Rose Among The Thorns

 Living in this society, at finest is never a complete and utter bore. We strive to obtain our freedom and immunity yet we fail time and time again. Our community is full of apathies and shallow minded cretins who fail to see our true colors. 

 I could feel myself slipping again, further and further into the abyss, the sounds awakening me, sending me into the excruciating pain that is everyday life.

 Imagine being so terrified, not even safe in your own home but isolated, trapped. Hooligans and delinquents roaming around your streets, smashing house windows and lighting cars on fire. Imagine being too paranoid to leave your own home at night in case you get involved in knife crime. The fear will swallow you whole. My mind wanders into the worst possible situation, leaving me paralysed.

 My vehicle was left disintegrated, reduced to pieces. The blaze was immense, leaving a cloud of black smoke dissolving into thin air. The detonation left my ears ringing it was that boisterous. 

 The way my little sister looked at me, the angst in her eyes showed me that she was afraid of what may happen next. What if they come back? The gang of thugs and criminals that set my car ablaze could drive by any minute now, terrorising the streets yet again. 

 I chocked on the thick, lightless fog of smoke as I bolted from one end of the path to the other, reaching the outside gate. 

 There she lay, holding her arms around her head, covering her face. She screamed in pain as she lay on the cracked sidewalk, broken pieces of glass outlining her body. 

 I screamed the name of my little sister to get back into the house as soon as possible.

 The blast was omnipotent, sending those around the flames soaring in all directions, their lifeless bodies still.

 I covered my face from the scorching flare of the automobile melting. I could smell the rubber from the tires burning, melting.

 A deafening sound came from a few meters away, they were back, holding their magnum's and handguns in the air, firing shots to scare away the public. The car screeched by, gunshots following, and then loud, piercing screams. Multiple sirens were heard from a kilometre away, rushing to appear at the crime scene. The thugs stopped immediately and zoomed away like a bullet train chasing another. 

 She saved me. 

 She is a rose among the thorns, a ray of sunshine in the darkness. She tore down all the mighty walls that I had put up over the years in complete ease. I allowed her to peal away those layers, letting my vulnerabilities take over. She was my mother, my saviour. 

 She just lay there, completely still, lifeless. I watched her deceased body, her arms still covering her face when she screamed one last time.

 My little sister, just nine years old mourned with grief as she lay on the floor of the chaotic living room over the death of our mother. 

 The sirens became louder and louder as they grew closer. The bang on my front entrance door insinuated that the emergency services had arrived. I held my sister closer than I ever had before.

 I could hear a man, an older man squawk up the hallway, though I couldn't hear him because of the screaming and sirens coming from the other side of the thick wall. 

 I could feel a great temperature blowing in my face. I lifted my head off my sisters shoulder to notice huge flames from the living room door, the wood flaming fiercely, deteriorating. I leaped over the dinky coffee table in order to reach the window, opening it to attempt to climb out to safety. 

 An armed criminal stood directly in front of the window, facing the opposite direction, guarding the house. He held a long six shooter in his right hand and a petrol can in the other. He was tall, spine-chillingly terrifying, dangerous. A long, scary looking scar from a knife wound covered the entire right side of his face. 

 I gasped, throwing myself backwards, over the table and chairs to the other side of the room. No way out, no escape. 

 There we were, trapped in the cramped room, the walls closing in on us as we lay there paralysed in each others arms. The dark angel shall come for us soon.

 The flaring door came crashing down, allowing the flames and agonizing heat to come blasting into the room, disintegrating us, tearing away our skin and bones. 

 This was it, this was the end of the apocalypse that tore our community apart. Death was the only escape, the only way out of the torture, the pain. 

 We are home now, mother.