Chapter Eleven

Two weeks had gone by after the demise of my mother. I stretched my body to the fullest despite air raid sirens and flying drones. I was gradually getting used to staying in the house all alone, and I also prepared the meal that I ate. My mother's death was painful, but I had to accept that she was gone forever. I sat on the bed, reflected on the incident with the army, and sadly shook my head. I pondered about my dad and my older brothers fighting in the war. I knew it was a difficult one for them. I knew that I might end up not seeing any of them again as a way of tightening up my mind and accepting the reality. I knew nature had started unleashing its terror on me; I was certain about that. I placed my palms on my jaw and then allowed my elbow to rest on my lap. I tried very hard not to cry, which somehow, I succeeded in doing. Suddenly, I felt a cramp in my stomach, then I laid my hands on it. My eyes became misty, and I noticed that I had a headache. I threw up immediately, right there in the room. What is happening to me. I asked myself and cringed as the headache worsened. It felt like a drum beating on my head, so I held it tightly to ease the pain. I tried standing up to my feet, but I was weak. I wondered why I felt weak and had cramps, thinking about my activities from the past few weeks. All that I did was eat, cry, and sleep. It was only a day that I had the strength to clean up the blood on the ground and tidy up everywhere in the house.

How come all these things are happening to me right now? I pondered.

I was forced to lie down on the bed again as I kept rolling on the bed, trying to fix the restive state of my body. I was blind to the event happening outside of me. It looks like all the friends and neighbours around me have all gone extinct. My body was still restless when I noticed a light flashing through my eyes. I looked at the window opposite me to see if it was the rays of sun that shimmered into the room. But the repeated flashing of light made me know that it was emanating from the lightbulb in the room. I smiled. This was the first time the light blinked after several weeks of power shortages. I was gradually becoming optimistic about the future. If power could be restored, peace could be restored. This was the thought that went through my mind. Another air raid siren wailed again as it passed through. I was gradually getting used to it. It was becoming a daily routine and would never seem strange again. I noticed that I was gradually regaining strength as I stood up from the bed, despite the headache I had. I staggered my way to the table located on the right side of the room to take the paracetamol tablet. I went to the kitchen, but when I tried to go back to the previous room, I ended up in my siblings' room instead. I smiled as I staggered my way to their room. I opened the door of the room and saw everything neatly arranged. I walked inside and smiled impishly when I saw my siblings' portrait hanging on the wall. I remembered their presence two month ago. The nagging, the insults, and the liveliness they threw at one another made me smile more. I walked closer to their bed, climbed it, and brought down Dan's portrait, staring at it. He smiled and wore his army uniform confidently, making me feel optimistic and cheerful. I hung it back and went to the next portrait, which was actually Pylyp. I couldn't take my eyes off him as he squatted on the ground, holding his army cap and smiling. It gave me goosebumps. After returning the portraits to their places, I retrieved the chess set from their wardrobe, located behind the room's entrance door. I saw him with that tense face of his that he put on whenever he was about to take a picture. I dropped all the portraits back to their places, and then I went to their wardrobe, located at the back of the entrance door to their room, and took out the chess. A wistful laugh emanated from my mouth; seeing the chest reminded me of the last time Dan and I played. I imagined how we sat down to play it. I remembered the word he said that day. I recalled some part of the statement over and over again.

"That is a cowardly attitude, always running back and then giving your enemy the chance to hit you hard."

"Oh, you ran back for cover, and be smart about that," he said.

"Then I would teach you the hard way."

"Oh, okay, if you can move a square inch to my box without being hurt, then draw forward."

I tried laughing, but I couldn't because of the excruciating chest pain I had. The statement filled me with optimism and hope that he would be able to carry out his plan on the battlefield. After dropping the chessboard, I felt nauseous and ran out of the room to avoid vomiting there. A few seconds after I dashingly stepped out of the room, I vomited again. I pondered the cause of all this vomiting and fatigue that I was experiencing.

"I think I had taken a large amount of rest during all this lengthy period that I had been indoors all alone. So, why all this?" I soliloquized.

I walked down a long hallway, turned left, and opened the back-yard door. The backyard was narrow, but it was wide enough to allow two or three people to walk through it side by side. It was very a long one though. Two taps were placed there. The first tap was near the backyard's door, while the other tap was located at my parents' room window. The moping bucket was near the tap, and the mop stick was hung on the fence above the moping bucket. I grabbed the mop and the mop bucket, then turned on the tap to fill the bucket with water. After the bucket had filled up enough to mop the floor, I went inside the house and started cleaning up the mess. I sang a song while cleaning it, nodding rhythmically to it. I heard the noise of the fan blades rotating. Instantly, I remembered my phone's percentage was at only 10 percent and needed to be charged. I dropped the mop and rushed to my parents' room. I retrieved the charger from the drawer, climbed onto the bed, and plugged it into the wall socket nearby. After that, I came out of the room, then I heard a knock on the main entrance door. I became scared all of a sudden. My happiness vanished immediately, allowing trepidation to creep into my mind. I tiptoed to the mop bucket, grabbed it, and hurried to my parents' room to clean the vomit there too. When I was done with it, I quickly carried the mopping bucket to the backyard and dropped it there. I walked back inside the house quietly. The knock still persisted as I got closer to the door.

"Hello, who is there?" I asked with a hoarse tone, with my ears paying rapt attention to hear any sound.

"I am Kenny," the voice spoke out.

Immediately I heard the voice, and I tried to decipher if it was the Kenny that I knew.

"Kenny?" I asked.

"Yes, it is me. Brianna don't you recognise my voice again?" He said.

I smiled as I quickly unlocked the door and opened it. I saw a figure putting on a red hood with his face down. "Kenny," I called, as I scanned the figure from head to toe. Then he raised his face up for a clearer view, and lo, it was Kenny. He smiled at me as I quickly ushered him in. He felt elated to see me; I could read it in the action he portrayed at the moment. His constant staring at me could say it all. I observed that his face was a bit dull, and likely I knew that it was due to the war situation. I was very curious to hear his story about the war, the entitativity of the Russian soldiers, and how he fared during the early weeks of the war. I directed him to the living room and ushered him to sit on the couch so I could sit beside him. Seeing Kenny added to the happiness I had for the day. I watch his face intently with a wide grin. I observed he was frazzled out, perhaps due to the trekking he did from his house to mine.

"How did you manage to reach here? Were vehicles moving on the road?" I asked curiously.

He smiled and then stared downward, facing the floor.

"Do you think it was a day's trekking?" he asked, nodding and stamping his foot on the floor.

"Huh?" I became shocked all of a sudden. "How many days did it take for you to reach here?"

He chuckled and raised his face towards me.

"After three days, it was a scary one indeed. Almost all my journeys were late at night."

"Why?" I queried with a lot of terrific thought going on in my mind.

"The invading soldiers must not catch me." Kenny reacted.

His word ignited the bad memory I had about the invading soldiers as tears began to form in my eyes.

"How did you identify them?"

"Do you want to tell me that you don't know their identity?" he said puckishly.

What does he mean by identity? Symbol? Their brutality? Their harassment? Or what else can I know them for? But what I was certain of was that he never referred to their language.

"I don't know 'bout them; I'm hearing this for the first time. I mean their identity." I said.

"Alright then, their 'Z' as in 'Za pobedy' logo is imprinted on their vehicle."

"Why would you say that victory is theirs?" I shunned him immediately.

"I overheard one of them saying it."

"They would never prevail. We would prevail." I said, as tears dropped to the floor.

"Stop crying…. I am tired… I don't want to shed any tears again… please stop this," he said.

He wrapped his arm around my neck as I cleaned my eyes and thought of a question to ask him.

"Did you hear about the enlistment programme?" I asked, staring back at him.

"Why not? We were listening to news from the onset of the war," responded Kenny.

"Did your father join the programme?" I questioned.

"Can we exchange stories? I'll share mine if you share yours, even if you want me to tell it."

"I do" I spoke out trying as much as not shed tears again.