The Price We Pay

She stood there; sword in hand, looking out over the battlefield at all of her enemies and her comrades who stuck by her. she takes her sword and plunges it into the ground as she falls to her knees,

" What have I done." she panted, shutting her eyes as if it would all disappear once she opened them again. She got up to leave but before that, she walked toward a corpse and took the helmet of her closest comrade, Ezekiel.

“ There’s no one left, what was this all for? I’m so sorry, Ezekiel.” She left that forsaken ground that had become nothing more than a graveyard. She had to travel on foot to get home, she arrived after three trying months only to see it all destroyed. The village was empty,

" WHAT? THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! I thought we pushed them back?" She frantically walked through the rubble hoping to find survivors, only one house stood intact, well, the only house that still had walls. She walked in and carefully looked around,

“ It was a mess.” She whispered while examining the first floor. Just then she heard a thump, running upstairs going into the first room she saw a woman lying dead in a bed. The woman’s eyes were rolled to the back of her head, she approached slowly,

" No, how could this happen?" her breath grew heavy with grief, " Mom. I'm so sorry. you were right, you were right about everything. I should have never tried to play a hero." becoming overwhelmed with emotion, she straddled the stiff body of her late mother as she wept. It wasn't long before she had to snap back into survival mode, there was a sound coming from the next room. she got up and reached for a knife hidden by her ankle, moving swiftly and quietly she opened the door only to reveal that it was empty with only a baby cradle,

“ It's as if the room had never been touched.” Everything was the same as it was before she left for the war three years ago but there was one thing that was missing,

" The baby. where's the baby?" She tried to grapple with the fact that she had no family left, " Why couldn't I have just stayed home? I never even got to see meet-” She fought back more tears and tried to keep herself together. Just then, movements came from the closet to her left. Brandishing her knife she walked to the door and took hold of the knob, slowly turning it she pulled her arm back ready to kill. She flung it open fast and went for the kill, a scream filled the house,

" Please! don't kill us!" a young boy cried

" What do you mean 'us' ?"

The boy lifted his arm to reveal a little red-haired girl hiding in a pink blanket, blood dripping down her cheeks, and latched on to the young boy's coat shaken in fear.

" Don't cry, I won't hurt you but tell me, what happened to you?" The warrior kneeled to take a closer look at the only survivors, she wondered how long they've been here alone.

" We saw them coming and ran inside to tell the adults. They sent us to the cellar and told us to hide, when they arrived they came into the house, and recked everything." The boy started to cry a little but continued to tell his account of that day, " I could hear my mom scream, and then everything went quiet and they just left. That's when the bombs started going off."

" They bombed your house and you were still in it?!"

" no, but we almost didn't get out in time. My sister and I dug a hole in the cellar years ago that led outside to the backyard, it's was like a game for us back then."

" So you two are siblings?" she asked, trying to make sense of it all.

" No, we're friends. Our moms knew each other, my sister is gone- I think." the boy said sadly in the morning of his dead family.

" What are your names?"

The boy started, " my name is Ezekiel, and her name-"

" Thank you but I think I'd like to hear her speak for herself." She looked at the little girl and gave a welcoming smile so she would open up,

" So, what is your name?"

The girl quietly said " D-Dinah-Bernice."

" Dinah-Bernice, do you have a brother? o-or a sister?"

Dinah shook her head softly,

" What's your name?" Ezekiel asked.

" My name? It's Ester. Come, I'll take you from here and raise you as my own." Ester looked at Dinah and tried to examine her neck, but she had that pink blanket wrapped around her. She stood up and her attitude snapped back into survival mode. She started to walk out of the house slowly then turned back to the kids letting them know to follow, and they did so in a quick fashion.

I don't know what will happen, but I will find out sooner or later, even if it kills me.