TARGET

英雄

He pursed around a cherry lollipop, strolling through the desolated streets, arms hanging by his sides due to the weight of the groceries in his hands.

The askew gravel and broken concrete cracked and shifted beneath the weight of his feet, despite that, he basked in the tranquility of it all. The decaying appearance of the streets, the moldy buildings, stale air usually smelling of drugs- it was his home.

He lived without a care in the world, no limit could confine the likes of him and his brother.

His brother.

At first look one would think, a rag-tag thug, always canceling people out with those tacky black dollar-store earbuds, only responding to him, his younger brother, who would tug at the hem of his shirt, always trailing behind him-

but to the boy but he was more.

The Supernova changed everything for him and his older brother,

They had led prestigious lives, held strictly to the standards of their loan-shark parents who had a spotless imagine among the business industry- just not so much at home. To say the least, they barely interacted with their children aside from the bare minimum, the only purpose the children served to their parents was to be the perfect little figurines that the public could drool over-

I wish my son was that good looking-

And that well behaved! Such gentlemen!

Once the Nova came, it didn't have any real affect on the family- there was barely any memory loss suffered between all four of them, and no one was gifted to their knowledge, definitely none dead.

But his older brother, tired of the plastic-life they led, convinced the younger to act as if they forgot everything an run away.

The younger, being roughly 12 at the time, was indefinitely frightened, but agreed with the plan. It was his brother, after all, being the only person who genuinely cared for him- the boy would follow him to the depths of hell if he called for it.

He could vividly recall that freed feeling, where his brother, hand-in-hand, ran out the house and all the way to an arbitrary meadow a few miles from their former abode.

He could remember collapsing on the grassy field, encompassed in a sea wilting grass and weeds with the sweltering sun beating down on their foreheads. Their dress shirts disheveled and sticking to their skin from sweat, the fluid beading at his brow as he stared at the clear sky.

He could hear the ringing of his brother's loud outcry of pure bliss, staring at his brother with twinkling eyes-

He remembered being free.

All because of him.

A few weeks post Supernova

The two sat over the ledge of a bridge, cars whirring behind them, but the only thing that concerned the two was each other's company and the outstretching horizon before them, the dawn painted in navy with pink hues lacing the horizon, the sun barely peaking over the vast sea of buildings before them.

The young boy swung his legs, watching as the glittering stream of water rushed far beneath them, rocks and little critters littering the stream- clear as day despite the city nearby. Ever since the nova a few weeks ago, the Earth seemed to turn back to its pristine natural state, plant and animal life thriving oddly.

The young boy turned to his brother who had a cigarette between his lips, his infamous earbuds embedded into his ears, seeing this, the young boy huffed in protest, tugging the hem of his brother's shirt.