• The Front Lines of War



    The space between the cracks slipped through my fingers as I knelt there for hours. Wind chilled the very bones, and it felt like the marrow inside was freezing to the point where I was losing blood. And yet, I still sat there, where the wind was at its strongest. It was the only thing to do around here, kill myself that is. There was no way of escaping, and bones lay around me. It was frightening to me in the first hour, but my eyes grew colder and my heart was colored of black with icicles hanging from the shallow bottom. I played with the bones, reenacting their suffering…their deaths. They cried in agony, cries no one will ever hear but death himself, who laughed at the pain and who eagerly awaited their end. Once again death had raised victor of the fate mortals posed to meet no matter what they did. My knees collapsed with force, smashing against the icy paved concrete. I knew my time was close, but I still held on for some reason. But…what was the reason?
    2 weeks ago…”Sister, wait for me. We can’t get separated or else mother will get worried if one of us is missing” I said. I collapsed to my knee and coughed up blood, adrenaline pulsing through my coursing veins. I felt a sudden rush and got back up to catch up with my sister, but…she was already gone like the wind. She fell into the mass of people, never to be seen again. The energy immediately released from my body, and I fell weary, I grew weary too…weary of this mass of people. I didn’t try to look for my sister, and I left for my mother. If I did not, I wouldn’t be able to make it in time before this place became a battlefield between two rivals.
    I made it in time to be with my mother and several other relatives, but it was too late. The place became a resentful rivalry between the two forces of family. Everyone grew sick in the 2 weeks that came by. Families had to stop and take shelter for the war was not going to well for the people. Darkness was indeed winning the fight. It was in fact that time of year where they had an advantage over us. That’s where the remains come into piece with the puzzle…
    The bones were my mother’s, and the other bones were my relative’s. I was crying all the time, but the tears froze as soon as they formed at the edges of my eyes. The eyes that grew colder. They grew colder because of the frozen tears. My chest was frozen where my heart lie as well, because there was a hole in my shirt on that spot. I didn’t understand at all how it pieced together with the puzzle.
    The space between the cracks grew evermore cold as I became close with death. “Come” was all I could here swirling in my thoughts. “Come”, there it was again…but it was now out of my thoughts. It was someone speaking, speaking to me after all this time. I heard no footsteps though; I heard no breathing in the emptiness. All I heard…was the wind. The voice…voice of death. “Why are you looking for me, go find someone else’s life to take and let me live longer?” I asked in plead. “But why would you wish to suffer even more?” the voice asked. “I want to live…so that one day I may find someone” I said. “And who would this someone be?” the voice asked again. “Her…my sister” I answered. “But you already have found her. She had been here all along, and you have always been here all along” the voice said. “Where is she?” I asked. “She is the cold wind that passes through this valley, the lady of war. And you…you are the warm wind that passes through this beach, the gentlemen of war. Sibling rivalry is that not what is going on here?” the voice said. “I don’t understand” I said in confusion. “I’m your sister, and I’m here to end your suffering little brother” the voice said. “You’re my Sister?” I said. “Yes, please let me end it all. You said you wanted to live so that you may find me one day. Well that is this day. All these years you have longed to truly meet me. After all, we never actually talked much with all the things going on in our lives” the voice said. “What about mother?” I asked. “She was a part of the massacre I setup in order to meet you. If she hadn’t died, you would not have died. So…this was the only way to meet you, or in other words…this was the only way for you to meet me” the voice said. “Why could we not have just talked?” I asked. “It’s because I am Death, and you are life. The only way to see me is when you are becoming one with me. That is the only way” the voice said. “I do not wish to die then!” I screamed. I wailed against the wall. “Never do I wish to be with you!” I screamed.
    “Wake up” a voice said. “No…Never!” I yelped in my sleep. I awoke with sweat pouring down my face. “We have to go meet mother now, wake up brother. We have to hurry and go to her, so that we can run from here to go to a safe place” the voice said. “Is that you sister?” I said, finally waking up from my slumber. “Yeah, hurry up dummy head” she said. “If I go now, I’ll die” I said, replaying the scene of my death over in my head. “If you stay, you’ll die” she said. “No, If I stay…Mother will find me gone, and she will return to a warm home where I am staying” I said. “If you stay, you’ll live” I spoke again. “What did you say brother?” she said. “I know that people who have died can’t live. So then you cannot live here, and so you must go.” I said. “Why are you acting weird brother?” she said.
    “Let me go!” she yelled. “It’s ok. Soon the suffering will begin. Soon you will face the warmth” I said. “You can’t do this to me! I was to end your suffering! I am death! You can’t stop death!” she continued screaming. The light from the windows grew brighter and the heat of the house grew more and more. “No!” she screamed. “I’m sorry sister. Blame the sibling rivalry between us” I said. The light touched her and her flesh peeled to bones as she turned into a fragile skeleton. The bones crumbled to the floor, and a pattern of ash stuck to the chair in a shape of a human figure. “I must live…so that I may truly meet my sister” I said. I walked down to the kitchen to find my mother cooking dinner. “Where is your sister honey?” my mother asked. “Oh, she is visiting the grave mother. She misses her friend” I said. “Could you go find her for me?” my mother asked. “I can’t, I’m sure she’ll turn up in time for dinner” I said. “Alright then, make sure you’re in for dinner. I don’t want one of you missing or else I’ll be mad” she said.


    Part 2



    I stepped outside to where the small pond stood. I sat down and looked down at the reflection. I felt a cold wind chill on my fingertips…just like the nightmare I had. My body shivered as the pond rippled along the top. I freaked out and pulled my feet out of the pond. I looked down again and all I saw was a school of fish swimming in circles. I laughed and laughed for my fear of fish. I looked up to the graveyard where I said my sister was. Why did I tell my mother that she was there? I stood up and walked up the hill to the graveyard.
    There were only two gravestones in the graveyard, and one grave that had been dug up. The tombstone still stood in front of it, with dust and cobwebs covering it. I felt a cold wind once again, this time it was at my knees. It felt as if I was kneeling on ice…but I was standing. A large crack was on the grave stone closest to me. I walked towards it and put my face to the stone, trying to read the smudged printings. A warm air engulfed the stone, as my face began to warm up. I then noticed the writing on the stone…It said…
    Here lies Augustus,
    Younger brother of his sister December
    D.O.B-Unknown
    D.O.D.-11/25/2009

    I immediately jumped back but after that I was paralyzed from the waist down. That was my gravestone right there, and the writings on the other gravestones burned with a red glow. The left one was my mother, and the empty grave…was my sister’s. “Come” a voice spoke. “No, this can’t be happening!” I yelled. The coffin of my grave stood there as I opened my eyes. People in black clothing cried all around me, as the large man with the book read a passage from the book. “In death, the boy shall rest in peace. And may his sister December be taken care of by the higher powers so that she may suffer as little as possible. But now we shall hold hands in grace, for the boy shall never suffer again” the man said. I screamed but none of them heard it.
    I noticed my sister standing there; staring in the place I lay and not at the coffin. Is it that she could see me? I looked closely to see her crying. But as I looked even closer, she was smiling at me. A deviant smile, from my deviant sister, who always called me names. “Bye, dummy head. Now I have to live to see you again…” she said. My eyes grew weary as my soul released from my body and walked to the coffin as it was being lifted down into the ground. I then fell asleep…asleep forever.


    The End