What's the Worst That Could Happen? - Awareness Story

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑

     She pushed the front door open with a quiet huff. Mondays really were the worst. Social studies as a first class could not be more boring, and the last class was PHE. Their coach didn't hold back either today, said they need to start working harder to make their last year valuable (and definitely not because they had been slacking off all the previous lessons). At least she also made a new friend today. She hung her bag on the coat hanger and then lazily shook her shoes off. The familiar smell of Köttbullar filled her nostrils once she stepped further into the house. Her mom made it mostly when she felt nostalgic and missed Sweden, and it was always special to the family. They all loved it too. Esme didn't really bother greeting her parents, figuring she would go change first but that changed as she passed by the kitchen and heard them talking.

"I understand you're worried Abe, it's best to remain calm in these situations. You know it better than anyone." her mom said, letting out a sigh.

"I can't help it, Anne. This is my brother we're talking about."

"What's going on?" Esme stepped in, raising an eyebrow. Her dad's words were enough to make her feel a pang of worry.

Her mom was evidently a little stunned. She hadn't expected Esme to walk in right at that moment, and her dad wasn't even paying attention to her. He just stared down at his phone, his expression unreadable as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Well." Anne swallowed hard, "Uncle Bram called us. You remember him, right?"

"Of course." Esme nodded, "Didn't we attend his wedding this summer?"

"Correct. His marriage to Dalia." her mom added.

Esme nodded again, and she looked at them evidently confused.

"What about him?"

"So, Dalia wanted to be close with her family after the wedding. Her mother needed her after all, she's sick."

"Yeah, I remember that too. They moved to Palestine in September, right?"

"Yes." Anne replied. "The problem is- Palestine just got attacked this morning."

Esme's expression fell in an instant. She blinked, looking back and forth between her mom and her dad.

"...Attacked?" Esme spoke after a few seconds in silence.

"Attacked." her mom repeated.

"By... By who?"

"Israel. Apparently a Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on Israel and they attacked back. Or at least that's what the news said."

She listened to her mother's words, now not really knowing what to say. She turned to face her dad, swallowing the lump in her throat that she didn't even realise had formed.

"Is- uncle Bram alright?"

Abe nodded.

"He's okay. He and Dalia are both okay." he then sighed, "They just don't know if this was a one time thing or if it's going to happen again. And it worries them. It worries me too."

Anne moved over to his side and gently rubbed his shoulder, looking down at him with a sympathetic smile.

"It'll be okay. We'll all pray for them and for everything to be okay."

They all stayed silent for a moment after that. Abe was worried. Anne was worried as well but she remained collected. Esme was just- thinking. There were so many things going through her head at the moment.

"I'll go change." she broke the silence.

"Alright. Dinner will be ready in about... 10 minutes. We're having-"

"Köttbullar." Esme cut her mother off, smiling.

Her mother smiled as well, nodding.

"Exactly." she chuckled a little, "Your accent's getting better."

Esme scoffed, patting her chest where her heart is twice, saying 'thank you' non-verbally.

"Seems like Duolingo does the trick." she murmured, mostly to herself. She glanced at her parents once more before walking upstairs to her room, shutting the door behind her. 

     As she changed, Esme started thinking of school today. Finding out what had happened with Zora and then spending time with her, watching her expression fall a little with each ugly stare she got. Then hearing everyone in the school mentioning Palestine and Israel and having no clue what they were talking about. She assumed it was something bad, but not something that bad. And now when she got home, she found out another person close to her had lived through a very bad experience. Her very own uncle and his wife. It just seemed surreal, people close to her hadn't experienced such hardships before today. Her thoughts kept spiraling, thinking of the worst case scenarios. What if it happens again? What if it happens and it goes on for a long while? What if they can't do something to protect themselves? How bad the situation actually is...

"Esme, Evi! Dinner's ready!" her mother's voice called from downstairs.

Esme heard her sister yell an unnecessarily loud 'coming!' back, before she got out of her room as well. Once all four of them were at the table, they began eating in silence for a moment.

"How come you're not already telling us about your field trip to the planetarium?" Anne asked Evi as she took a bite.

"Great question, I expected you to go all crazy on us, Ev." Esme added.

Her sister shrugged, looking down at her plate for a moment before looking back at her mom and Esme.

"Dad doesn't really seem in the mood for talking." she replied while chewing, glancing at her dad and then looking away.

Abe perked up at Evi's words, quickly shaking his head.

"No, no, sweetheart, it's okay. Of course I want to know all about your trip." he gave her a warm smile.

Anne nodded at her husband in appreciation, before turning back to face Evi.

"So...?" she prompted.

"So... It was very fun." Evi started, putting her fork down which was a sign to everyone sitting at the table that her monologue would drag on for at least 2 hours.

"We went in and there were those huuuge planets hanging from the ceiling. There were stars, it was surprisingly dark for a lobby. They had a lot of telescopes and different spacecraft models, fake, of course. This boring tour guide started telling us about each part of a spacecraft and he wouldn't stop! He was talking for around 30 minutes, and all I could think at the moment was, 'Sir I'm sorry, but I don't wanna be an engineer'." Evi scoffed, rolling her eyes a little for dramatic effect. The start to her story made everyone laugh, as they now took their minds off their troubles and listened to her speak.

"No you want to be a vet, right?" Anne asked, raising an eyebrow with a small smirk as she kept eating.

"A vet? Wait, where was I when that decision was made? I thought you wanted to become a writer like your dad!" Abe exclaimed, making a fake shocked expression at his daughter.

"I wanted to. A vet is more interesting, you get to help animals. And I want to be able to help animals." Evi retorted proudly.

"Uh huh. I hope you do know that you will need to euthanize animals as well." Esme said nonchalantly, chewing.

"Shut up." her sister nudged her on the ribs, which made Esme wince and their mom give Evi a pointed glare.