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C00lkidd ran after his father, the grass soft under his feet. The sun glistered high above, blades of grass reflecting its light. "C'mon, dad!" He laughed, getting closer and closer to 007n7. His father was laughing, too, a rare sound from the tired man, but it filled C00lkidd with joy. He loved seeing others have fun. In a way, his own fun depended on if others were laughing, smiling. And C00lkidd understood 007n7's joy, tag really was that fun. It would always be that fun, even when C00lkidd was older. He was sure of that. "C'mon, I can catch you!"
007n7 slowed down a little, and C00lkidd saw an opportunity, sprinting up to his father and tagging him. "Tag! You're it!" C00lkidd giggled, turning tail and running away from his father now.
"Oh no! You got me."
C00lkidd savored the look on his father's face, because as soon as he opened his eyes again, it was gone. With the ground burning away around them, glass shards laying around reflecting the warm light, all C00lkidd saw was fear. A bone deep fear, like the one he felt when he noticed something under his bed, running to his father's room as quick as he could to either hide or get help. For a moment, both their voices remained but a memory in the golden light of the fire.
Until 007n7 broke the silence with a singular plea, "I'm so sorry."
C00lkidd tilted his head, stepping closer to 007n7, who tripped, but still shuffled back, out of his reach. Soft grass turned fragile and crunchy as the fire overtook it, and it felt weird underneath his feet. Memories were drawn in the smoke like a mocking symphony, and C00lkidd was the conducter. He waved the stick around and around, allowing more and more memories to burn in the fire.
His father continued his plea, but the words faded more and more as his mind told him to move closer and closer and closer until his father's back was against the wall and he was in reach again. He reached out a hand, fingers gently pulling him up as the flames surrounded them like a wall protecting father and son from the world around them. C00lkidd pulled his father closer, arms gently wrapping around the injured man until his body faded in C00lkidd's hands, the boy unable to hang onto the one thing he wanted back.