The Commandments: Chapter 4

by **Merci** 19/10/2010, 7:54 pm

Before I knew what was really going on, Kora was dragging me. I was skidding across the ground at first, unaware of how quickly he had moved from his seat to his feet. I managed to stumble behind him, and and catch my balance enough to run behind him at my highest speed. The sirens wailed across the city, and by now people were taking cover, listening for the planes that meant the bombs were coming. I'd never seen a bomb, I imagined it to look somewhat like a small black ball with a small fuse. How would they keep the fuse lit if it was flying from the air?

I wondered, losing my balance in all of my daydreaming and stumbling into Kora, who caught me and tossed me into the basement window of a small building. We hid there, listening, hearing nothing but the wail of sirens. He turned to me with a stern face, which no longer bore the smile I was growing accustomed to. "Stay here, the bombs are coming any minute." He began prowling the cellar, stuffing his jacket with things.

"What are you doing? Stealing is bad." I wagged my finger at him, he grunted and kept collecting.
"Well, if your going to do bad things, I will-" I didn't get to finish my sentence, he was in my face in a second, half smiling.
"Want to eat? Then help me, besides, its abandoned." He handed me a jar of pickles, and went back to his plundering.

I began to pluck from the shelves multiple types of food, mostly in cans or jars or bags. I grabbed carrots, celery, stale bread, softened apples, and, without knowing it, a jar of aging wine. I stuffed this all in a sack which Kora had found in the corner of the room. After placing our sacks beside us, he brought me to the wall and balled up, beckoning for me to do the same.

"But why?" I whined, not wanting to hold the uncomfortable position for long.
"Because I told you to, I don't want you getting hurt." He looked at me, though the root cellar was growing dark as the planes above blocked out all light.
"Why do you care about me? No one else does." I argued.
"Because the commandments say so!" He bursted.

Just then, at the end of his outburst, the bombs fell, and we were silenced as the city around us fell, the sirens its cry of pain.