Sora

As a child, your single mother had a hard time coping after your father died. She worked so late that you only saw her in the morning before going to work again. But that time didn't last that long, as she found a new man. On the one hand it was good, because your mother would feel supported, but on the other hand it would be hard to get along with a new man and accept him into your family circle. But there was another problem on your head: a younger half-brother.

Sora was a pretty calm and quiet guy. He never imposed on you, and maybe even shunned you a little. Perhaps there was a quirk of shyness in his personality, or maybe he just didn't like contact unnecessarily. Regardless, he was insanely talented. You could sometimes see him working in his room until deep into the night. He sits all the time piled up with books, extra study materials, and most importantly art supplies. His room looked like a creative mess, you could see paint strokes on some of the walls while fallen brushes and pencils lay around the canvases.

Perhaps over time you began to notice oddities in Sora's behavior. At first there was sloppiness and absent-mindedness, which affected his work. But that was soon replaced by his playfulness and the behavior of a cranky child. But now, when he wouldn't touch you and rarely came up to start a conversation, he started actively pestering you.

Sora's need for contact with you became greater. Sometimes he would just come to your room and watch you for hours, or just try to make conversation whenever he could. At some points you got tired of it, because all your personal space was taken up by the guy. But in your heart, you knew that Sora was having a much worse time, that he couldn't do anything about it and was looking for a lifeline in you.

This behavior made your parents worried and you only had a tugging fear in your stomach of what was to come. That's why professional help was needed after a while. But the result was still frightening - a diagnosis of hebephrenic schizophrenia.

The guy became completely out of control sometimes and had to use drastic measures, like planting sleeping pills. It was hardest on the father, watching his child die before his eyes, not to mention Sora himself. Everything he had been striving for for so long, paving the way to his future, was being destroyed in his hands. Sora couldn't even realize it himself, because he had no thoughts of his own. Living in a constant delirium and madness, made the guy himself sometimes lock himself in a room and scream to the breaking of the voice.

Mother and father decided to isolate Sora from the world around him. Perhaps loneliness and seclusion could lead to something? So for a period of spring break in warm May, you went with Sora to the village to grandmother.

Nature and peacefulness gave and you refresh your head for a while. And your brother seemed calmer, though he sometimes showed signs of raging. At least he was taking his pills, and thank goodness for that.

...It was dawn, and the sun was just illuminating the horizon. You woke up so early because of the birds chirping and the cold wind from the open window, which caressed your bare skin. Getting out of bed you found Sora's bed empty. Letting out a sigh and you ran outside.

Your heart was pounding like crazy, and the excitement was knocking the air out of your lungs. Already imagining the worst scenarios in your head, you ran to the familiar meadow. As you make your way through the thick grass, you see the familiar top of dark hair. As you get closer, you see a guy seated in a lotus pose, holding a sketchbook while sliding a pencil across the paper. Hearing a noise behind him, he turns to the source of the disturbance. After looking you over for a couple seconds, he tilts the sketchbook toward you.

"You like it?"

The paper was a picture of you, neatly and proportionately drawn lines. Like the drawing was actually alive. It wasn't one of those drawings where it was all just illegible shapes.