3 takes from time

Submitted into Contest #60 in response to: Write a post-apocalyptic thriller.... view prompt

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Drama Romance Thriller

It was on the 234th day of the revolution. At this point registered doctors, nurses, and all professional health care workers were under hideout.The neighboring country Jung-chay finally attacked after years of a silent war. Their plan was to initially kill off the health care workers to eliminate the chances of Pellica. Pellicano and Jung-chay are the world's two most powerful and influential countries, although for the last couple hundred years they have been competing in becoming the world’s strongest. Jung-Chay’s government destroyed our resources before starting the battle so residents were either starving to death or blown to death by a bomb during a war battle. With the two most powerful countries at war, it left an open door for all of the neighboring countries, as one another began engaging in battle with each other. I was one of the last 20 registered doctors left in the whole country, as the Jung-chay soldiers have already brutally murdered the rest of them. The rest of the people performing medical practices either were students before the revolution or taught by their parents who were practiced, professionals. I feared every minute as there was a chance my hideout would be discovered, mistakenly attacked by their forces or even accidentally by mine. My given name was Sahara Akari, but since the revolution, it’s been changed to Kagomi Ayu. I had short brown hair and light amber eyes, whenever I went out to purchase food  I had to put on black contacts to resemble a Jung-chay citizen. Jung-Chay residents had straight black hair with black eyes opposite to Pellica’s western features, colored eyes, and commonly light hair. I was living alone as my family was already wiped out. I lived in a small torn shed alone with a basement filled with nonperishable foods. Many people were killed while trying to get basic necessities such as food. There have been some Pellican citizens who have created underground markets for the people, which still doesn’t ensure a 100% rate of safety and success. The sky was bloody with spikes of smoke as the day fell. When the golden hour came I looked outside as I began to hear screaming. It was the sound of pure torture. The man seemed to be a soldier who was shot and wounded terribly. He was a tall man with dark hair and eyes, his clothes were shredded by bullet wounds, and gushing blood flooded out of his body as he screamed in agony. I looked around and although it was risky I caught him and brought him into the basement of my home. I blindfolded him so just in case if he was a pond in the military's plan I wouldn’t be killed. I began surgery immediately as he could have been minutes from death. Thankfully I had all of the necessary tools. After hours of treating his wounds, I managed to protect him from a terrible fate. However, the one thing I failed to plan ahead was what I would do if I successfully treated him. I handcuffed his hands onto the table and blindfolded him until he woke up. He woke up two days later and during this time I was restless waiting for him to awaken. He screamed extremely loud “remove my handcuffs immediately, along with my blindfold” he struggled on the table until I replied with “I’m sorry but I can’t let you go until you tell me who you are and what side you're working with”. He stayed quiet for a few minutes until he calmly claimed that he didn’t know who he was. At first, I did not believe a word he was saying, it could have so easily been a trap, he could have been sent here to kill me. It wasn’t until I realized he could have actually had a severe case of amnesia, because of his injuries. Amnesia refers to the loss of memories, he could have potentially lost his memories due to the severe incidents that occurred. Despite the big risk, I decided to take off his blindfold and pull up a chair next to him to explain everything that has occurred in the last year. His eyes were so dim I could see my reflection clearly, he lacked sparkle in his eyes, as if he was going through or already went through something scaring. He looked at me seriously and smiled then began to laugh. “You seriously think I’m going to believe all of that, you’re a lunatic. Let me go!”. His words really had angered me, since I have already lost everyone dear to me, hearing someone mock the deaths and sufferings of the residents of Pellica stuck to me like a ticking bomb. Although I shouldn’t have I dragged him to the closest window to see the smoke from the bomb project in the sky along with the fire and blood on the ground from previously. He began to look sick and he threw up on my feet. After further discussion, we agreed the safest thing to do was live together until he regained his memory. Although this plan was not the most efficient for me since all the stored food I had stocked up within the last few months was about to be divided into two. I finally uncuffed him and released him from his handcuffs. When he finally stood up normally I felt the difference in our height. It felt like there was one foot of space between us. The only times we ever communicated was when we would eat, the first thing he would say to me was common “ I can’t believe you eat this stuff” as he ate our stock of food with a look of disgust on his face. Of course, he wasn’t wrong. It wasn't anywhere close to luxurious let alone fast food quality, it tasted like dog food but we were fortunate enough to have a stock of food. It wasn’t until one month that he finally remembered something from his past. He was going through my collection of books when he came across a book called “3 takes from time". It was the first time he smiled since he got here. Looking at the book he looked at me with a large bright smile and said “ I remember reading this as a child, I used to read it to my little brother every night” his smile faded and the happiness turned into sadness as he stated, “ But I don’t remember what he looked like, or what happened to him, or if he’s even alive”. My stomach flipped in circles, although he looked emotionless and seemed to be a brat at times he’s still hiding a level of pain under his expressions. He didn’t remember his own name yet, I was still referring to him without proper nouns. Instead of watching him cry  I smiled and asked what he wanted me to call him. He smiled with tears and said call me Hiro. Hiro was his little brother’s name, for now, the only memories he recalled of him was his name, and “3 takes from time”. From that point forward I dedicated my time to help Hiro regain his memories. Every day I told him highlights of my childhood and stories, adventures, and excursions I’ve been on. Every sentence I spoke he would send me his full-fledged attention he would stare into my eyes with childlike wonder as if he was experiencing it for the first time. He learned little details about himself everyday like what he studied in school, the names of his parents, past friendships and relationships, and little memories here and there. We still had no luck getting Hiro to recall his name, any idea of his occupation, and what he was doing to end up wounded on my lawn.  For our dinner one day, he made something with the non-perishable food. I had become unfamiliar with what he had made. The plate was filled with beans with a slide of a fresh vegetable. I was shaking with excitement as I hadn't had any vegetables in what feels like forever. He laughed and put his hand on my head “ you act like you’ve never seen a tomato before Kagomi”.  The warmth of his hand and smile filled my eyes with sparkles. He looked me in the eyes and pointed out the warmth that had shown. I asked him “how’d you manage to grow it anyways” as he pointed out there was a seed and enough sunlight projecting from the window to grow one ( as it had already of been a few months at this point). We laughed and life felt normal for once as if there was nothing to worry about, nothing to fear. It’s been weeks and there still weren't any new memories of Hiro’s past that he remembered. The last daybreak I remember, the sky was a unique purple, the bombs and smoke had cleared for the first time since the beginning of the revolution. A faint pink intertwined with the sky. Hiro approached me and told me “I’m so grateful I met you, and I wanted to thank you for saving me”  after months it was now, the first time Hiro had ever thanked me for the surgery. I smiled and before I could say anything he said “I lo-” while in the middle of his sentence heavy knocking from upstairs grew louder and louder. We looked at each other in the eyes and his eyes had a reflection of our fear. We walked upstairs slowly and tried to escape from the opposite route. We jumped out of the window and started running as far as we could. Hiro looked back and tears came streaming down his face uncontrollably. I dragged him with me as he told me he remembered what had happened. He stopped running and got on his knees and began begging for my forgiveness. As he cried and pleaded that Jung-Chay’s military was getting closer I tried to drag him. Light sped across and I caught it with the corner of my eye, but it was the blood that appeared from Hiro’s face that really caught my attention. He smiled and moved his lips “My name is Milano”. My legs froze with fear and I felt sick with sadness. The military approached me with a little boy. Within seconds it was the Jung-chay military forces barging into the shed with several guns and what seemed to be their entire military behind there. They didn’t hit a vital spot of his and his eyes and ears still work but his voice was inaudible. The military shot my legs which left me helpless. A little boy approached, short with grown-out hair and brown eyes. The child seemed confused and too innocent to understand what pain we were engaging in. They shot the child in the head and he was knocked down dead. I went silent and Hiro was inaudible screaming with blood streaming down his face. They shot in fatally. Then before killing me they told me that Milano’s cause for crossing paths with me was to kill me, to save his brother. My mind went blank, as everything faded black.

September 26, 2020 01:10

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