Carmen could feel everything melting. His grandfather, his thoughts, his strength. The young man holding his grandfather fell to his knees and watched, helpless, as his last remaining family was taken from him. The means of which the old man was destroyed should have been of great concern to Carmen, but he felt nothing. He simply sat in the inky-black waters, holding what remained of his sobo, staring into the empty eye sockets. There was but one thing going through his mind; A single word, over and over, forbidding all others from entering.
Gone.
Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.
There was no noise when Carmen was grabbed, not kicking, no fighting, no attempt at escape. Shock kept him complacent, uncaring that he was very likely about to drown to death himself. The blackness was almost comforting, really. It gave Carmen respite from the rest of the world, it let his mind not have to process anything else than the grievous loneliness starting to tear at his soul. His grandfather was gone, and there had been nothing he could do to stop it. History had repeated itself with all his loved ones, and he was left with nothing as a result.
Soon, even the roar of water rushing past was completely lost to Carmen, and he was left in utter darkness, floating, only vaguely aware of motion continuing to pull him onward. He could hear something, something faint and muffled. A tiny speck of motion and light, but his gaze was unfocused, just as dull as his grief-stricken mind. He just wanted to be alone, to mourn in the darkness. He wanted sobo. He wanted... Wanted...... Want.......
_________
Carmen's eyes opened slowly, and for a long while, he was still. Unconsciousness had given him brief respite from the pain of losing his grandfather, but the moment his eyes opened everything came rushing back. He was alone. Alone and lost. Carmen simply there, among the rocks, for longer than he cared to count. He didn't want to move, his mind didn't have the capacity to process trying to go anywhere or do anything other than grieve right now. But the pain of laying on sharp stones for too long finally forced him to get to his knees, and then shakily to his feet, dull eyes taking in his surroundings.
"Fegefeuer..." He mumbled, all those lectures from his crazy Roman Catholic aunt in Germany being dredged up. The gates of heaven lay at the end of the cleansing of ones soul of sin. The statues hadn't really been a part of the lectures, but he didn't care. He didn't care that he was dead, that he may wind up in hell. He stood there, staring at the bright light of the gate, for what felt like hours. Seconds. Months. Minutes. He didn't know. But as he stood their, the shock started to wear thin, and the true grief started to set in. The anger, the anguish, the longing for something he'd never have again.
Carmen stepped onto the first step and started forward, sliding his guitar case around to his side to start undoing the clasps. He'd purchased an expensive, well-sealed case long ago, and from it he pulled his guitar. He slipped it on, slid his fingers into the right position, plucked a few notes to make sure it hadn't been de-tuned by his rough yank into the water.
And then he began to play.It was a simple tune. One his mother had hummed to him ever since he was a baby, one she hummed during his childhood. She had hummed it when she was tending to her sunflowers in the garden. She had hummed it In the hospital, when he kept her company during her treatments and when she was too weak to properly talk. She had hummed it on her death bed, the last thing Carmen had heard from her before she flatlined.
So Carmen played, and he walked. The light grew closer, and soon he had passed through the gates, the great ivory swinging open for him as if of its own accord. Carmen continued to play, stepping through the threshold, and the gate swung shut behind him without the slightest of sounds.
y'all should post so we can do more cool stuff
