Prologue-1

| Recommended music if you'd like - space song by beach house |

Outside a seemingly deserted-looking train station, a drenched handsome 17-year-old teen can be seen brooding on a bench alone as rain drops slowly, almost as if time was in slow motion.

The young man had his neck draped backward on the comfortless bench; as the raindrops slowly dripped onto his glasses, consequently blurring his vision. Without any care to wipe off the little obstruction to his sight, he stares into the dark blue cloudy sky.

In his mind, painful and happy memories cloud his thoughts, with one memory sticking out the most. Two siblings could be discerned one year ago holding hands and walking in a crowded amusement park. The older sibling looks down to his left, smiling at his little sister, she had been asking him to take her to Hershey Park for a month now as a reward for her grades in school, and he finally caved into her demands.

Hershey Park is a famous park created as a recreation area for employees of the Hershey Chocolate factory; Hershey Park boasted plenty of chocolate paraphernalia, roller coasters, and a water park. He never did like amusement parks as a kid; he was an introvert. Although he never had any issues socializing, he just had to recharge and get away from all the drama with some alone time, and quite often at that.

Being alone was therapeutic for him; it was time he could be alone with his thoughts. It was a balance for his mind with endless chaotic thoughts as someone who tended to keep to himself; he wasn't a fan of crowded places. However, one thing dominated most of his life, and that was music; it kept his mind occupied and at peace. Being really into classical and instrumental type music, he would often have headphones on 50 to even 80 percent of the day. It was his go-to for occupying his mind or simply for the vibe.

Nevertheless, on to the present memory, he didn't mind taking his sister to an amusement park as their relationship was very close. Plus, he promised to take her if she got at least all Bs since she was always getting into trouble pranking kids in school; a few days ago, he made a bet with her, and well, he lost.

| Pause music here |

Artorias Pov:

As I was walking with my sister, skipping to my side, holding my hand, I looked down to my left and smiled at her, saying, "Someone is excited." She smiles and replies with a snarky comment, "of course, stupid, who wouldn't be!" Like always, she acts like this when even slightly embarrassed, continuing to smile, gradually changing into a smirk. I say, "oh yeah? but your body seems to say differently" upon hearing that, she almost trips in embarrassment, blushing but stays balanced due to them both holding hands.

I see her frown and mumble "hmph" as we proceed, arriving at the park's entrance. The worker said, "Welcome to Hershey Park! tickets, please." I then handed over the tickets to the worker managing the entrance, and upon entering, I asked my sister, "so what are you most excited for?" and she instantly answered, "chocolate!".

I smile, thinking my sister is becoming a chocolate addict. Maybe I should hold off giving her free-range chocolate at home; I seem to be influencing her.. or perhaps it just runs in the family?.. who knows?. I am an avid fan of chocolate; what can I say? I've even invested in a company selling Teuscher chocolate from Zurich, Switzerland. I had a contract that sent me fresh chocolate every month since I got 20 percent ownage into the company.

My sister and I line up at a stand selling all kinds of food, from hawt dogs to glitter, just kidding, just chocolate desserts. I just ordered a chocolate milkshake since I wasn't hungry, and my sister got herself chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and a chocolate milkshake with a side chocolate doughnut. I deadpan at the cost of the food; what a rip-off.

I look at my sister with a concerned look, thinking seriously, you might as well have fudge with the amount of chocolate you're going to eat, sis. She then gives me that 'what' look, and I sigh, saying, "your eyes are bigger than your stomach. Will you even finish all that?" she replies with a chocolate chip cookie stuffed in her mouth and muffles, "of course," and I just laugh at her while she pouts to my reaction.

We both continue walking to a table to finish our chocolate products before trying any rides. When we finished, she somehow finished all her food and said, "Arrrrt, I need to use the bathroom ~" I gave her an unsurprised look saying, "didn't I tell you to go before we drove here?" she pouted, then I sighed saying "fine let's go." Taking her hand, we walk to the bathroom area after asking a guy for directions.

Outside the female's bathroom, while I was waiting, I noticed they had an actual chocolate milk fountain you could drink out of, internally thinking that didn't seem right; since when was that a thing? However, I later noticed it was just for looks after checking it out. I thought, how lame. When my sister was finally done in the bathroom, we left to check out Hershey's chocolate town.

As we walked through all the unique chocolate-themed buildings, I looked up. I then saw a giant coaster with the name Candymonium and my sister yelled, "let's go! Art, I want to ride the Candymonium!" she giggled, saying, "I can't wait! my friends have been telling me about how it's the fastest, longest, and sweetest coaster in Hershey Park!". I smile, saying, "sounds exiting. Let's do it!".

After the ride, we walked out of the building, and my sister was jumping, repeatedly saying, "again!". I laughed, saying, "ok.. calm down, let's go then," thinking, Someone had too much sugar tonight." We continued to repeat the ride 3 times before she was satisfied. As we continued, enjoying what all Hershey's chocolate town has to offer for an hour, we decided to move on to the zoo nearby, and she insisted on me giving her a piggyback ride because her 'feet hurt'. I just sighed and let her have her way since it was her day to celebrate.

As we walked by the black bear exhibit, while occupying my back, she said, "hey, Art." I responded with, "what's up?" and she asked, "what's your favorite animal?". Making me think, hm, that's a question I haven't thought about before. I then responded after a slight pause, "hmm, if I had to pick a favorite animal, it would be..aaa..I would say a fox". she then said, "aw, foxes are cute, but why foxes?" and I replied; "well I like them because they kind of remind me of me, it can take me time to warm up to people, and I'm not a fan of crowds. I can be a little reserved sometimes, but I'm a great conversationalist once people get to know me."

She gives me a weird look saying, "brother, you're weird. Why don't you just say that they look the cutest? That's why they are my favorite" I proceed to look at her with a look of amusement and say, "well, they are also the cutest," and she just "hmphs" me like always. I sometimes feel like life becomes meaningless if you try too hard, you should just enjoy the ride and figure out your sense of belonging, securing your relationships.

After a few hours of siblings checking out the animals and arguing over the best chocolate desert, the older sibling looks over his shoulder with his sister's face in view and says, "hey, it's time to get off. I'm getting tired with you on my back." She just pouts as he bends down. Jumping off she then punches his back like a baby throwing a fit. Yelling, "Art, you're getting so weak you only let me piggyback you for 1 hour now!" the older sibling then gives her an unamused look saying, "ok soo your 13 now, and you weigh way more then you use to so give me a break". She just pouts and says "ok then at least buy me more chocolate before we leave!" in a demanding tone.

A little while later, you can see two siblings walking together near the exit of Hershey's Park in a crowd. The little sister eating a chocolate bar suddenly drops it on the ground. As she picks it up, she is bumped and loses balance, thus falling flat on her bum. She looked forward and saw that her brother was still walking and didn't notice what had just happened as he slowly disappeared into the crowd; she started panicking.

Artorias Pov:

As I was heading towards the exit to leave, I noticed my sister wasn't by my side anymore. I must have been too lost in thought like always. I looked behind me, and when I didn't see her anywhere, that's when my heart dropped. I started running in the previous direction I came from in hopes she would still be there, but when I was searching and time was passing, I was panicking and called 911 in hopes they could help. I got them out here after 15 minutes; I also messaged my parents the bad news.

An hour later passed, and I was getting desperate, thus checking every building; after another hour, searching seemed to be of no avail, and the cops said she wasn't in the park. I then had to report everything that happened to the cops. They ended up with the assumption that she was out there somewhere now. I was not fond of this at all, not one bit, m-y my sister, my little sister is out there.. all alone…

After getting over my shock, I headed out of the park, entered my car, and saw that it was 6:58 P.M. I drove out of the parking lot like a maniac and almost ran over a guy along the way. I was on a mission, a mission to find my sister. During the next 3 hours, I checked every nearby building my sister could be at, and my dad also joined me; we met up along the way after my first hour of searching.

| Continue music - space song by beach house |

When it was 10:33 PM, my dad and I sat in the car in silence, unsure what to do. Meanwhile, my mother was pissed at me, and I wasn't even sure if we would be on standard terms anymore, seeing the messages she sent me. As I was sitting in silence, time seemed to have vanished, and it was already midnight; I was in my car and decided not to go home because of the guilt, while my dad ended up leaving in his car. A while later, it was currently 12:34 AM, and I couldn't sleep; with all the built-up emotions, I put on my expensive headphones to listen to music to possibly free some of the pain. Well.. it didn't work; I couldn't sleep at all. As I looked at my phone, I saw it was already 3:27 AM, and here I was, playing Clash Royale to occupy my mind. I ended up only falling asleep at around 5:00 AM due to exhaustion.

It's been 72 hours, with no news of my sister, and I still haven't returned home. I had slept in my car the entire time and completely skipped school. Those 3 days were probably the worst days of my life. I was so depressed and felt so guilty I even ghosted my parents. During that time, I was in no way idle at all. I visited hundreds of buildings and possible internet findings within those days but had no luck.

20 hours later, I finally got news of my sister. She was found, but it came with horrible news. It devastated me to know that she was now in a coma, and the cause was a car accident while walking on the road. Finally, my little sister was found! But... I was too late; I couldn't find her before this happened... I called my father to see the whereabouts of my sister, and he was relieved to hear from me since I had just ghosted him for a while. I then drove towards the hospital where my sister was held at.

A few minutes later, when I first entered the hospital, I saw my parents sitting on a sofa, and when I saw my mother crying, the guilt I had struck on my conscious, it was challenging to walk up to them. When my mom saw me, she instantly punched me a few times in anger but then hugged me with tears on her face, while my dad gave me a look of understanding and just patted my shoulder.

After a few moments, my mother let go of me, and I asked, "So… how is my sister doing? Is she going to make it?". My mother then looked at father, and he sighed, saying, "well, son, she's… the doctor says she's suffering from a traumatic brain injury, and if she ever wakes up, only time will tell".

Fast forward to the present time. A drenched young adult sits in silence with rain falling; a tear drops down his cheek. As the storm kicks in and heavy rainfall with lightning can be seen.

I never realized how hard it hit me until now; I've been holding all the pain back and staying vital for a year; I stayed strong for so long alone... And now look where that got me. When the doctor reported recently, he said she would most likely never awaken because the damage was too severe; that's when I lost it. I blamed myself for basically killing my sister due to my carelessness... as more tears started overflowing my face. I mutter the words, "Forgive me, Elaine…".

I was awoken from my thoughts by a loud boom of thunder and realized that I was in a storm, and it looked like I was in the eye of it from the looks of it. When I was about to get up, the last thing I heard before everything went dark was the loudest thunder I'd ever heard, like a sonic boom exploding my eardrums.

Authors note:

"However strong you become, never seek to bear everything alone. If you do, failure is certain."