SATURNISM

PROLOGUE

Little flurries of snow danced around me, landing on my palms as I reached out to catch them. Snow crunched delightfully beneath my feet when I walked. My mother walked beside me, holding a basket of herbs and mushrooms she had foraged in the forest outside of our house.
I clasped a tiny hand around her index finger as she smiled down at me, her eyes glowing with pride.
"Once we get home, I'm going to make mushroom stew. That's your favorite, right?" My mother tilted her head at me as I beamed up at her.
My mouth watered at the thought of my mother's delectable mushroom stew, paired with neatly sliced bread coated in butter and salt. I could imagine the delicious smells wafting across the room, a wonderful chorus of flavor with every bite.
My mother wordlessly patted my head and smiled as we reached the door of the home. Smoke puffed out of the chimney, reminding me of the warmth that was soon to greet me inside by the fireplace.
I burst inside the house, giggling as I tracked snow across the floor. My mother picked me up off the floor and spun me around, laughing. As she sat me down by the fireplace to warm up and headed toward the kitchen to start making dinner. Once she was there, I stood up and toddled over to the window. I pressed my nose against the glass, watching the snow drift down from the clouds. People strolled down the street, going about their daily afternoon business. Men, women, and otherwise conversing quietly among eachother.
Suddenly, a large bang rang out through the street. A large group of men in guard uniforms were starting to swarm the house across the street from ours! They were striking the door down. Before I could observe more of the scene unfold, my mother rushed into the living room and grabbed me away from the window.
"Mother, why are they doing that!?" I asked, struggling out of her grip on me.
"They are arresting the people who live there, dear. There is nothing we can do." My mother glanced down at me, her mouth curled into a frown. "We should probably hide, in case they come here too. Can you do that?"
My mother lead me up the stairs and we hid in the bedroom. We sat there for around an hour, occasionally peaking behind the curtains. My mother urged me to be mostly silent, and to hide behind the bed if we heard anything. But it was silent. Once we were certain we were safe, I crept out of the bedroom and climbed down the stairs. The sight out the window shocked me to my core.
The house across the street was on fire. The shingles on the roof were breaking and falling off, the foundation crumbled under the weight of the burning building. People around the area were screaming and running away. But nobody was helping. Not a single person was doing anything to help stop the fire. The only people who weren't having a reaction were the government guards, standing outside of the house, a woman in chains on the ground next to them, sobbing. I could hear her cries from here. It was devastating.
I started screaming uncontrollably from the shock and fright, rushing to my mother and hugging her tightly, telling her what I witnessed out the window between nerve wracked sobs. My mother just held me there, shushing me and hugging me and whispering to me that is was going to be okay.
It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. I promise. It is going to be okay.
Her words rang through my head, but it wasn't okay. People were getting hurt, running, screaming, in front of my eyes.
It wasn't okay.
I wouldn't take that as an answer.
I was horrified.