Friable | Five Hargreeves

0 1 - Alone

"Sometimes, I feel like a stranded ship, left in shallow water, banal and rusted, left alone"

- Abhishek Gupta

--

Confused and alarm was two words to portray how Rebecca felt in her situation. She had no clue of why and how she was stuck in a place completely burned to the ground. Not a single one up and alive to tell her how destroyed and messed up the world had become. It was just her and the world without any comfort to assure her she was alright.

One minute, she was at home, both of her parents deserted her for their jobs, which meant she was isolated again in a house that seemed like it was the only thing she could call it as a friend. And soon afterward, she was confined in a time which she could assume was the future.

"Hello?!" She whimpered towards the empty street of where she once lived, but instead of seeing the old lady that came by often, to chaperone her in the remote cycle of existing to be unloved. It was covered in rock and shattered pieces of the home she had once considered the most dreadful place on earth.

"Adela?!" Rebecca cried out the name of the one she thought who would never neglect her, but the tone of her voice was so desperate and so hopeless, she, herself, wasn't quite sure if that was true or not.

"Anybody! Please!" How did this happen? She glanced around to witness massive weight of stones on top of crushed cars, and broken glass shard scattered all around the ground that was once flat, "Someone!"

It felt like air got caught in her throat after seeing sights of dispersed bodies all around the place, their bloody figures underneath cars, on top of piles of bricks, and some were impaled by rods that were previously used as signs to direct people. No one was alive.

"No," Tears profusely streamed down her face as her hand went to muffled the cries that left her to collapsed on both of her knees, not minding she had scraped it, "No!"

Everyone was dead, and Rebecca was all alone again.

--

On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989, forty-three women around the world gave birth.

That was unusual only in fact. That none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.

He got seven of them.

--

Every one of those kids lived in the Hargreeves's mansion.

It was early in the morning on that fateful day. Their dear mother had rung the tiny bell to inform the seven adopted children to come down for breakfast, and each kid in an orderly fashion, came down to stand next to an arranged seat that was placed directly in front of the wooden table with their breakfast.

No one words were shared among the remarkable kids as those were the rules, no one shall talk until they were excused by himself, Reginald Hargreeves, so they were left to stand in the awkward silence until their adopted father had seated himself down first.

"Sit," The emotionless tone of Reginald caught the attention of those, now seated, to try the breakfast, the mother had sincerely prepared.

And in the same order, in the long rectangular table.

Luther sat in front of Allison as he lovingly gazes up to see the girl who looked down with a smile, perhaps from the attention he was giving her, and Diego who seemed to be carving something on the chair with the very knife he deeply cherished. Klaus who was messing with a piece of rolled paper for an unspeakable reason. Ben who had his book out to finished the rest of the chapter. Vanya who choose to eat instead of messing around like the rest of her siblings, and Five who proceeded to clench his teeth as he glared silently at his father for attention.

Well, not until, he grabbed the nearest thing, a small knife, and he slammed it onto the table, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"Number Five?!" The authority tone of Reginald's voice, order him to explain the sudden interruption, not liking the idea of it.

And pleased, Five released his hand from the end of the knife, crossing both of his hand, placing it on the bottom of his chin, bring up a topic that shouldn't be mention, "I have a question,"

Reginald who only looked up for a brief second, and went back to giving his full attention on the food, "Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you the rules. No talking during mealtimes. You are interrupting Herr Carlson," He finished to refer to the sound of a man voice playing in the background.

That had only earned him a clattered of the thrown utensil from Five, who was enraged from the response of his father, "I want to time travel,"

"No,"

"But I'm ready," He reasoned, "I've been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said,"

The screech of the chair moved back as he stood up to demonstrate his ability, to prove to him he was ready, "See?" And with a jump, he appeared right before his father's eyes, but Reginald had shown no interest as he has seen it millions of times.

"A spatial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel. One is like sliding along the ice. The other is akin to descending blinding into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn,"

"Well, I don't get it," He forced a smile, visibly, frustrated of the unsupported response he got.

"Hense the reason you're not ready," Reginald took a sip of his drink, not showing an ounce of emotion, which had only angered Five more.

"I'm not afraid," Thinking about the other possible reason, he wasn't allowed to time travel, "Fear isn't the issue. The effect, it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable," And this time, he finally looked up, warning him to end the conversation that wasn't going anywhere, "Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore,"

Eventually having enough of the man who was legally his father, he turned and left out of the very door that led him to discover the fate of the world.

Thus, that was the day Five was never to be seen by his sibling again.