A gentle breeze was making its way towards the shore. As the waves splashed against the sand, it crept onto mainland and embraced him. It was as if the breeze was trying to be as gentle as it could, like it was attempting to comfort him. However, nothing could comfort this boy anymore. His eyes were dead - dead like the eyes of the frozen fish you saw in supermarkets. His cheeks that were once full and round were now sunken in, and his lips were pale. The past few weeks had been a torture. The nightmares that kept recurring every night was horrifying. He did not want to see those images anymore. Avoiding sleep was his initial plan, but after three days without sleep, he ended up falling asleep unintentionally, and the nightmares were back to haunt him. Each time, he would wake up in cold sweat and tears. Had he not suffered enough? He could not take it anymore. Being alive was such a challenging task, oh how tempted he was to kill himself right then and there when it happened. But he remembered, his face, as he used his last breath and whispered, "Live on." To him, the world might as well be dead, because his only reason for living in this warped world was gone. But he was also still alive and living because of what he had said before he was gone.

He lifted his head and looked upon the starry sky. Suddenly, his eyes were shimmering, b with tears that were threatening to fall over. Why? Why were the emotions that he tried so hard to reign in losing control now? An image of them playing together when they were younger surfaced in his mind. They were in a playground, laughing and running about as per normal. Being mischievous, he sprinted off on a rocky path and tripped over a small rock, falling onto the rocks and cutting himself everywhere - on his knees, hands, chin and elbow. He wailed and the tears were rolling off his round little cheeks uncontrollably. He then ran over and had a look on his wounds. He used his hands to wipe off his tears, then held his face in his hands, telling him, "Good boys don't cry! Even when it hurts a lot, you still need to be brave and face it!"

"Hyung, it's so painful... I can't do this... not without you around..."

His tears wouldn't stop, they were in a frenzy, and he slowly squatted down, huddled himself and sobbed. A whimper turned into a sob, and a sob turned into a wail. He let out his sadness and pain, crying so loud and so hard that it took him a good five minutes to finish crying and finally calm down. After his tears subsided, he used the back of his hand to dry his tear-stained face. A breeze swept past him again, but this time much stronger, messing up his hair. He lifted his head to look up into the sky as his hair drifted along to the patterns of the wind. His eyes were shimmery from the tears that had just fallen a few minutes ago, but although his vision was blurry, he could still see the star; the star that shone brightest in the sky, just like his brother, Evan.

Evan was always smiling so brightly – always putting in more effort than the other children of his age, so he was naturally the most outstanding. He was also righteous, as he often stopped bullies who picked on the weaker kids. There were so many positive points about him that he could remember by heart. He was his pride, he was proud to have a brother like him and frequently introduced him to other people, as he was the role model for many other children. So why did that have to happen to him? The images came crashing into his mind, all at once. The burning, the slashing, the blood…

He shut his eyes in pain, trying to remove the scene that kept appearing in his nightmares. In agony, he shrieked and let out a scream. His brother, murdered right in front of his eyes, and his body burning to ashes together with their house and everything precious to them; to him. In one night, he lost his only family member, his roof of protection and everything else. And yet she could not do anything. In his state of shock, he was so stunned that he remained rooted to the ground and could not retaliate, he could not even scream for help. He could only stare blankly as the person slit his brother’s throat with a knife, causing his blood to flow freely, painting his body, his shirt, the floor, everywhere, red. He could not recover from the shock, and all he could do was watch as his brother’s life slipped away slowly, slowly… until his screams turned into gurgles from the deep cut in his throat, and his body went limp.

How easy it was, just like with a snap of fingers, a life had been stolen. His brother, no matter how kind, understanding, intelligent, or outstanding, had died. Just like that.

The image of his dead brother clung onto the walls of his mind, and he clawed at them, trying to tear down the horrifying image, but instead, more and more images of his brother dying popped up in his mind until he was surrounded by them. He was cornered, how was he going to escape from these nightmares? Suddenly, a decision floated across the back of his mind and his eyes hardened. The tears that were present earlier had long dried up. Yes, he had absolutely nothing now, and he will make sure the person that murdered his brother will end up this way too.

“It’s time to grow up and get my revenge…”