Too Good To Be True

19th April 2020.

The spring wind blows, knocking on the windows. The cherry blossoms showcased their beauty as their branches were dancing in the wind. It was as if they were happy that their time to make the world more beautiful has come.

It was a pretty relaxing afternoon where the chatters of a teacher explaining to his students, the smell of chalk, the faint noises from the students in P.E class outside and the sound of scribbling could be heard.

A boy, with messy black wavy hair sat at the back with his seat near to the window. He was sneakily sleeping in the class as he covered his head with a red book with a name "Math for High school" on its cover.

Suddenly, inside his head, there were many images flashing incessantly that it felt like his head was about to explode. It pained him greatly that he instantly woke up from his sleep and grabbed his head.

"ARRGH!"

"What happened?"

"Hey Arthur! What happened to you?!" 

The boy fell from his chair, he could only hear his classmates and his teacher's voices calling his name before he lost his consciousness.

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Arthur was standing in a place. A pitch dark place. He couldn't see anyone nor anything in sight.

Suddenly, a flood of scenes flashed in front of him. It was like watching a movie, but they were very vivid as if they were real.

On 20th April, the day had changed to afternoon when meteors fell to the earth, bringing chaos everywhere. He saw it happened on the television. Then the meteors' outer layer cracked. And inside, there was a very beautiful crystal, a huge crystal. Each meteors contained a five meters tall crystal inside.

There were many different kinds of colours of the crystals. There were amber red, yellowish, marble green and dark blue. 

Then scenes flashed across his mind again,. Apparently, those colors had nothing good come from them. Although they were beautiful on the outside, those crystals turned into a terrifying nightmare in a few minutes.

The reporters who had been making reports and those people who approached the crystals out of curiousity shouted their lungs out in agony. 

Their faces twisted as their bodies began to spasmed uncontrollably. Then they started to attack people near them and bit them, tearing them into pieces with their teeth and nails.

Those scenes were terrifying. To the point for those who saw it would think it was a dream.

Suddenly, the scenes changed.

Arthur was standing in his apartment where it was dark because the lights were out. Only the light of candles brightened up the apartment as the dancing fire on the candles bears witness to something that Arthur could never forget.

His younger sister, Velvet Adler who was only 6 years old was shouting in agony as tears fell from her eyes. She was writhing on the floor with her arm reached out to him as pain glittered in her eyes. 

"Save me, brother."

Arthur's heart beats really fast. He could feel the pain as he watched his sister turned into one of those awful and vicious creatures.

"Ugh, no, please don't take her away from me! Velvet!" He shouted, he tried to reach his younger sister, but soon, she faded away.

Arthur felt a painful headache coming in. For a normal person, it was very painful that they could pass out, but for Arthur, there was another place that was hurting the most.

He grabbed his chest, he gripped his left chest where his heart was. He lost his power to stand up and fell to his knees.

"Ugh, no please, don't." Tears fell down to his cheek. Then he felt another headache once more.

"ARGH!"

Many familiar yet unfamiliar faces ran through his mind. He knew he didn't know them, yet he felt as if he knew them for a long time. The people's names were there too when their faces flashed across his mind.

There was a tall and fair-skinned man with a beard. His smile was gentle as he said something to Arthur. 

"Why are you crying?"

"Ray..." Arthur knew that man's name was Ray, Ray Francis. His best friend. They had been through a lot together; helping each other to survive in the black pitch place called reality. 

Ray was the brightest and most optimistic person Arthur has ever met.

But soon Ray's face disappeared slowly.

Then, a beautiful girl, with her short black hair just above her shoulder, her beautiful yet fierce amber eyes... her gaze told him everything. 

Those eyes... at first, her gaze was like a dead man's eyes, there was no soul in there. Just like him when he lost his sister. Then the scene changed, her gaze now contained hope and then her gaze started to emit... concern. He could see in her eyes that she cared about him.

But then tears started to slide down from her crimson eyes, she was smiling and her gaze changed yet again, now it contained...

Love.

Yes that must be love. Arthur was sure about it.

Arthur looked at her face, with tears flickered on the corner of her eyes, he saw her mouth moving and then a gentle voice rang on his ears.

"I... love you, Arthur." And she faded away.

His heart aches more than ever, the pain brought him back.

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"Argh!"

Arthur was on a bed when he woke up. He thought he was still dreaming. He couldn't believe how vivid his dreams were. 

He touched his right cheek and found it was wet with tears. He then wiped it.

"Where am I?" He looked at his surroundings as he inhaled deeply, "why am I here? Why am I wearing a high school uniform? I should be dead by now. I remember I was fighting the zombie flood alone."

He felt that his vision was blurred, he couldn't see clearly.

"My vision was bad before, but after I became a Crystallized, I stopped wearing glasses. But why did my vision becomes bad again...?"

Like a lightning that struck him, he covered his face. "Did I reincarnate?"

He saw a black framed glasses on the table next to his bed and grabbed it. He then put it on as he turned to a mirror not far from his bed.

"This is me! The old me?!" He touched his face in disbelief.

He looked at the calendar on top of a table and saw the dates.

"Today is 19th April? 2020?!"

"What the freak! Am I in a dream now? Or is this heaven?" Arthur's heart was beating real fast, he touched his chest and tried to calm himself down. He took a deep breath and finally calmed down.

"If this is reality and if I really did come back to the past. She must still be alive! I have to go and protect her!"

Just as he was lost in his thoughts, the nurse teacher in the infirmary came in because she heard Arthur's scream.

"Huh? You are awake? Are you okay? you made us worry. I thought something bad happened to you, Mr. Leroy and your classmates brought you here when you passed out."

Arthur saw a woman with her long blonde hair in ponytail. She wore a white doctor robe, a black shirt, black trouser, and a black leather shoes. 

"Mr. Leroy? Who is that? And who is this woman again? I need to recollect my memories first," he thought, still confused. 

Then he remembered that he was in school today and when he was in class sleeping, he had a headache and collapsed. Looking around him, he assumed that they must have brought him to the school infirmary. 

Seeing that Arthur wasn't replying to her, looking dazed, she worriedly walked to his side and touched his face to make him look her in the eye.

"Arthur Adler, are you okay? We probably should go to the hospital right now."

Arthur was brought back to reality and finally answered. "Ah, No need to. My head just feels a bit hurt. I'm fine now."

"Really?"

"Yes, Miss..." after some brief moment, Arthur finally continued, "Lena."

Arthur was able to remember her name due to his memory in this present life. Because now that his memories of his past and present life were combined, he could remember it.

It was a good thing too or he would have problem, trying to recall his memory, such as the names of his teachers in high school. 

The answer was clear. Because he had already gone through many more unforgettable experiences.

His most unforgettable moments were all sad ones. 

The ones he wanted to forget the most.

Arthur shook his head and stood up from the bed. "Miss, can I go back home now? I think I need to rest."

"Uh, uhm okay," she grabbed a bottle of water from a small fridge in the infirmary and handed it to Arthur, "Here, take this with you. And this is your bag."

"Thank you, Miss Lena." He replied as he grabbed the things Miss Lena gave to him. He then took his dark blue hoodie from his bag and wore it. 

"You are welcome. Be careful on your way back."

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The spring wind was relaxing as it blow away everyone's worries. The tree leaves that were blown by the wind, danced in the air. 

The sun was hiding behind the clouds. It was a perfect, normal afternoon on earth before the tragedy happened, a normal day which everyone took for granted.

Arthur was looking up at the sky, reminiscing about the day before the tragedy had happened. He had completely forgotten how the earth looked like after it fell into a pitch dark and cold like in the depth of abyss. 

(Author's note: Be grateful for those normal things that you've experienced everyday. There must be many people who couldn't "Spend" their days as "Normal" as you.)

He was grateful that he was able to see this sight once more. But at the same time, he felt disbelief because it felt unreal.

After he had engraved the scenery before him in his heart, he turned serious again as he quickened his pace. Many things were in his mind as he walked. But not to his apartment, instead he headed towards the other direction.

"If today is 19th April 2020, then tomorrow is the date when humans are no longer on top of the food chain," he furrowed his brows. The people who passed him steered clear of him because of the terrifying look on his face. "I have to be prepared this time. I won't let any of those things happen ever again."

After awhile, he finally stopped in front of a building. The sign showed a big name.

"Cherry Blossom Kindergarten"

There were women walking from inside, holding hands with children, Arthur guessed that they must be mothers and their children.

But then he saw a little girl in a red shirt, pink skirt and cute pink school shoes. her long black hair swayed by the wind, the red butterfly ribbon on her hair followed the rhythm. She walked alone, smiling at anyone who had waved her goodbye. 

Arthur was speechless, his lips open and close as if he was a fish gulping for air.

Time seemed to stop for Arthur when he saw the little girl. He couldn't hold back his tears as he ran towards the little girl. He hugged her tight.

Really tight.

"Eh, brother? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in school? Did you skip school? It's not good, you know?" The little girl looked confused as she tilted her head to the side. She then tried to sneak a peek at her brother's face. 

"Velvet, I'm sorry. I will protect you this time." Arthur cried quietly. Tears streamed down his face for a long time as he continued to hug her.

Velvet could hear the soft sobs that her brother was emitting. She could feel him trembling as he hugged her. His hands were shaking as he closed his arms around her really tight.

She patted his head gently and said something that meant a world for Arthur.

"What's wrong? I'm here, brother."

With just those few sentences, he felt warmth all over him. Whatever looked monotone suddenly became colorful and beautiful. 

Arthur smiled, though, tears continued to slide down his cheeks.

"Too good to be true."

"But I'm glad that you are really here, in my arms."