CHAPTER TWO: LAI'S FREEDOM
But she hadn't taken it into account yet that her parents were dead. She searched around the house, but found nothing. Then she went up to the fountain in the main part of the village and there lying breathlessly on the ground was her father.
She ran up to him, whispering "Father….father?" His eyes were closed and he was not breathing. His black hair all wet, his clothing ripped somewhat. She took his pulse, and still nothing. No hope……no life……..no father. She tried one last time by blowing into his mouth trying to make him breath, and that's when she found the wound. A great gash across his neck told Lai it was over. She had only then realized there was blood all around her and all over her. Still she wasn't crying. Perhaps it was still a shock, as she stood up looking at her dad's lifeless body, or maybe she just didn't want to believe it. Maybe thinking to herself, 'No, I won't believe it, I refuse to believe it'.
She didn't have to look far for her mother, as when Lai went to clean the blood off her in the fountain, there she lay. She had been drowned. Her body floating on top of the red water, her eyes wide open. Lai reached in and pulled her out trying not to bang her head, as she thought it still possible that she could be alive. But as she pulled her out and laid her on the ground, Lai saw that her neck too, had been sliced open. Just then she felt it. The cold, saddening emotion of loss. The loss of her parents. Seeing them lying dead in the middle of the street only confirmed this feeling.
She began to break down in tears, as she fell to the ground covering her face and rocking back and fourth. It lasted for about fifteen minutes of her just crying thinking about 'why this happened?', or 'If I'd had been here', or 'What am I to do without them?' Then finally she got up, her knees shaking, hands trembling, face all wet and eyes all red. She sat on the water fountain thinking for a while, sniffling every so often. Her horse, Noel came slowly up beside her and nudged her trying to send some kind of comfort.
"I g-guess…" Lai started stuttering. "I'll b-bury them i-in the cem-eter-y."
Lai got up and hugged Noel for a while still wiping her tears. Noel's fur felt so soft and comfortable. That and the fact that all of that crying had made Lai immensely tired, as she rubbed her eyes. She hooked a harness to Noel with some rope. Lai put her mother on a piece of wood resembling what she figured must have been a door and tied it to the rope Noel had on her. She then got on Noel and started pulling her mother towards the cemetery on the plank of wood. She did this for her father as well and finally when they were all buried and crosses sank in the dirt above where their heads would be in the ground, Lai placed white and pink orchid flowers over top of each of her parents. She said a prayer and wished them happiness, and that they not worry about her. She then wondered where she would be cleaning off.
"There's a nearby well just down the path Noel, near the forest. I think I'll go clean off". And she left with Noel to bathe. As soon as the ice cold and refreshing water hit her head, she felt regretfully better. As she cleaned herself off, she stood there wondering what she was going to do next and finally found herself in the very position.
She was clean, yes, but very tired. The sun was going down, as the dark blue clouds turned into night, and the orange and pink sunset faded into black, she found herself alone and scared. Lai was not one to be frightened in most situations. But looking around and seeing nothing, was something that scared her the most. No forms of life, no one to talk to, no one….but wait, she did have Noel. And suddenly, she felt very grateful to have one friend left. As she lay down on the soft grass with Noel, it felt like her whole body was saying thanks. As her head lay on the ground, the warm breeze made her even sleepier. Her eyes were saying, 'just go to sleep, just go to sleep'. She cuddled up against Noel for even more comfort and realized she had gotten her freedom.…