After the Wars

2

     I wipe the sweat off my forehead, my eyes shut like a lock that's simple to open. My mouth is dry and my lips have no desire to part. The sun beams through the window and the heat lingers on my cheeks. The third week of my family being gone sits like an unpleasant smell in the air.

     My eyes drag themselves to an unveiling and I do the same with my blanket. I and stare at the sea, wild with its movements that are in simple unison. My hands wrap around my arms and I move them to my shoulders, only covered by a spaghetti strap. I force myself to stand and walk to my door. The knob is cold but pleasant to the touch.

     I re-do my braid that is more like a ruffled feather. At this time I can move freely from building to building but when a scan-hov is near, I'm forced into hiding. The scan-hovs are not from Zorammer. They come from Veanic and search for survivors.

     I yawn and stretch till it hurts. I drop my arms to a clap and call for Toursor. He comes whole-heartedlywith his tail wagging as fast as one can imagine.

     "You hungry, boy? Let's get you some grub." I drag my feet to the counter and reach to the back of the cabinet. I glance at his bowl, licked clean.

     "Here you go..." Before I even finish pouring it into his dish, he eats away. My eyes wonder to his water bowl. Dry. I wonder to the basement to find our supply of water is completely gone.

     "Great..." I mutter to myself and it echoes back to me. I don't feel like going to the beach and collecting 48 gallons of water to purify.

_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_

     I drag the wagon through the sand. It's cool and nice on a day like this one, where the wind washes through your soul and almost cleans it of every scare.

     I tug harder as my arms get weaker. I switch from pulling it facing forward to pulling it backwards. Tousor runs back and forth, playing a game only he knows of. I trip over a smiling mutt and I sigh as he wiggles out from under me.

     I get up and shake off the sand. My gaze falls to a few jugs that fell from the wagon. I go to pick them up but I'm stopped when Tousor almost knocks me over again.

     "Tousor! You-you good for nothing mutt! I should have sent you to Yammerous to watch everyone die... then you would have died to!" I wipe a tear away from my cheek, straiten my hair and lift my chin.

     I begin to apologize but I'm cut short by a low yet unmistakable noise. A Veanic search-hov. It scans the empty streets with a blue glow.

     I stumble over myself as I race towards the ocean that is now my safe haven. My feet hit the water like pebbles I would skip as a child. The water rings with a cold sensation, spilling over to top of my lace up boots.

     I get to a point in the waves where it seems like the water itself wants to hide me. My lungs become tight as they beg for air. My vision becomes speckled like the feel in my body. I slip away into a realm of blackened cold.