My family and I were outside in the meadow nearby or house. All of us were eating yummy platters of food that my mom made, for the picnic we were in the middle of having. i sat, in the warm nest of my sister, Yumi's, lap. I looked up at her. She had the same bright green eyes as my mom and I. I then focused my eyes from Yumi to my mom, my and daddy. i giggled at the silly rainbow nail polish, painted on my Mommy's toes. They looked so joyful, with their wide smiles and a gleam in their eyes. Lately, the pair have been fighting and cursing in the room next to mine. The thought of no arguments between them, put a big smile on my tiny face. We continued one with our laughter, happiness, and eating the food. After we had finished with the orderves, I suggested that we play a game. I had always loved games. They were so much fun to a five year old girl like me!
"How about we play...Hide and Seek?!"
Hide and Seek would have to be my favorite game. I have always loved the surprise you would get when either you would be found, or the person searching for the other people playing the game. Of course, they agreed. My family always loved to play with me. I volunteered to be the seeker. They didn't seem to object, so there i was: alone in the grove of trees. I wanted to give Yumi, Mommy, and Daddy, enough time to hide, so I counted all the way to 100. My dad was a author, so he prepared me for Kindergarten, by teaching me a few things in advance, like writing and counting. I hear their footsteps, grow quieter and quieter, to silence. From my view, I noticed the sky: it looked very dark. Plus there was tiniest chilling breeze. Thankfully, Daddy let me wear is leather coat. It made me feel nice and comfy. It was so big though. Whatever. I will grow into it eventually.
30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.The breeze began to pick up its strength and speed. I could hear it growing louder. It was winter time, so I was used to the wind. Suddenly a ripple surged under my feet, however the strength wasn't too powerful, so I did not fall over. I shrugged my shoulders and kept counting.40. Then another shake occurred beneath my feet, again. This time the disturbance underground was so big that it slammed me onto the forest floor. My once white shirt immediately became covered in murky dirt. The rocks on the ground embedded my face. I felt coppery fluid fill every corner inside my mouth.
I tried to regain my senses and pushed myself to get up. I spurted blood to get the horrible taste out. My vision was in a blur. I thought my blood had formed circles all on its own. I rubbed my eyes, to see if I was really seeing this...No just the dirt I had gotten in my eyes. All of a sudden, the ground erupted underneath me with a lot of power, the trees shook- leaves scattered on the ground, and the sky seemed to turn black. The pines fell around me- branches like spears piercing my soft flesh into the ground. I groaned in pain and hot tears fell from my eyes. I got up, with a struggle, and ripped the branches out. I bounded over trees that were in the midst of falling.
"I had to find them- Mom, Dad, and my Sister"
100.I looked up to see my once joyful neighbors in fits of distress. They either, held the dead or injured loved ones or tried to escape the 'nightmare' they were having. One of them, Mrs. Hoang, was looking for her husband and she called out his name desperately. She pushed against me, while she was running, which made me stumble to the ground. I looked up from where I laid, and saw her and three other people get smashed by a few pieces of large rubble. If only she knew, that was in a bush right next to me. I grimaced. I regained my balance, but winced in pain, because as I stood, rocks had stabbed my feet. I needed to ease through the pain, so I sprinted as fast I could, straight ahead of me. Fires sparked in the damaged trees and pieces of rubble that used to be parts of houses. 300.
I stopped abruptly, to take a breath. My knees shook beneath me, my feet ached from the stones, and my legs were filled with pain due to the bruises and scratches from the tree branches. I collapsed to the ground- the hurt was too much. I scanned the area in which i landed upon. There were body parts surrounding me. i looked closely at each of them. One was a green eye, another a toe with chipped rainbow nail polish and a leg with a tan skin tone. The last one that I saw was two hands linked together with wedding bands on the ring finger. My eyes didn't water from the smoke in the fire, or dirt blurring them- no, it was because those dismembered body parts were of my family.450.
My eyes narrowed and tears began to fall. I grabbed all of the parts and held them close to my chest. I screamed until my throat became raw. I looked at each of the parts and planted a kiss on them. I set them down slowly, as my arms trembled. From my leather jacket pocket I grabbed a few flowers that I picked in the meadow earlier. A daisy, a lavender, and a lily. I placed the flowers by the appendages.
"We were playing a game of Hide and Seek, but then you were all hidden for too long...so I ran after all of you. You guys lost I guess because I found you"
600.I stood up and ignored my body objecting. I took one last long look, and started to walk away. Around me, fires destroyed the neighborhood and the remaining rubble burned to ashes, but my brain and ears just tuned everything out. My motive now is to live for them. Yumi. Mommy. Daddy. There was no purpose in going back home- it was probably all in ruins anyway. My face turned to the city before me. I walked into the city and my eyes immediately spotted a few alleyways. Thugs committed robberies, with this opportunity they had, and escaped into the dark of one of the alleys. For the thugs, alleys must have been their safe haven.
I slipped into the one to my left. My eyes seemed to glow in the shadows. I found a small piece of wall and cuddled into it. I closed my heavy eyelids, unknown to what might come next.