Clearing The World That's Inside A Novel

Chapter 55: Prologue

Right and Wrong.

People's actions could be defined within these two categories.

Some might argue that there are times when the line could blur between the two but that's not the truth.

Due to certain circumstances, ignorance, for the greater good, for the sake of someone, for revenge, because they were forced... or for any other reason, nothing would change that something done right is right and something done wrong is wrong.

And this story is about a girl who had comitted many wrongs.

A girl cursed.

A girl who fell in love with a certain boy.

The boy hadn't saved her from something, the boy hadn't helped her, and the boy wasn't handsome, maybe somewhat cute but that was easy to overlook due to the gloomy aura around him.

There were no dramatic or romantic events.

She saw him, she fell in love with him and that was all.

She loved him, dearly, oh so dearly.

And so, when that boy had asked her a question she answered truthfully.

"I don't regret it. I don't regret any of the wrongs I have done, maybe that makes me a bad person but that's how I feel. I killed others so I could live. And it is because I am alive that I met you, the most wonderful miracle of my life."

"I don't understand the last part..." The boy muttered and the girl simply wore a gentle smile, her eyes holding a warm and tender look.

The boy shook his head unable to understand her, continued with his question.

"So, if you didn't meet me, would you have regretted your actions then?"

"No"

The boy couldn't help but be surprised by her instant reply, seeing his reaction the girl chuckled.

Slowly she turned her head upwards, looking up at the dark ceiling, resting her head on the cold wall behind her.

Was she imagining the outside sky? The boy wondered,

"Everyone has someone or something they care about. That someone or something is their world. That's why until their someone or something isn't harmed they don't do anything. If it was the son or daughter of a highly reputed minister who was kidnapped instead of us wouldn't the police or military have done more to thwart away the organization that kidnapped us? It's not like they don't know about us, about this place, or the people associated with this organization but you see... we aren't their world, we aren't someone's world. So, there's no one coming to save us. But they aren't bad people, they will come to save the kids one day, maybe we will die by then but that's simply because they have their someone or something and for that someone or something they can't make hasty decisions and put their lives on the line.

And I am the same as those people. They aren't my someone or something and because they are not I don't feel regret towards any of the people I had done wrong, maybe a little bad for them but that would be it. If I didn't meet you, I wouldn't have found my someone and in that, I would have simply done what I did to ...live. I don't want to die. I am afraid to die. I wouldn't have wanted to die before even being able to find my someone ...my something.

That's why, even if this life that I am living is filled with so many wrongs, I don't regret it. I can't."

The boy thought about what she had said, understanding her words and after a brief silence that passed between them, he began to speak.

"...I might be someone's something"

"Of course, you are mine."

"No, not you. I am talking about ...my mom"

"But she isn't here for you"

"You can't always save your someone or something...sometimes, it happens, when you are so helpless that you have to watch your world fall apart, bit by bit."

There was sadness in the boy's voice and his words carried a weight, as if he knew the feeling all too well.

The girl embraced the boy and with her affectionate, soft tone she spoke

"You are my someone and I am not going to watch my world fall apart, no matter what. I will never allow it to happen."

There it was, that look in her eyes.

The boy thought.

The eyes looked ready to tear apart everything that stood in her way. A strong unyielding gaze.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"W-why..."

"How could I let my world die?" The girl chuckled, blood dripping down her lips, lying in the pool of blood caused by a stab she had received on her stomach to protect the boy.

"Then how could you leave your world alone!" The boy shouted, tears streaming down his cheeks.

The girl's eyes widened. In the few years they have spent together she had never once seen him cry.

And seeing him like that the girl felt ...happy.

She couldn't help but feel happy.

"W-was I a-able to become ...y-your someone?" The girl managed to choke those words out with her heavy breathing even though she knew the answer already, her vital organ had been stabbed, and with the amount of blood flowing out of her body, she would die in a matter of few minutes.

The boy simply nodded, his body shaking.

"Ah... I became someone's someone." The girl smiled, her eyes watery, her voice trembling.

Now in this silence, if she could die like this, in her world's embrace, then there was nothing more she could ask for.

But she can't do that.

Because he is her world.

She can't let him fall apart.

"Live. No matter what, live. No matter what you have to do, live. Do everything to cling to your life, even if it's just a second longer."

"..."

After hesitating, the boy finally replied with his trembling voice

"...I am tired. I am just ...so tired"

There was a secret the boy had told her.

And she had believed him despite how ridiculous it sounded.

The boy had experienced death.

A true death.

Falling off a cliff.

Shot by a gun.

Committing suicide.

Betrayed by his loved ones.

Crushed in an accident.

Beaten to death.

Eaten alive.

Ripped to pieces.

And yet he was alive.

He wasn't brought back to life by some supernatural power, he wasn't regressing either like in the novels.

She didn't know how that was possible but she didn't doubt his words nor did she force him to speak more than he wanted to.

And it was precisely because she knew about this secret of his, that she understood why he wouldn't want to live.

Despite everything the boy had been and how closed his heart had become she had managed to become his world but now she was going to leave him alone, like the other people did in his life.

His heart would become closed again, much more than it was when she met him ...and he wouldn't mind accepting death.

And that she couldn't allow.

"I am glad you were born."

The boy's eyes greatly shook by the girl's sudden words.

"I am glad I was able to meet you. Thank you. Thank you for being alive. Thank you for meeting me. I want you to keep fighting to remain alive. Keep fighting, clinging onto life to live even a moment more. If you do, maybe, just maybe we might be able to meet again. If you can die and live maybe I might be able to resurrect too or reincarnate? What did you call them ...relics? Right? So just maybe? You know?" The girl chuckled but her eyes looked straight into the boy's.

"T-that's not-" The boy choked on his words unable to complete them as the girl interrupted him.

"Promise me. You will live. Keep on living. Please, promise me ...as my last wish."

The boy bit his lip.

"That's ...not fair"

Unreasonable.

Her request was unreasonable.

It made no sense.

But even so.

The boy

"I promise."

...made the promise.

"So, don't make me wait too long"

The girl smiled "You bet, I won't"

And so the tale of the girl came to an end.

And then the boy died.

Again.

Time passed.

He tried clinging to his life but he always ended up dying, alone.

And his memories of her started to fade away, her name, her voice, her face, gestures she used to make.

The only thing he remembered was the promise, whose origins were fading into the white.

The promise, the boy clung onto it, not knowing himself why he did.

He wanted to hate the world but it was also the world he had met her in, so he couldn't.

This is a story of a girl who loved this certain boy dearly, oh so dearly.

This is a story of a boy who had no desire to live, no wishes to make or wants, yet he clung to it because of a promise he made to the person he barely remembers.