Refuge

Running!...Screaming!... Fear... is that all I remember?

The force of the water at my mother's feet, grabbing her, slowing her down. I remember the scratching whispers, which were dulled out by haunting screams by wondering souls. I remember the comforting sounds of her heart, beating, a sound I can no longer hear. Only fear, the type of fear no man, woman, or child can escape, even after we think it is gone, it is only hiding, watching us, waiting until we think it is gone, think we are safe.

(One hour before the Escape)

BANG! The sirens screeching scream, the cage that once held us lies crippled on the ground, the men pull the women out like jewellery, as if this prison we were taught to be home was the vault, and they were the robbers.

She was the only person I knew in this wretched cage. She snatches me and she runs, The sirens grew quieter the further we went, the others further back trip, one by one, never getting back up; the sounds that crackled in the distance grew louder, yet my mother never did look back. Her heart was like a rusted engine, trying to keep up with her frantic, fearful moments.

Suddenly we reach a hilltop This smell (unfamiliar to me) strengthens, stinging my nose. We make our way down the frail rocky hill, the sound of waves waging war against the land, bombardment after bombardment, even the men seem weary.

As we scramble to the bottom, a little white boat appears from cover of its rocky guards; My mother gives me to one of the men, and he places me inside the crowded boat. In the distance unused the waves and screams and the crackling of gunfire in the distance I can hear a cry, the cry of a child. In the distance it can be seen a mother, - and her child has fallen between two rocks, squeezing them, holding them, stopping them from leaving them.

My mother...looks at me with tearful eyes; for a fraction of a second, that one look... is all it took. A look to say a thousand painful words, like daggers they pierce my inner self, trying to hide in the darkness in fear, pulled into the scorching spotlight. she told me, that it was going to be okay, that she had to save them, that she had to try. Click!

The sound of a round chambering encoded through the rocky hillside. At that very moment; Before a single breath can leave my shivering weak body BANG!... She falls. lifeless. grounded. everything starts to fall dark; All sound stops; all reality that placed me in that moment becomes fictional and I am engulfed in my own reality My inner consciousness can no longer protect my inner naked mind from the scaring truth. I began to choke on my own crippling emotions, Like flying daggers pinning me down. My mind begins to go blank... only blissful darkness... Darkness... Darkness... Peace; at last...