Page 1 of Hearts Etched in Glass
Chapter 1: Bobby
Dark Aria,SawanoHiroyuki{nZk} and XAI
1935
Gently I turn the key in between each digit, feeling the cool metal slide over my fingers.
I bought my girl a house.
The perfect home for us to make memories.
To share laughs and to raise children of our own.
Tilly thinks I don’t listen, but I do.
I listen toeverything.
Brielle and I were the first people who truly listened and learned who Tilly really is.
I’ve been smitten with her sinceday one.
Her aura draws you in and wraps its arms around your soul. Making you feel loved, making you feel like you are the only person on this planet. Her bright eyes and beautiful, blond hair are imprinted in my sight, even when my eyes have closed. Tilly mentioned to my sister-in-law, Brielle, that she could probably ask me for a house, and I would oblige.
And oblige, I did.
A smile stretches across my face as I approach the front door. Excitement twisting in my torso, as I envision her reaction to the sunbathing foyer and joyous, tiny green house.
I recollect Tilly’s resplendent features, from when I gave her the three engagement rings. She wouldn’t tell me what type of design she fancied, so what was a bloke to do?
As my fingers caress the decorative wooden door, I freeze as an alarming sound comes from behind me.
I hear the pounding of footsteps upon the gravel pathway from the gardens and turn to find Marcus sprinting towards me, shouting something incoherent.
“Bobby! Bobby!” He comes closer, snagging my wrist and wrenching me back to where he had pulled up with his Crossley.
“Bobby, they’ve got her. They fucking got Tilly! We need to go! They picked her off from the hospital!” Marcus is breathless, his suit jacket splayed open. He frantically pulls me off the front step but my feet feel cemented into the ground. My brain is unable to fully comprehend the situation, and his words echo as if he was under water. I shake my head in confusion as he continues to pull at my forearm with two hands. I look from where he’s grasping me to his face. A single tear slides down his cheek as he morosely studies me.
“Bobby!” He shouts in my face, more tears welling in his eyes. “We got to go!” Now he steps forward, grabbing the lapels on my tweed jacket to shake me conscious. I take a steady step forward and we begin to run, side-by-side to his idlingvehicle.
Sound is a funny thing when something traumatic happens. More-so, traumatic responses are a funny thing. The world around me is pulled beneath ocean waves. Everything echoes with the undertones of waves crashing. The vowels rise and fall like high tide, but it is hard to understand what anybody is saying.
One moment I was purchasing a house for the woman I love.
The next I am kneeling next to her cold body, as Marcus and my brother Kenneth try patting my shoulders in comfort. They are saying something, but I cannot understand the words that are coming from their mouths. I watch as Baba shakes her head with melancholy painted upon her features, while her small, wrinkled hands skate over the sheet she drapes across Tillie’s deceased form.
A void cracks within my chest, much like a nail had struck my sternum. Her lifeless body will forever haunt my dreams.
Baba says something about leaving, but again I cannot comprehend. The underwater voices turn into static and ringing. Very similar to when I’d set off dynamite sticks and forget to wear ear protection.
Someone is urging me to stand, trying to pull me away from my Tilly, but I don’t want to go.
I can’t leave her.
She cannot go into the afterlife withoutme.
Or rather, I cannot continue this life without her.
She is the glimmering light peeking from the clouds on a stormy day. The only other individual, besides Marcus, who ever took me seriously and listened to my chaotic ideas.
