Myriad Istoria

Looking for her Heart

It was the third day of her hunt. Her face was black with dust and her stomach burned from the absence of food. Her throat was dry and rough from lack of hydration. Even though her feet hurt and she could barely stand, she had to go on. She had to search. She wouldn't stop until she got what her heart so truly desired, and her heart desired the missing piece. The only piece of her aching heart.

Looking around her she found nothing. Absolutely nothing. The adventures of yesterday exhausted her well enough to not know where she took refuge. Darkness spread everywhere, as it would everyday after 'It' happened. People say it happened so suddenly. They say the sun fell. They say rainwater turned to acid and everything turned to ash. No one saw it happen. They say it happened overnight when the city of Arkam was asleep. When it was forced to sleep. Rules had gotten out of hand, and the government now knew no such word as 'human decency' or 'forgiveness'.

Now, very few people survived after the people turned on the government and it took no time for the government to strike back at its own people. The noise of missiles and guns took the place of the crying of babies, the ringing of school bells and the honking of cars. Within seconds, everything crumbled like an old cookie. And those who survived were slaughtered by the guards.

But this mother did nothing but everything to find her other half. She ran, killed, lied and stole in the hopes of finding what may have been alive.

Day 3, exhausted, she tripped on every stone and every branch and got attacked by every horror of the forest but did not give up. The forest, right in the middle of the long gone city was now the only place she was safe from the government. But endangered by everything else she could think of. Acid rain that burnt your skin with just a drop. Genetically modified animals, created and released by lab rats of none other than the government. These creatures could now do everything imaginable. So much more lurked in the dark forest that she had now entered. It was a miracle that she had survived 8 hours among the bugs and the trees. She moved in, deeper and deeper, hoping to find an end to the dense trees and an entrance into the other side of town where the danger would remain constant, if not get worse.

Her skin burned from the poison ivy she slept on last night and her abdomen still oozed bright red blood from the attack of the guard she managed to survive. She still moved ahead with the thought of reuniting with her desire.

One thing gave this woman the determination to keep going and to not lose hope. And she hoped that the power of the universe that she so strongly believed in would guide her through every circumstance that she faced. Surprisingly, her journey was easy. And she thought for once that the universe was finally on her side.

Day 4.... Seemed harder than the days that had passed. Every day seemed to bring about a new challenge. And as the day began, her journey got harder than ever. About halfway into the forest, an encounter with a greyhound was gruesome. One trick the woman learnt from her job as a zoo keeper was to never let the animal know you were afraid. To her advantage, the greyhound was not a modified one. She looked into the dirty hound's beautiful green eyes and played an act. She stared directly into his eyes and pretended to gain sympathy while reaching for her silver pocket knife. As the animal showed no signs of forgiveness, he pounced on her body, his paws ready to shred her throat to pieces any moment now. And as its body threw itself on hers, she took the knife and stabbed it in its bare chest. The heavy animal's body collapsed onto her as they both stumbled into the wet mud. Plastering a weak smile across her face, she laid there, unable to breath. As easy as it sounded, getting the dead body off her was rather challenging. Her weak body was not strong enough to lift the muscular animal. She felt the warm blood ooze out of the animal's chest and onto her baby pink shirt that was now ripped and stained with blood. She had picked it out for a day at the job before 'It' happened.

Day 5.....was uneventful. She walked a lot. So as to not starve, she carved out the flesh of the animal that she defeated and cooked it in the small fire she was able to build. This reminded her of a happy memory, stored somewhere in the back of her head. A happy family. Eating turkey for thanksgiving. This brought sorrow to her heart and hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

Day 6 had passed when she almost gave up. She walked for a few hours until she encountered her next massive problem. The river Kuwoso. It was the city's main source of water supply. She was glad to see the mighty river. The water rushed across with great force. She bent down on her weak knees as she cupped both her hands and dipped them in the cold water. She drank plenty, and out of excitement jumped right in like a child. Thankfully, the tide was weak. She washed her body and cleaned the dry blood from her clothes. As she crawled out, she peeled the wet clothes from her pale skin and hung them onto a branch to dry. She then reached into her pocket and grabbed a torn rag with her weak hands, dipped it into the water, and cleaned her wounds even though they stung her wet skin. Finally, she pressed her back against the bark and sighed heavily, not aware of the dangers that she would face in the next hour. Despite the cold weather, she managed to put her shivering body to sleep as she hasn't rested her eyes in days. She woke up to the sounds of water rushing past her. Her head felt foggy And heavy as she got to her feet. She then realised how cold it had gotten and reached for the branch where her clothes were drying. She put on her clean clothes and slipped onto her feet the shiny sandals that were the only pair she managed to find while trying to escape the collapsing building. She now came to her senses when she realised that she had to get past the river. She looked around in fright as now, everything was dark and the only light she saw was the weak light of the dying moon that fell on her right arm. As she walked in fear, her tired feet tripped on a log. The log would come to her rescue. It took everything that she had to drag it all the way to the tree she fell asleep under. She angulated the log of wood perpendicular to the river and pushed it from behind. As tiny splinters pierced her hands she got the log into the water and dived face front, getting a good grip with her hands and feet. But, she underestimated the power of the wave as it swept her and her log away, back in the direction she had walked in yesterday. Still trying her best to hold on to the log, she was swept back in the same direction. She screamed with anger as she realised that yesterday's journey had gone to waste. As anger flooded her body she held onto a branch that had extended itself long enough for her to reach. She flung her left arm and grabbed onto the branch with all her strength as her body flew away from the log and it went speeding down. She instantly collapsed into the ice cold water and screamed in pain as her wounds burned as though her body had caught fire. She tried her best to swim but it was of no use. She would be swept further away. As she almost lost hope, she realised one particular thing of the river that she hadn't thought of before . It was shallow enough for her to stand in, with the water at her shoulders. The base consisted of loose mud. And her entire body came to a sudden stop as her foot was caught in the root of one of the trees that was under gallons of water. She hooked her foot deeper into the root and managed to hold on to a strong weed growing on the floor. She took her other hand and dug her manicured hands into the wet mud and somehow managed to pull herself to the ground. Her body shivered as she lay there, catching her breath and coughing out water, her throat burned and her body grew paler. She yet again Peeled her soaking wet clothes off her body, grabbed enough Gunnera leaves to wrap her body in and layed there, eyes wide open, Still traumatised from her experience.

Day 7 was mentally challenging as negativity swarmed her head. She thought of one thing. And one thing that demotivated her was, 'What if everything she was looking for was already long gone?' and with the company of her own thoughts she finally saw a ray of hope when she laid her eyes on the concrete floors and the tall stained glass buildings that had survived the attack. She had reached the other side of town. And at this point, she barely knew where to look anymore. Now, she almost crawled on the floor hoping for the survivors and hiding citizens to save her, before the guards slaughtered her weak crippling body.

She hoped that she would be saved. She hoped that she would get what she so badly longed for.

But if only all you needed to survive was hope.........

Her hungry, injured body finally gave up. Although she didn't want to.

If only hunger and injury would not deflect or make survival harder.....

Her weak body gave up.

Her strong mind longed to live.

But now, as her breathing slowed and her soul was lifted to be carried to the heavens....

A mother reunited with her daughter. 

-An