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She felt as if a terrible monster with long claws was slashing at her skin constantly, digging deeper into her flesh until it reached her heart. It slowly ripped her heart into tiny peaces; the pain overwhelmed her. “I’m sorry,” the man had said. Sorry, she thought, sorry can’t bring Edward back, sorry can’t bring my brother back and nothing would ever bring him back to life. Nothing.
Her whole world had fallen into darkness; she was falling down and endless well, with no way of stopping herself. Tears poured from her emerald eyes and down her pale cheeks. She just sat there listening to the man. “... The bullet had ruptured a main artery in his heart. He died instantly. I am once again, truly sorry for the death of your son,” he then looked to the girl whilst adding “and brother.” He had a kind pity etched in every line of his face, that face, she hated that face; the round pink cheeks, the long nose, the five o’clock shadow. To her his face was the face of pain. The face of sorrow. The face of death. Her mother was sitting next to her, burying her face in her hands and crying. Her mother then showed the man out then returned to the room. “Oh, Ruby, Ruby,” her mother said, throwing her arms around her daughter. “Don’t you worry my baby. It’s good to cry.” Ruby sobbed into her mother’s shoulder and they shared a sad embrace, sobbing together. They sat there together for what seemed like an eternity. They sat there together for what seemed like eternity, and yet the tears kept on flowing. She thought of his penetrating green eyes, the same eyes Ruby had. And his short auburn hair that used to fall to his shoulders gracefully, but that was before he joined the army; they’d shaved it from his head. It had been two weeks since she had last seen Edward.
“Aww, come on Ruby, I’ll be back in two months, I promise,” he’d grinned down at her, giving her a farewell hug and a kiss on her cheek. “Chin up, I’ll be back.” Ruby gave him an unconvincing smile as she hugged him again crying into his chest, breathing in his scent. He smiled at Ruby, “I love you - and you Mum,” he said as he hugged his mother. “I love you both, and I’ll miss you.” He walked out of the front door dressed in his army clothes, once he was at the top of the garden path he turned around. Ruby and her mother were standing by the door, watching him walk away from them, never to come back. But he smiled sadly, blowing them both kisses and waved. “Back in two months,” he repeated. He walked away, humming as he went.
Now, he was gone; he had ceased to exist. She’d never hear his cheerful voice in the morning. She’d never feel his arms around her when she cried. She’d never smell his scent again, she’d never have those conversations she so loved, every night, on the staircase when their parents argued. She’d never, ever see him again. “Mum, he promised,” she whispered to her mother while they were sitting on the sofa, both absorbed in their own thoughts. “Promised what?” She asked.
“He promised he’d be back,” Ruby replied, looking at her lap. Her mother smiled sadly down at her.
“He didn’t know this was going to happen darling.” She wrapped her arms around Ruby as she collapsed onto her, falling into a less than peaceful sleep. Death and war occupied her dreams.
*****
Darkness.
Maybe I’ve gone blind, I don’t know. But it’s dark, jet-black. I can’t smell anything either.
Am I in a room? It’s not cold. It’s not warm either.
I can’t feel anything but fear…
A dark fear that makes me want to shake at every joint of my body. But yet, there is no movement.
Nonentity.
Maybe I’m dying, or I’m already dead. I guess I didn’t imagine the afterlife like this, I expected fluffy clouds and angels.
Maybe this is hell. What had I done wrong? I hadn’t been that bad, but I guess Hell could be like this…
I don’t remember dying.
I don’t remember anything.
Maybe I’ve gone insane…
I hope I’ve gone insane.
*****
There it was again, the snarling and growling. This man really is a crazy one, thought Jake, as he started to open the little hatch, to feed the growling man in the padded cell. “NO!” someone shouted. Jake spun round, and raised an eyebrow.
“What?” He was confused. “You asked me to guard this room, and he sounded kind of hungry...”
The man who had stopped Jake stared at him incredulously, “Not while he’s like this,” he mumbled, “Wait until the morning.” With that he walked away.
Jake stared after the man, and shrugged. He sat at the hard back chair sitting outside of the locked cell, and started to whistle. He didn’t know the reason for guarding this one room. He didn’t know why this was the only room in the hallway, or why he had to get through 5 bolted metal doors before even getting to that hallway. All he knew was that he had to do it every two weeks, and stay up all night. Soon he tired and his eyes fluttered closed, but still the growling in the cell went on.
Jake woke up with a start, “Bugger,” he murmured, glancing at his watch. It was half past seven. He checked around him, apparently nobody had noticed. Then he noticed, the noises coming from the padded cell had stopped. “Maybe he’s fallen asleep,” he mumbled.
“No I’m quite awake thankyou.” A quiet voice barely whispered. Jake’s eyes widened as he picked up the stone cold, soggy food he had made the night before. It looked fine, he wouldn’t know.
“Actually,” the voice spoke again, “I would prefer something fit for human consumption, please. I’m famished.”
