Eden's eyes were wavering, begging her not to leave. Anna had made up her mind a second ago but his pure eyes, reminded her of her son. She hesitated.
"This is your only chance. If you keep blaming for whatever has happened, I'll leave for sure."
Eden felt relieved.
"I'll be careful next time."
"Wait here, I'll be back."
Anna left Eden to look around.
Eden sat on the ground, the loss of his hand was unbearable and the fact that they didn't have a safe place to be in was another unbearable thing to mention. That was a nonpareil view, an indescribable one. Who could believe that ruins were houses filled with people? Who could believe life was there?
Eden was staring at the destroyed lives in front of him.
"Is there really a god? Is there really someone protecting us? Where the heck are you? What were you doing when these lives got crashed? How can you live with no regrets? How can you be so heartless, so cruel? Give us a break."
Eden used to believe in him for a long time but after the breakout of war, he couldn't remain the same. He had lost his reason to believe in someone or something which wasn't there helping them. He wanted to believe and confide in him but he no longer had the ability to do so. He had started to doubt even the existence of such thing. He didn't know if he was wrong or not. He couldn't recognize either.
"Children died, families died, I lost my hand, Anna lost her son, where were you when we struggled so much? Where were you? Why didn't you come to help us? Aren't we supposed to be loved by you?"
.
.
.
"WHERE WERE YOU? Where the heck were you when they shouted and cried for your hand to escape such fortune? Are you really on our side? Aren't we part of your creation, too? Where were you? Where ARE YOU NOW?"
As he was whispering to himself, he heard footsteps coming towards him. For one moment he thought the enemy had come to kill him. However, he saw no one. The footsteps came nearer and nearer.
"Is it Anna? Is she gonna scare me?"
.
.
.
"No she won't do that. She's not the type to do so."
He was scared to find out what was there, he had lost his hand, he couldn't protect himself. He was frightened to death.
The footsteps came nearer and nearer, then stopped. Eden had already lost his strength.
As he was sitting on the ground looking around to find the source of the sound, something came from his back.
"Hard isn't it?"
Eden got scared to death. There was a child behind him. He didn't seem to be a normal child. The look in his eyes seemed as if he was an experienced person, like how an adult would look like.
"Wh… Who are you?"
As he was shaking in fear said.
"I'm here to help you."
"I don't need…"
He recalled his argument with Anna. He couldn't act that coldly towards the kid.
"Are you alone?"
The kid smiled.
"I'm always alone."
Eden couldn't get through the kid and understand him.
"He must be in shock. Yeah that has to be the case."
Eden thought.
He tried to come forward to the kid and comfort him.
"No, don't move. I'll be going in any moment. Can I hug you?"
The kid was strange. Not every kid came to strangers to get a free hug.
"Fine."
The kid came near him and hugged him so lovingly. Once Eden felt the warmth, he started to cry, like those good old times when he used to play outside then come back home with a bruise on his foot and his mother would hug and kiss him until he got better. The kid's embrace was warm like a mother, strong like a father, friendly like a good old friend.
As the kid was embracing him, he whispered to his ear.
"He's there and will always be there for you."
Eden wasn't paying attention to his words, he was so indulging himself in that amazing embrace. It seemed to be a jar of honey which had devoured him. No! It hadn't devoured him but had helped him taste sweetness.
Eden had started to cry silently. His heart was pumping with all it had, not to give into those good old times. He was in his embrace but suddenly, he felt nothing and closed his eyes. He passed out and the kid disappeared into thin air.
Anna was looking the area to see if there was any car they could use. Everything was completely wiped out or had lost half of it. She started to get demoralized for real then she found a car which seemed to be in good shape.
There were some stones and breaks in it, she managed to get them out of there on her own. She had to do so. She had become a mother again; she had become a mountain again for others to rely on her. Even though she shouldn't have got it wrong but she couldn't let go of the fact that she was mothering him.
The car was made for people to work on farms with, it was better than nothing. She tried to start the car, however, there were some brief problems with it but as incredible as she was, she succeeded. Driving the car, she came to Eden.
Eden was on the ground unconscious.
Anna got really worried. She came to him and checked his pulse and respiration. There was nothing wrong with him but the results of his hand loss. It seemed as if he had fallen asleep due to his intolerable state.
She moved him to the car and got him on. They didn't have much fuel but it was enough to get them out of there, at least to some clinics which were established between the cities.
.
.
.
It was getting dark as they were passing and slowly Eden was coming back to his senses. The road wasn't clear thoroughly but there was no animal crossing the road, no human being blocking the way. Just the destroyed pieces of houses were on the ground.
She couldn't drive much, since it was dark and she wasn't really knowledgeable about the shortest route, and she couldn't risk her only supply of fuel on some gamble.
After a while she found somewhere to stay for the night. Eden was still asleep and it seemed suspicious. Up until then, he had always mourned in his sleeps because of the pain he was bearing. She wanted to wake him up and ask him a few questions, about what had happened? what had he seen before falling asleep? But she couldn't wake him up, he was sleeping like a child. She was a mother, she used to be a mother, only she could know how horrible it was to wake him up.
So they stayed there for the night. Some miles away, Nodin and the little girl were sleeping in each other's embrace.
Everyone had become somehow mothers and fathers. It was so sudden, they couldn't forget about what they went through and had to rely on someone, like a mother or a father.
.
.
.
Nodin and the child woke up and departed for their Neverland to come across. The next cities were miles away. Where to go, was out of his mind.
He couldn't find a car, a car which wasn't out of order. They had to travel on their feet. He could somehow manage the long distance but he was worried about the little girl, even though she had gotten better, she would walk miles and say no complaints for how far it was or how she wanted a safe roof over her head. Nodin wasn't the one to get blamed for the side effects but he could not think of somebody else to blame for.
If the kid was sad, he would think it was his fault. If the kid was cold, he would think it was his fault. If the kid was hungry, he would think it was his fault. It's how the world goes for some people, some very rare people. People with kind hearts who care for others while they get hit and get heart broken. Angelic people like him, they're rare but there are still people like them. There are still benign flowers in this mortal garden, who we tend to forget. We tend to forget goodness is alive and cover the whole world with the flower of evil. And that makes them a hard life. This is why war never went away. As long as there is avarice, the good gets hurt and war comes along.