Darkness.
I floated in it. Not cold, not warm—just nothingness. Like being underwater, but not drowning. Like being held, but by a void. There was no up, no down. No sound, no time. I could have been there for seconds. Or centuries. It didn't matter.
Who... am I?
The thought came uninvited. A whisper, barely a ripple in the silence.
Who was I?
Where was I?
Then, something.
A blink.
Light.
I opened my eyes, and I gasped.
Above me stretched a sky unlike anything I had ever seen. Layers upon layers of swirling color—lavender clouds kissed with gold, deep indigos swirling into soft blues, a river of light winding through it like stardust caught in a gentle breeze. The sun was not one, but two—twin orbs glowing like golden pearls across the horizon.
"It's beautiful..." I whispered, unsure if I had a voice or if the world was simply reading my thoughts.
I sat up slowly. I was lying on soft grass, so green it felt painted by dreams. Trees surrounded me, tall and elegant, with leaves that shimmered between silver and emerald, singing softly in a wind that didn't stir the air. Petals fell like snow, luminous and slow.
I looked at my hands. They were mine... I think. They trembled.
Where... am I?
"What is this place?" I asked aloud. My voice was gentle, hoarse, like I hadn't spoken in a long time.
No one answered.
I slowly stood up. My limbs obeyed, but they felt new—like they'd been reborn. My steps were unsure as I wandered through the forest, the ground soft beneath my bare feet.
"I feel... strange. Light. Empty."
And yet, there was a weight—right there in my chest. An invisible ache I couldn't explain.
Then, I stopped.
A clearing.
The trees opened to reveal a pond so still it reflected the sky like a mirror. I knelt beside it, gazing into the water.
My face.
That... that was me. But I looked younger. Fresher. My eyes held no bags, no shadows. My skin wasn't pale from too many sleepless nights. And yet, the sorrow—it was still there.
"Who am I?" I asked my reflection.
No answer.
I pressed a hand to my heart.
Why did it hurt so much?
Why did I feel like something was missing?
I lay down by the pond, staring at the twin suns above. I felt like a newborn. Like the world was being born with me.
Then, a whisper. Not of wind. But of memory.
A smile.
A voice.
A girl.
"Rony! You're such an idiot!"
My breath hitched. I knew that voice. I knew that voice.
"No... wait. Who...?"
The pain burst from my chest like a scream.
"My sister..."
The words tumbled from my lips like shattered glass. My heart cracked.
My sister.
My sister!
Tears fell.
I didn't understand them. I didn't know why I was crying. But I couldn't stop. My legs buckled and I dropped to my knees, hugging myself as sobs tore from my throat.
Flashes—so quick, so sharp.
Her laughter. Her anger. Her hug.
The goodbye I never wanted to give.
The blood.
The pain.
The bridge.
"No... no no no...!"
I clutched my chest as the memory came crashing down.
I was shot. I was bleeding. I messaged her. I smiled... and then I died.
"I died..."
The realization hollowed me.
"I left her. I LEFT her!"
I screamed, voice echoing through the forest. The trees didn't answer. The world held me in silence.
I collapsed to the ground, pressing my face into the earth, sobbing like a child. The grass was soft. The sky above was too beautiful to belong to a dead man.
"Why am I crying so much...?" I whispered.
But I knew.
Because I loved her. Because I abandoned her.
Because she was my reason. My only family. And now...
Now she was alone.
"I didn't want to die. I didn't want to go."
The tears flowed endlessly.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
The wind caressed my face like a mother's hand. The leaves fell slowly like whispers of forgiveness.
I stayed there, broken. A soul trying to remember how to live. Or mourn.
The pond reflected the sky, the stars twinkling like the eyes of those I left behind.
And slowly, ever so slowly, I looked up again.
The sky hadn't changed.
It was still beautiful.
Even if I wasn't. Even if I was lost.
Even if I was just a boy crying in paradise.
"I need to find her," I whispered, gripping the grass with shaking fingers. "I don't care where this is. I have to go back. I have to go home."
But the wind didn't give answers.
It only sang.
And I listened, tears falling into soil I didn't know, in a world too bright for the sorrow inside me.
Yet, even in that sorrow... I smiled.
Because somewhere, she still lived.
And maybe, just maybe... there was still hope.