Surviving Confessions

Six

I couldn't speak. The others on the truck offered their condolences to the five of us. David and Daniel shook their hands and thanked them. Alice began punching her seat and Laura sat next to her, trying to stop her, wiping her tears every second, whispering "no" to herself. Blanking out my surroundings I stared at the floor.

Everything felt disjointed.

The sun started waking up, I still stared at the floor. The woman with the baby started singing softly. Daniel, Laura and Alice were squashed together asleep, to shield each other from the cold. David moved next to me and tried to hold my hand.

I was paralysed.

I couldn't think.

I couldn't process anything.

I just stared at the floor.

                 ***  

The truck stopped every few hours, maybe it was a checkpoint. All we could hear was muffled conversations between the driver and strangers. We didn't know if we could trust the driver but to be honest we couldn't even trust ourselves. 

I didn't realise that five days had past since Rebekah until Alice broke my silent stare and told me we had to walk.

I began to look around the truck, I started counting the people, like I did before.

"20?"

"Yeah" Alice began, "the man who prayed everyday". My eyes shot over to where I last saw him. The space was empty. The woman still rocked her baby back and forth. 

The truck began to slow down. A little girl lifted the cover up slowly and peered out.  I caught a glimpse of outside.

There was a group of 10 to 12 people emerging through a gate, which lead from a vast field. The truck drove past another group, a bit smaller than the first. They all shared something in common though:they looked like they had been through hell.

The truck stopped and everyone began to flood off the truck. I was the last one to get off. As soon as I saw the sun, the light blinded me. I never knew the sun, a symbol of hope, could cause so much pain. David said it would be at least 16 miles before we got to Arcanen. The long road was full of other survivors walking towards something we all searched for: freedom.

We needed salvation.

We joined the march to get our freedom and forget the pain.