PROLOGUE: From the Bottom of My Broken Heart
Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world,
'Cause you don't love me anymore?
The radio hummed away on the table as he lethargically spun his revolver, his eyes glued to the plank wall in front of him. The young boy's arm slowly raised to meet his line of sight, pulling back the gun's hammer, his idle eyes still staring ahead dreamily. As the scarlet light faded from the room, he sluggishly shifted his head toward the shore on his right, squinting, with his arm following shortly thereafter. And as he saw her looking beyond the horizon, the color returned to his eyes and he lowered the gun: his trance broken.
Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when I lost your love.
She sat cross-legged on the sand, facing away from him—her blue jumpsuit tattered and bloodied. Gentle waves brushed the shore, stopping just before touching her soles. He matched her gaze, looking directly over the skyline. The tranquil sound of the waves evoked his most nostalgic memories—seeing the ocean for the first time with his mother, learning to swim, laughing as his baby sister built her sandcastles and chased crabs—memories of those that he'd never see again. As the boy wept, questioning why he was chosen over his family, or the four billion people that weren't, he noticed his new caretaker trembling as well, her once-unyielding eyes no longer able to meet those of the setting sun.
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when you said goodbye.
And on the fifth evening since the fateful day, two broken spirits cried.