The prologue to my book Blood on Wattpad. A prequel to the bigger Numbered Series I'm doing. This is the longest chapter I've ever written on this phone and I think it turned out really good, I'm proud of myself. I also hyper fixated on this so it took me 2 days to do.
2129 AD/BCE, Samuel Genkins:
He could remember rather vividly the nights when he and his older brother Adrian played in the garden behind their house or the first day of kindergarten or how, only a month after the 5 year old Samuel started kindergarten, his mother gave birth to his younger brother Dylan.
He remembered the excitement they had when they found out that they were going to get another brother, how he would try to see if he could feel his baby brother moving and kicking in his mommy's tummy, how he and Adrian each took one of their father's hands as he took them to visit the brand new addition to their little family.
As Samuel leaned over the crib to get a better view he was met with the most adorable baby on the planet. His baby brother was giggling and waving his hands around happily and his bright blue eyes and chubby cheeks combined with his antics seemed to light up the room causing everyone to smile or laugh.
Samuel curiously put his hand down into the crib and felt surprised when Dylan latched onto one of his fingers with a happy gurgle (babies couldn't really speak he later learned after asking his mom why Dylan didn't say anything, well not any who were only a couple of days old like Dylan).
What's more was as this little innocent baby held his finger in his tiny little hand Samuel felt a wave of love wash over him and something else... he didn't know what it was exactly or even what the emotion was called but in that one moment Samuel suddenly felt the need to protect his baby brother from anything that would dare to try and hurt him, he made a promise to Dylan in his head that day, 'I won't let anyone harm you, you'll have the best life and will never know pain.' In that moment he wondered if this was the same feeling his parents and Adrian felt for him.
Too bad things turned out the way they did. He just wished that he could go back in time and warn his family about the events to come... things should have never happened the way they did.
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March 22, 2134, Dylan Genkins:
There was this new virus that was spreading, Dylan was still too young to completely understand but it sounded very scary to him he looked to his family for comfort as they reassured him that it wasn't anywhere near where they lived in San Diego.
April 5, 2134
It was a Pandemic now, it was very deadly too killing 90% of the people who caught it and it was now in San Diego. School had just been cancelled. He was scared and he curled further into Adrian's side for comfort and was grateful when Adrian soothingly ran his hands through his hair.
Samuel was also, somewhat, curled up next to Adrian's other side. Dylan said somewhat because Samuel was close enough to their older brother to feel comforted, but not close enough where it would be too obvious that he was scared because, if you asked him, he wasn't scared of anything and those who were were babies.
June 9, 2134
Adrian was the first to catch the deadly virus. It was a week ago and since then he had been violently convulsing, throwing up blood, sweating, constantly tired and running a fever of 101 which concerned their parents greatly causing, in turn, Samuel and Dylan to worry.
Dylan spent most of his days trying to be near Adrian which had been a fruitless endeavor seeing as their parents and Adrian himself didn't want them to see him for fear of one of them catching it. As the nights came he would seek comfort from Samuel seeing as his parents were busy tending to Adrian and tried to be brave.
Sometimes Samuel would even tell him bedtime stories or play with him which would always cheer the 5 year old up. Today Samuel was reading Dylan's favorite bedtime story, a rather old book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Dylan interrupted him to ask a couple of questions.
"Sammy... We'll always be together right? You'll always love me right?" He asked afraid that this pandemic might end up causing them to not talk to each other as often.
"Of course I will, why do you ask?" Samuel questioned.
Dylan looked down at his tiny hands before responding, "What happens if when we grow older we stop talking to each other because we're mad at each other or what if it gets so bad that we can't talk to each other? Will you still love me then?"
Dylan looked sad and worried and it hurt Samuel to see his brother this upset. So he thought to cheer him up by telling the truth. "Dylan, there's this really important thing that I want you to know. Do you know what unconditional love is Dylan?"
Dylan shook his head and replied with a meek "No".
"Well," Samuel started again, "unconditional love is when you love someone no matter what... And we're family- brothers and that means I'm always going to be there for you and love you and care about you no matter the distance or the argument or how annoying you can be sometimes-"
"HEY!" Dylan exclaimed puffing up his cheeks in a pretending to be hurt way.
"Anyways, no matter what happens or doesn't happen in the future I'll always love you and have your back because I'm your big brother and that's what big brothers are supposed to do. And if you ever need me to comfort or protect you I'll only be a call away okay, because I love you."
"Really?" Dylan chirped happily.
"Really. Now do you have any more questions for me?" Samuel asked with a warm smile on his face.
"Well yes actually, just one more. Do you think Adrian will be alright?"
Samuel stayed silent for a brief minute, reassuringly patting Dylan's head before speaking. "He'll be fine, and once he recovers we'll all be able to play together again and Mom and Dad won't have to worry as much."
"Thanks Sammy, I really love you." Dylan said tiredly snuggling onto Samuel's side (it really wasn't that fair, it was late at night and Sammy was giving him head pats how was he supposed to stay awake). Samuel kissed his brother's forehead and whispered goodnight.
What Dylan didn't know was that for the last question, when asked by Dylan whether he thought Adrian would be alright, Samuel lied to Dylan for the first time in his life. The first out of many times.
And it wasn't like he wanted Adrian to die, no, nobody wants a family member, especially their big brother to die and certainly nobody wants to witness as their older brother slowly loses his own battle however Samuel couldn't just ignore the fact that Adrian, to put it lightly, wasn't doing so good. He, unlike his little brother had seen so himself.
Yesterday when their Mom had fallen asleep due to exhaustion and their father was making food for Dylan and him he had snuck into Adrian's room to check on him to only find him worryingly pale, sweating buckets, looking like he lost 20lbs and in an uneasy sleep breathing rapid shallow breaths. He furrowed his brow in worry before quietly shutting the door.
It was better to lie to Dylan. He didn't need to know the severity of it... not yet anyways. And there was still a small chance that Adrian would pull through.
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June 23, 2134, Adrian Genkins:
Adrian knew his time was up, that it was his last day. But instead of being miserable or in denial or angry at the world he felt a strange wave of calmness wash over him. He knew what he needed to do.
He struggled to get out of bed every nerve cell in his body was screaming in protest as if he were on fire but he had a mission. He had to say goodbye to everyone one last time, before his time was up.
He struggled in agony to reach the door semi collapsing - semi leaning on the handle as he struggled to catch his breath, his heart racing way more than it really should be for such a simple thing as walking to the door.
He opened the door and continued walking down the stairs internally screaming in pain and out of breath. He finally made it to the back door that led to the garden and opened it. Reyna stood in the garden as the wind blew around her making her wavy black hair get in her face. She had tan skin and lively Shamrock green eyes. She was beautiful.
Her parents had moved from Spain to the United States just a short few years before she was born. Currently, Reyna was living with them since last week when they found out that her whole family had been wiped out due to the Virus and she'd been the only survivor.
His parents had allowed it since they'd known her and her family ever since Adrian had asked to go to her birthday party in first grade. And they were a couple since 8th grade, however it wasn't really hard for the pair's family to figure out that since they were always side by side beforehand and neither of them were good at hiding the fact that they were in love with each other, they were highschool sweethearts.
"You still working on your newfound abilities?" He rasped unused to speaking with a smile on his face. She somehow always managed to light up his day.
"What are you doing up!? You should be in bed!?" She said rushing over to him with worry.
The wind picked up ever so slightly.
"I wanted to say goodbye. Honey I'm dying." He rasped out, his voice cracking on the last part. He rubbed circles into her arm with his thumb to try and lessen the blow.
"What! No! You can't be! What about me! What about your family! You're supposed to be getting better, why would you say something like that!" Reyna shrieked panicked, the wind becoming furious now.
"I'm only getting worse my flower... I wish I could stay with you and my family but I can't... Thank you for being the best girlfriend in the world." He was crying now... he could feel it.
"No! You- you can stay, you should stay, you can't just leave us alone. Please." She begged, the wind was howling and raging now.
"Please don't leave me-" Reyna was cut off as Adrian pulled her close and pressed her lips to his in a kiss.
The wind calmed down to a gentle breeze.
He drew back before answering, his rasp getting worse by the second. "I wish I could stay, I really do but I can't... and I just want to let you know that I love you and when I do die I want you to take care of my family for me... especially my brothers... I also want you to love again... make new friends and maybe, just maybe, find a new person who you can spend the rest of your life with... I don't want my death to hold you down from enjoying your life... it would be be unfair of me... and lastly, here take this so you can remember me." He handed her a necklace.
"I don't want anyone else but you... will you at least celebrate your birthday with me?"
His birthday was tomorrow. He would be turning 16.
He didn't answer her. He just pulled her in and kissed her on her forehead briefly before whispering "I love you my flower". She understood him.
"Can you at least stay with me... at least for a little while?" Reyna dared to whisper.
"Yes... yes I can."
They laid down in the garden and he held her in a attempt to at least comfort her.
Later that night...
He snuck into Samuel's room his nerves still on fire only to discover Samuel reading a bedtime story to Dylan. He smiled. "Do you have time to chat?" He asked.
It hurt to talk now.
"Adrian!" Dylan exclaimed happily.
"Yes" Sam said closing the book he was reading to Dylan.
They talked for awhile, Sam and Dylan caught him up on what they had been doing and he told stories. Eventually Adrian asked if Dylan could go get his favorite stuffed bunny seeing as it looked like he would be sleeping with Samuel tonight which was really just an excuse to talk to Sam in private.
Sam turned to Adrian. "What do you want?" He asked knowing that it was something more than just Dylan fetching a stuffed animal, in fact, normally Adrian would have gotten Dylan's stuff animal himself.
"Take good care of yourself and Dylan."
His eyes widened in shock and Adrian saw grief flash on his face before it was gone. 'Still so stubborn' he thought right before Sam responded with a simple (though Adrian still heard the crack in his voice) "Yeah... will do...".
"I Got It! I Got It!" Dylan yelled happy that he had retrieved his worn and well-loved Bunny (Mr. Hopper) that had been Samuel's before Dylan's, Adrian's before that, their father's before that and their grandfather's before that.
Adrian tucked them both in for bed, wishing them each a goodnight before kissing their cheeks, and made sure to tuck Mr. Hopper in too next to Dylan before climbing the stairs to his room. He really wished that he was able to tell his parents goodbye but he simply didn't have the energy to. Everything still hurt, tenfold now, and Adrian had coughed up blood just trying to make it up the stairs.
As he laid in his bed he sighed knowing that the second he fell asleep he wouldn't wake up. He just wished he could be there for them all still. He was the glue that held the family together and he knew how much of a blow it would be for him to die. He just hoped that they would be alright without him. He was sorry that he was giving up on life but it was too much. His heart and immune system just couldn't keep going.
He breathed in and out his breaths getting slower by each second until after thirty minutes he took his last breath, closed his eyes and drifted off into the eternal sleep.
At 11:31 p.m., June 23, 2134, Adrian Genkins died. He did not reach his 16th birthday.
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7:00 a.m. June 24, 2134 Eric Genkins:
It was Adrian's birthday today and Eric wanted to surprise his eldest son by making him his favorite breakfast. He got up early so that his wife could get some rest since he had noticed she was rather tired lately. Eric checked on his younger two kids and his heart internally melted at the sight of them curled up together sleeping with the family stuffie Mr. Hopper.
He then made his way down to the kitchen and started to cook bacon and eggs. Once he was done he put them on a plate and carried them up to Adrian's room. Quietly he opened the door and tried to shake his son awake.
Adrian didn't budge... no he didn't have a pulse. Eric panicked and tried to see if his son's chest was rising and falling, it wasn't. He started to hyperventilate making choked noises as he fell to the floor on his knees. Long before that, he didn't remember exactly when it happened, he dropped the plate and it shattered spilling the food all over the floor.
'My son... my sweet precious baby boy... he's dead... gone.'
Eric let out a bloodcurdling scream, a gutteral from deep within, one that can only be made by a parent who lost their child.
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7:31 a.m. June 24, 2134 Mabel Genkins:
Mabel woke up to the sound of the horror movie scream-wail from her husband.
2700 words.
