It didn't take me long to realize that I wasn't being followed. I stopped, almost crashing into a tree, and bent down. Usually, I grasped me knees and breathed heavily for a while, but as soon as I touched my knees I cried out. Looking at my hands, I cringed. I had gotten burned a lot, mostly from my bending, but also from the stove, and I had never seen a burn this bad. My hands were red, and there was some white on them. The burn went up my arm to about my elbow, though a little higher on my right hand. Figured. Thankful I wasn't the queasy type of person, I looked at the rest of my body. Though I couldn't see my back, I began to notice that whenever I turned there was an uncomfortable pulling and slight pain. I suspected it had been burned to. My face felt fine, and, though my hair was an inch shorter, so did my neck and scalp. My legs were fine, too, except for a small burn on my left calf.
Through with my examination, I looked around. I recognized where I was, thank goodness. It was only about a ten minute walk to my house. I bit my lip, and began to run.
Running took about five minutes, and soon I was at the edge of the forest, house in sight. After looking around and seeing no one, (I guess they were busy with the other side of the town,) I took a deep breath and ran over to where the porch should have been. Like all the other houses around it was destroyed. A tear fell out of my eye and my heart beat faster, but I still had hope.
Ignoring the pain, I began to throw metal boards aside. It wasn't long before I saw some clothes. They looked like my father's.
I moved a shingle and a shutter, and stifled a scream. My father lay there, eyes wide open. His mouth was open, too, as though he were screaming. His clothes were torn and he had so many cuts… I fell to my knees and grabbed his hand.
"Dad?" No answer. Of course there was no answer. "Daddy?"
Tears fell freely from my eyes now, and I swallowed a scream. I clutched his hand harder, and felt his wedding ring dig into my palm. I wept next to him, and then a thought struck me. What about Mom?
I began to search for her, too.
An hour of shoving aside rubble and metal later, I found her. She was on her stomach, eyes open. The irises had no light in them. In her hand she held the little metal dragon she was working on. This time, I did scream.
"Mom! Mom! Mommy! Wake up, wake up!" I shook her, but deep down I knew she wasn't going to wake up. "Mom… please…" I threw myself down next to her, and, ignoring the fact that she was dead, hugged her as hard as I could.
It was when the sun was setting I heard voices. I was sitting next to Mom, and I knew I needed to get away.
"I love you, Mommy." I whispered. I hugged her again, and then I took a step away, but then came back. Removing the dragon from her hand and her wedding ring from her finger, I stumbled toward Dad.
"I love you, too, Daddy." I hugged him, trying not to notice that he was cold, and took his wedding ring, too.
Then, seeing light penetrate the darkness, I again ran toward the tree line.
I didn't know how long I ran. I only stopped running when I couldn't see any light anymore. The life I knew was long gone; everything and everyone I had loved was either destroyed or dead. Mom and Dad… were… I chocked on a sob, not able to think about it. Then, for the first time, I thought about Tage. I assumed he could never have survived. He was only fifty feet away. He would have been killed instantly. But he wasn't important right now.
I fell to the ground, curled into a ball, and screamed for my parents.