A/N: I write because I love it, but I share my stories with you to receive feedback and improve. So if there are parts of the story that you enjoy, please leave a review. If you see something that you dislike or have constructive criticism you'd like to share with me, please send it to me as a private message instead of leaving a public review. Writing is a very vulnerable process, so I hope you understand why I prefer to workshop my stories privately.

The Sacred Rays

Prologue

Troy always wanted to visit the Midwest in the autumn to see the colorful phenomenon of changing leaves...but not like this.

He gazed out into the distance towards the entrance of the cemetery, noticing how the leaves danced, jumped, and twirled around the trees that once held them. He sheltered his beautiful blue eyes behind his eyelids for just a moment to breathe in the cool air and imagine for a blissful moment what it'd feel like to jump into a neatly kept pile of those leaves. His eyes lazily reopened and peered at the faraway scene again; the leaves were repositioned from the wind, yet the brown bark covered trunks and branches still held sturdy in their original position.

The old proverb his mother used to recite echoed in his head, some people who enter our lives are leaves. They only stay for a season. Some people are branches, sturdier than leaves, but it only takes one bad storm for them to break off. But some people are our roots, always there to support us through every changing season.

"Son," a deep, baritone voice cautiously spoke, "It's time." Once Jack's strong hand gripped Troy's shoulder, a feeling that can only be compared to a dagger through his chest suddenly overwhelmed Troy. He tore his eyes away from the faraway scene, visible only from the gap in tent curtains, to the small casket in front of him. The whites of his eyes became blood-shot red as tears threatened to pour down his cheeks. His legs felt unstable and his breathing became shallow and painful. He stroked the glossy mahogany wood of the closed casket and laid one final kiss near where her head should be.

…

Pothole infected streets slice the beautiful Californian landscape into perfectly divided plots of land. Mountainous skyscrapers burst through the clay ground like uncontrollable weeds. Each building conforms to the design of its predecessor. Apartment floor layouts seemingly copied, pasted, and built identically for sixty stories up.

Anything perfectly ninety degrees solemnly exists in nature, but humans have taken quite a fondness to the right angle. Sheltering ourselves from the acute and obtuse crazed natural world, we hide ourselves inside boxes produced by the safe right angle. We live inside boxes within boxes, within boxes. The spreading infestation of right angles has constricted its inhabitants for so long, any acute or obtuse angle feels foreign, perhaps bizarre. Some would even say unnatural.

The Bolton Architecture Firm LLP resents the ironic taboo with acute and obtuse angles and challenges the box-obsessed world of architectural design. Founded and led by Mr. Jack Bolton, he and his partner, Mr. Charlie Danforth, along with their teams of architects, continuously duel against the very foundation of modern architecture with every one of their projects. Their company saying "Think Outside The Box" represents their signature designs, always vacant of a single right angle.

Business has been booming ever since their opening in 1993. They consistently land major accounts with hotel entrepreneurs and city building projects alike. Therefore, "Bolton" has become one of the most easily recognized names in the wild world of architecture. Unfortunately, their outlandish and impressive designs haven't been the topic of conversations about Bolton for the last five years. Was it a rehab stint? Was it a suicide attempt? Was it the death? None of this talk is about Mr. Jack Bolton. No, not whatsoever. The gossip surrounding the famous "Bolton" name is about the second generation at the firm...his son, Troy.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what your thoughts! Do you have any theories about why there's so much gossip around Troy? Do you think it could be related to the funeral scene in the first half of this prologue?