Kage no Enkou:
The story of
Ale
Ale burst awake in a cold sweat. He had that dream again. He would dream of a silver haired man standing before a moon, but nothing more. He'd been having the dream for about a month now.
"What the hell's wrong with me?" Ale said as he stroked his hand through his hair.
Ale laid back and rested his head on his pillow. After about five minutes he came to the conclusion that it was no use and got out of bed. He got up and walked to the bathroom. Ale gazed into the mirror after splashing water onto his face. He took a deep breath and walked to the balcony.
"Am I happy?" He said as he gazed out at the town beneath him. He pulled out a cigarette from the box resting on the table next to him. As he lit the tobacco his mind wandered to his past.
Ale had grown up in a poor family, in a poor town. Nothing his family did amounted to anything, and as such never expected Ale to achieve anything at all. He was angry at how his family lived, and ran away as a young adult. He eventually got himself into a decent private school working odd jobs 10 hours a day, and graduated valedictorian. He had obtained many a scholarship, and went on to college. Again, he worked hard, and studied harder, eventually earning a degree in business and economics.
Ale laughed as he compared where he came from, to the luxury suite he lived in now.
"Losers…" he said as he mind ventured to that of his family.
He had never once talked to them after he left. He had left in the dead of night, not like it mattered, the parents were drunk 24/7 anyway. Never once had his family tried to find him, a realization he was content with. He actually preferred it that way. The only contact he had was roughly five years ago, during his University days. His "parents" had arrived looking for him, drunk nonetheless. Ale had rudely slammed the door in their face, barely noticing the baby carriage behind his mother. 'Poor child' he thought.
The only thing keeping him up at night, besides the exams, was that kid living with those wretched beings. He had hated what his parents did when he himself was around, and didn't want the same thing to happen to his brother or sister.
A week after their arrival, he set out to go to his previous home, only to find it empty, silent, and with a makeshift cradle in the center of the living room containing a dead infant. Ale had been uneasy every since the revulting sight poisoned his eyes. He no longer cared what happened to his parents, and hoped they'd suffer for what they did.
"Basturds," Ale said resulting in the loss of his cigarette. 'Dammit' he thought as he watched his last cigarette fall over the edge of the complex. He let out a sigh and went back inside.
As he closed the sliding door, he slowly fell to the ground with his back to the glass. He let out another sigh, and gazed at the picture on his nightstand. It was a picture of himself and his ex-lover, Rain. They had met at TT University. They were feuding over who got the last cup of coffee in the student center, and accidentally bumped the cup off the table. Rain, being one not to back away from a fight, demanded that Ale buy her a cup at the campus coffee shop. They got to talking and eventually went on more and more dates, resulting in the two students falling in love.
After a cold night of the two coming back from a date at a fancy restaurant, they boarded a bus. They had to sit in different rows opposite each other, as there were no empty two-seaters available. Shortly after they boarded and they were on their way back to the apartment, a man stood up brandishing a gun. He demanded everyone to stay quiet and surrender their possessions. When the man got to Ale, he responded to having nothing of any value. The man stood there and swore at him. Getting the same response, he demanded Ale get to his feet and stand in the aisle. Ale did as he was told, and stood up. The hijacker shouted to the other passengers that Ale would be an example to anyone that resists. As the man raised his gun, Rain lunged at the man stabbing him with her nail file she had slowly pulled from her purse. As she stabbed the man, the gun went off, going through Rain, splattering her blood over her lover's body. The bus driver slowed to a stop at the command of the passengers after the man no longer moved.
Everyone had evacuated the bus, with the exception of Ale, who had been embracing Rain's body the entire time after the gunman had been stabbed. As the bus slowed to a stop, people ran off scurrying trying to call find a payphone to call 911, as the gunman had destroyed all the cell phones on the bus, including the bus's radio. Ale was the only one to remain on the bus, trying to comfort Rain in her misery. Rain had bled out by the time the ambulance got there. When the police got there, they found a miserable looking man drenched with the blood of a woman he held in his arms. Ale's eyes were bloodshot, dry from the immense amount of crying he had done. The incident was soon forgotten by the media, and moved onto more interesting stories.
"Its been nearly a month now…" Ale said, embracing the picture now in his arms, tears freely rolling down his cheeks.
Ale stood up after a good 10 minutes of crying, and walked to closet. He took out the gasoline from his closet, and poured it around him in a circle, and eventually onto himself.
The rescue team had barely saved the complex after several hours of fighting the flame. After the fire had been put out, the squad went in to see if they could find the man un-accounted for.
What they had found was a body of a burned skeleton, and a carving on the stone of the balcony reading:
Rain was here, Rain did exist, Rain did love,
Got it memorized?
The End