Chapter 12: Memory 1
What is a human?
It is an entity composed of several things and distinguished by others. And if we mention the most important of these things, we will mention two: the mind and emotions.
Yes, emotions are what establish a human, creating from them that rational, loving, affectionate, kind, friendly person...
Emotions are the builder and founder, they build society and they also destroy it.
How many men have been killed for love, how many men have stolen for wealth, and how many men have harmed people for the sake of the dearest people to their hearts. It doesn't matter who it was, whether a man, woman, or even an animal, in the face of emotions they will do anything.
And Aiden now... no longer held any of these so-called emotions. He felt as if he were a dark abyss, closed off for a long time, and now it had opened and released what was suppressed inside him.
He felt free, he could do anything, no law restricting him and no family to worry about, literally nothing.
He felt like a prisoner who had been freed from a captivity lasting hundreds of years. Aiden didn't know why he felt this way. After all, he wasn't even twenty years old, so how could a teenager like him feel this bloodthirsty way?
He had no answer. After seeing the blood resulting from his killing of "Rob," he changed 360 degrees from what he was before.
He remembered, he realized everything now.
From a smart, cheerful, and kind teenager, to... violent, bloodthirsty!
It was a terrifying transformation.
"Haha... excellent, hahaha! Yes, you deserve this!"
He had literally lost his mind; he no longer thought about anything except killing now.
"Revenge, revenge!"
Tears began to gather around his eyes and fall like valleys as he screamed in pain:
"Yes, I will avenge you from everyone who wronged you... but not this way!"
"Yes!"
Crying!
"I will... save you!"
"Mom, dad..."
Crying!
"Ah... this can't be true!"
He grabbed his head and began writhing in pain, not from the physical pain resulting from the beating, but from what he remembered now.
He... remembered everything now. From some blood, he remembered what happened, he remembered the reason his house disappeared, he remembered where his family was.
They were... in the sky! And this is what brought him to this state resulting from realization.
Behind the mask of the good boy, there was another suppressed personality, created by the new society... or the previous one.
The previous society had been promoting violent and murderous movies for a long time, and this was the straw that broke the backs of most children of this generation. With violence and bloodshed, and parental neglect, a person antagonistic to society, fond of violence and bloodshed, would be born, and all this because of some small cartoons... or so some want to convey.
But Aiden isn't that type of child. He had a family: a mother, a father, and two sisters. He was treated in the best way possible and learned everything about manners and respect. So, what is the reason for all this savagery now?
To answer this question, we must go back 10 years in the past...
When Aiden was a small child, he was a cheerful, loving child, kind to everyone. He would meet anyone with a kind smile that would bring happiness to their day.
He was loved by everyone, whether at home, on the street, or even at school. He was the ideal model of a kind child loved by everyone; even animals would hover around him as if he were a magnet of happiness.
But... the winds blow as the ships do not desire, and as this proverb is known, life does not always go as we want.
One day, at the end of the school day, Aiden waited for his father as usual to accompany him home.
The usual minutes passed until the father arrived. He was always on time, never late even once, and this is what makes him a wonderful father.
Aiden got in the car with his father, and they set off, starting their usual discussion about the school day.
"Son, how was your day today?"
"Excellent as usual! Do you know the reason?!"
"Hmm... Did you get a new good grade?" the father asked with a smile.
Aiden's face scowled and his cheeks puffed out in a cute way as he answered: "Hmph! Dad, you always spoil the surprise!"
"Hahaha! Is that a reason to make this cute face in front of me?"
"No, I just wanted to surprise you!" Aiden said, his soft cheeks puffed out like soft bread.
His father looked at him with a loving smile: "Alright, consider me as having said nothing and surprise me now."
"Hmph! You won't trick me again! That trick fooled me before. Now, I won't be fooled!"
"Hahaha! Yes yes, you are so smart!"
Aiden looked at him with a smile and said: "I will surprise Mom with this, don't try to spoil it either!"
"Okay okay, I won't spoil it, Mr. President!"
And so the wonderful conversation continued between father and son as they continued their way home.
After 10 minutes of driving, Aiden and his father arrived home. Aiden got out and went to open the garage for his father to enter the car.
It didn't take a minute until... everything ended.
Then Aiden went to the house door and started knocking excitedly:
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
A few moments passed, but there was no response from inside.
Aiden wondered: Did his mother and sisters not hear him, or were they not home?
He didn't think much and assumed they didn't hear him, so he knocked again:
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
A few more moments passed without a response.
"Hmm? Strange! Why hasn't Mom opened yet?!"
Aiden turned to his father coming after parking the car and asked him:
"Dad, is the house empty? Why isn't anyone responding?"
"Hmm? Strange! But I left everyone at home before I came to pick you up." The father also wondered like Aiden. After all, he was with everyone before deciding to go get Aiden as usual.
He thought the mother might be distracted or busy on the phone as usual, and as for his daughters, he was sure they were on the computer as usual. So he tried again and knocked on the door harder this time:
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
"Hey, Amelia! Open the door!"
There was no response either.
The father began to tense up. Even if Amelia was on the phone, she usually heard the door when knocked with this force.
The father began to feel his heart rate increase from the tension, as if something had happened, but he didn't know what.
So he took out his key and opened the door, then turned to Aiden and said without showing his tension:
"Son, why don't you stay here, and I'll go get your mom and sisters?"
"Hmm? Why? What's there?"
Aiden wondered about the reason, but his father quickly replied:
"Hahaha! Nothing, just a surprise, nothing more."
Then he muttered in a voice only he could hear:
"I hope so..." words expressing tension, disturbance, and fear.
"Hmm, okay, I'll stay here and wait for you to return." Aiden replied with all innocence and kindness.
The father smiled at him, then entered the house slowly and tensely. Aiden didn't notice anything; after all, he was a child not yet past his first decade, just an innocent child.
Aiden watched his father enter, then turned to the street and sat on the steps in front of his house, thinking: What could this surprise be?
"Could it be a toy? A trip? Candy? I'm so excited!"
His mind was the mind of a child who only thinks about simple things, things that children enjoy. And so he kept imagining until—
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
...!
Aiden froze in place. His eyes widened, and his chest rose and fell rapidly. Those weren't sounds of knocking on the door... they were more like muffled explosions, or gunshots echoing inside the house.
"Dad?!"
No one answered.
He stood up slowly, his heart pounding violently. He approached the door, extending his small hand to grab the handle... but before he touched it, the door suddenly opened.
The place was silent, and a strange smell wafted from it... an unfamiliar smell.
Aiden resisted the smell and stepped forward, calling out in a trembling voice:
"Dad? Mom?"
There was no response, so he continued on his way.
Step... step... until he reached the living room. His mother was lying on the floor, her face down, and her right shoulder submerged in a pool of blood. Two meters away, his two little sisters were clinging to each other, their eyes wide open... but motionless.
The air vanished from Aiden's chest, and he felt his stomach twist as if he would fall to the ground at any moment.
He called his father again:
"Dad!"
But there was no answer. Aiden didn't give up and wandered inside the house stained with blood everywhere, calling:
"Dad! Where are you?"
He headed to the kitchen and saw legs protruding from the door from a distance.
Aiden was startled and began trembling more than before. These were only his father's legs.
He ran to the kitchen quickly and saw the scene he denied in his mind over and over.
He entered the kitchen and began observing the legs lying on the floor, then followed the rest of the body until he saw his father...
The father was lying on the floor, his face down, and his hands submerged in a lake of blood seeping from his chest.
It was a horrific scene for a small child.
Aiden didn't move. His mind refused to comprehend the matter. He remained standing, staring at his father, whose face had become pale... and more dead.
He couldn't bear the scene and screamed... screamed from fear, screamed from pain, and screamed because he had lost... the most important people in his life.
*Thud!*
He fell to the ground as if lifeless. The sparkle in his eyes began to disappear bit by bit, and tears began to flow involuntarily.
Aiden raised his hands, feeling his wet eyes, his soaked face. It was the first time he had cried... it was a new feeling.
So he cried... cried with all his might, because he had become alone in this harsh world.
And the perpetrator... wasn't even present...
Aiden remained lying on the floor, curled up in a ball with tears not leaving him, until a person came and broke into the door, and what they saw caused—
"Ah... my God!"
"What in the hell is this?!"
"Hey! Help! Call for help!"