Abner opened his eyes; the room he lay in looked dark, except for the dim light, minueting in the corner through the open window. He looked around the room in a haze, his mind dull and blank. Not a single person could be seen there except for himself. Dazed as he was, Abner couldn’t understand where he resided, how he had gotten there, or whose abode it was. He tried to lift his right hand but could only hiss when he felt the stinging pain that repressed the movement. Frustrated, he lifted the warm, wool blanket using his left hand, and that’s when those atrocious memories rushed back to his mind, as he found his right arm, raw and tender, covered in red and brown, with barely any skin left on it.
The scars screamed what the hellfire had done to him and what it had taken from him. His heartbeat started escalating as his body broke out in a sweat. His arm started stinging with such intensity as if it were covered in burning coal. The pain felt unbearable, causing his eyes to tear up, but then a loud, piercing cry sounded in his ear. A cry of utter despair and agony; a cry that sent chills through the entirety of his body; a cry escaping the throat of a person being burned alive. He could hear his mother’s screams, whose flesh was being burned. ‘I can save her’, he thought, ‘I have to save her’. ‘She’s still alive. I have to save her’, he tried to get up, but his body couldn’t move. He tried to lift himself off the bed, but his body simply refused to. He tried to run away, but he could still feel the iron grip that had stopped him before, still restraining him even though he knew no one was around. He tried to run away, but his body forced him to lay still, even when drowning in those painful memories. He felt himself suffocating, unable to breathe.
“Mother….”, he whispered, in the darkness, haunted by the reminiscence of the past, but no one answered. “Garrett”, he called out, but no reply was returned. “Father”, he teared up, knowing he wouldn’t hear anyone reciprocate. “I can’t breathe”, he wept, even though he knew no one was listening to his silent cries, to the tears that quietly trailed down his cheeks. But then the door opened, and Gilbert stepped inside, running towards him with worrisome expressions. “Hey-Hey”, Gilbert caressed his hair lovingly, “You’re alright, okay. I’ve got you”.
“It….. hurts”, Abner whispered, his quavering voice filled with nothing but pain.
Gilbert’s own eyes teared up when he heard those words being spoken. “I know, I know”, he replied, desperately trying to stop his voice from shaking, but in vain, as he knew there was nothing he could do or say that would be able to lessen the pain Abner was currently immersed in. So he just stood there, petting his hair lightly and wiping the tears that fell; he kept standing there without saying a single word.
Abner could suddenly feel himself breathe again as he felt Gilbert caressing him. The screaming had also stopped and was replaced by the friendly silence he knew very well. The darkness slowly started fading as the newly born sun sent its warm rays, brightening the room through its light. But they still stayed like that. Abner had not realized when his tears stopped flowing or when the pain had waned. He felt as if time had stopped altogether, leaving them alone of its worldly nature. Without even realizing it, they had trodden the borders of the physical realm and had passed on to somewhere... where only they remained.