Different | ✔️

|| Prologue ||

The dense atmosphere was soaked with thick, foggy gas spraying out from the holes at each corner of the enclosed glass compartment. My eyelids peeled wide open as I stretched my gaze to take in my surroundings. I moved my legs to get to the other side of the glass but upon getting there, my feet stumbled against a rigid object on the ground, I brought my palms out to prevent my face from crashing into the concrete floor.

I pulled myself back to my feet and took a step forward to get a better view of the object. As I got closer, it appeared to be a silhouette figure laying hands apart on the ground and not an object. I brought one leg forward and leaned into the figure. My eyes went wide open as my hands flew to my mouth. I crumbled to the ground with tears flowing down my pale cheeks. I frantically thrashed my head sideways, trying to block out the image saved in my head, but that didn't seem to do a thing as the image replayed on and on in my mind, paralysing my entire being.

Dad. Blood. Why?

He laid arms spread on the dusty ground with dark crimson liquid oozing out from his nostrils and mouth. His eyes were slightly open, but devoid of any signs of life. I stood on my feet and hurried to the end of the glass. I waded off the fog, blocking my vision, and pushed myself to keep going, but stumbled yet again on something. A huge part of me hoped it was an object this time around until I was proved completely wrong. A woman in her late twenties laid on the ground with blood flowing from her nostrils as well.

"Ahhh!" I shrieked. Tears flooded my cheeks like a heavy downpour of rain. Nothing made any sense, and I was beginning to lose my mind. One minute, I was in the car with my dad at the wheel and my mum beside him, on our way to drop me off at school to this nightmare.

I quickly brushed my gaze through the atmosphere, squinting my eyes through the gas in search of my mum, silently praying in my heart that she was alive. But instead, what I discovered shook me to the core. I shivered as fear slipped into my being. It wasn't just two dead people laying on the floor. It was dozens or even much more.

"Th-th-this must be a d-dream," I mumbled, bringing my palms up and clashing it into my cheeks. The sharp sting made it clear to me that this was in fact reality and not a dream. I repeatedly clashed my palms into my cheek, ignoring the stinging pain from my action. I refused to believe this was real. That my dad was really dead. That I wasn't actually stuck in a murky glass compartment with dead bodies strewed on the ground. None of it was real, but the uncontrollable tears streaming down my face said otherwise.

I got up once more and trotted to the glass. I bashed my fist against it again and again, but it was too strong for my fragile hands to cause any impact. A cracked sob slipped out of my lips as I kept on with it nonetheless. If I stayed any longer in here, I would go insane. I halted. The gas seemed to have reduced to a considerable amount and I could almost make out a feeble outline of some people standing on the other side of the translucent glass, staring, scribbling notes, doing absolutely nothing as dozens of people died. What shook me up most was the familiar figure I knew had to be my mum, hunched over, weeping.

Why was she out there while we were trapped in here?

I yelled, slamming my fist on the glass, mouthing to them to help me out. They stood still, unfazed, and went on with what they were doing. I ignored them and called out for my mum instead. My heart dropped as she didn't spare me a glance. She straightened up and walked out of the door. I stared at her back as she turned to leave. I screamed with all my strength, hitting the glass with more intensity, hoping she would at least turn back to look at me.

She didn't.

She walked out without glancing back. She left me and my dad to die. I turned my back to the glass and slid down, wrapping my hands around my ears, trying to suppress the anguish rumbling in me, the thorn in my heart, to shut out the world entirely and it worked. The darkness came, taking me along with it. I didn't fight it. I accepted it with open arms, pleased by its right timing. A half-hearted smile graced my lips as the darkness embraced me.

~*~*~*~*~

I jerked out of slumber with a distraught mind, looking around, searching for . . . I tried recalling what had happened, but the images were all fuzzy, and I got a splitting headache instead, so I stopped and let the past stay in the past. It was probably better that way. A woman walked in and introduced me to the orphanage home I would stay in until I got adopted.

Years went by, and a woman in her early thirties came in to adopt me, saying she was my mother's close friend. My elation and gratitude knew no bounds, as I thought my life would improve from that point on. Unfortunately, that little hope I had was shattered the moment the truth of my past gradually resurfaced, creeping back into my life and wreaking havoc.

~*~*~*~*~

Hi!♥️

I am so happy to have you here. Thank you for reading my book. I hope you stay on this journey with me to the end.

This is my first book published on wattpad, I would gladly accept any constructive feedback.

Let me know what you think about the book. Thank you!!