Beyond The Mask

Jasmine stood up as if struck by a revelation.

"Ah!"

"What?!"

Everyone was surprised by her sudden reaction.

"We were supposed to celebrate Jae's arrival, but at this rate, it's going to be dark before we can do anything!"

Indeed, we could see the sun starting to set. So Daniel offered to take a walk around the city to show him a nice place before it got too dark for him to enjoy it.

The group had accepted this idea, and so they took the hyperloop out of the downtown. Shortly before arriving, they blindfolded Jae Hyun and then guided him on his airboard. He had been blindfolded for about ten minutes. They had stopped, and Emma had taken off his blindfold.

Even though it was the beginning of the night, the fact remained that the place was rather bright so it took him a while to get used to the light. He had then looked in front of him, and he noticed that they were aloft. He looked down. The view was to die for. He was losing his words. From where they were, they had a beautiful view of a lake. It was illuminated by floating lanterns above it.

You could see the city farther away, but the place was quieter and less crowded with buildings. The smell of water penetrated his being. It seemed like a different world. If we had told him they were out of the town VI, he would have believed them.

Now he was thinking about, the town was really big.

However, he knew that the city's space was limited and that there was no way out. There were sailboats or rather things looked like it, on the lake and many trees surrounded the place. There was no doubt in his mind that this was probably a place where the upper class lived. Daniel had gotten closer to him.

"We've moved a long way from the downtown, but there's also a river that runs through the city. We just wanted to show you this view first. So do you love it?"

"Yeah, I do. It's a really beautiful city. And it's impressive to see how the landscape can change so dramatically depending on where you're going."

"If you like landscapes like this one, there is also a large national park and a large beach outside the city. It takes a while to get there though, but the view is superb," Emma said.

"I thought we couldn't get out of town?"

"We can't. She misspoke. It's still part of the city. As you know, with the radiation following the war, few places were habitable. But each city is surrounded by nature to meet the food needs of millions of people. We don't have access to it to protect it, but Utopia still allows access to a beach and a park. You can say we are below a giant dome under several kilometers." had justified Tiffany.

Jasmine had clapped her hands.

"Let's go to the public square. At this rate, we're going to run out of energy in our airboards."

So they headed for the public square where there was always a splendid view of the lake. There were several families on site, despite the fact that it was late in the middle of the week. They continued to talk for a while, but seeing the late hour, they had decided they should home to not be too tired for the day after at school. After Jasmine takes them in photos and lingered on taking several pictures of Jae Hyun; they left for the shuttle not far from there.

Upon entering, Jae Hyun turned one last time to admire the view and was shocked. In the public square, he could see a little girl with long, thick and purple hair.

'Ju... lian?'

….

….

….

He rushed towards her leaving his friends behind.

"JAE?!"

His friends were surprised as the doors closed.

As the place was crowded, he tried to zigzag between people.

Julian!

His heart was pounding and his breath was short.

Julian!

His thoughts were focused on her.

Julian!

He suddenly goes into someone. The angry man asked him to be careful and apologize by taking his wrist. He turned to look at him and apologized.

Ju...

But when he turned around, he had lost track of the girl. He turned his head left and right trying to see something. He started running and searching again for all unusual places looking for her. A flashback through his mind.

********

"JAAAAAAE!!!!!" His sister jumped into his arms. "Welcome back! How was your show?"

"Great" He ruffled her hair. He liked doing it because they were soft and it relaxed him. She giggled and went to set the table for to of them.

She made bibimbap. The smell had intruded on the kitchen. Even though she was 9 years old, Julian had a crazy talent for cooking.

"Yummy. It's really good. You're a real genius!"

She waddled in her chair proud of herself.

"Don't forget to give me your dirty clothes. I'll make a laundry later."

He greeted her as a soldier steadily.

"Yes Cheeeeeef!"

She laughed and gave him a friendly pat on his forehead.

*******

When he ran out of breath, he stopped running. As he caught his breath, he realized how stupid he was. He had died and been transferred to a new world. But seeing a child look like his sister from behind, he makes a dash to catch her. She wasn't there. And he couldn't see her again.

It was an obvious fact, but he missed her so much.

Her smile...

Her jokes...

The softness of her hair

Her angry face...

Even her fits and her sulky side.

Was she okay?

…

...

....

Can she manage without him?

The memories he had fought so hard to forget came back.

He looked up at the starry sky. It was beautiful, but it couldn't move him as usual.

"Julian... I miss you so much that it kills me."

As if the heavens felt his pain, it began to rain.

He stayed there letting the rain fall on him.