BABYLON

Fire, smoke, and this old, dirt road lead the way to my freedom.

I’m a refugee, an outcast, an alien in this land of strange tongues. I’m a slave, a raab…, a dead man.

Or, at any rate, I was.

The cinders fall around me like snow, and the heat from the flames warms me after spending years in that cold, wet cell. I can feel my extremities again. My heart is beating faster.

The road to a better life…

“Ruuski!” I hear someone yell, and know that is my cue to start running again. I try to concentrate on where I am going, where this dirt road is physically leading me, but I can’t help but think about where it’s eventually going to lead to: my freedom.

What will I do? What will I make of myself? I had always wanted to be a doctor as a child, but that dream was shattered when the Russians had invaded my country. But now that I am fleeing from their madness, I can see myself a doctor. I can see my beautiful future wife next to me, smiling. I see our three small children tugging at our legs.

In the midst of the chaos, a small smile breaks my lips.

I hear, distantly, the thundering of hooves.

My heart beats faster.

Freedom.

I can taste its sweetness.

I half hear someone running behind me cry out. I half hear someone slump to the road behind me, lifeless.

It does not register. I hear, instead, the laughter of my children. The soft whispering of my wife.

I half hear someone yell at my fellow refugees and I to stop. It does not register.

I hear gunfire erupt behind me. I hear more thuds. They register now.

Fear seizes me. I run faster. There are more frenzied yells, and more deafening gunfire.

Suddenly, the small girl running in front of me trips. She falls to the ground.

Time seems to slow.

I see my wife, and my children. I am not with them. I hear them laugh. I see them smile. That image fades…

I hear them cry to me. ‘Save her!’ they say. I can see them again. I reply ‘No! I must run to you!’ But they just shake their heads, and give me a sad smile. Then they fade again.

My freedom… my future…

Do I choose them? Or do I choose this girl?

Time speeds up again. The little girl tries to get up. People just run by her. Her people. They leave her behind.

I have no choice. I throw myself over her, shielding her.

A gunshot rings out.

My vision blurs.

I know what has happened.

My freedom, and my future slip away from me, just as my blood slips away. The girl beneath me is safe. She must know what has happened.

I wonder about what her future will hold… her husband… her family…

And then darkness.