Ashes | Chapter One : The Lost Home

And without her permission her feet stopped, she looked back. Her eyes searched for someone she could recognize, her ears begged to hear a familiar voice, but all she saw was shadow of the night and all she heard was silence of the death. She saw smoke rising from everything she ever loved, getting lost in the blackest night of her life, and ashes of everyone she ever knew falling everywhere like warm snow in the summer. Everyone was gone, everyone but her.

Maybe she was dead too, maybe she was in hell already. Because this place couldn’t be a creation of God. Ground beneath her burned like fire. There were corpses everywhere. The girl she used to teach, lay naked in the grass, which had turned dark red from her blood, scars scattered everywhere on her body. The man who used to deliver their letters was looking at her, his dead eyes wide open, his body was stabbed, burning slowly, as the smell of melting flesh made her numb. The woman who taught her how to pray was killed near a tree, eyes closed with a strange peace on her face like she was sleeping, covered in her own blood.

She closed her eyes forcefully, it must be a nightmare. She wanted to wake up, she had to wake up. She opened her eyes, but nothing changed, the pain, the horror, the blood, the bodies, everything was still there. She wished she was blind, she wished she was dead.

Suddenly an ecstatic scream echoed in the woods, mocking the silence and taunting the death, before slowly withering away behind the sound of crackling flames. They were coming back and they weren't far. She turned around, she knew what lies ahead but she had no other option. She gathered all her remaining strength and started walking as fast as she could, without making a noise.

She was at the river when all of this happened, she heard a loud noise followed by some familiar voices screaming at their highest potential as they were torn apart. She ran towards her village. This village was all she had in the name of family. She saw people with black masks wrecking everything they could touch. She hid in the woods, at the same place she used to hide as a child, when they played hide and seek. She didn’t know how long she was in there. She could hear screams slowly fading away and celebration getting louder with every passing moment. She waited until she heard the footsteps leaving.

This was the second time her family was taken away from her and this time it was harder. She never knew her parents; they were dead long before she could speak the word “parents”. But this time she was mature enough to understand her loss, old enough to feel the pain of being alone in this world once again.

She forced herself back into reality, and found herself at the edge of the mountain. She saw the scattered lights of small villages flickering like fireflies, and the sand, covering everything as far as her little blue eyes could see, gleaming like flawless silver under the night sky.

The descend was perilous, a single misstep would result in a fatal fall. She took a deep breath.

'STOP'

A word she heard, every muscle of her body froze like a corpse. Maybe she wasn’t quite enough, or maybe she was stupid to think that she could run away from all of this, alive. She heard the voices getting louder with every footstep towards her as she turned around.

They were six, all black from head to toe, wearing a black mask with a silver wolf painted on it. Their guns hung loose on their side. But the worst part was not the guns, the worst part was their faces, which were painted with shades of enormous joy, joy of raping and killing innocents. They were animals in human skin, their eyes told her.

'Where do you think you are going?' The one with the torch asked her. 'You look like our dessert.'

'She wasn’t at the village, she is not a thing to go unnoticed.' The biggest one of them said.

Laughter followed his words.

There was no time, she had to act fast, or she would be raped and killed if she was lucky, otherwise they would sell her to the highest bidder.

One of them took a step towards her, hint of a smile still stuck to his face, devil still dancing in his eyes. Both his hands ready to grope her, then he jumped at her.

She stepped back, her leg slipped.

The guy near her threw his hands in attempt to catch her, but it was too late. He was close but not close enough. For a quick moment she saw joy sliding from his face. An unconscious smile escaped her lips.

She closed her eyes and heard the wind screaming around her as the ground below stretched its arms to catch her.

To be continued…

PS: This is the first time I am posting a story publicly, I know it couldn't be more far from perfect, but I am considering this as the first step in the right direction. It would be awesome if you guys can provide some feedback/criticism/suggestion so I can improve myself and provide better stories/content to you guys in the future. Thank You for reading this, I hope you liked it.