Achan felt Abalia's thoughts being cut off, her smile turned to a frown and left her eyes blurred by a layer of tears that lay in wait to fall gently onto her burning cheeks.
Achan shuddered at the sight; he slowly drew back his feelings as he realized he couldn't change this. He knew these events already took place, even Abalia, in her own mind, couldn't stop them now. Achan felt her attempts to move, the empty attempts to break free from their grasp. His eyes were forced to look away as he searched through his own mind, and tried to find a solution. There wasn't one.
He felt her confusion, and tried to look away as she sprinted to the house, their flames growing higher as they consumed it. His head was turned towards her, he had no choice but to run where she did, he watched her bear it. 'I already had enough pain going through this once, why again?' He hears her mind cry out. He knew he couldn't finish her memories if she was unfocused whispers back through the thoughts, focusing on making her hear it. "It's just a memory, Balia. Forget them, forget all of this." Her thoughts ceased and he felt her conceal the pain.
Achan stood at the foot of the flames beside his sister. Before she could get herself together Achan found Abalia placing her right foot forward. Achan turned towards her, his eyes cold, her face already facing his. The two siblings remembered the instructions their father had given them. The instructions they had failed to keep. The mother they had failed to save.
Before Abalia's foot could be engulfed by the flames, Achan saw a firm hand on Abalia's fore-arm as it yanked her to the ground. "Are you crazy?!" the secret screamed while dragging Abalia farther from the flames. "What were you thinking?!" he continued. Achan observed as he felt a deep pain about this boy, this time he didn't ignore it. Abalia stared at the secret blankly, tears pouring down her young face. The boy took her shoulders and commanded her, "Breath, just breath in and out." He smiled at the girl, as she slowly began to breath. The boy choked as his face turned red, but he controlled it and continued, "In and out, good, keep going."
Their ears rang from the sound of fire engines stopping in front of the yard. They heard the yelling fire men as they grabbed hoses and sprayed water on the useless situation. "Check for any survivors!" one yelled to another. The fireman ran into the building, as the house got weaker and weaker. "John!" one of them yelled to the man in the building. "Get out of there, its coming down!" the fireman ran to the door as the house crashed down. It was too late, they had taken another victim.
Abalia looked up at the boy, stuck in the rhythm of silence; Achan watched the secret's expressions as they said more than he imagined his words ever could. As the insides of his eyebrows shaped upwards he was petrified. His eyes showed fear, confusion, and disgust in one look. Achan knew this look, he knew somewhere in his mind that this boy was real, not only to Abalia but to himself as well. This boy, this secret, was in Achan's life, he knew him.
There was some sort of shift in time, a glitch in the memory. Time sped through and left the memory untouched.
Achan mind was forced off the boy and onto Abalia, just as she discovered the horror in the boy's eyes. Not hate, but horror. It was then that Abalia realized that the boy was not looking at her but beyond. Achan kneeled beside the two kids, resting his right elbow on his young sister's shoulder as he placed his other hand under his chin. He watched the wretched sight intently. The remains of their mother's body being carried off; Achan wondered bitterly what was in store for it. Achan looked at Abalia as she slowly let go of the boy and started making her way towards the corpse, sprinting.
The only air she had left was immediately knocked out of her as a man stops her. "Oh, come on, not him." Achan sighs, "Seriously, out of everyone, why did it have to be you?" the disappointment in Achan was disturbed by Abalia's screams.
"Let me go!" She screamed furiously at the man, who was carefully making sure to avoid any contact with her skin. He let her legs dangle in the air.
"Abalia, stop, let go. Your mother is dead; you need to learn how to let her go." He instructs her firmly with a concerned face and a frightened look in his eyes.
Achan looked as the man crushed Abalia, it was weirdly interesting. "And this is why we don't like you." He muttered.
"Let go of me!" She screamed at him. She released herself from Uncle Theo's grasp and turned back to the boy, the uncle chasing her. She reached for him, but felt her being pulled away. The Uncle took her by the sleeve, and put her in the back of his squad car and sat beside her cautiously. As they slowly drive away Abalia looked back, but he was gone. Our secret was gone.
I open my eyes and see a black ceiling, as I sit up I see the black walls followed by the black carpet. The room is empty except for a window covered by black curtains and a single yellow light hanging by a single black thread above my head. I look at the light, right above my head as I am forced to stand below it. I watch as the thread brakes, "Bale!" the boy screams out of nowhere. His face is full of fear as he pushes me out of the way. I hit the black carpeted floor and look up just as the light bulb comes crashing down, right on top of him. I try to see through the flames that have consumed him. I get up quickly and stand at the edge of the flames. "Haru!" silence. "Haru..." I watch my tears fall as they hit the flames, making them higher. I look away from it and see Uncle Theo carrying Haru's lifeless body "No!" a man in black beside him carrying my mother. My mother is no longer an ugly corpse, but the beautiful woman I used to see every day. Only this time she doesn't wear a smile on her light brown face, but the mash of death, she was gone.
"Let go of them." The two say in unison walking towards me slowly. I can't stand this any longer! I need to leave, to get away from the flames, the fire that took everything away from me. I run to the window, pulling away the black curtains, I can see the sun. It's slowly shrinking away, getting farther and farther still, before disappearing completely, leaving me in total darkness.
I wake up, still in Uncle Theo's car, assuring myself that that was all just a dream. My mother is dead, I know that, But Haru is still alive, and the sun is high in the sky, and that's what really matters now. That's all that matters.
