The Heart of War

Thea’s ears were still ringing, and she could barely feel the ash raining on her as the aftershock of the rumbling bombs kept detonating around her. When she was finally able to open her eyes she glanced at the once perfect wall in front of her where a photo of her family hung perfectly was now cracked, the dry wall exposed and the photo frame was broken and on the floor. The ceiling was breaking, and the kitchen was gone and she could see thick clouds of smoke and smell gas burning. The house was now caving in, everything had instantly fallen to shambles as she tried to regain a coherent state of mind. She couldn’t tell if it was her house or something outside but she knew she has to find her way out.

She struggled to look around to see if there was an immediate exit outside of the houss. She knew she was alone before the explosion happened. What hat happened? Why here, why now? She knew it was a bomb that had gone off, but why did they choose this location, she could hear more in the distance, she could sense that it was going to be a long time before she felt safe again. Before the explosion she was the only one home, she had just dropped her twin daughters off at daycare and her husband was at work. The bombing just happened moments after she got home. Thea was in shock, nobody ever expects this…. Thea knew she had to get out of the house and find her way to her family, the question reigned her mind.. are they okay? Why is this happening? Just this morning they had everything, a beautiful house, a seemingly perfect family, and each other, now the damage is eminent and the house is gone and things might never be the same.

Knowing she hasn’t had the ability to pull herself out of the rubbish she looked for an exit, what used to be the dining room was now two broken walls and the ceiling and floor for what looked like her bedroom upstairs, she looked behind her at the caved in fireplace. She stood up and grabbed onto a plank next to her and started her way to the shattered picture frame window. She noticed on the ledge of the tv stand sat the daisies her husband bought her the day before, still perfect, they were white and the petals untouched. She grabbed them as she was heading out because they symbolizes life. She felt calm and at peace. This perfect flower, it doesn’t know what happened around it but it stood so still.

Glass and ash still raining around her, and not knowing when the rest of her house would fall she eventually climbed out of the rubble. She remembered very little of what happened before the explosion. She looked around at her once quaint neighborhood and remembered the picture perfect houses up and down her street, the block bar-b-que that they had last summer and how perfect her neighbors were. She didn’t see any other survivors. She could hear car alarms, and the damage was extensive, she was surrounded by rubble and debris.

Thea clutched to something on her neck, it was the necklace her husband gave her on the twins 5th birthday. She took the gold shiny locket off and opened it up, she saw a photo of her husband holding Olivia on the left side and her holding Olive on the right. It gave her hope that she might see them again.

Thea closed her eyes and prayed. As she prayed she heard voices of other people making their way through the rubble. There was some new sense of hope.