Accepted

The flight of life

Writhing on the ground in agony, I feel the warm blood trickling from my wound. I force myself to sit up, I can taste my salty tears dribbling into my parched mouth as i look around in fear. I search for my attacker, but instead find a sharp rock that i must have tripped on in the darkness. With my fear subsiding I start to realize the deathly implications of my injury. 

In my newly found panicked state I grasp at a nearby tree branch to help myself up, sadly i am forced to accept the harsh reality of my situation. I can barley move. Every time i make the slightest of motions, shots of pain wrack my whole body.

I lay there trembling in the freezing darkness, waiting for death to claim me as its victim. The hours slowly crawl by, I force myself to clench my teeth instead of crying out and attracting potential predators. In the solace of the night my mind flashes back to the very reason i was on the run in the first place. 

I snuggle up in my warm rucksack, savouring the final moments of sleep that i had left before i knew my mother was going to come and wake me. Being the start of summer the days were warm, but at night the temperature still plummeted. I could still feel the frosty breeze biting at my face as i tried to sleep.

From the distance i could hear my mother beginning to call out for me, something about wanting me to go down to the river and bathe. I pretended that i couldn't hear her and squeezed my eyes tightly closed. As she approached her voice grew louder and i made out my name being called. "Maria, Maria get up my darling, it's getting late" Pulling my rucksack over my face, I hoped that she would leave me to sleep for just five more minutes. sadly she persevered, as I knew she would.

She began shaking my shoulder, as she bent down to whisper in my ear I could feel her sweet breath caressing my cheek. "Maria, come on now honey, I know you are tired but it really is time to get up. You have duties you need to perform" Groaning, I finally submitted to her kind perseverance. Opening my eyes I could see a ray of sunlight streaming in through the tents open doorway. After my mother left, I began to get dressed and prepared myself to hike down to the river for my daily wash. 

Grabbing my satchel filled with fragrant soaps and a bristly hairbrush, I set out on the short journey to the river. After waving goodbye to my mother, I turned and walked away.

Having spent a reasonably long time rinsing myself and bushing the knots from my long black hair, I decided that it was time to return to the village. As i approached home i smelled a faint scent of smoke in the air. At first i was perplexed, but then I realized that it must be one of the long awaited ceremonial fire dances. Overjoyed at this wonderful thought, I began to jog in order to get there faster. 

As I turned the corner the smile fell from my face. Soldiers from a neighbouring tribe were viciously attacking my home! Flames of fire licked at the homely tents that i grew up in, and men wielding various weapons ran rampant around my village.

I searched desperately for my mothers face in the catastrophe that was happening before me. My fear for her melted away as i saw caught her eye. She began running towards me from the opposite side of the village.

Tears involuntarily sprang from my eyes as I remembered what happened next. I had tried to warn her, I really had. I blamed myself for what happened to her, and beat myself up for not being able to save her. What I did next was the worst part. I ran, I ran away from my village that needed me so much at that moment. I ran away from my friends who i had grown up with and needed me now. I ran away from everything that i had ever known. And i ran away from a memory that was to painful for me to bear. My mother was dead now, and I had not stayed to avenge her death.