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fireand𝒊𝒄𝒆 ...
IT IS RAINING. The girl feels the cool droplets against her bare arms and she shivers, examining the goosebumps that form on the surface of her skin. She is young, perhaps six years old. The sky is grey and dull, a thick cluster of clouds stretching cross the bleakness and eclipsing the sun.
Her hair is pulled into a hopelessly messy braid, unruly wet ribbons framing her face. The girl's cheeks are stained red from the biting cold. She struggles to keep up with the rest of the children she's with, all forced into an orderly line as they scuffle forwards.
Then, a strangled scream shakes her bones as it rips through the air. It is eerily inhuman and seems far too close. Gunfire rattles in her ears. She cries out in fear at the crescendo of noise, breaking from the line and stumbling blindly into the sea of bodies. She's quickly swallowed up into the thick mass of people surging forwards to their final destination and she looses her sense of direction, twisting helplessly as she is barged and battered. The world shifts into a confused blur.
She hears dogs barking and she snaps her head in the direction of the sound. They are attached to metal chains, grinding and bearing their teeth in a threatening manner. Their ears twitch, sensitive to even the smallest breath she dares to intake. The girl tries to avoid eye-contact and shivers in discomfort. Their barks and snarls reverberate in her ears and ring in her head.
Safety is abandoned. She doesn't feel comforted, even with the endless rows of enclosing metal barriers that separate the roaring crowd from the outsiders. As heavy beads of rain fall upon her paled face, they wash away any hope she holds onto. She has no idea where she's going but she is being shoved and pushed even more now, her vulnerable frame repeatedly struck by random bodies as they scream and protest. Their voices are muffled by the masks they wear over their mouths and she wonders if she should have one.
She presses her nails into her palm and grits her teeth, determined to force her way through the thick crowd. But, the first step is unbalanced and clumsy and she falls.
The ground is hard, mud and dirt speckling her clothes and face on impact. She feels the sting of a cut above her left eyebrow and hot tears spring from her eyes. She tries to stand, clawing at the floor desperately as people barge their way past her, completely oblivious. Terror shakes her like she's never felt before.
Suddenly she feels strong arms coil around her, pulling her up from the dirt. In shock she kicks and screams but her protests only last for a second. She freezes.
