The scent of fresh coffee filled the kitchen as Elijah carefully poured two cups, his hands moving with the ease of routine. The sun had barely crept over the horizon, casting golden light through the window. The quiet hum of the morning was interrupted only by the occasional clatter of pans as he prepared breakfast for his wife, Anna, and their two children.
He moved through the house with purpose that the kids where a wake, in some sense of the word, started setting their plates, and he pressed a soft kiss to Anna's forehead as she walk in from thier bed room and murmured sleepyly
"thank you honey"
as she felt his lips on her forehead. This was his world, his life-simple, structured, and filled with love.
After breakfast, he put all their dishes in the sink and stepped into the bathroom, turning the shower on until steam clouded the air he just stood in the hot water raining down on him going all and encapsulating his buff body will he cleared his mind for the day ahead. When he wiped the mirror, expecting to see his reflection, he was met with a hazy, distorted image. His features were obscured, as though the fog refused to clear. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and sighed, and ignored it, knowing if he got annoyed, he won't be able to get past the rest of the day. "Probably just the steam, " he reasoned.
Dressed and ready in his blue and white polka dotted tie black solid shoes and his dark blue suit and pants, Elijah kissed his wife and children goodbye, dropping the kids off at school waving and smiling at them while they run and race each other to class as Elijah shakes his head while laughing and thinking of the many times he did that with his brother, before heading to work. The office was exactly as it had always been-a place of forced smiles and veiled hostility but a stang welcoming feeling to those who know it all too well. It was toxic yet familiar, a place where memories clung to the walls like old wallpaper. he then takes an elevator to his floor, and as soon as Elijah arrives, he goes to his office block and sits down all to aw too familiar, uncountable chair. Elijah stands up and pulls out a small pillow from his computer bag and puts it down on his chair as he sits down again, making it that little bit more bearable.
By midday, he decided to take his break early, stepping outside taking the elevator down as his with his coworker, Darren who quickly after not clearly not wanting to spend another hour with Darren not being by his side making life just a little bit more bearable. The city streets were alive with the usual buzz of people as they walked and taked,
"So how the family and wife been old chum"
Darren said, clearly exasperated by the work they just did in the morning alone
"They have been good. How about yourself? You seem to be having it rough."
Elijah said with an almost half laughing smile
"You think life's been rough, no wife, no kids at 20, is what do the kids say now a days, crazy right?"
Darren says with a diffeated expression.
"yea, I get that, but I am really worried about Emily, my daughter she's too innocent...I feel like I should teach her to be stronger, like her brother. I mean, he is not strong in the strength since, but in the fight sense in the defending the people he cares about sense and you know, knowing when a person is right or wrong. You know she trusts people too easily. "
Elijah says with a sad look on his face, his braw furrowing in frustration and sober
"No, I don't have kids, remember."
Darren says with an angry expression on his face but in a matter of seconds, he breaks apart into a laugh as his glasses fall down slightly, then he pushes them back up
"no, no, I am joking with you. I have little siblings so I know that feeling. I'll give you some advice, just let things happen interfere when you have to, but just watch them grow and learn to be that person you and they want to be okay."
Darren said smiling as he punches Elijah's arm lightly as Elijah nods as the corner of his lips slowly start to curl up into a smile of understanding
As they continued walking, they felt a sudden shift in the air which made Elijah and Darren stop. Up ahead, a commotion stirred-a crowd forming, hushed murmurs turning into panicked gasps.
Then he saw him.
A man stood in the center of the chaos, his face was of an old retired construction Builder and his dishevelled construction building clothes matched perfectly, a gun trembling in his grip, an arm locked around a little girl's neck. Her small frame shook with silent sobs. She held a pink backpack in her hand loosely as she was suspended in the air by the man holding onto her, her wide black eyes filled with terror as his black hair blew in the wind.
Something in Elias snapped as he saw the seen a fatherly instinct almost to protect his or anyone else's child.
There was no thought, no hesitation-only instinct. Adrenaline surged through his veins as he charged forward through the crowd as Darren reached for him in horror. Elijahs fist connected with the gunman's face before the man could react. A shot rang out. Pain exploded in Elias's side, but he didn't stop. Another punch. Another shot. His body screamed in agony, but he pushed forward as his body started to go limp his adrenaline running out he thought to himself
"this won't do. I can't just punch this random guys face, I don't know him or what his doing, but all I know is that, I have to stop him, but this won't do my adrenaline is running out, I need his face to be Someone I actually care about someone who I hate someone who i would really really want to punch"
Elijah then slowly sees the mans face turn into his bosses face his slime, slick, perverted, Look his over weight, obese, chubby, face all too familiar, like everything in his life, but this one was the bad kind, his adrenaline immediately spiked, as his eyes dilate, with rage as it fueling the force and speed of his punches as they flyed and pierced through the air, faster and faster. Everything disappearing, in to a black void leaving only him, and the man, with his bosses face, as with each BANG of the gun the BANG of Elijah's fist comes immediately after, faster, stronger. Elijah landing blow after blow until the gunman crumpled to the ground, unconscious bleeding and probably, with several concussions Elijah brakes out of his focus of rage and adrenaline The weapon skidded across the pavement, empty.
Elijah stands there with 13 bullet holes through his chest Elijah smiles and does a pose with his fist up in the air portraying the pose similar to a certain number 1 hero of his favorites manga as a child Elijah laughs coughing out blood as he thinks
"dang it, I still am a kid, even after all this time, I am still as childish as i was before, maybe Darren is right, I should just let things happen, I just hope, Emily will be okay,.... Anna please, take care of her."
Elijah turned to the girl, his vision blurring. He reached out a trembling hand and whispered, "Stay safe, Emily."
But that wasn't her name. That was his daughter's name.
A cold numbness spread through him, and as he collapsed, his last thoughts were of his family-their laughter, their love, their warmth as he saw Darren crying and pulling him into a hug and he thought how Darren was family too well in his sense at the very least he then closed his eyes feeling Darren's tears go on his suit as Elijah smiled happily knowing that he did a good think but still worried about his family mostly.
Then, darkness.
Silence.
And then... crying but this weren't the cries of a 20 old man his where the crys of an infant.
His body felt impossibly small, wrapped in soft fabric. The air smelled unfamiliar, tinged with lavender and something old, something regal.
His vision adjusted. A woman's face hovered above him-kind, but unfamiliar. She wore a maid's uniform, her expression one of reverence and awe.
He tried to speak, but only a weak, infantile cry escaped his lips.
Panic gripped him.
He wasn't dead.
He was reborn.