A Past to Escape

The pleasant aromas drifted across the plaza, weaving through the never-ending crowds of customers. Stalls set up with great haste from the previous night dotted along the road on either side, emitting tempting invitations to their delectable goods. People swarmed around the salesmen’s bargains while others allowed their eyes to wander at windows displaying foods which lured many attracted families inside. I took step after step between bustling crowds, people hurried past; some enjoyed the company of friends and family; others appreciated the tastes of bountiful plates. Dessert venders littered the pavements as if trying to squeeze out other competitors to gain a little more from the wandering customers. Sounds of laughter and satisfaction reached my ears as I manoeuvred down the endless district.

The fresh smell of rain blew through the busy street and as I looked up, raindrops trickled onto my weary face. People hurried onwards along the street, ushering along children while I stood under the gathering clouds feeling each drop of rain, delaying the sensations. As it increased in intensity, a puddle formed around me, each drop striking a different point of the surface faster and faster until the difference couldn’t be seen anymore. The drizzle had now turned to a downpour, one after the other, bombardments of droplets showered down and as the sound of thunder made its way closer, I hurried down the now hectic town.

The clamour of the distant storm echoed across the town square. Its roars reverberated off the walls of buildings, followed by hastened cries all around. The clouds loomed over, and enveloped the townscape – providing an eternal enclosure of darkness.

I sprinted through the crossfire raining down from above into the safety of an abandoned structure. Thunder pounded repeatedly on my vanquishing eardrums as I sagged into the wall behind me. The building, that I now observed, seemed to lie in turmoil. The walls on the verge of collapse; the window ledges crumbling into decay; and some sections even subsided into debris. The clouds now seemed more distant, the structures maybe a little more coloured, the people now unfamiliar, and as streams of unending raindrops pierced the ground, I scuttled into the embrace of a darkened hallway. Machinegun fire splattered onto the ground mercilessly, slowly forming carvings – which were chipped away by the storm. Mud splattered; rain shattered; continuous bursts of thunder rang from artillery pieces. Lightning like a muzzle flash illuminated the cowering people, most quickly spaced out, fleeing, and searching for cover, others deserted into the safety of torn down buildings.

A sudden explosion was then heard in the distance, then an amplified one sounded and gusts of wind fragmented across devastated people. They crouched down in defensive positions behind fallen objects, surveying their surroundings like soldiers on high alert. I sprung out from my cowardly self and leaped up the stairs higher into the apartment when hails of gunfire rolled past the soldiers. Now a devilish force has descended and unleashed a thunderstorm of destruction towards battered battlements. Rushing upwards, my body refused to cooperate, fear ran rampant throughout as I climbed higher and higher towards what my mind believed was a securer sanctuary.

Outside, a deal was being made between the two forces. The enemy first pummelled our side, then a heated reply was heard. Neither side wanted to give in. A flash of lightning; a roar of thunder; and a stream of bullets tore into buildings. Sirens wailed their last cries as automatic guns ripped through defences followed by moans of sufferings. Smoke from the engagement enriched the painting, the town was then spilt with ink which turned it monotone.

Panting heavily, I stumbled into an open apartment room in which unbearable pain, agony, and defeat slumped under a hollowed window. The soldiers displayed defeat in their eyes, despair shown from their triggers, and a state of melancholy descended upon me. The anguish of the losses seeped through their wounds and formed pools of ruby spreading like poison. The ground – as I now noticed – flowed with rivers, each boasting their own shade of crimson. The fog encasing my mind from the events started to thin as my headache subsided and I began to take in more care of my surroundings. The soldiers were slowly fading, replaced one by one. A bed; a desk; a lamp; and an alarm clock that still oddly worked.

It seemed so much like a home. A familiar one.

The previous sounds of destruction had suddenly dwindled as if it was just a faint echo, and only now I realized, how the gunfire had suddenly ceased. I hurried down flights of stairs with increasing pace and as I edged closer to the open door, a sudden wave of nausea swept through my throbbing head and I tumbled out into what had been the raging storm of a battlefield.

A scene of peculiarity greeted me. Structures that were just eradicated by artillery and bombings once again stood, uneven roads that collapsed from cannon fire now paved in new granite, and people again gathered in front of store windows inspecting merchandise. The soldiers who once fought against impending doom now struggled from the weight of fallen stalls. The collapsed beams of wood anchored on their shoulders as they tried to salvage what was left of their stands. People littered under inadequate shelters; a sense of hopelessness dragged itself through the remainders which mirrored itself on the discouraged ocean above.

My feet shackled themselves to the ground, and when the puddles around me stilled – as the last shots of raindrops plunged down – I was yet again thrown into the war. The last resonance of a rifle; the last pounding of an artillery piece; the last command blasted from an officer; and the last cry of torment. They each thrashed within me, trying to escape the fate that was already set for them, yet a constant force shoved me from one reality to the next.

I wandered through the street past felled soldiers. Casualties lined the pavements while the dead were rested in a deserted alleyway. Scorched markings scarred walls and the road plummeted into smoking craters in some areas. I looked to the other side, the other side of this street, yet also the other side of my conscious. Families milled around some rebuilt stands. Many hurried back to their homes while children frolicked in rain puddles. The last drops of rain drizzled from the edge of protrusions on constructions was amplified by the sudden quiet.

The eerie silence that came after calmed my mind and as I closed my eyes, I flipped through the pages of my mind, and I started to remember.

The clamour of a distant storm echoed across the devastated town square. Its roars reverberated and bounced off the walls of torn down buildings, followed by a moan of agony from a suffering soul in an adjacent block. Defeat; despair; pain; and anguish seeped into me as things I couldn’t forget. Though these emotions were a past. A past I needed to escape.