Murder Recall

Rain of Fire

Doug was holding Gwen's hand. Then he picked her up and carried her. She was a child of eight and they were running away from the burning house and deep into the forest. Balls of fire, the size of peach seeds, were raining down like hail all around them. Doug was taking Gwen to a predetermined safe place to hide her while insanity ruled and was driving humans to extremes of self-justifying crime. Screams of fear, desperation, and war cries hungry for the blood of greed and revenge, echoed off the high barren cliffs surrounding the flat land.

They came to a hidden, small opening in the ground beyond the fire-scorched area amongst some trees. Doug climbed down into it, holding Gwen securely in his arms. Doug followed the narrow tunnel though the dark. Gwen had never been there before and did not understand what was happening in the world or why they should come there. They were in a system of ancient underground passages. Some had formed naturally in the rock, others had been carved out in the stone by peoples long forgotten thousands of years ago. At last they came to a small space at the end of a passage and Doug told Gwen to stay there until someone came for her. That would be when it was safe to return to the surface. Gwen was full of questions she did not ask aloud. She had grown used to being silent, though words were always flowing through her mind. Canary was in Gwen's pocket and Dolly was tied around her waist. Doug told Gwen to be patient, no matter what, and left.

After a time, Gwen heard and felt a great rumbling like an earthquake. Stones came rolling down the passageway to the space where Gwen waited. They blocked the exit. She was trapped. She was patient as she had been told. The rumbling soon stopped and all was quiet, still and very dark. She found it easy to be patient because she sensed nothing that gave her the notion of how time was passing. She could feel Canary in her pocket with its head tucked under its wing. Gwen used Dolly as a pillow which she propped herself against because there wasn't enough room to lie down. Gwen became very hungry and then didn't feel it anymore. Moisture collected on the rock around her and soothed her thirst. The air smelled stale but Gwen could feel fresh air drift through the stones blocking the passageway. She was feeling very stiff but could not stretch. When she tried to remove the stones, more would roll into their place and she had no where to put the stones anyway.

Canary began to sing. That comforted Gwen. She heard noise. It was coming from the blocked passageway and sounded like stones being moved. At last a beam of light shone onto Gwen's face and after a couple moments of white blindness, she saw a hand reach inside through the stones.

"I'm Rita," a pleasant voice said, "I have been sent to find you and look after you." The confinement was over at last. It was like coming out of the womb again. Gwen could hardly move from stiffness and Rita was pulling her out. Outside in the sunshine, with food in her belly and fresh water to drink, Gwen regained her strength.

The world was not like Gwen had last seen it. Few trees remained upright. Soot was everywhere. Black cloud filled the sky. It was raining and the soot was becoming dark gray slush. Slowly Rita and Gwen walked away. "We are going to a safe place," Rita said. Now and then animal and human remains could be seen partially buried in muck. The only sounds were the trudging of their feet and Canary's soft twittering. Gwen wondered what had happened but did not ask.

It gradually became as dark as it was in the space where Gwen had been underground. Rita hugged Gwen close and they curled up at the base of a lonely pine that had somehow been missed in the surface burn, cuddled together in a space under the low hanging branches. The rain became a drizzle. When daylight returned, they continued walking. The sun was barely visible through the heavy mist. Each day the sky was clearer, the sun a bit brighter, the earth drier.

On the third day, Gwen sat down on a flat rock covered in multi-coloured lichen to rest. She pulled Rita's hand to sit beside her. Gwen said, while holding Dolly like a baby, "Dolly won't stop crying." Rita put her arms around Gwen. Canary was singing in the tree overhead.