Human names used.
APH by Hidekaz Himayura
''Why is this taking so long?''Those were the words of a young boy, waiting for the hand of the clock to strike twelve. As the hand was supposed to strike twelve, it stopped. ''Too bad, it was pretty old after all I guess…'' thought Eduard looking out the window. He stared at the clock once again…
It was moving…backwards.
''That is not possible…'' he thought to himself. The clock's hands turning in that way were disturbing him. He decided he would close his eyes, besides, he knew his brothers and Ivan would be back soon.
As the young boy opened his eyes, he felt a soft breeze. As soon as he gained full consciousness he noticed he was not in his room anymore, but in a forest, but the forest seemed so silent, the leaves were all brownish red and scattered on the floor and the trees they once were in seemed dead. ''Were am i?…'' the young boy asked, hoping someone would answer the question. The dead leaves on the floor had intrigued him…''But it's not autumn…'' he thought . Indeed, it was not autumn last time he had gone out.
He walked for a long time, he had not seen anything yet, not even the littlest thing. Apart from the leaves being carried by the wind, there was no movement at all. ''What is this place?...'' the boy thought. He arrived in front of a sign, the word had been blurred by time, but you could easily see ''П'' (''P'' in the Cyrillic alphabet) and ''Я'' (''Ya'' in the Cyrillic alphabet) near the middle. As he looked in the distance, he could uneasily distinguish something that looked like a city. He heard something, a voice, trough it seemed to be far in the distance, he had the feeling it came from that city, and so…
He ran…
He ran towards that city as fast as his legs would let him. The voice had become a bit louder, but it was less persistent as well. As he arrived at the city, he felt cold tears falling down his face, the despair he was feeling brought him to collapse down on the floor. ''What is happening? '' he cried desperately, ''Why is this happening?'' he continued, this time, he knew nobody would be here to answer him. The town was destroyed, it seemed as destroyed as Eduard's heart…or at least right now. It seemed that the town had been destroyed long ago, that it had been abandoned, left in it's own misery. Eduard closed his eyes, hoping that all of it was just a dream…
Facing the terrible reality, perhaps there was still someone on this world apart from him.
He decided to look in one of these houses. As he entered something that looked like a corridor he could see multiple doors, he chose one randomly, as the entered the room, he saw a doll, lying on the floor, as if it had been forgotten…
Forever…
Was that the terrible fate that awaited him? He prayed it was not the case.
In other rooms, he would see papers, toys of all sorts, chairs…everything and nothing just lying there. Eduard came to the result of thinking this used to be a school, it was hard to believe so…
The days had passed, the boy had seen the whole city, he was sinking sadness,
Was it the sadness of being alone? Or was it the sadness of seeing an empty and abandoned place who once used to be a beautiful place? Even he did not know.
There was a lake near this city, a lake that showed a reflection, the reflection seemed so real…
''Should I jump in?'' he thought. He shook the idea out of his head. It was simply crazy to do such a thing.
Eduard now spent hours staring at his own reflection in the water, sometimes it seemed as if it was smiling at him, sometimes it seemed as if it was slowly crying tears. Sometimes Eduard shouted in the distance, hoping someone would hear him…
And someone did hear him…he just did not know it
The young boy seemed to forget how people sounded, he was forgetting the voices he used to hear everyday...
One day, as he looked at the gray sky, he felt something cold gently falling down, it was snow.
It did not rain a lot, trough the snow felt different from the rain, the rain made him feel sad, as if the sky was crying with him, and the reflection he had in the water was hard to see.
It was starting to get cold, but he did not care. It seemed as if the world was becoming pure white. He was finally noticing the emptiness he was living in. He decided he would head to one of the abandoned buildings for shelter. After a long while of waiting in the building…
He brutally got up, ran out of the building, ran towards the lake like he had never done before, he tears in his eyes were blossoming, he arrived at the lake, but he did not stop…
He jumped…
He knew the water was deep, without any second thought he let himself drown in the lake in which he once saw his reflection.
''Ne, Eduard, are you okay?'' said a childish voice. The young boy opened his and saw…
Ivan.
Regardless that it was him, Eduard hugged him tightly, he slowly started to cry. ''What is the matter Eduard?'' Ivan asked. The young boy was holding him as tight as he could, and wished it would stay like that forever…
Somehow…he did not care if it was Ivan.
Ivan put Eduard to bed. As soon as he woke up…Eduard had forgotten everything.
All what Eduard had experienced during that time, was forgotten, abandoned, like that doll he saw in that city.
Was it all a dream? Or is the place where he is now a dream?
You will never really be sure…
Does this place really exist?
Why should I tell you?...
-Anitchka Polchenkova
