Shorties and Midis

The Girl Left Behind by Death

It happened at the time when we slept. The night was peaceful when a loud siren vibrated through the wind, shaking the consciousness within me. I remember being ushered out of our house and into those dark and horrid bunkers, a simple place to stay safe in. I could hear my parents and the "adults," chattering. Each with their own tale of tragedy. The news of a bombing near the outskirts of town... It was devastating they said... Buildings and homes destroyed. The people not expecting a thing due to the sirens malfunctioning. I couldn't listen anymore... So, there I sat, huddled in a corner, waiting for safety as my eyes drifted close to the tales of what happened in the outskirts of town.

Well, that was last night...

That day, I found myself standing in the middle of a disaster. Where everything was a fast-paced blur. The shouts of searching soldiers and mourning survivors mixed into an agonizing orchestra, leaving a heavy weight within me. It wasn't as if I wanted to join as a volunteer (I would have chosen to be in the confines of my room), but my parents forced me to help, saying that it was for a cause. And now, here I am, giving survivors spare blankets and first aid (which I wasn't good at). Holding both my breath and heart as I interacted with dead gazes. With fear and distraught clear in their eyes yet confusion striking them silent. I could only describe what was there as a silent turmoil. A silence deafening to my ears.

I was finished handing out blankets and comfort to a few more people when a soldier called for me, urging me to take another survivor to a medic to make sure she was okay. The poor thing, she was still a young girl, probably eleven or twelve. She could barely walk at the time, not because of a wound, but I would guess that it was because of the same dead gaze she held. A hollow look adorned her sweet, innocent face.

Tensely, I helped her walk as we made way to the nearby caravan. I tried to look straight forward, hoping to give her as much privacy I could give. I counted the seconds that it would take for us to get there as I couldn't really distinguish how far off we were. There were no landmarks to use, everything was destroyed. Houses collapsed with smoke still in the air. Dead bodies littering the ground, some underneath rubble while others were placed in a kind of line up. Rows of bodies laying next to each other. Some children, others adults but they all had one similarity... They all looked as if they were just sleeping. Eyes closed with smudged cheeks, resting peacefully. A fate they had no knowledge of, having died during their sleep.

"Papa..."

At the sound of the girl's voice, my eyes snapped back to her. This was the first time she said anything. She was looking at a dead body... My hand on her was loose as she easily ran towards it (am I allowed to call the body as an it?) ...

"Papa!"

She sobbed as she fell next to her father's body. I was silent, there was nothing else I could do but watch and let her mourn. I quietly stepped next to her and looked at the line up of bodies, which were recently found in this area. A man and a woman lay next to each other with the same muddied, peaceful faces. Almost as if they were just sleeping. And as I looked at how this girl wept, I wished that they were sleeping, bound to wake up sooner or later.

"Papa! Mama! Wake up! Please!"

She shook their bodies with desperation...

"Don't leave me!!"

They were her parents....

I flinched when she suddenly looked at me. Her big brown eyes were no longer dead, just desperate.

"Help them, please..." Her voice broke.

I was stunned, as if my tongue and brain were cut off. I tried to say something, tried to do something but... Before I could do anything her gaze finally switched to a soldier who carried another body and laid it a couple feet away from us, near another collapsed home.

"Maus...!"

She sprinted towards a boy who looked the same age as her. He was still alive. Barely.

"No! Maus! Stay strong..."

I looked on as she held the boys head and cried. Was that her little brother? Or a friend? How much has she lost over the span of a single night? Just because of a siren that didn't work? My hands fisted.

"Stop shouting..."

My head snapped up, along with the little girl as the boy spoke.

"Maus! You idiot, don't scare me..." The girl laughed through her hiccups.

I could feel the hope from her but my blood ran cold as I felt that the boy only had a few more seconds left. He was deathly pale, contrasting the ash littered ground where he laid.

"You look funny when you're scared," The boy coughed as his head lolled over.

He...he was dead. I walked closer to the girl, my body registering the fact that I was there... In that scene, that what was happening was real life.

"I'm sorry..." I had nothing to be sorry for yet the words still left my lips. I gently squeezed her shoulder, offering my condolences. I didn't know who these people were but they were obviously important to her. They were people who were once alive and thriving, having an effect on those around them. Her shoulders shook with bottled sobs... I wanted to hug her, yet I couldn't. This was the only thing I could offer her.

"I'm sorry..." I drawled out, not knowing her name.

"Yuri..." She forced out.

"Yuri," I tested, "I'm sorry..."

Slowly she raised her head and looked me in the eyes.

"Why did they have to die?"

I didn't know... Why did death have to leave you behind with all this sorrow. Why didn't he just take you with him, so that you could be with your family? Away from this war. I couldn't answer her... I didn't know how to answer her. So, I didn't...

I hugged her tight as her sobs rang in my ear.

"Everything's going to be fine,"

That was all I could say... A fake promise of hope trying to hide the sorrow in light. Hopeful and foolish.

I hated volunteering, but my parents forced me as it was for a cause... And now, hate and tolerable had a thinner line in between.

At the end, I couldn't say anything else to her. After doing my job, we parted ways... She was the only one in her family to survive, there was no one else she had connections with. The government was the one responsible for her now...

Wherever she is now, I wish all the best for the girl left behind by death.