CONTENT WARNING: This chapter depicts a fictional attempted suicide.

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Rae had managed to sneak out undetected from the house. The defeated boy's thin short frame lurched side to side down the dimly lit street passing rows of uniform houses which belonged to the working class people of this area. He tread somberly past the end of the suburb where the land abruptly shifted into a large, dark, wooded area.

By this time, his body was completely numb even though it still trembled.

Although, his mind was like shattered glass melting within a raging inferno.

"It'll be quick," Rae thought. He had stopped crying; he had seemingly run out of tears. "After this I won't suffer anymore."

He stumbled into the night, traversing the bleak forest, on his quest to fulfill a grim purpose. It was almost too cliche that this day would end with a light fog hanging in the air, and only a Quarter-Moon to light Rae's way. The shadows wrapped around the body of the short thin boy, and consumed it. But they could not consume his vision.

Rae had uncanny eyesight. He had always thought perhaps it was related to his physical abnormalities. The doctors he had seen when he was younger claimed he had a genetic mutation they'd never seen before. As a result of this feature, his view quickly adjusted within seconds of entering the forest.

The pupils of his hazel eyes dilated in an almost supernatural way. The unique golden strands of pigment, which encircled his inner irises, expanded, and stretched open the night to reveal a limpid scene. To Rae, the sun might as well have been in the middle of the sky for he could see clear as day.

The boy's unwanted ears were half cocked as he hung his head low, and looked at the ground in order to find his footing. They twitched occasionally, as a matter of instinct; and as they did, he could hear the hooting of owls, the chirping of crickets, and the steady crunch of sticks beneath his feet. But those were just some of the things his ears made him aware of. He picked up many smaller or distant noises normal people would not. Like his vision, his hearing was inhuman as well.

"It's this way to the ravine, I think..."

As if to complete a trio of gifts, Rae also possessed an impeccable, nearly eidetic memory. It was often impossible for him to forget even small details of images, events, words, or people. This was perhaps a large contributor to his anxiety and depression, as he often had difficulty shutting off his brain. He did not relax as quickly or as easily as normal people.

These innate features would have perhaps made him a prodigy in a different world. They blessed him with excellent grades and test scores, as well as wits and cunning, all of which were well above what a boy of his age should possess. But this was not good enough for the inhabitants of Terra-Romas; these things were not valued as highly as connections, riches, beauty, and fame. To his peers these things only made him stand out like a sore thumb. And in their ignorant cruelty, the kids his own age had rather impulsively cut him off from social acceptance; as if, he were a blemish to be picked from the face of society.

Rae did not see gifts; he only saw curses. And just like that, blessings become burdens when they only ever intensify the experience of an already terrible world. Because he was born this way, he saw clearer as he was attacked, heard better when he was insulted, and never forgot any of the injustices visited upon him. He remembered this perdition perfectly, and there were so many memories he wished to erase.

"Don't give up!" The lone voice of kindness whispered in his ear. He remembered the unfathomable promises of his only friend, Abigail. "We've only got one more year Rae. You can do this, trust me. When you get to Aero-Romas, and get to see the stars, this place and your time here will seem small in comparison! Give yourself a chance, you'll see." The memory hugged him, but this was not enough to cut through Rae's despair.

"What now Abi?" Rae thought, as he started to sob again. It was almost as if, he could see her next to him. "I wish you were right, but I can't do this without any hope at all. I know it's selfish, but I can't take it anymore. You're going to be so mad at me; I'm going to let you down too..."

At an even and steady pace, the boy hiked to his destination. After what felt like years to Rae, but was actually two hours of time and three miles of distance, he came through the other edge of the woods to the spot he was searching for. The S-Curve shaped ravine that wound around a highway road right before the entrance of a mountain tunnel. Rae looked down for a moment, staring blankly through tired eyes.

"It's gotta be at least 100 feet that should be enough right?"

Rae wobbled just a bit, to and fro, as he gazed up at the sky towards the dream he would never get to fulfill... one last time. He saw the stars rendered so bright before him. They were like an endless parade of dancing pixies putting on a show just for him.

"So beautiful..." he thought, as he closed his eyes and leaned forward. "I'm sorry... I never got to see you in person."

But at what could have been his final moment, Fate finally showed Rae mercy, and decided to help him; for it was not his time, and he was making a mistake. Though he did not yet know it, a bright star was about to come to him instead.

The wind blew softly against Rae's cheek, then harder, and harder; until, it was a pressured gale sending an other-worldly shockwave directly through the air. Like the hand of Fate made manifest, it pushed the skinny boy back onto the hill, and he landed safely there with only a small rustle of the grass.

There was a noise like Rae had never heard before and he opened his eyes.

"What the hell? Fireworks?" Rae thought. "No... not fireworks, that's way too big to be fireworks. It's looks like an explosion. Did someone set off a bomb?!"

Rae stared, transfixed and jaw slightly slack, at the sight in the night sky. It had been so unexpected, and startled him so thoroughly, that he had forgotten what he was doing. And at that exact moment, Rae's eyes beheld a glimmering light falling from the center of the fiery burst high above him. It looked like a shooting star falling to earth from the upper atmosphere.

There followed a second sound, this one was louder than the last. It was some mix between the sound of a jet plane breaking the sound barrier and a cannon bombarding the ground. There was no wind that came with it, but the explosion expanded and then dissipated into dust. Rae's head moved along with the trajectory of the object, and he watched in awe as it plummeted at a steep angle, at a high velocity, shooting past where he sat. It landed a far distance back into the woods behind him.

"That seemed close, what the hell was that?" Rae thought. "I can see it glowing, maybe a mile back? What could it possibly be?"

Rae's curiosity beckoned his soul and won him over. He got up from the hill, and started to run towards the place where the glowing object had landed.