*

The crash of thunder caused me to jump. The torrent of rain assaulted me. My heart felt crushed, my lungs constricted. The feeling was far beyond fear, far beyond hopelessness. I couldn’t mistake the all too familiar sounds, the all too familiar smell. The village of my birth, on the day I came to be. Impossible.

My knees buckled under the weight of reality. Darkness had long since consumed the village, slowing eating away its people’s minds. I fell to the ground. Somewhere out there, cloaked in the blood of those who tried to run, was my past. I hugged myself, tears flowing from my eyes. It shouldn’t have been that way, but they didn’t listen. They didn’t do anything. All I could do was cry.

A whisper reached my ears, a voice I could never forget. The whisper embraced me, its ever so familiar presence felt comforting. The cold rain that gave her form seemed to warm my dead body. She spoke only one word as she kissed my frozen cheek. One word that made everything come together, reminding me of the joke she was always laughing at.

“Reset.”