Shattered Horizons

INTRODUCTION

Where is this place?

What kind of world is this?

What do I want?

What do we want?

Is survival the only goal?

And what about the ones we leave behind?

Do people think of what they leave behind as they die?

When death is so easy, why does the mind exhaust itself by thinking of a thousand things?

Why must worries, disappointments, and sorrows be so overwhelming?

Is love so far away?

And what about passion—does it flail in our palms like a helpless bird?

Why do people leave?

Why, when everything seems fine, is nothing ever truly fine?

How much longer can you writhe on this thin line of pain, uncertainty, and perpetual sorrow?

How long can you burn in your own fire?

How dull can it get?

How far away can love be?

When lovelessness breathes down your neck, how can love be your salvation?

How much longer can the fear of loss consume your entire being?

This is Italy, this is New York, this is the world!

A planet everyone knows, yet no one can truly fathom.

A river, a shelter, a refuge for the lost.

If you want to experience loss, witness how lives crumble in an instant, see how some rise from the ashes like a phoenix, and watch them find love even amid the ruins, then this is the place for you.

“Change seeps into the soul like rain; before you realize it, you have become its captive.”

PROLOGUE

2001 – Rome, Italy

Adel Mycles;

The rain lashed against her face, burning her skin. She struggled to breathe. She had no idea where to go.

Where was she? Should she stay where she was, or should she wander aimlessly, as if drifting through an endless sky? She felt as though she had lost all sense of time. A strange ache in her head dictated her thoughts. The cars passing by were unfamiliar. Why did they speed past so ruthlessly, so painfully?

When she slowly placed her hand on her head, she felt warmth. She stood still. What was this? After standing there for a few moments, her vision cleared just enough to let reality sink in. The wetness from the rain had mixed with a dark color, and as it blended with the night sky’s dim lights, it screamed at her—this is blood.

She felt it trickle down from her head in a slow descent. Drops of thick liquid pooled at her feet. It was so dense that she couldn’t even feel the ruins behind her, nor realize that she was standing in the middle of a lake of blood. Her ears rang.

Suddenly, there was a crowd. The lights intensified. The sounds became deafening, as if they would shatter her eardrums. Breathing became even harder. Her eyes tried to process the scene before her, tried to send the images to her brain—but her brain refused to function. It was as if her entire body had shut down. She couldn’t command her tongue, nor any other part of herself.

She stood frozen, holding her breath, listening to the voices.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” a man asked. A blinding light shone into her eyes, but she couldn’t react. She just stared. Her pupils moved involuntarily—proof, however small, that she was still alive.

“What happened here?” the same man asked again. Even through the ringing in her ears, she could hear the concern in his voice.

Nothing, she wanted to say. Nothing happened. Why are you here? What do you mean, what happened?

“Sweetheart, there’s been an accident. The people in that car behind you—are they your family? Are they alive?” another man asked.

Her patience was thinning.

What accident? What do you mean? We were on a short spring vacation. After a week, we were going back home. This was supposed to be our first family trip. We’re supposed to be there now. Why are we here? Where is this place? Who are you?

A muffled voice broke through the chaos.

“I’m afraid… they’re all gone.”

“Shh!” someone hushed him.

What? Who’s gone?

A little girl sits at the edge of the car. The mother and father… crushed beneath a black BMW.

The officer’s face remained heavy with concern. He averted his gaze from the girl. Slowly, he reached for his cap, took it off, and placed it against his chest with both hands.

The little girl saw this. She couldn’t breathe. She had no idea how long she had been holding her breath. She couldn’t grasp what was happening.

What was she thinking?

Why does death come so suddenly?

Is death even real?

Any moment now, my parents will get up, scold me for being outside in the middle of the night, and I’ll go to them as if nothing happened. I’ll hug them. This time, I won’t cry when they yell at me. I’ll just hold them tightly—because they won’t be dead. That thought will stay in my heart forever.

As if scraping love and dreams away from an eight-year-old child were that easy...

2001 – New York, USA

Elias Newlyn

He woke up in the middle of the night. It took him a second to realize he was drenched in sweat. What kind of dream was that? His breath was ragged. He tried to gather his thoughts. He tossed his blanket aside, letting his legs feel the cool air. His hands reached for his forehead. His hair was plastered to his skin with sweat. His chest rose and fell violently. His heart was pounding.

It was the accident he had seen in his dream. It had appeared before him, out of nowhere. He had been powerless. The rain poured mercilessly. The sky, cloaked in heavy black clouds, seemed to unleash its fury. That light…

He couldn’t take his eyes off it. The sky had never shown such magnificence before. He couldn’t resist its force. Then suddenly, a dog appeared in front of him. He hadn’t noticed it. By the time he swerved the wheel, it was too late. The car flipped three times on the long, dark asphalt. The road was no longer straight. It had become twisted and distorted.

He held his breath. He wanted to help. He tried to make sense of what he was seeing. With his small frame, he wanted to reach into the wreckage and pull out the people inside. He wanted to grip the mangled metal with one hand and rescue the helpless souls with the other. He wanted to be strong—like a superhero. Time would stop, only he would move, and he would be big enough to shelter them within his heart.

But it was too late.

A girl emerged from the thick, stormy clouds. She was small, but her long chestnut hair was soaked, darkened beyond recognition. Her hands hung limply by her sides. She walked, but the emptiness in her pale face held no sign of life. She was merely standing. Her soul—who knew where it had gone?

For a few minutes, there was silence. He screamed. He wanted her to hear him, but he couldn’t. His heart swelled, his mind threatened to explode, his throat burned.

Then, more voices. More lights. More people. More sounds.

No one would ever know what truly happened.

No one but two souls.

Two hearts.

Two bodies, bound for entirely different lives.

Can everything change in an instant?

“Yes,” time whispered. “Everything can change in a single second.”