaking as he plugged his ears, trying to just will this all away. The bullet had gone right through the woman's head.

Brian's parents among the 48 people who were killed, had their names engraved in stone. He sat alone. His ears were filled with the sobs of the victims' loved ones.

A man stood up front on a platform as he read out the names of the victims. When Brian heard his parents' names, tears filled his eyes.

On the train back home, Brian sat alone yet again. Alone in section 276.

He sat there in the cold hard wooden seat, sobbing. The window had been covered almost completely with frost. The wheels of the old freight train clattered on the icy tracks. Brian could see his own choppy breath through his big teary eyes. Tears rolled down his cheeks and dripped from his jaw, leaving small wet drips on his beige felt pea coat.

His eyes were red and puffy, and his nose was almost completely blocked. The tip of his nose was red from the cold and his teeth chattered as he shivered violently in the cold.

He was on the train back home, only this time, there would be nobody else there. just him. He never had any siblings.

He sat there alone in the cold 6-passenger train compartment. The train ride would be 3 hours due to some complications with the ice on the old tracks. The old wood was rotting too, so that didn't make things any better.

Suddenly, the door to Brian's train car opened. Brian looked up. In the doorway stood a young boy around Brian's age. He had long blonde hair and big blue eyes. Brian thought he looked like a girl.

"Mind if I join you?" the boy asked. Unlike his feminine complexion, his voice was a bit harsh and raspy. Brian stayed silent.

"So I guess you're the quiet type then huh." the boy said as he sat down in the seat next to Brian. "Both my parents were just shot. I just found out this morning. Pretty nice to wake up Christmas day only to find out both your parents are dead."

Brian looked up at him, his eyes red and puffy.

"My name's Roger by the way. Roger Taylor"Roger held out his hand to shake. Brian just sat there and stared at it as another tear ran down his cold red cheek.

"Your parents gone too?" Roger asked. Brian nodded as he wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffed. There was some silence before Brian began speaking.

"b-blood... blood e-everywhere..." Brian muttered, his words all choppy from his shivering. "Blood coming from peoples eyes... and their mouthes... p-people screaming..." Brian began to tear up again as he brought his knees closer to his face, curling himself up into a tiny ball as he began to gently weep again.

"wow... umm... you were there to watch it?" Roger asked, sounding surprised or it. Brian nodded gently.

Brian wiped his tears away again as he put his feet back on the ground and buried his face in his hands. Roger put an arm around Brian as to comfort him.

"hey... why don't I go home with you and maybe I could help you out? besides. I don't have anyone to go home to anymore either... and... and you look like you could use a friend." Roger said in more of a calming voice this time. "anyway, what's your name?" Roger asked, pulling a wad of Brian's curly hair away from his face.

"I'm... Brian... B-Brian May..." Brian muttered.

"Brian May. That's a nice name you have." Roger said softly as he smiled. Roger felt very sympathetic for Brian as he was very traumatized by the recent tragedy. Brian wondered why Roger didn't look at all sad.

Roger was in fact grieving. he was just very good at masking it.

Brian stayed silent; almost lifeless the rest of the trip home. Roger had fallen asleep on Brian's shoulder. Brian acted as if he were frozen solid. The only movement was his chest moving up and down as he breathed. He was completely oblivious to Roger leaning on him. The only thing he could think of were his parents and their bloody and painful deaths... and how he had seen it all.

You could've almost sworn he was dead by the lifeless look in his seemingly sunken eyes.