Authors Notes: I
started writing a similar story to this during English. I was
answering a exam question about describing a shopping mall when it
was open and when it was closed. It struck me I could write a similar
story about Balthier. Written in the same style as 'This book'. Disclaimer: Character's areSquare
Enix's not mine. As you walk
along those once pristine corridors you listen...listen.
You are back, back in
a place that resembled home. Are you afraid? No. What is there to be
afraid of? The house is empty – hollow. Meaningless. A building
with no life or purpose - a shell perhaps.
It's not just your shoes
that click and clack against these cold wailing floorboards...
And once again voices scream,
shout and cry. Endless conversations ripple through a silent void.
You can hear the triumphant cry of ecstatic infants shortly followed
by their fuming counterparts. Happy or sad, those memories all seem
childlike now. Trivial. To you everything about this broken nest of
memories is Insignificant and pointless...until you hear the
whispered beat of a ruined heart.
Let it whisper; you'll end
its pain with your sharp tongue. You'll rip apart every sentimental
brick, every memory, the foundations of your life. You'll stand
back and laugh as each memory comes crumbling down, crushed, crushed
by the weight of your words. Against you, this house is powerless.
You have come back...indestructible.
Beside you a vase shatters
and you are a boy again, worried it'll be you who bears the brunt
of the blame. Panicked you try to slot each piece together,
rebuilding. There is nothing to hold it together so again it falls
apart. Again you try, again you fail. You know it's hopeless but an
angry voice pushes you onward. In the past you gave up too easily.
Now is a time to make amends.
Then you kneel upon the
floor, gazing, gazing down into a pit of crushed vase, your hands
streaked red with endless cuts and you wonder, you wonder: Who
destroyed this loving home?