Anna and Eden got ready to leave the town where their lives encountered big changes. The next town was not too far but for survivors of war, they had a long way to go. Being disabled, being depressed, being unable to walk, remembering the scene of people shattering to pieces right in front of their eyes, how could they forget everything and move on? Watching their beloved homes turn into ashes and dust, how could they leave everything behind? All their memories, all their precious memories of the home they used to grow up in and make their own families, were attached to them like a chain attached to a prisoner, and they could not move because they were stuck in the memories. But the world didn't care. They had to move so that they could live. However, they could not be the same.
Nodin and the little girl had already left the town. On their way to their new home, they stopped for a little to rest. There was an almost big forest between the towns. Due to the explosion, some part of the forest was on fire. The animals had already fled. They were all alone in the burnt forest.
They did not have a tent or anything to sit on, and a cold breeze of the autumn was just an unnecessary companion. The child did not spoke the whole time, but she was a lot better than her before. Even though she didn't move around the area, but she stuck to Nodin, with her own intention.
She had accepted the reality and accepted the fact that Nodin was the only way to survive, to leave the ruins, to forget all those horrible incidents and the only way to live, since she couldn't do many things on her own.
As they were resting, Nodin picked up a leaf which was fallen on the ground. He looked carefully at the leaf and smiled. It seemed as if he had recalled something funny, or something lovely. The child was staring at him with awe. In her eyes he seemed like a lunatic who was happy looking at a leaf while his life was about to end some hours ago.
Nodin noticed her stares and got happy for real. The child had started to come back to life. He smiled at her.
"Have you ever heard of what the legends say about leaves?"
She moved her head to say that she hadn't heard of.
"There was this lovely person who used to tell me the myths and stories he came to believe."
The child pointed at her back meaning to show the town which was destroyed.
"Yes, he did live there until yesterday. Do you want to know the story?"
The girl nodded.
"Once upon a time, a princess of the heaven set her foot on earth. She was exiled because she was framed as the culprit of a huge mistake. She knew that she was innocent but she couldn't prove it, so she came to earth. She lived among humans for so many years and became the friends of so many souls who needed support. And after a while she came to the nature. She started to live alone, without any human friends, and decided to be the friend of nature. She could understand what the mother nature had to say. The trees, the animals, the sky, the clouds, everyone was so happy that she was there with them. They were living together with peace and the humans had forgotten about a person who was their friends. But some continued to look for her, some who were not happy that she was not in their hands, so they searched for her. Then she was found in place which was her earthly heaven. The land that she was living on turned into an astonishing place, something like the real heaven, the legends say. The humans burned her garden to make her surrender. The nature stood firmly in front of the enemies to support her, but soon their defenses became useless when she decided to come and save her home. But the humans killed her. The trees which was around her started to stretch their arms and give her a hand to stand up but she could not take their hands. All the trees, flowers, whatever that was there resided with deep pain in their hearts. Their hands which are the leaves turned into this shape, as if there are offering their hand, because they still believe she will take their hands and rise again. It's nothing but a story but it's a lovely one."
The child's eyes as she was listening to Nodin telling her something new and fresh, were spectacular. She was reacting to what Nodin was saying, she wasn't looking at nowhere lifelessly anymore.
"She's a strong girl."
Nodin thought.
Waiting for her to speak needed a longer time. Having such big improvement was enough to ask for.
The girl stood up and collected as many as leaves she could.
"What are you doing?"
Nodin was dying to find out.
When she collected all she could, she gave them to Nodin.
"Are these for me?"
She nodded.
Nodin was never happy in his whole life.
"Thank you. I'll treasure them."
She sat quickly beside her. It seemed like she was a little bit shy.
Nodin, who was holding the leaves, put them in a tissue, then kept it in his pocket. As he stole glimpse of her, he found her playing with her little fingers. He was curious to know what the little girl was thinking of as she was playing with her fingers.
After they had enough rest, Nodin put up the kid and headed to the destination, once again.
.
.
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Anna and Eden was still far behind them. They had headed to the same town as Nodin. They couldn't walk for long hours since Eden kept on losing his strength after short walks. If there was only a car available there, they could've reached a hospital by then. However, the destruction included everything, even the cars.
People who used to live there were mostly farmers, so all that could be found there were tractors and they were not of use anymore.
"Did you grew up here, Ms. Anna?"
Eden was curious about Anna's history.
"Yeah."
"What about your husband? Was he from here?"
"No, I met him outside. Once I decided to attend some classes which were held in the city. Then, I met him there."
"Was he handsome?"
"Even though I hate that man, but you can't go around saying someone was handsome or not. Keep that in mind. Some may feel unhappy to hear you say that."
"You're getting more and more like mothers."
"I am a mother."
"What happened next?"
"We started to meet time to time and then we thought we are meant to be together, then after we got married, he moved in with me."
"Wasn't it a young age for marriage?
"I don't know, when you feel like you need to get married, it doesn't matter how old you are anymore. After that my son was born."
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.
.
Eden was waiting for her to tell the rest but she didn't say anything.
"It must have hard on you, right?"
"Yeah, but I enjoyed my moments with my son. What about you? Any one waiting for you?"
Eden laughed.
"No there's no special person. I kind of lived away from such things. And now that I'm like this I don't think that's gonna be an option for me. Who's gonna marry a man with no hand?"
"Things will change, at least I hope so."
"We should get going or we'll have to spend the night here."
"Yeah, let's go."
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Bertrand Russell