Reincarnated - A Solitary Love

Chapter 2 - Lethal Fingers

You know...when an earthquake is coming, usually animals like cats, dogs and birds can sense it. They start panicking, hiding under tables or chairs. Huge flocks of birds rise up in the sky.

At that moment, not a single sound gave advice of the incoming quakes. Someone just...took the whole world, put it on one of those massage chairs and pressed ON.

I lost my balance, falling on the cold stone of the square. Dozens of buildings started to crumble on themselves, probably killing everyone inside.

In a matter of seconds, huge cracks deformed entire roads while the first screams lit up the night.

But that was not the end of it.

Before that spectacle of destruction could be marked in my mind, the entire square erupted.

An explosion of mud, stone and metal raised up in the sky, like one of those volcanoes from the films.

My little body, in that mess, was utterly blasted away by the explosion.

For a strange moment, I could not breathe: It was not like trying to breathe underwater, but more like I was moving too fast for the air to catch up with me. Like falling from a really high cliff into the ocean.

Then, like a puppet thrown by a baby, I was smashed onto a wall.

It was... overwhelming. The pain, I mean. I've never felt something so intense before.

A few years ago, while I was taking a stroll around my home, a motorbiker, losing control, broke my left leg in 3 different places. I remember my own screams. I do not think I will ever forget them, nor the following days.

But now, smashed onto a wall of a square whose name I do not even remember, my leg seemed a joke.

There were no screams this time. I wanted to, I tried to, but I couldn't.

There were no sounds in my ear, except for a perpetual, crackling whistle.

My body...I don't know if I had any bones intact. There was nothing I could move. There was nothing I could clearly feel but that devastating pain which was rapidly spreading in every corner of my mind.

I could not scream.

I could not cry.

Breathing was an endless nightmare.

My sight was a puddle of indistinct colors, nothing more than a vague, fuzzy mess.

Despite everything, I tried to call for help.

Nothing came out of my mouth.

And no help came.

The only sound which managed to pass through that whistle was something similar to a clashing between giant rocks, like two boulders continuously striking each other.

Is... Is it getting louder?

...

Is... is it getting closer?

The answer was...yes. And it became clear when something ripped apart something else over my head.

Somehow, I managed to look up, realizing two things: I was not in the square anymore. I was in one of the buildings facing it, and I knew it thanks to a human-size hole into one of the walls. The other thing.....well....that something which has been ripped off was the roof.

The entire thing was nowhere to be found. I knew it for the moon, a big shiny circle of white into an ocean of black, gray, and brown.

But the planet was not the only thing in the sky: something else was there.

I couldn't see it clearly, my vision was blurry and bloody and it was getting worse every second, but I could perfectly identify its shade. It was even darker than the night: a massive shadow of pitch black towering over me. Tiny veins of a bright color ran through most of its body, but they were so thin that they were barely visible.

The thing raised itself in the sky, slowly revealing something similar to a human hand at its end. Now, while it stayed motionless amidst the starry sky, I had the time to realize one last thing.

Fear.

Primitive, absolute fear.

Strong enough to push my body to one, last action.

Cold, salty tears streamed down my cheeks. Me. Someone who has never cried since elementary school.

And here I was: vestiges of a guy who, until a few minutes ago, though to be someone of strong will. Strong enough to survive everything Life wanted to throw at him. Now, unable to move his own body, unable to speak, unable to listen at anything except his own heartbeat. These remnants had the will to do absolutely nothing. Only his fear managed to shred some tears out of him.

As thousands of thoughts grew more incoherent second by second, two never left me.

I hope dad will be fine...

I want to live...

Then, the hand-shaped thing started its descent.

I stared at it, in awe.

No thoughts except those two, were left...only a chaotic mass of swirling words.

The thing smashed onto the ground, creating another devastating earthquake.

But I felt nothing.

In that moment, I was empty.

Afterall...I was dead.