Run. Run. Run. Running here and there, people scurrying like rats to get to safety. They don't bother to pick up the wounded. Children abandoned in the streets, homeless weeping among themselves, and frantic people running the opposite way from the monstrosity. How. How did it happen? Who did it? When did it happen? Why did it happen?
I stood in the streets, horrified at these people. Animals, they're all animals! Survival of the fittest huh? Is that really all you want to do? Survive? When the world shrinks and the human population sinks, YOU want to live?
It smells mainly like burning coal and fire. Smoke fills my lungs as I continue to examine everyone. I suppress a cough as I shake my head and walk away. I was horrified beyond belief, just too scared to do anything. Too scared to save my family. Too scared to say "I love you" to mother when I left. I was too weak to run or make any effort to thrive. I walked glumly along the sidewalks that flowed underneath the shade of the shingles overlapping the houses. I desperately wanted to cry, but nothing came out. I stared into the depths of the brick floors and trudged along.
~~~~
The sun shown brighter than ever this evening as I fell asleep on the nearest hill, abandoning my wood pile.
I woke up next to the door, on the floor, curled up in multiple sheets covered in mud and leaves. The smell of hot soup lingers in the air and flows through the house. I twist out of the cocoon of blankets and step onto the creaking floor. "Did you collect enough firewood today?" A tall, muscular man in a trench coat sitting in the master chair makes me jump as I turned to answer.
"No." I replied honestly. He constantly requests I bring more than One basket back from the forest. One basket is like carrying a five babies on your back. I am still puzzled why he calls himself my father, when he murdered the real one. "Why not?" He said raising his head from his hands. I feel blood pumping in my veins. I'm afraid. I went too far didn't I? "I-I fell asleep." I replied, losing confidence in my tone. Just tell a damn lie, why can't you just lie?
The clatter of dishes in the kitchen stopped and I knew mother was listening. I could tell he looked furious, but I was facing the floor. "Look at me." He said, staring straight down at me. I looked into his cold eyes fearfully, trying not to look like I'm intimidated. I failed. "Let's take this outside." He sneered, grasping my hand tightly. I looked back at the kitchen hoping for my mother to tell him to stop. She didn't. She never did. She's afraid of him just like I am.
He picked up a large stump from a cut down tree. "Hold this out in front of you." He told me, dropping it into my hands. I fell to the ground with the stump crushing my fingers into the moist mud below. "Get up." He said through clenched teeth. "I can't." I replied staring into his shoes. "Yes you can, lift yourself up." He said raising his voice. I stood up slowly, my arms wobbling and shaking as he raised his axe. I closed my eyes tight as I saw it swing down. "Aughh!" I screamed as the axe threw the wood down into the ground as my hands were trapped underneath. I felt large splinters insert through my skin as they were pushed deeper and deeper in my skin by the wood. I felt the mush of the Earth as my fingers wriggled from underneath the wood. Hot tears strolled down my face, as I almost fell to the ground.
The wood separated and rolled off of my feet, as he picked them up and threw it over to a large pile. He looked down at me in disgust. "Quit crying, Don't draw attention. Are you ok?" I slowly opened my eyes to see small amounts of blood run across my fingers and a large purple bruise with a wood chip in the middle. I nodded quickly, my stomach flipping and churning as I kneeled to the ground holding my wrist. "Now go on and bandage that up. Mom'll pour you soup when we get in." He picked me up by the back of my shirt and stood me up. He patted my back and walked me inside.
