Hunting for Shadows (JaThea Fanfic)

War

December 11. Town Square - Police Station.  9:45 a.m

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**Althea's POV.

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The Siren echoed loudly throughout the town square. 

Thump!Thump!.. Thump!Thump!..

I could hear the beating of my heart while I crouched under the wooden desk, shaking like a leaf. I closed my eyes and braced myself for what I couldn't run away from. Fear engulfed the whole square, and as to where the other people hid? I don't know. All I know is that this could be the last day of my life and I savored every breath I took. Sometimes life throws you lemons, but in wartime it throws you bombs.

 One more deep breath as I think of my loved ones.... 

Then it happened.

"BOOOOMMM!!!"

An explotion. 

It was sharp and quick. The ground shook as the bomb hit the ground. The strong force broke the windows and shards of glass fell on the floor. More explotions followed. It felt like a strong earthquake the only difference is that the air smelled like burnt gun powder. 

The sound was terrifying, deafening. My ears stopped functioning for a while. I couldn't hear a thing, not even the wild thumping of my heart.

My mind went blank and all I could do was to cover my head with my arms as if it would protect me from the debris caused by the impact. Broken wood and chunks of concrete were thrown around with each earth-shattering bang. I imagined it was raining fire even if I could't see what's exactly happenning outside. I remained still, waiting for the police station to crumble... to be reduced to rubble... for my life to end.

One of the walls collapsed.

Everything went black.

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"Althea.. Althea, wake up dear!" 

 I opened my eyes.

I was back in our house, in my room to be exact. The door opened and I was greeted with a sweet smile. 

"Nanay?"  I was so happy to see her. How I missed her so. 

I got up and gave my mother a big hug. She kissed my forehead and hugged me back. I felt so safe in her arms and all my fears slowly melted away. I felt like crying.

"You've grown up so fast, Althea.. you look so beautiful!" Nanay said lovingly as she gently wiped my tears with the hem of her shirt just like when I was a kid. 

"I missed you 'Nay. I wish Tatay and Migoy were here, I'm sure they'd be happy to see you! We can all be together again, just like the old times."  

She smiled.

"You're Tatay's here. I told him to stay away from my special ube cake, but he's too stubborn!"  

My eyes lit up and my feet hurriedly took me to the kitchen. Nanay followed behind me.

"Oopps!" Tatay said innocently while he wiped his mouth with his hand.

 I shook my head as I saw traces of purple on the empty plate in front of him. 

"I told you to save some for Althea and Migoy." Nanay scolded.

Tatay shrugged his shoulders and winked at me.

"Althea, you found me!"

 He let out a hearty laugh. 

I hurried beside my Tatay and gave him a big hug. He still smelled of freshly baked pandesal just like his bakery. A teardrop escaped my eye and I hastily wiped it away with my hand.