{Originally written in 2019.}
What lay above Yakiv’s head were dark, bitter rain clouds.
Droplets fell softly from them-—and then, they fell faster.
Yakiv thought to himself, remembering the past deaths and funerals of his former colleagues, if you dared to call them that even.
-
The first one broke Yakiv’s heart almost instantly. It was of his younger sister, Nataliya.
Like the very one he was in, the day had been bitterly cold-—as any other Siberian day had been that day.
“Yakiv?” Asked Kayvin, a friend of his.
“Yeah?” Yakiv turned to his friend.
Kayvin stared off to where they were committing Nataliya’s body to the earth. He began softly, “Isn’t it weird that we’re only here for such a short period of time? Then, we die? It’s like what are we even here for? Are we just here to suffer?”
Yakiv spoke softly, “Yes, Kayvin, it is quite strange that we are only here on this planet for so long before we parish.”
Kayvin commented, “At least someone gets it.”
Yakiv huffed. “Yeah….”
-
In the next moments, Yakiv was given memories of his other “friends” passing away. Next had been Kayvin. Then Vlad. Then Anastasia. Finished off by Ilya.
Yakiv sighed as he let the rain wash down his face. Then he headed across the hill to a wooded area.
Trees that had been dead for centuries stood tall around him.
Yakiv frowned slightly. It seemed to be no use to him at all to make “friends” if they would just all die. But then again, all humans die. Yakiv whispered, “But I’m not human.” He ran his tongue over two pointed fangs. He sighed again.
Yakiv’s eyes scanned the scenery around him. They stopped by a rock.
Engraved in the rock was the name ‘Nataliya Syastevieva’.
Yakiv gazed at the grave site of his sister for hours. Then he turned away; perhaps that would be the last time he’d ever lay his eyes upon it.