Chapter 04: Wars
Gunshots rang past his ears. Explosions booming everywhere.
Tall buildings are destroyed, and gone are their majestic glory. The streets riddled with dead bodies. Blood could be found everywhere.
People with guns shot people running away. Some tried to fight back, and others just hid.
All this happened as the boy opened the door.
Grey.
Everything was a little greyer than he imagined.
The world was grey.
Like his heart.
It took a few moments for the gunshots to quiet down, and the explosions also stopped. The boy looked at the scene in front of him.
Countless people were lying down on the streets, and some red liquid fell from the holes on their bodies.
Their dead eyes still retained a look of horror.
Everyone looked like them. Like his parents.
"......."
The boy continued on.
He walked. And walked. And walked. And walked.
He saw people killing others. Driving knives to their stomach. Some killed themselves. Others revered in joy.
He saw countless women forced to humiliate themselves in front of terrorist men. Husbands forced to watch.
Smoke filled the air. Polluting this once beautiful city to a hellish landscape.
Guns set loose. Bullets flying, killing everyone in their way.
Planes showered bombs in the city. Fire rose up high in the air. Tanks shelled territories, and soldiers killed other soldiers. The whole place turned into hell.
"Any last words?"
The boy stared at a man, pointing a gun on a woman with a child cradled in her arms.
The woman cried as she looked at the nuzzle of the gun pointed at her. Sobbing ever so loudly as she begged the man to make it quick.
"None then."
The man then pulled the trigger, and a gunshot sounded out.
Her head turned into a fleshy mess. Her brains out of the confines of her skull, a large hole in her skull. Her eyeballs out of their sockets as blood spilt out of the gun wound.
The man looked at the corpse, then to the child who was now crying out loud.
He looked at the child for a moment, as if hesitating, then pulled the trigger on the child, too.
Soon, the cries of the child ceased to exist.
"You don't need to suffer in such an age. I'll end you now."
Then the man stared at the world, at its cruelty.
"Tell me, child." He found the boy standing there.
Looking at him with expressionless eyes.
"Why do we exist?"
"...."
"This war brings nothing but pain and degeneracy. Scarring the world as we fought against each other in hopes of peace."
"..."
People are born, grow old, have children, then die.
Like a grain, they live, then die, live, then die.
"Those grain pile up immeasurably, then i was born."
The man continued on. His gun now pointed at his head.
"I... also exist in this large world, in this pile of grain for a brief moment before ceasing to exist."
"...."
"It's frightening."
The boy, who was already dead inside, did not understand any of his words.
All he knew was that everything was the same as inside his world [Room]. Only pain and suffering existed.
"You know. I'm going to die soon."
The boy just looked at him.
The man turned to stare at him, then urged him forward.
"Come. I'll teach you how to use a gun."
The boy....
Walked towards.
He didn't know why. He didn't even think about it. He just went and did as he was told.
"This is a pistol. It's a standard weapon for defense in this world." The man gave him a pistol.
"This pistol can shoot out twelve bullets. These are bullets. Bullets are placed in these things called magazines. These magazines are used to reload the pistol."
Then, the man helped him point his gun at the corpse of the woman.
"Now steady. Stare at your target, and make sure to aim at it."
"Good boy."
The man nodded his head and pulled away from the boy.
"Now shoot."
Bang.
The man nodded his head.
Then he grabbed the boy and pushed the pistol to his head. He kneeled in front of the boy and let out a smile.
"I'm an irresponsible adult, child. Now I'm giving you a burden under my own selfish reason."
Tears fell from his face.
"This gun, i will give it to you." He said softly.
"Do you promise to use it only to protect yourself?"
"...." The boy stayed silent.
"Promise me."
The man asserted.
"Ok."
When he heard the boy, he smiled gently.
"Yeah. Okay."
"I'm dying, child. The heart isn't the only thing that keeps the body alive. It needs organs."
"I'm hollow inside."
"It's a miracle i can even walk. Much less kill someone."
The man cried.
"You know, once i thought i was the main character of this world. That i was destined for great things. But now, i see myself as nothing."
"The world would still continue spinning even after I'm gone."
It's just the truth.
Even though i've disappeared, in the end...
"What was i?"
"What does it mean to live?"
"Is there anything i could do to make my mark in this world?"
The man stopped crying. He wiped his tears with his blood-soaked fingers.
Do i exist?
"Is that why people want to leave behind descendants?"
To show proof. To prove to the world that they existed once?
The man sat down on the ground, exhausted.
"Child, in the end. What do you think we are?"
The world would still spin.
Endlessly for eternity.
It would not stop just for you.
Even if you died, gone.
It would not stop.
"I have sinned a lot child." He then grabbed the gun from the boy and aimed it at his head.
"It's time for me to get punished. Everyone sins a lot. It's only a matter of time before judgement comes for them, too."
The man smiled at him for the last moment.
"Just remember what i thought you. You don't need to know my name, why I'm here or anything. I only need you to remember my words."
So that you can prove that I exist. In this twisted world.
"Goodbye, child. Protect yourself well in this god forsaken world of ours."
....
......
.............
The man just kneeled there, with the nuzzle of the gun pointed at his head. His hand shaking.
Then he put it down.
"I can't."
Sob.
"I can't do it."
Uahhh...
"I'm afraid."
"I'm afraid..."
The man broke down crying.
"I should die. I deserve to die!"
Yet I'm afraid. Afraid to leave.
The boy couldn't understand him. So, he ignored him.
Just like he ignored the beatings of his father.