CHAPTER 0: PROLOGUE
The steady beep of the heart monitor filled the hospital room, each sound sharp enough to carve itself into John’s memory. His brother Alex lay in the bed, pale but smiling, a jacket draped across the chair beside him.
“Come here, kid,” Alex said, voice rough but warm. He reached out and squeezed John’s shoulder with surprising strength. “You’ve got to stop looking like the world’s ending. I’m not gone yet.”
John tried to smile. It didn’t quite stick. “Yeah… you’re right. I just… I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Alex snorted. “Oh please. You’re a grown ass man. Stop acting like I’m about to ascend into the afterlife.” He leaned back slightly. “It’s going to take a lot more than this to kill me.”
John exhaled slowly. “That’s not very reassuring, considering you already look like you’re halfway there.” He chuckled. “Now that I take a closer look… you could actually pass for a zombie.”
Alex scoffed. “Wow. Straight to insults. Real comforting.”
Lisa tilted her head, feigning concern. “He’s not wrong, though. You really need a makeover.”
Alex stared at her, wounded. “Wow. From him, I expect nothing less. But you too?” He clutched his chest dramatically. “My heart. Oh you have killed me.”
John rolled his eyes. “Stop being a drama queen.”
“I will be as dramatic as I want,” Alex shot back. “How dare you insult this divine face?” He glanced at Lisa. “And especially you. I expect respect from my ‘MUCH’ younger sister-in-law.”
Lisa smiled and leaned closer to John. “Sorry but My baby comes first.”
John smirked. “Well, you heard her. Honestly, it might help if you had moved on and got a girl of your own. I don’t know why you’re so hung up on that one girl.”
Alex went quiet for a beat, then smiled faintly. “Well… forget it, you wouldn’t get it anyway.”
“Well, it was nice talking to you all, but I’m bored of you now, so you can go,” he continued, waving a hand. “Meanwhile, I’ll admire my divine face.”
John shook his head. “Narcissistic much.”
Alex ignored John for a moment and turned his face toward Lisa; his expression softened. He looked at her, voice gentler. “But on a more serious note, on the chance i close my eyes forever—take care of this crybaby for me. He’s a handful. Stubborn. Annoying.” He glanced at John. “But he is my brother and doesn’t have anyone else other than you and me, so I will have to rely on you.”
Lisa nodded without hesitation, voice soft. “Definitely.”
John’s face darkened and Alex noticed immediately. “Oh, don’t start,” Alex said. “This isn’t goodbye. It’s just… precautions.” He smirked weakly. “I’ll make it. Obviously.”
John nodded as if even he was trying to convince himself. “Yeah. You’re too stubborn to die like this.”
Lisa slipped her hand over John’s. “You won’t be alone,” she whispered. “I will always be with you.”
Alex chuckled, eyes flicking between them. “See? You’ve got someone who won’t let you drown. That’s more than most people get.”
The smile dropped from his face in an instant. “Okay, one last thing. John, come closer. Lisa, this is a secret, so close your ears.”
John, confused, leaned forward. Alex wore a look that said this was national security. “John, promise me. If by some miracle I die… listen to me clearly now… promise me you will delete my search history.”
John blinked, expecting something serious, then frowned. “Ah, grow up, you idiot. You almost gave me a heart attack there.”
Alex kept his face serious. “I need you to promise.”
John went serious for a beat, then smirked. “Of-course... not, hahah, I will make sure the shame follows you to the afterlife.”
Alex stared in disbelief. “Wow betrayed by my own flesh and blood. Unbelievable. I practically raised you. I even changed your diapers, and this is how you repay me?”
Lisa tired of closing her ear stepped closer, curious. “What are you two whispering about?”
Alex coughed. “Nothing important.”
John grinned. “Oh, he was just asking me—”
Alex flushed. “Hey, you little—”
Lisa laughed quietly. John smirked.
For a moment, everything felt right: the three of them together, laughing, teasing, holding onto something fragile. Hope, stubborn and small, refusing to let go.
***
But that was back then.
Rain blurred the streetlights into streaks of gold and white, turning the city into a trembling watercolor. Each drop stung against John’s skin, cold and sharp. His brother’s jacket, two sizes too big and frayed at the sleeves, clung to him like a memory refusing to let go. Heavy with water, it dragged at his shoulders, its warmth gone with the one who had worn it.
It wasn’t supposed to be him wearing it.
It wasn’t supposed to belong to someone gone.
A month ago, the jacket smelled of engine oil, metal polish, and his brother’s cologne. Now it smelled only of rain.
John didn’t remember when he started walking. He had been moving without direction so long that the streets had blurred into a maze of shadows. Cars slid through the storm like ghosts, horns cutting the night, but none of it reached him. His mind was caught in a single, looping truth:
His brother was gone. Forever.
And the world refused to make room for that fact.
His eyes burned, but no tears came. They had run out hours ago, drained dry. Everything inside him felt scraped hollow.
Except for one thing. One last thread he had left:
Lisa. His anchor. His person. His everything.
With numb fingers, he pulled out his phone and wiped at the screen. His sleeve only smeared the water more. He dialed her anyway.
It rang. And rang. And went to voicemail.
He tried again. And again.
By the third call, his shaking wasn’t just from the cold.
“Come on… Lisa…” he whispered, voice cracking. “Please pick up.”
The rain swallowed the plea.
He opened the locator app they had set up together, back when she teased him for being clingy, before cuddling closer and saying she liked it.
Her dot glowed steady on the map.
Home.
She was home.
So why wasn’t she answering?
“Maybe she’s asleep,” he told himself.
“Maybe she didn’t hear the phone.”
“Maybe—”
No. He knew a lie when he heard one, even from himself.
“If she won’t answer,” he whispered, gripping the phone like it was the last warm thing in the world, “I’ll go to her.”
The storm worsened by the time he reached her neighborhood, rows of immaculate houses behind iron gates, gardens trimmed by people paid more per hour than he ever made.
Lisa’s house stood near the top of the hill, radiating warm yellow light from the windows. It looked peaceful. Safe. The kind of place grief shouldn’t be allowed to enter.
John stood there for a moment, chest tightening.
They came from two different worlds. He had known that since the day she smiled at him in the school hallway: beautiful, sharp, confident, everything he wasn’t.
And she chose him anyway.
Or at least, he believed she did.
He swallowed hard and walked up the steps. Rain dripped from his hair, his clothes, the sleeves of his brother’s jacket.
As he reached for the doorbell, he noticed something.
The front door was slightly open.
A soft dread twisted in his stomach. “Lisa?” he called, voice barely above a whisper. No response.
He stepped inside.
The house smelled of warm vanilla and something floral, her perfume lingering in the air. Two pairs of shoes sat by the door. One pair was hers. The other wasn’t.
His heart lurched.
No, he refused to believe that.
He moved through the hallway, footsteps quiet, breath caught in his chest. Lamps cast a soft glow over the walls, shadows shifting gently with the storm outside.
Then he heard it.
Her voice. Soft. Muffled. Coming from the bathroom at the end of the hall.
And a man’s voice answering.
John froze mid-step.
He didn’t want to move closer. He didn’t want to feel the pain that came with knowing what was behind that door.
But he got closer anyway.
“Eliyas… wait,” Lisa’s voice came again. “John called earlier. A lot. I should pick up. Something might be wrong.”
Eliyas.
Of all people it was Eliyas, the king of jerks, but of course it made sense he was after-all. The star athlete. The rich kid. The one her parents liked the most.
His voice came out smooth, bored, dripping with entitlement.
“Oh, come on. What could be more important than this?”
John’s pulse pounded like a war drum. His fingertips went numb.
Lisa sighed. “I don’t know. It felt urgent.”
Eliyas scoffed. “I thought you were going to break up with him, Why are you acting like you even care?”
Something inside John twisted painfully, like someone had slid a knife between his ribs and was slowly turning it. He heard her voice continue.
She spoke quietly, her voice fragile. “I am going to break up with him… I just need more time. I really do care about him, just… it is not in the same way as before.”
She smiled sadly. “You know, we had something, he and I. He was so good to me. But he still treats me like I’m the girl I was when we first met, the girl who believed everything would work out. I’ve changed. And he doesn’t see it. He doesn’t get me anymore.”
Eliyas stepped closer to her; John could hear the shift, the subtle rustle of clothing.
“Blah, blah, blah… I don’t want to hear about that loser anymore,” Eliyas said smoothly, his voice dripping with arrogance. “What I want… is to savor this moment and forget everything else.”
Something splintered inside John’s chest, sharp and sudden, like a crack running through stone.
He didn’t remember walking. Didn’t remember deciding.
His hand simply pushed open the bathroom door.
Lisa and Eliyas spun toward him.
Lisa’s eyes went wide. “J...John, what are you doing here?”
Eliyas straightened, annoyance flickering across his face. “Well. This is awkward.”
John stared at Lisa first.
Her hair was damp, cheeks flushed, wrapped in a towel. She looked guilty. Not surprised. Not truly.
“So this is it?” he whispered. “Was this all we ever had?”
Lisa stepped toward him instinctively. “John… just wait. Let me explain.”
“Explain?” he laughed, voice breaking. “Lisa, I heard everything.”
Eliyas leaned back, lips curling. “Nice, saves us all that cringe drama.”
Lisa shot him a glare. “Enough, Eliyas.”
John swallowed hard, ignoring Eliyas and just looking at her. “Did you mean what you said? That I don’t get you anymore. I don’t understand you. If you really believed that, then why did you promise you will always be with me? Why did you make me believe you LOVED ME?”
Lisa’s eyes softened, pain flickering through them. “John, I… I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
“Then how?” His voice rose slightly. “Over a text? Weeks later? Never?”
She flinched.
Lisa’s voice trembled. “I tried. I really did. But every time I needed you, you were somewhere else. In your head. In your grief. In your pain. I know you’re concerned about your brother’s health, and I understand. But what about me? Where were you when I needed you?”
John’s jaw clenched. “So, your answer was to cheat! With this guy of all people? I thought I knew you. I thought you were different from everyone else, but I was wrong.”
Lisa looked down. “I—”
Eliyas cut in, his tone dripping with disdain. “Oh, quit whining. You can’t blame her for wanting someone who can actually take care of her, not… a nobody like you.”
John snapped. He shoved Eliyas back into the wall. The impact rattled the frame. Eliyas cursed and swung, but John was faster. Stronger. He caught the punch, twisted his arm, and slammed him again.
“Who’s the nobody now?” John spat.
Lisa gasped and rushed forward. “Stop! John, stop!” She grabbed his wrist.
He expected her to pull him away gently.
Instead, she slapped him.
The sound cracked through the hallway like lightning.
John froze, his cheek stinging. “You hit me… for him?”
Lisa trembled. “I’m trying to stop you. Please john, I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
Eliyas laughed breathlessly behind them. “See? She’s made her choice. So fuck off.”
Something inside John hollowed out completely. He let go of Eliyas and stepped back from Lisa.
“So that’s it?” His voice was barely a breath. “Everything we were… everything I gave… it meant nothing?”
Lisa shook her head frantically. “It wasn’t nothing. I did love you—”
“Did?” he echoed.
Her silence was answer enough.
John nodded slowly, a bitter smile twisting his lips. “Okay. I get it.”
Lisa stretched out her hands toward him. “John, please—”
John looked at her, his voice flat. “Well, at least you don’t have to worry about my brother anymore.”
Lisa’s brow furrowed. “What do you—”
But he didn’t let her finish. He couldn’t stay there another second, couldn’t breathe in that house filled with betrayal and broken promises. He turned and walked out.
Lisa called after him, her voice shaking. “John...wait!”
He didn’t.
Couldn’t.
The storm swallowed him whole.
Rain hit like icy bullets. Cars blurred past, horns blaring distantly. His mind was a mess: his brother’s laugh, Lisa’s voice, Eliyas’s mocking tone, the sting of her slap.
He didn’t feel the cold anymore.
He didn’t hear the screech of tires.
Didn’t see the headlights.
Only one voice cut through—Lisa’s scream.
“John!”
It was the last thing he heard before everything went dark. (Was hoping for some feedback on this)
