Not Alone
I was reading through my old articles and saw the Alone story, which got me thinking, I wonder what happened before? So this is it.
I open my eyes. I am lying in my bed, in the room used to share with my sister.
Before she died.
Before she was murdered.
It happened last year, the year 2024. I was twelve, Jacob was fifteen, and Charlotte was seven. The war had just begun, the soldiers crowding into our quiet village in packed trucks, ruining the crops in the fields by trampling on them and putting up their tents on them. We were forced to stay inside most of the time, in case of non-existent invaders from nowhere in particular. One evening, Charlotte was playing outside our house. The siren went off, signalling that we should all be inside, but Charlotte ignored it. The patrols came through. Her screams echoed around the house. Then the gunshots. As soon as the soldiers were gone, we rushed outside, but she was gone. All that was left was a doll, splattered with blood.
A lump forms in my throat my head clouds with images of her innocent face, my ears ringing with the sound of her piercing screams. I force them out of my mind by busying myself with making my bed and getting dressed, trying not to look at her empty bed across the room. I go downstairs where Jacob is buttering toast for Mum, who is sat staring blankly into space, as usual.
"Morning, Mum," I say quietly, sitting opposite her and taking a piece of toast for myself. Our Father, as you probably guessed, is one of the soldiers fighting the non-existent enemies.
Mum looks up at me, staring at me with her expressionless hazel eyes.
"Morning, Anna," she says in a daze.
There are moments when she seems almost normal, her old self, but usually there's just the empty shell that sits before me, still mourning her child - and possibly her husband. Jacob looks after her, and me, now. I try to help as much as I can, but I'm only thirteen. We should both be out with our friends, having fun, messing around, but both our childhoods have been condemned by our own mother and those horrible soldiers.
There will be more of this soon. Sorry it's a bit miserable, but I hope you like it!
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1 Comment – Post a comment
b00kw0rm99
Commented 35 months ago - 24th June 2013 - 15:49pm
This is sooooo good!