Summer Wonders

Maybe it was the way the sun reflected in the water or the way it shined through the leaves, but that old summer afternoon, when you could just feel the heat in your lungs leave you while the sunset approached.

That summer afternoon she just knew.

Maybe it's to say she knew for a while. Nobody wanted to know before, least of all her. But in that moment, surrounded by her childhood haven. There was no need in denying it

The faint laughter of the children could be heard as it was carried in the wind and it only made her sadder. As if she wasn't sad enough.

Years of pain do that to you. Years of life do that to you.

The house was rundown mostly, moss and trees and various plants poking out from the broken rooftop and the shattered windows. The color of the house was almost unnoticeable from all the green on it, give or take a few yellow patches.

The first impression she had of the house is that it was smaller.

Or maybe that she was bigger.

It didn't matter. She didn't come for it. It pained her to think that, it pained her so much but that wasn't the house she was aiming for.

As she wandered through the grassy yard she finally saw it.

Hidden.

Hidden in the biggest tree in the backyard.

Still standing.

She couldn't remember how she climbed up and she didn't care to remember.

It has been a few hours since she did that.

Nobody noticed.

They didn't notice then and they wouldn't now.

She mostly sat and gazed upon the town beneath her. But as soon as she noticed that the afternoon has come she picked up herself and explored the remnants of her childhood.

A branch poked through the west side of the treehouse. The small cupboards she set there were now moldy and peeling. Never the less she opened them and in them, she found her old drawings.

Gently, as if scared that they would disappear when she touched them, she picked them up.

From her sisters and friends, scribbled with purple crayons and red markers, to her dog colored in green and purple elephants, something long forgotten came back.

She set them on top of the old cupboard she and her father assembled while her mother yelled at them for making the dinner go cold from waiting.

On the floor, there was a single ragged doll. Coincidentally, the sun shined through the branches and its rays fell onto her.

She stared at it for a seemingly infinite time. Memories and feelings rushing at her million miles an hour.

And after some time, she picked it up, then going to the open side of the treehouse. Going back to staring at the town beneath her.

She remembers, back then. That she was at the top of the world here, with no homework, no problems, no fights. Only her and the sunset.

She chuckled, despite sounding rasped.

That was the moment she knew, the part she realized today.

The part no one did.

Holding the little ragged doll in her hands, so small and broken. With her dress tore down and woolen hair fallen off.

She held it tightly and smiling through the brimming tears she spoke.

"It didn't change that much, did it? We are back...you, me, the treehouse, the doll, and the view."

To whom this was spoken to would be unknown to the outisder. It could have been the sun, herself, a memory, or perhaps, the figure behind her.

"I suppose so," said the new voice.

The older woman, sitting at the edge of the treehouse, clutching the doll in her hand, humming in something akin to approval, did not turn to the voice.

"They are going to set it off you know?"

The older woman hummed again.

"Why come back? Please tell me before it's too late," begged the new voice.

The woman stopped swinging her legs over the edge. Just for a moment.

"It all started here you know? Everything," she answered calmly, even though her cheeks were stained with tears.

"But why come back now of all times? Why not ten-fifteen years ago-hell why not after it was all destroyed. Why now?" Said the voice angrily, almost shouting by the end.

The woman still responded calmly."It started here, it was going to end here. Might as well be present for the end as I was for the beginning,"

She turned to the figure smiling. In front of her was a woman no taller than her but certainly younger. Still, there were a few grey streaks in her hair, which however you look at it was better than her own fully grey hair.

"You are a fool," she stated with an indignant expression."You are a blubbering fool,"

The older woman shook her head. "I know what you don't, what none of you do,"

"And what is it that you know my dear sister?"Asked spitefully the younger.

The older woman just shook her head and slowly, as if tending to a child, showed her the doll in her hand.

The younger didn't seem to catch on at first but after a moment she just stood there, gaping.

"No," she simply stated.

The older woman raised a brow.

"No," she repeated. "There is no way-they were ordered to evacuate!"She yelled desperately.

"Did you truly think she would evade us for so long? Her sisters?During wartime?"

The younger woman stood there mouth agape.

"They wanted freedom did they not?"Said the older woman with a hint of bitterness in her tired old voice.

The younger woman fell to her knees rattling the feeble treehouse.

"And they got it, or well, will, after all is done," said the older one with a humorless chuckle.

"I helped them," muttered horrified the younger one." I helped them kill her,"

"You weren't the only one," whispered the older one with scorn in her voice.

"You won't be the last one," she added.

"But why? Why come?"

The older one smiled.

"It ends where it began, I would end like she did. I'd call that poetic justice." The older one smiled sadly looking over at the suns reflection in the lake.

"And after all, today is a wonderful day to die is it not?"

The younger ones eyes widened comically.

"The launch is scheduled for tomorrow!"She hurriedly exclaimed."You can still go ba-"

The older sister laughed, and the laugh boomed the air. After a few moments, she looked at her, a crazed smile on her old face. The afternoon sun shining behind her.

"Oh my dearest, did you forget who ordered the launch?"

The younger sister stared at her for a moment. Then she scrambled on her feet and tried to go down the tree in a hurry. She made it to her car and as she started it she could see her sister. Sitting on the ledge, her legs dangling in the wind. The sun shining behind her.

And she also saw the military airplane flying away from the town. It's stomach open. Whatever cargo was in there was clearly not anymore.

As a matter of fact, she saw the said cargo fast approaching the Midtown.

She didn't even get to start the car before the town was no more and only a mushroom cloud was left behind.