To My Sunflower

Eiji stumbled groggily to his feet. His ears buzzed with an unnatural drone, pressing into his temples with bearable pain.

An astringent stink of an unexplainable kind overpowered his senses that caused him to wobble on the spot.

He felt feverish from the sudden rush of hot and cold chills over his body. He hugged his arms to retain his heat. He glanced about to check on the others.  

Tyne was sprawled on the ground near his feet. Unharmed on the surface and unconscious.

"Kei!" Sean wailed on the other side of him.

He crouched low, hugging to the good part of his damaged arm. He was shivering; skin clammy and his body going through irregular spasms.

Eiji stood and stared at him. His mind still processing the fact. 

"Sean!" He dropped to his knees before him when he realized the damage.

"No... Kei... Find him!" Sean pleaded. His face streaked with tears and soot. 

"Your arm?" Eiji gasped at the sight of Sean's forearm pustulating and blistering.  His shirt had been burned into his skin, so it was impossible to remove the material without causing further damage.

"For…get me. Kei!" Sean pleaded. "Please!"

Eiji nodded and stood to check the fields behind them.

His heart paused; breath suspended in his throat as he saw burnt fields levelled and still smoking.  The ground was unnaturally desecrated into soot and ash. Warped and misshapen tree corpses ran down towards Hiroshima City.

His heart resumed an uneven pace, along with a shortness of breath at the sight of the city. 

"It can't be." He gasped at the smoking, almost indistinct distant view of what should be Hiroshima.

It was gone?  No! That was impossible!

"Eiji?" Tyne groaned as he stirred to consciousness and wobbled to his feet. 

"Sean!" He reacted to the sight of the man's third degree burns that was still burning by the pustulation of the exposed skin area.

"KEI!" Sean continued to cry pitifully and in pain.

Tyne frowned, confused. His heart raced erratically, unsure what was going on. He stood to see what was keeping Eiji rooted in place.

His eyes widened at a sight that shouldn't be possible.

Where was the city?

Eiji moved towards the destroyed area, his voice weakly calling out Kei's name as he shuffled forward. 

His steps picked up the pace when he felt a determination to find his friend.

"KEI!" He shouted out to the semi-iodized atmosphere, where the air was snowing bleached particles around them.

Silence answered his call. 

His heart pounded against his chest. He couldn't deny the truth of his realization. Kei had been behind them and still within those fields that were now ashened grounds.

He wept into his hands, feeling his immediate loss. 

Droplets of black rain fell to his shoulders.

"Eiji. We need to move!" Tyne grabbed his arm to haul him into motion. 

He did the same for Sean and motivated their bodies into a run for their car that was, miraculously, unharmed and still parked to the undamaged side of the road.

Tama saw them and let out a hearty meow when she came out of her hiding spot behind the back wheel.

She ambled into the driver's seat when Tyne opened the door for everyone.  It was fortunate that Kei never locked his car, and more so when he had the habit of leaving the keys underneath the sun visor. 

The three men and their cat sort shelter in Kei's Blended Beauty, as black rains fell to further taint the world around them. 

Neither expressed a word as they fought their internal battles of what could be a truth verses what they wanted to believe. 

Kei wasn't gone? No. He was right behind them, holding Tama. He was cursing about her being a freeloader fleabag whilst feeding her dried fish from his pocket. He was still there with them!

"Kei?" Tyne glanced to the driver's seat. His heart sank at the sight of Tama cleaning herself in the spot Kei should be.

He choked back his tears when he was unable to deny the truth that was persistently played out in his mind. Still confused on what had happened. One thing was certain. A split moment of white; the world had changed. Kei was gone.  

The rain fell for some time.