Zachary and Anna went back to their living quarters after enjoying the holographic campfire with Kalle and talking about suffering loss in their lives. Later that night, Zachary sat in front of a window. He couldn't sleep at all, the memories of his parents and Andy kept bothering him ever since he talked about the day he lost them earlier. Even though it felt better talking about it to Kalle and Anna, it still saddened him sometimes because he missed them so much. While he does let those memories be his strength instead of weakness, he always wished that he would go back to the day it happened and change things. Not let his last words to them be hateful, not hitting Andy out of anger, and not storming off during an argument.
He even started to remember when he had depression, there were times when he felt sad, withdrawn, tired, he would wake up in the middle of the night sometimes. The guilt that he went through of losing his parents and younger brother would overwhelm him sometimes. It wasn't easy for him trying to get through that depression. But he always remembered that one event that gave him the strength to move on. It all happened a month later after the accident when he struggled through depression and blaming himself a lot for their deaths, he got involved in an accident when he was coming home after school.
Three years ago...
It all started when he took the taxi ride home during a rainy day, he was so tired that day since he started having sleep problems. All he wanted to do was just sleep and have a peaceful dream without another nightmare tormenting him. It's been a month since the death of his parents and brother, he blamed himself everyday after what happened on that day before they died, he hardly interacts with people, doesn't eat much, locked himself in his room when he comes home, mood swings. Now he knew what depression really feels like when you lose someone close to you, it's worse when the last memory that you had with them was an argument and never had the chance to apologize before they died. He still remembers the moment when his sister Beth told him they went out to go find Zachary after the argument and they died in a car accident. He always felt like it was his fault because they went out to find him when he stormed off.
Just when he almost fell asleep, the taxi cab was suddenly struck by a car. The impact was so hard, it was enough to flip the cab upside down and make him lose consciousness during the crash. When he came to, he felt a lot of pain from his ribs, it was so hard to see everything because of the blood rushing from his wound on his forehead, there was also a piece of glass embedded in his left leg. Just a couple of inches from the femoral artery. He was in so much pain and on the brink of death. He was ready to die. Dying won't be bad anyway since he'll get to see his family again, apologize to them for what happened before they died. Until suddenly he saw a family trapped in a car, it gave him the strength to come back to the world of the living. He decided that he wants to live. He lost his family, but he's not going to let another family lose their lives.
He grabbed his jacket and ties it around the glass to hold it into place. He tried his very best to ignore the pain from his ribs and leg as he climbed out of the cab and limped towards the vehicle. There were nearby civilians calling an ambulance while three people were trying to get the family out of the wrecked vehicle. After the couple was pulled out of the car, the civilians managed to pull a young boy out of the car. Zachary noticed that the boy wasn't breathing, he only had a weak pulse. Zachary hoped that it wasn't too late as he performs CPR.
He grunted in pain while doing it, but he didn't care how much pain he was feeling from his ribs, he will not stop until he saves the boy.
Suddenly, the boy started coughing and opened his eyes. Zachary felt relieved after saving the boy's life.
"Don't worry, everything's gonna be okay." said Zachary.
"Thank you." the young boy said.
It was a day that he would never forget for the rest of his life. During his stay at the hospital, the couple from the accident visited him when they recovered and they thanked him for saving their son. He remembered how frantic and worried Beth was when she heard about the crash, wanting to know if her brother survived since she was afraid of losing him. He also remembered a conversation they had on the day before he was released from the hospital.
He woke up and Beth was sitting there waiting for him to wake up. It made him feel the happiness of having someone like his sister being there for him, he started to see how important family was after everything that happened and it felt overwhelming. After not speaking to his sister for a month during his depression, he decided that it was time to apologize.
"Beth?" said Zachary.
She turned to face him.
"I'm really sorry for what I said to our parents and Andy before they died, for shutting you out when you tried to reach out to me last month. What happened last night opened my eyes more, I was ready to accept my death until I saved that family from the same fate, it gave me the strength to live. Now I know how important family is after everything that happened and if I died, I would've hated myself for leaving you alone. I'm sorry for everything."
Beth took his hand and gently held it, tears gently falling down her cheeks.
"It's okay. What happened to them was not your fault, they knew that you didn't mean for what you said. The reason why they went out to look for you was not just for you to apologize, but Andy also felt bad for upsetting you when he taunted you and he wanted to apologize as well. When you came home, it was gonna be really hard for me to tell you what happened since I didn't wanna do it over the phone while you were out."
Listening to the whole thing, Zachary remembered when he came home and saw Beth crying while having a hard time trying to break the news. He felt bad that she had to go through that moment of having to wait until he came home since she couldn't do it over the phone when she got the news, even felt more guilty for shutting her out when she tried to help him while trying to deal with her own problems. Having to find out that Andy wanted to apologize for what happened before the accident, it saddened him more since his little brother never had the chance to say sorry to him. Now he felt like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders with Beth's help.
When he came home after he recovered, he did not lock himself in his room this time. He actually joined Beth in the dining room during dinner, it was like the old days again when the family would sit in the dining room and talk about their days while eating dinner. One night, Zachary and Beth talked about the day when he helped Andy make a watermelon explode with rubber bands.
"He wanted me to help him do the experiment because he wanted to know how many rubber bands to put in before the watermelon explodes. As it turns out, after 943 rubber bands have been applied, the watermelon cracked open and then blew up entirely. As soon as it cracked, I grabbed Andy and pulled him away before it exploded. Not only Andy found the answer to how many rubber bands to put in a watermelon before it explodes, but we had so much fun doing it together." said Zachary.
"Don't forget the part that wasn't so much fun, having to clean up the dining room before our parents came home since you two couldn't take the experiment outside." said Beth.
They laughed.
" I did tell Andy that we should take it outside, but he wanted to do the experiment in the dining room."
It was true since Zachary knew that doing the experiment outside would've been easier since they wouldn't have to clean up the mess afterwards. But Andy had to learn the consequences of doing experiments in the house instead of doing them outdoors.
Present day...
As the memory faded away, Zachary felt happy. Deep down, he knew that he found acceptance when he looked back at that memory. He was very thankful for getting a second chance in life after the accident and saving a child's life, made new memories with his sister before he went to the Genesis Colony Academy in Outer space. The last time he saw Beth was during a video call since he was not allowed to go back to Earth to visit her at the hospital, the commander had the members of the expedition team and other crew members of the Leviathan to remain of the ship when the virus took effect on humanity. It was an emotional time for him when Beth became ill of the virus, he made a promise to her that a cure will be created and he will honor her during this journey before saying goodbye to her for the last time. That was the last time he talked to her before the ship headed towards the planet that answered their call for help.
But after the trap and having to escape with Anna, it turned into a journey for survival and helping a rebellion take back the city. That memory was enough to motivate him into helping the rebellion more. He knew what had to be done. Send a warning message about The Leader to the commander back at the Leviathan, rescue the expedition team from The Leader's building. Rescuing the team won't be an easy task, they have to make a plan first.
Chapter five is ready to read! Sorry that it took long, A lot of things happened to me for the past two years since my mother died and went through a lot of life-changing events. my dad and I are doing well since he's met Katie and she's becoming a part of our lives, I wanna dedicate this chapter to her since she helped me alongside my father to pull me out of my sadness and opening my heart to her.