Dagger

Chapter 25

She barely remembered being whisked away by her parents. She didn't remember the life she had in the city, where they lived, what it was like. But what she did remember was the fear. That was the first time that she had felt fear, although what had scared her, she didn't know.

Before that one fateful day she led a happy and content life in Auxilium. She climbed the nearby cherry blossom trees with her older brother Aki, and she helped collect and ship the wheat that the small town grew. She watched the wheat be shipped off beyond the treeline and she couldn't help but wonder what was beyond, but never dared to explore for herself. Her brother on the other hand was more daring than her, and he often found himself being chastised for running off.

Throughout her childhood she remembered the few words her mother would repeatedly tell them, "Always stick together never lose each other." Her black hair curled down to her shoulders and her brown eyes stared down at her with care.

She never quite understood the meaning of her words to their full extent, until one day when her perfect, content, and happy life was shattered into a million pieces. 

She remembered that day, to the last little detail. She was in the wheat field that day, hacking away at the wheat before her and placing the newly detached grain  into the bag on her back. She then stood up straight and surveyed the work that she had done. It looked as though she were halfway done her row and she already felt exhausted. As she wiped her brow a scream came from somewhere in the village. She craned her neck in the direction of the scream in curiosity. The machete she was using to cut the wheat, slipped out of her hand as she watched someone stumble out of her tiny red house. As her feet began to move she found that the bag was rather cumbersome, so she let it slip down to the ground and she continued to run towards her home.

She remembered convincing herself that everything was fine and it was nothing, but there was always that bad feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. But she ran like a madwoman nonetheless. Curious faces blurred past her as she ran and slowed to a stop before the doorway to her home, which was ominously  wide open. She stood rooted to the ground for a moment, eyeing the chipped white paint of the doorframe. She wanted to enter it but she was afraid of what laid behind the darkness.

Then, she felt a presence beside her, followed by a hand on her shoulder. She looked over and was met with the encouraging dark brown monolid eyes of her older brother, Aki. She smiled back at her brother and watched as he entered their small house.

A small group formed around the doorway of their house. Aki took a little while before he came back outside and she could've sworn she heard someone talking, but decided it was the whistle of the wind. Her eyes were glued to her brother's face as he emerged from the home, more like they were glued to the tears that were now sliding down his cheeks. She had never seen her brother cry, and she found herself joining him as her eyes shifted to what he held in his arms.

The limp body of her mother was held in her brother's arms. She ran over to them and she peered into the cold face of her mother as tears slid down her face. She then peered into the dark abyss of her home. She couldn't even begin to describe what she felt when she looked into her mother's cold face when it was always so warm and caring. There was a lump in her throat and, although it really happened, it felt like a bad nightmare. It didn't seem real, it couldn't be real.

She went inside and searched for her father, she wanted to know if there were any chance that her father was fine. Her brother called after her, but she kept running as tears fell from her eyes. She went straight past the living room and into the kitchen. She stopped so suddenly she thought  that she might fall. Then her eyes took in the horrible sight and she felt like she was about to be sick, but at the same time she wanted to see if it were real or if it were a cruel joke.