Disclaimer: NOT MINE!! i'm not sure who it belongs to...but it isn't me
There is some kinda detailed description of torture in here - you have been warned (not too detailed though)
She is walking through the small village. The buildings are destroyed, blackened with fire, and crumbling in on themselves. Bodies are everywhere, many of them so disfigured that is is impossible to tell who they once were. Her instincts tell her to give them all a proper burial – but she knows she must keep going. The longer she waits the more people die, she reminds herself. But it is so hard not to stop.
By now she thinks she should have learned to walk around these places – her heart aches and she wants to scream that it isn't fair. Several child's toys lay abandoned on the street, black with soot but generally unbroken. As if They knew she would come and wanted to make it harder for her to keep on going.
She gets to the center of the small town, where a now dry and crumbling fountain stands. A young girl is lying in the basin of stone. At first, Martha thinks she is dead, and shies away from the mutilated body. But then the girl lets out a gentle moan, and Martha knows she is alive. She rushes towards the limp figure and lifts her out of the fountain and onto the ground. Martha tries to make her assessments quickly – and in moments she knows the truth. The young girl she is holding in her hands is going to die, soon.
She was tortured beyond every imaginable horror – her skin is covered in blisters from the fire, with cuts so deep Martha can see the bone. Her fingers, elbows, toes and feet are all broken, and half of her hair was pulled out. Everywhere Martha looks the girl is covered in blood.
"You're going to be alright," Martha whispers through the lump in her throat, "I'll make you better." The girl's face is the only thing untouched – like the torturers wanted whoever found her to know just who this little girl was.
"Help me…" her voice was raspy and dry, and she coughed before adding, "it hurts."
"I know, it'll be alright – I promise," tears were running down Martha's face, but the girl's eyes were half closed and she was most likely blind with the pain.
"Who…are…you?"
"My name's Martha. I'm going to help you. What's your name, sweetheart?" she was holding back sobs now, desperate to keep the girl from realizing just what was going on. If she knew her name, Martha reasoned, she could honor her.
"Sarah," the girl whispered, with almost no volume to her voice.
"What happened here, Sarah?"
"It was my twelfth birthday. They came – it hurts!"
"It's OK, Sarah. Just go to sleep, now, it's alright. When you wake up, everything will be better."
"…so…tired…"
"That's right," Martha whispered, gently stroking the girl's forehead, "Shh…it'll all be over soon."
Sarah closed her eyes, and took one last, shuddering breath.
That night, a lone figure could be seen, burying the girl she couldn't save.
Review! I think there will be another chapter to this - if i get the chance
the verb tense kinda jumps around a bit - but i think it all works out