Midst

Once Upon In Aganlan...

"In an era shrouded in war and fear, beneath the round moon with stars twinkling around it, there stood a small cottage amidst the dense forest. The bedroom, though modest in size, held a generously comfortable bed adorned with a hand-stitched quilt. Through the window, one could gaze upon the moonlit forest when the skies cleared.

On that fateful evening, I had lovingly tucked my younger brother, Ali, into bed. But just as I had begun to spin the words that would transport him to a fantastical realm of yesteryears, a sudden, violent knock reverberated through the house. The noise shattered the tranquility of the night, and my heart raced as I rushed to the door, my worries compounding with each step I make.

Ali, sensing the tremors of this unexpected intrusion, hurried to my side. Fear gripped our eyes as we approached the weathered wooden door, with our hands trembling.

"Who could be visiting at this hour?" I whispered, my voice barely audible above the pounding of my heart.

With youthful curiosity, my younger brother hesitated but a moment before pulling open the door. A chill gust of wind rushed into the room, extinguishing the candles, and casted an eerie shadow across the hallway. We squinted into the darkness, struggling to discern the intruder.

And suddenly, out of the darkness of the night, a mysterious silhouette appeared. Cloaked entirely in black, this trespasser advanced with lethal expertise. Without a moment for me to respond, the killer pounced on the innocent Ali, his blade gleaming wrathfully in the dim moonlight.

Ali screamed in agony as the assassin struck him, mercilessly and repeatedly, leaving me paralyzed with shock and terror. He fell to the floor, his life slipping away with each desperate breath, his hand reaching out for me.

But as I managed to break free from my horror-stricken stupor and reach for my fallen brother, the assassin vanished into the night, leaving no trace but the pooling blood staining the floor.

I cradled him in my arms, tears streaming down my face, but he was gone. My promise to finish the bedtime story was left unfulfilled, forever incomplete, as I wept for my dear Ali whom I had failed to protect and the stories he would never hear again.

He was the dearest treasure I had cherished in my century of surviving in this unforgiving world. Yet fate, in its bitter irony, had conspired against me. Cruelly, Death had chosen me as his unwilling victim, taking my younger brother away from me for all eternity."