A World for "One"

 "Red... is my favorite…"

 "Arthur!"

 A young and deafening scream was heard— shattering Arthur's focus.

Huh? Who was that. I thought to myself trying to piece out my fragmented memory but my consciousness was slipping in and out—as a sharp pain came from my head as though I was being shot directly in the skull profusely...sh*t I can't think straight. Who is that? I tried to open my jaw, wanting to scream back.

 "What the hell happened?"

But his jaw is locked shut, buried under rocks and debris. Arthur had no strength to move, let alone cry out. And still–his head throbbed like a knife. A knife that was constantly being stabbed in his head. No, it was like a stab followed with a deep twist in the temple.

"It hurts"

 I...

...Time passed and Arthur's consciousness sunk down to the bottom abyss. However, someone found his buried arm near a pile of rocks—almost consumed by magma. He kneeled onto his knees trying to dig him up. "wait" … "please" he murmured—maybe it was because of the pain, the blisters in his knees as he groveled in a panic. Trying to fit his arms through the small and sharp crevasses in the rocks tainted with magma and blood.

 "It hurts... 'thur"

 "Please, wake up"

He was on his knees. His small hand could barely move the rocks burying Arthur. As the blistering wind swayed the grass– "it stings" – he said, the grass bristled to his feet grinding his teeth—persevering his little arms to lift up the rocks but to no avail. The blistering wind grows sharp. His clothes and shoes are torn. Partly burnt–and still are burning. His hands covered in blisters, and his tears dries the moment they leave his eyes. The silence amongst his panic were deafening. It was an understatement to say his breathing became inconsistent. No, he was gritting heavy teeth under his breath and quick puffs of desperation. Quickly followed by a dry and painful cough–all while flailing his arms left and right trying to lift rocks far beyond his age.

Shortly after—Arthur's consciousness woke up. From his obscured vision, he could only see their feet. His arms were flaunting as small rocks were flying sidewards. With the squeamish dream-like state—his consciousness was barely floating above waters. The boy's screams were drowned out by the liquid dream in his ears. But it was 'recognizable'. He thought. To his success he managed to free him.

 "Arthur!! are you okay?"

 he screamed out in alarm whilst trying to carry him. His scream broke these squeamish vivid visions–causing him coughed up blood.

Confused at the boy who lifted him, he looked up in his face for the 'first time' with a blurred vision.

 "Have we... met 'before'?"

My vision desperately tried to focus. Yet his hair danced so much— seemingly avoiding my eye's focus. His features are very unknown to me. However, it is like to seeing the face of your most trusted 'friend'. He has features barely describable through the limits of my vocabulary. His lashes were long, as were his deep blue eyes, like a portal to his soul that light could hardly reach—a profound treasure buried in rust and ink—yet lied a black pearl in the midst of the crimson sea. My mind is unable of grasping anything, yet his look captivated my wildest fantasies.

In what felt like seconds as I stared into his face. My eyes moved from his hair to his eyes. Like light trapped deep within that desperately tries to shine. Then to his eyelashes. Seemingly drawn with the thinnest brush. With a flick of precision. Done over, and over and over again. Then onto his mouth… He was yelling of something? In seconds a fragmented memory flashed in my mind. Aghh... what is this?!

 "Who... are you?"

 "It's me, you don't remember me?!"

 "It's me Himmel!"

Hearing his name, a singular memory fragment flashed in his mind— it boggled his brain in pain–like–finality; like the constant stabbing and twisting in his temple has finally seized and finished in one momentous strike–a strike that felt as though the knife passed directly through his head and out the other.

 "Aghh!"

 "Eughhk–"

He puked white liquid. He bowed in pain, gripping the earth with his little hands as though all his strength was being sapped out of his body and out his mouth.

...

 "your here... Where's the others?"

 I asked in a dazed voice yet oddly optimistic

 "Yes, and so are you. But it's only us."

 "huh?.." The words echoed in my mind–thousands of thoughts came flooding into my head. With little strength I have I mustered seemingly all immaterial force to contain them but my thoughts refused to be controlled or be dictated. Like— what do you mean only us?! There were other people surely, miss...

As I tried to tame my unbridled thoughts in my head. Trying to find reasons— Still! someone, friends.. there were definitely others!

 "They have died..."

He gave a suffocating pause as it slowly sunk in to me what it meant. Yet ever so suddenly—my thoughts became blank amidst the height of my heart that which it fell.

 "What?"

He pointed at my back, as I turned around my ear deafened at the sight. It was our facility— it was destroyed by a ruby-meteorite.

As I stared longer, confused and in a dazed I realize the debris I was caged in was the walls of my childhood— the stones that locked my jaw shut was the very stones that built and sustained my foundation as a 'human'. I looked around and dead bodies and dried up –blood was splattered everywhere.

Their bodies vaguely recognizable, some were burnt to a crisp whilst a few others could've survived but the magma caught up to them. The others don't look so fortunate to be even recognizable, their horrid bodies were all so vivid. The very house that made up Arthur's childhood—the walls that was painted in bright nursery green was now dulled of color red, reflected by the scarlet-veiled moon and amplified by the ruby meteorite.

Arthur puked again. And again. And again. He curled up in a ball, hands in his stomach the other in his mouth—with little strength he had left it was all sapped out in a blink of an eye—like his insides wanted to escape him.

Both insides and tears and other bodily fluids. "it hurts!! it hurts!!" He looked down to the ground beyond his watery gaze; he no longer had anything to puke except blood.

He puked more and more as tears escaped his eyes— it was gruesome and aggressive as though someone was pulling a string out from his throat—he could not stop.

All he could think was the rest of the children that died—"Charlotte, Eisen, Welt... Finn, Adam, Wendy..." Their names echoed in his mind; beyond his blurry vision laid their deceased bodies. Burnt up, in flames, only children yet turned inside out—limbs from limbs their deceased faces haunted with their uncanny smiles and frowns.

The faces of the children flashed in his mind. Charlotte, Eisen, Welt, Finn, Adam and Wendy, their features and smiles. Charlotte's brunette curls were now nothing more than a burnt crisp. Eisen's scar on his eyes—now his head rests beside Welt's body, who didn't have his crutches. He must've tried everything to get out but can only crawl his way out. He held dearly Eisen's head as though he was in horror upon receiving it yet could not do anything. The rest? Arthur couldn't bear to stare any longer.

...

 "Arthur"

 Himmel said in an empathetic tone, lowering down and placing his hand on his shoulder

 "How come we're the only one here?" Arthur spoke in a broken manner. Accompanied

 with quick breaths and puffs

When Himmel woke up. It was a similar sight—but maybe to him, the difference was not the stars that spread wound–like streaks to the sky or the moon turning crimson red. Rather he witnessed the moon turn black as blood—the first wave of meteorites came and they were not red-tailed. Rather they were pitch black difficult to see in the eye yet when land, black entities seemingly manifested from these meteorites—like their being was encased in these very crystals and as they manifested, left only the husk of their cocoon—the ruby meteorite. Himmel was only meant to be gone for a few hours.

It felt like a day like any other—the chores, the learning. Our town was fairly big. But it wasn't as big or efficient as other cities. Since it was built along the spiraling crater of what once was a meteorite crater—now lake, traveling to the bottom of the town felt like a spiraling journey. It was fun going down. Getting to meet other children from other facilities. The neighborhood was quite nice. Though its unavoidable there's some houses I avoid. "Himmel! Get outa here!" Some would scream, cautious would I steal some food again. I was a kid back then. Not that I'm not a kid now but I was younger.

 "Himmel! Get some bread please? We're out for this week's storage. Knowing Welt and Adam, they may be a little salty when their favorite bread is out."

 "Yes miss Marielle!"

 I replied—though what confused me was that Arthur is usually the one buying bread.

Before setting out, I went to check Arthur—when miss Marielle called for me, I was hanging clothes on the rack. I opened our backdoor, greeted by our kitchen's dirty dishes in the sink. It was a simple marble counter, on the right side held our water reservoirs. It was a big barrel—we had more outside in the shade. Looking onto the left a little pass the kitchen counter was miss Marielle's room and past that was an open space where Arthur was clearly lazing around while the sink had many dirty dishes.

 "What the hell is Arthur doing?"

 "Arthur!! Do the dishes will you?"

 I shouted as I walked past by the sink only to be greeted by Arthur shushing me out.

 "SHHH! Somebody's sleeping!" He said in a whispering voice.

Ahhh. I forgot, for a second, I was a bit agitated but I was instead greeted by Arthur's face. He was treating one of our younger children who was sick, Charlotte. I guess she danced too much. But... he's always been a caregiver hm..?

 "Sorry"

I said in a down voice, with a defeated ego and pouting I went past the bed Arthur was in—no rather it was a rag where we usually sleep, usually it would be kept by now but one of the kids stayed due to the fever. I went up our coat racks and took my travel bag, a simple furry leather bag and an extra coat incase it rains. I put on my boots and went on my way. All went well until the apocalypse befell on me.

 ...

 "I don't know"

 "Maybe it is the end of the world?"

 Arthur's lips curled mockingly on the sentence

 "End of the world?"

Arthur sat up as his puking subsided—with a bloody smile he looked at the crimson moon, blood moon, or whatever they could call it or describe—but all they could do was look up and stare with squinted, teary eyes and disdain. For it was all he 'could' do.

 "Yeah, maybe it is the end of the world. What do we do now?"

 "Survive..."