My name is Reynald. Reynald Thaddeus Sullivan. For some reason people called me Rae-Rae. I didn't like it at first, but it did grow on me.. Eventually.

Like all of you, I was once alive. Very much alive..

I was just another young man who was in love with a young woman. Not even once did she look at me the way I had always hoped. Still, I never stopped fighting.

It all started fifteen years ago, not long after I graduated from the Academy. I had everything planned. Apply for internship in Andromeda, get a solid job, buy a wedding ring, and propose to the love of my life.

Nina Aelysia Carter.

I could say that woman would be the death of me.. But I'm dead, so saying that wouldn't make any sense. Why was I so in love with her? It's love. I met her when I was eight, and I just could never move on.

She's kind, she's smart, she's fun, and most important of all.. She's fearless. Her character just charmed me in no way any other women ever could. Nor ever will.

The signs were clear that she was not interested in me that way, but for years I never listened. All I ever thought of was, "Someday, you'll love me too".

Someday, I thought, by being her best friend, she'd view me as something more. I thought I could be the man who comforts her, listens to her problems, gives her a shoulder to rely on, and the only man she would truly love.

But I was proven wrong when I returned from the store, having bought the fanciest wedding ring I could find all across the galaxy.

I saw her kissing. With my cousin. Cindy.

Jealousy gobbled me up like a beast. I was furious, they never knew why. By the time I wanted to apologize, a malicious storm just had to bypass the atmospheric shield.

After all, mimicking Old Earth is a very difficult task for us terran-descendants.

We were in a building.
No, we were in a soon-to-be ruin.
I had to get them out of there.

I had to redeem myself.

And therefore,
I died.

© altairsolaris