The sun was giving her last rays of sunlight when Nodin and the child arrived at the entrance of Nodin's town.
"How did this happen?"
The town was destroyed. The buildings were in ruins. Corpses and blood were everywhere. Flies were flying around the dead bodies. The town which was a place for living, got involved with war and became the town of dead which smelled horribly. While they were trying to save the other town, their own town got destroyed, their neighbors died.
He was about to cry but when he saw the little girl gazing at the dead bodies, he stood in front of the little girl as fast as possible. He didn't want her to get back to her previous state. Fear was written in her eyes. Indeed! She was afraid. How could she not be afraid of everything? What was she going to do if she couldn't find a shelter? What was she going to do if she couldn't find food? What was she going to if she was stuck in war forever? How could she not be afraid when her world was burned in front of her small eyes? How could she not be afraid when they had no idea what was happening in the world?
"We have to get out of there or we'll get some kind of disease. But we're gonna find a house soon. We're gonna be safe. Just wait a little longer."
Nodin was trying to hide his sorrow behind his smile which was trying to encourage her.
The little girl was shaking, her body was getting colder and colder. Nodin took something then wrap it around her. It wasn't enough, she was shaking really hard. She was shocked. She needed something to distract her but he couldn't think of anything. He had to do something or the shock might have done serious damages to her or even might have killed her.
He hugged her, covered her eyes, then started to ran towards his house. Each road he took was blocked, no matter where he went, he couldn't get to his house. The child had seemed to be calmed since her eyes were closed and she couldn't see anything horrible anymore. In his arms, like her father, she fell asleep.
"Thank goodness."
He was relieved that she was asleep and she wouldn't witness anything.
He went around the area to find the right path which lead to his house. Cars were broken down, with drivers dead in. Did war really did all these? Everything was destroyed, and it was only a day ago, but it seemed centuries have passed.
Finally, after going around, he was able to find his house which was destroyed. He couldn't risk letting go of the kid, he looked around but nothing was there to hide her there. So he took her with him. the hallway was blocked with the walls that were destroyed. A small passage to the inside caught his eyes. As he was holding the kid, sat down and moved inch by inch to get through. He had a small portion in contrast to other men around his age. He was always mocked for it but who would have thought something like this would come in handy?
The living room were in better shape than other places, they couldn't stay there for so long since he wasn't sure how much the walls would stand still. There was a sofa in the living room, he put the kid down and started to look for vital supplies.
He went to his room and found a backpack. He put some of the food, he found in it to cover their food for a few days. They were not much but better than having biscuit all the time. He took matches, clothes, cloths, lighter, a kitchen knife and some other utensils.
The terrace did not have any walls on, and it had a place which was available to rest the night. He wanted to make a fire but if there was only a light terrace of released gas, then they would have exploded like how their houses exploded. He took the girl outside and had her in his embrace while he joined her.
Anna and Eden came slowly to the town where the hopes of a few got turned into ashes and dust. Eden leant on Anna's shoulder, faced the destroyed land they had set foot into. What were they going to do? They couldn't move on their feet anymore. Eden had lost a lot of blood already and he couldn't bear to walk anymore, nor did Anna. She had to help him since he had no strength to move. They both were tired and when they witnessed another town which was caught up in the flames of war, they gave up. They both sat down and stared at the ruins. Which way to go? Which route to escape? Which road to safety? Where were they?
They couldn't find one, they couldn't think of any other way. Eden was in need of treatment.
"What are we going to do now? We can't get to the next town with nothing."
Eden said.
"I don't know. The next town is like three to four days from here."
"But we can't get there."
"I know."
"SO WHAT NOW?"
Eden shouted. Considering his condition, losing his precious hand, he was in a lot pain, but Anna was already in grieve for the loss of her reason to live, her son.
Anna frowned and tried to hold back her rage. Eyes closed, lips touching each other aggressively and were about to shatter into pieces.
"How the heck am I supposed to know when I don't even know what the heck has happened here?"
Eden realized he was being a rude and Anna was not at fault for everything.
"But I can't expect too much of you, even though you have such a name but you're like every one of them, every one of those jerks."
Anna stood up.
"Hey! Hey! I'm sorry."
Eden started to beg.
"What now? Feeling better that you ruined my mood even though it was not good in the first place? What do you want from me? I'm not the cause of war."
"I never said that."
"I can't deal with you anymore, let's go in different ways."
"No! Please! I beg you."
"DO you know HOW MUCH you talk nonsense and then start to act like a baby who wants to be forgiven for the mistakes you have made? I'm not your mom, nor your wife. I'm just a passerby who came to see that moment and tried to save you."
Eden's eyes got covered in tears.
"So you're just gonna leave me?"
"Wow! You are really nowhere near manners!"
They both were mentally exhausted and were putting the blame on the other's shoulders.
Whenever we humans get tired and get farther from our expectations, we explode. We decide to share our emotions with somebody else, but instead, we end up hurting the people around, because the only way, we know, is to blame others for everything.
Eden and Anna were no different than other humans, they both were in a horrible condition.
"I'm sorry, I just can't think well. It's been a long day."
"You do everything you want, you say whatever you want, don't you think you're spoiled too much? This time you're not gonna have your way."
"Anna please."
Anna looked at him, his eyes were shouting his regret. He was kind at heart, he was just a little careless in speaking. Everything about him was like another spitting image of her son. She was trying real hard not to confuse him and him, but she wanted to get confused. Seeing his attitude, she realized her son would never behave like that.
His eyes waiting for a response, was another thing she could not resist. He needed help and Anna was not that kind of person who would abandon a person who needed assistance.
Her right shoulder was telling her to help him and her left shoulder was trying to stop her from helping him. She was caught empty handed in a massive war between her right and wrong doings.
War between shoulders, war between right and wrong, war between lives, between survivors.