When it rains, it pours?

----Years ago----

*pitter-patter*

It was a rainy night, the rain poured down heavily and the weather was rather cold. The sound of the raindrops hitting against the roof seem to bring about a soft melody of nature. Even so, it did not apply to the two children who are currently enjoying their time watching the television.

Alma, currently age 9, is currently enjoying a small cup of warm chocolate, while his little sister Amelia, currently age 5, is staring at the cartoons that are airing on the television. Wrapping little Amelia in a warm blanket to prevent her from catching a cold, little Amelia did not even give a response, she merely curled up into the blanket while constantly staring at the cartoon where a blue cat could be seen chasing a brown mouse around a house.

*Sigh~*

Alma let out a contented sigh as he took a sip of his warm chocolate as he too, wrapped himself in a warm blanket, enjoying the warmth in the cold night. He did not know why, but he did not seem to find the cartoons as interesting as the other kids his age. Alma did not know whether it is because the show is not as funny as it truly is or maybe he is just weird. He did not mind it at all and just focused on doing things he finds enjoyable, though other people might disagree.

Looking at the window and at how the water droplets flow and drip down, Alma took a small sip as he enjoyed the peace and calmness that these actions bring him. Looking closely at him, his actions very closely resemble an old man enjoying his retirement.

While taking another sip, he heard the sound of a car stopping outside his house. Looking outside from the window, Alma saw the familiar sight of a police car that he often saw due to the jobs of his parents who works as police officers. As he looked at the car, he wondered whether it was his parents that have returned because they went out during the afternoon due to an emergency dispatch from their job.

*Ding Dong*

While he was wondering about it, he heard the doorbell ring. Alma gestured to his little sister that he will handle it, he jumped off the sofa and went towards the door. After opening it, he saw an unfamiliar police officer standing in the rain with a rather apologetic expression.

Tilting his head, Alma was confused at who the man might be. He tilted his body and looked outside to see whether there were any other people coming along. As he was wondering whether his parents will be coming or not, he heard a rather deep voice that seems to carry an unknown emotion from the police officer standing in front of him.

"Are.. are you Alma Laune? The son of John and Marianne? Is that your sister watching the television?" The police officer asked slowly.

"Yes... I'm Alma. Who are you? And where are my parents? Are they coming home a bit later today?" asked Alma cautiously but he soon lost focus as he wondered when will his parents come home.

"I'm police officer Kane, and I come in peace. Um, about your parents... they... I.... um.... well... how should I say this?" Hearing the question from the young boy in front of him, the usually stern and serious officer Kane seems to have lost his spirit. Officer Kane slumped his shoulders and scratched his hair that had become wet in the rain as he pondered on what to say to the young boy in front of him.

Alma, as though feeling that the current situation is not normal, felt that something bad might have happened to his parents. Alma, not knowing why he did what he did, went closer to the police officer in front of him after closing the door behind him to prevent his little sister from hearing the conversation.

[You have encountered a disastrous event.]

"Officer Kane, was it? What happened to my parents after they went for the emergency dispatch call? Did something happen to them?" said Alma with a trembling voice while trying to keep calm as his intuition seems to tell him that something bad has indeed happened.

Officer Kane, looking at the trembling child in front of him trying to keep calm, felt that he has disappointed himself having to depend on a child to hold himself together. Keeping the tumbling waves of emotion inside him, he tried to calmly speak about what had happened. They had received a tip-off about a drug deal about an infamous syndicate that they had been after that will be happening soon. The higher-ups decided to deal with them all in one fell swoop to clean up the syndicate using the drug deal as a focal point. They called for many police officers and planned to lay a trap, unaware that they were the ones that were fooled. Thus, the following drug bust had lead to the many police officers being ambushed and falling into the trap of the syndicate.

Eventually, the police managed to overcome the situation and deal with the ambush. They managed to put an end to the syndicate but not without a cost. Many officers had become injured and some have even died in the line of duty. It was due to the valiant efforts of these officers that they manage to turn the situation around. The higher-ups of the police were devastated at the situation and they said that they will compensate and reimburse the many families that have become implicated due to this event.

Hence, after the event, many police officers that are not severely injured were tasked with delivering the news to the ones that they are close with and the families that were affected. Officer Kane was one such person. After finally saying the whole news, he felt that a load have been taken off his chest and he felt much better. Looking at the kid in front of him, officer Kane felt truly sorry and he promised himself that he will try to help the two children that had just become orphans the best he could.

After listening to the police officer, Alma's mind seemed to have blanked out. He was very shocked by the news but as the older sibling, he felt that he should not break down now. For the sake of his younger sister, Alma knew he couldn't. The following process became a blur as Alma's mind seemed to have flown away. His body merely moving by instinct and doing whatever he was told.

The police officer Kane took Alma to the police station to record his statement and to collect the compensation and a medal of honour. Some benefits were given to the family of the officers who died in the line of duty. Following some documents and processes which were handled by a lawyer and the transfer of assets according to the will of his parents. Many relatives ran away from them in order to not be implicated as they feared the retaliation of criminal gangs, leaving the two children alone.

Rejecting to be sent to an orphanage, Alma decided to stay with his sister alone. He had heard of some of the situations surrounding orphanages and he had no intention to be involved with it. Alma decided to provide for two of them instead. Uncle Henry, that had moved to another city, managed to hear about their predicament. He then asked Alma and his sister Amelia to live with them instead. Alma, not wanting to leave the home that contains the memories of his parents, decided to continue staying there with his sister.

Henry, upon hearing Alma's decision, decided to respect it. He promised to send some monetary aid every month to help support them instead.

"Remember Alma, you are not alone. If you ever meet with any problems, just give me a call. I will do my best to help you. And if you two ever feel lonely there, my home will always be open to you." said Henry worriedly.

"Thank you, uncle Henry. But I have made my decision." said Alma with a firm voice.

".... Alright. I understand. Just remember to contact me often ok? Remember, we treat you like our own. So if you ever meet any problems, just count on your uncle ok? I love you, stay safe." replied Henry with a sincere voice.

"Ok, I know. Thank you, Uncle Henry." muttered Alma softly as he kept his trembling emotions within as he ended the call.

*sigh*

Alma let out a tired sigh as he turned around before walking back to his home, wondering how to comfort little Amelia that is still being devastated by the loss of her parents. His head started to hurt a little as he felt a little dizzy. He quickly shook his head to remove that feeling as he continued walking back home after buying some groceries.

'Stay strong Alma. For your family, for your little sister.' thought Alma inwardly, hoping that Amelia was able to move on as soon as possible and be able to live a normal life instead of living in sadness. He was 10 years old at this time.

---

After attending the funeral for her parents, Little Amelia seemed to be in shock and became very sad. After crying for some time, she fell sick and had gotten a fever after griefing for her parents, but she finally recovered after being taken care of by her brother. Feeling his love and concern for her, she finally managed to work up some courage to walk out from the shadows and overcome the sadness of losing her parents.

After being brought to a hospital to see a doctor and having a check-up, she was shown to have fully recovered from her fever. Her brother, Alma also took a check-up alongside her. She did not know why when it was her brother's turn, the doctor later had a very shocked expression.

'His face looks funny' she thought to herself as she giggled a little. But later, Amelia became rather confused when even more doctors came to check on her brother.

'Is brother really popular I wonder?' she wondered as she looked at her brother who was brought by the doctors to another room for more check-up. She followed along and followed the instructions of the nurses like a good girl.

'Why do they keep poking him here and there?' Amelia wondered as she tottered about the room.

'Wow. What a big machine. Why is brother lying down there? Oh, the bed is moving. Amazing, it looks fun.' thought Amelia as she stared at the bed that is moving slowly with a soft buzz.

'Hmm, why do the doctors look so serious? Don't be like that, just because your drawing is all black and not colourful at all, and maybe a little ugly, you should not be staring at it so hard. Don't be sad, I will lend you my crayons later for you to colour it.' thought Amelia as she looks at the doctor with a comforting look.

'Hmm, I don't understand what the old man is saying. Is the weird ugly drawing important? Wow, the drawing became a whole lot better after you put it on the bright light board on the wall. I want to light up my own drawings too. Will mine look better than that drawing I wonder.' wondered Amelia as she tilted her head right and left.

'Um, what? Old man, what are you saying? Is my brother sick? He might be a little forgetful from time to time, but he looks ok to me?' retorted little Amelia with a cute snort.

'Cancer? What is that? Is that bad? Mental problems? What type of problems are those? 50? 40? 30? What are you saying? Is it like maths problems? Because those make my head hurt.'

Thinking of mathematics, little Amelia held her head with a scared expression. A nearby nurse, seeing the actions of the little girl patted her head to comfort her.

'Hmm? Why are you petting my head, big sister? It's nice though, so here, I'll pat you too but you are too tall, so I'll pat your hand instead. Umu~' nodded little Amelia smugly as she also patted the hand of the nurse who looks a little confused at why she is being petted as well.

'Hmm? Brother will be weak? He will not be strong? Is that it? Don't worry brother, Amelia will become strong instead. Then I'll be able to do this with a *swoosh* and that with a *swish* hehe.' thought Amelia as she patted the shoulder of her brother before posing with a *swoosh* only to be petted on the head instead.

'Hmm, sorry big sister nurse, but brother's head pats are better.' giggled Amelia as she enjoyed her brother's petting.

---

*sigh*

Alma let out a tired sigh and he pinched his arm. It was smooth, soft, and weak. His body was rather weak and was unable to perform any heavy activities. This notion was further cemented after having a check-up at a nearby hospital.

'Hmm, since I can't do any heavy lifting and manual labour, I will need to look for other jobs I can do to provide for my family.' mumbled Alma as he thought of what he could do.

*rumble*

Alma stopped his thought upon hearing the rumbling of the tummy of his little sister. 'Let's go and eat first before thinking further.' he decided.

"How about we treat ourselves today. What do you say about having McDonald's for lunch?" asked Alma with a smile.

"Yay, burgers! Let's go, quick." cheered Amelia as she held Alma's hand before dragging him towards the nearest fast-food joint that she could see.

---

'Hmm?'

While eating some burgers, Alma noticed someone outside the shop handing out flyers to people passing by the street. Squinting his eyes, Alma can barely make out that the flyers seem to be promoting something about online studies and tutoring.

'Hmm, tutoring online? Can I do that? Well, I'll probably need the qualifications for the related subject to teach. Hmm, question and answers via the online platform? This is probably doable. More research is needed to do it. I'll get to it when I get back. Let's work hard, for a better life.' thought Alma as he enjoyed his lunch with his sister.

---

After returning home, Alma's sister tottered to bed and fell asleep. Alma tucked her into bed and covered her with a blanket before leaving the bedroom.

'After a tiring day of walking around, it's no wonder she is tired. Well, since she is much better now and the situation isn't that bad anymore since all the issues regarding my parents incident have been settled. I guess she could return to attending the kindergarten. A lot of her friends have called to visit her when she was sick.' thought Alma as he cleaned the house.

Since he was just 10 years old, there isn't much he could do. After thinking about the part-time job, he decided to research more about it using his parent's laptop.

'Well, I guess it is me and my sister's now since they are now gone. *sigh* Focus Alma. Focus.'

Alma slapped his cheeks lightly with his hands to snap himself out of those depressing thoughts.

'If I wish to tutor, I will need to have sufficient knowledge. What can I, a 10-year-old do? Learning in primary schools might help but it may be too slow. I need to learn more and learn faster. It might be difficult but I have to do it. Online studies eh? I guess I know what I should do to achieve my goal.'

Alma clenched his fists as he determined his goal to make sure his little sister gets to live a happy life. Alma then focused his mind as he began to type and do research using the laptop. He tried to digest the information of the syllabus he has to learn from kindergarten to primary school and more. If anyone was able to see Alma at the current situation, they could see a seriousness and determination beyond his young age.

In the coming week, Amelia went back to attend kindergarten and met her friends. She wanted to help work part-time to help but was denied by Alma. He wanted Amelia to not be burdened by anything. In the end, Amelia relented and listened to the wishes of her brother though she promised herself to work hard on her studies. The life of the brother and sister went on, even though their parents are gone, they will forever be in their hearts and memories.

As time began to move faster, the years began to pass by. Amelia has now graduated from kindergarten and will be attending primary school soon. Meanwhile, Alma fully immersed himself in his studies hoping to pave the way to a better future. He learned to make the most of his time and became more efficient, jumping grades and going to secondary and even university as time passes.

Attending school during the day, and studying via online classes at night. Alma slowly gained more knowledge and became more capable. He exercised every day in order to keep himself fit and learned other bits of knowledge besides academic such as cooking, sewing, repairing basic items, communication skills, self-defence, basic first aid, and self-care due to his situation.

[A new story is being written by your actions.]

As a result of his actions, the bond within him, where the 'something' floats, fragments that told of the stories of his efforts came into being. They slowly revolve around the 'something' as they glow like the stars in the night sky, as though to engrave his many achievements onto the world. As more and more fragments are created, some came together and merged while some separated. Unknown to Alma, the connection between him and the 'something' seems to be strengthening as the fragments grew.

---

[Some stories have undergone changes due to your experiences.

Story: Disability? I will only acknowledge it as this-ability!

You are slowly experiencing the side effects of being afflicted with brain cancer but you are pushing through it with your own determination. You might not be able to focus as much as you want, but you have learned to make the best of everything. Your body might be weak, but you are slowly trying to improve it. It might be hard but what is life without a challenge! Never give up and firmly grasp your future with your own hands!

Effect: Increased mental resistance. Increased learning efficiency. Reduced rate of health deterioration. Focused determination. ]

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