life was odd. it didn't take an observant person to know this... yet nowadays, it was odder.
what once was a world where everyone was filming themselves swaying their hips and lip syncing on the internet, was now a world where basically nothing good was left.
or so it seemed.
you however, you knew that despite your normal negative thoughts plaguing every now and then~ you knew that everything had to be okay... at some point at least.
after the hellacious first half of what was supposed to be the "golden year" came to an end, everyone had assumed things would no doubt get better... you could return to a world where your only worries were targeted around paying off the debt owed to tom nook... but that was far from what happened.
democracy was dead.
and sure, some may have seen that as a good thing— hell, even you kind of did... yet no democracy meant no order. and that was just what was happening.
disorder, disarray, and disaster.
all brought upon by the many heinous lies of those in power being exposed for the public to see. for the public to rebel and riot about. with valid reason.
seeing it on the news was one thing but seeing it for yourself was completely another. the system, so corrupt and evil, were all out to get the lives of innocent people trying to survive in this hell they called earth.
you and your family were all one of them... one of the innocents... well, what was left of your family anyways. see, you once had a family. a good family, small but good.
there was your mother. sometimes you both butted heads but you loved her with all of your heart, even when it sometimes didn't seem that way. then there was your father, oh your father. overprotective was an understatement. yet still, you had adored him... and you knew his actions were always made to keep you safe.
then finally, your little brother. the little shit. okay, maybe that was harsh but to be fair, you both were on your own now and staying 24/7 with a little germ machine was your worst nightmare... still, you wouldn't trade it for the world.
the bombings were gruesome... and you remembered them as if they had happened yesterday. as if the loud sound of newfound ringing humming in your ears wasn't enough of a constant reminder, some nights you swore you could smell the gas and taste the smoke once again.
you hated it. you never got much sleep beforehand but now? now sleep was a foreign language to you, utterly unreachable.
just as your family was when the bombings happened. it all happened so fast. your mother waking you up in the middle of the night with your brother in her arms, panic set like stone in her eyes.
"come on baby, we have to go. god it's bad out there. y/n, we have to get out of here... wake. up."
you remember her voice, how shaky it was. then you all ran. fast and far, huddling together and trying to keep each other safe as you tried to escape. your brother was only a toddler at the time, three to be exact.
it was exactly why when he realized that his beloved blue teddy bear was missing, he flipped. out. his cries were probably even louder than the bombs nearing you at the time. he had thrown his weight down and didn't want to go ahead... it was why your mother went back.
she had handed your hysteric brother to you and you held him in your arms as your mother went to go search for the old bear so to quiet the child, yet she took long... and it's what triggered your father to go after her.
you had heard it before you saw it, the loud hum of the chopper above as it neared where you dreaded it to be. you screamed their names, screamed them until your voice was shattered and unusable... yet it was no use. over the chaos, they didn't hear you.
you would've ran to them you now believe. yet you had your baby brother in your arms in that moment and you knew that your mother would have never forgiven you if you had put him at risk too. you wouldn't have forgiven yourself either.
as the chopper had descended and opened its door to release that fucking bomb, you held your brother tight and ran as fast and far away as you could...
then there was darkness, and the ringing in your ears. you had fallen to the ground with him protected in your arms, crying~ and there was pain all over your body. gruesome pain. you knew—
"y/n?? y/n!"
it took a good moment for you to hear the sound of esme calling your name as you stared ahead in to the crackling fire.
"uh, hello? earth to y/n?"
yet when you did hear your dear friend, your head snapped in her direction. "me?" you questioned, and it took everything in esme's soul to refrain from face palming.
"yes. you. you look like you just found out sebastian stan is actually gay or something, what's going on?
your eyes, illuminated by the light of the fire, drifted to esme's as you simply shook your head, "s' nothing..." you mumbled to her, but she knew better. she knew just what you were thinking about.
esme knew a lot of things. one of those things was how to save a life. you knew this, because she had saved yours.
after the explosion, shards flew at you and cut you up pretty bad. you were bloody and bruised by the impact of everything, you were close to death. your precious brother, he was fine. simply crying because of the bear but otherwise he was okay. and you had been grateful for that.
you didn't know for sure how long you'd been laying there, convinced you were already dead but in some eternal hell where you were constantly cursed with the sound of your brother's screeching and intense pain all over your body. yet esme always says it had to have been hours. many dreadful hours. you couldn't remember.
when she had found you, she knew she couldn't leave you there for dead. there had been limited space in the stolen chopper but she figured out a way to bring you and your little brother along to safety.
that day was two years ago in fact, two years exactly. it was why it was more frequently on your mind as the current minutes passed.
you just couldn't remember to forget.
"nothing my ass... literally and figuratively." she muttered bitterly, making you smile just the tiniest bit. yet after that, she didn't push. she was a good friend in that way... she wouldn't push you to talk about something if it hurt you too much to do so.
mr. sam however, now that was a different story. he knew no boundaries when it came to your business sometimes~ yet otherwise he was the sweetest old man you'd ever met. he was one of the rescued that day.
then finally, archie. esme's little brother. he was the same age as you which was reassuring to say the least. you felt happy knowing that you could relate to someone~ and you did. oh the hours you and archie spent laughing about the archive of stupid memes you'd both saved on to your phones.
this was your little family now, and whilst your brother was the only biological piece there, you still loved your saviors just the same.
"you know if something is bothering you— it doesn't hurt to talk about it, y/n." mr. sam chimed in as he returned with a bag of marshmallows archie had stolen a week prior from a destroyed convenience store. expired but still marshmallows nonetheless.
you couldn't bare to get annoyed with the kind old man so you only offered him a warm smile, "i will be just fine..." you reassured as you took one of the offered marshmallows from his shaky hand and placed it on the end of your wooden stick.
the night went on calmly after that. some shared laughter over childhood stories. you shared with them the time that you'd peed your pants in kindergarten and went home without telling a soul.
hey, social anxiety wasn't easy back then.
it wasn't until your little brother came running in from the woods nearby with wide eyes and excitement that your interest was focused elsewhere.
"y/n! y/n! a ship, a ship! a real life space ship!"
you thought the boy was simply imagining things, he did that often. imagined things. scared the shit out of you only the week prior when he saw "a wild bear."
brat...
yet his excitement was so nearly contagious that a part of you actually believed him. maybe he found an old magazine or something, you thought. so you allowed yourself to be tugged along by him, past the smiles from esme, archie and mr. sam.
it didn't take long to realize that he wasn't imagining things. the loud humming and wind got stronger as he tugged you deeper in to the woods... and when he pointed up to reveal a giant saucer like object up in the sky~ well you could've nearly been back in kindergarten again with wet pants.
yet you didn't piss yourself thankfully, you only gulped and scooped your brother up in to your arms before turning around and booking it, best you could with your still so screwed up right leg.
when you finally reached the small campfire again, you fell to your knees before your concerned friends and tried to catch your breath. "we need to go." you simply said...
and that was all it took for everyone to start moving.
AUTHOR'S NOTE(S)
hello all! i am belle and i welcome you on to this journey birthed upon by the utter boredom of quarantine.
i really hope you enjoy.
this chapter was super long and just a lot of background info to prepare you for what's to come. yet don't worry, our beloved emo space boy has just landed and will be arriving for good in the next chapter.
please be sure to vote if you liked this chapter and comment your thoughts as much as you'd like. i love to hear from you guys.
i thank you for giving this book a chance and i assure you now, you're in for one hell of a ride...