What is Truth? Chapter 2

The night the war came to Drenovo, every dog in the village became silent at once.

Bambi woke because of the silence.

It was larger than sound. It seemed to press against the windows.

His mother was already dressed.

“Put on your coat,” she said.

“Is it soldiers?”

“Put on your coat.”

He reached for his notebook.

“Leave it.”

Bambi froze.

His mother knew this was impossible.

She took the notebook herself and shoved it into the inner pocket of his coat.

“Now move.”

The first explosion struck somewhere beyond the church. The windows bowed inward. A jar fell from the shelf and shattered.

From outside came shouting, engines, and the sudden return of every dog in Drenovo, all barking at once as though embarrassed by their previous silence.

Katarina pulled Bambi through the back door.

The village smelled of smoke and turned earth. Red light flashed above the rooftops. People ran in every direction.

“Where are we going?” Bambi asked.

“The irrigation ditch.”

“What about the shelter under the school?”

“The road to the school is exposed.”

“Mrs. Varin said—”

“Mrs. Varin is not here.”

They crossed the garden and climbed through a gap in the stone wall. Katarina moved quickly but never seemed hurried. She had wrapped a scarf around her hair, the blue one with tiny white flowers.

They reached the first irrigation trench as another shell landed near the square.

Bambi fell. His mother pulled him up by the collar.

“Stay low.”

A figure emerged through the smoke.

It was Thumper, carrying one shoe and wearing the other.

“My aunt left without me,” he said.

Katarina grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the ditch.

“How does someone leave without you?” Bambi asked.

“There was confusion.”

“You sleep in the same room.”

“There was considerable confusion.”

“Where are your parents?”

Thumper looked away.

His father had been taken by soldiers six months earlier. His mother had gone to the capital to search for him and had not returned.

“My aunt said we should meet at the river,” he said.

Katarina looked toward the eastern fields.

“We’ll take you there.”

They followed the trench beyond the last houses.

Shells fell behind them. Each blast lit the mountains for a second and turned the trees into black skeletons.

Near the abandoned mill, they heard crying.

A house beside the road had partially collapsed. A woman stood outside clawing at the stones.

“My daughter,” she screamed. “She was in the kitchen.”

Katarina stopped.

Bambi tightened his grip on her hand.

“Mama.”

She looked toward the river, then back at the ruined house.

The crying came again, faintly, from beneath the rubble.

Katarina knelt in front of Bambi.

“Follow the trench to the stone culvert.”

“No.”

“Wait there for me.”

“No.”

“Bambi.”

“You said never separate.”

“I said never leave someone where they can be found.”

“That isn’t the same thing.”

“It is tonight.”

Another explosion shook the road.

Katarina gripped his shoulders.

“You know the way.”

“What if you don’t come?”

“I will.”

“How do you know?”

For one second, the answer disappeared from her face.

Then she kissed his forehead.

“I don’t.”

It was the first time Bambi had ever heard his mother admit those words.

She pushed him toward Thumper.

“Go.”

Thumper took Bambi’s sleeve.

They ran.

At the bend in the ditch, Bambi looked back.

His mother was climbing over the broken wall toward the crying child.

Then the night turned white.

The force threw both boys into the mud.

For several minutes, Bambi could hear nothing but a thin ringing inside his skull.

When he stood, Thumper pulled him down.

“We have to go.”

“My mother is there.”

“There are more shells.”

“She said she would come.”

Thumper had no proverb for this.

Bambi climbed from the ditch.

The house was gone.

Part of the wall remained, along with the iron frame of a bed and half a table. Fire moved through the ruins as calmly as water.

Bambi searched until Thumper caught up with him.

He found his mother’s blue scarf beneath a broken roof tile.

One end was burning.

He stamped out the flame and held it in both hands.

Thumper said nothing.

Behind them, the village church bell began to ring.

No one was pulling the rope. The tower had caught fire, and the heat was moving the metal.

The bell rang until the tower collapsed.

Next Chapter: The Road Without Signs

The Challenge associated with the origin of this series ⬆️