So this dates back to when I was a child, with my brothers Ben and Jett Kirkland. It was the start of World War One, Australia being the young country it was along side New Zealand, we Australians look up to our -you could call it- 'mother nation' England. England needed some troops and quick, seeing as Australia and New Zealand were England's 'child nation' we had to be equipped with soldiers, men to be precise. Young men were needed in the army, and young women in their aid when injured. My two older brothers -Ben Kirkland and Jett Kirkland- knew about their plans beforehand, as our cousin in England -Arthur Kirkland- wrote to us, informing us of what was happening.
Then came that day, the day I never forgot, I was about twelve, -nearly thirteen- years old. My oldest brother Jett invited a friend of his from the neighbouring country, Indonesia, her name was Kirana Dewi, she would look after me when my brothers were out. She was a very fluent english speaker and knew alot of things at the time, that not many would. She would usually wear what she called a batik dress, it was a slight yellow-brown sort of colour scheme. Anyways this day left a good ol' burn hole in my heart and my family, that no one ever could fix, no one.
Let's go back to the day it happened shall we?
***
We were inside the small cream coloured australian cottage that we owned, it was quite a walk down the gravel road from the front of our property. We owned quite a large property thanks to our father's will, our lives were -well you could say- quite peaceful, apart from the times the wild fox's tried to scurry their way into the hen's sleeping box.
It was 'round saturday afternoon, mid summers heat bursting through the roof and walls of the cottage, our Australian Sheep dog outside on the veranda sleeping. We were inside playing checkers or dominoes, -one of the two, my memory is starting to fade- Jett and Ben against Karina and I.
"I'm thirsty! Anyone wan' a drink?" I asked my legs starting to stretch out and straighten as I stand.
"I'll just 'ave a bit of yours" Jett said, his voice monotone as he was planning out Ben and his, next move.
"I'll have some of that orange juice Karina made, please" My other brother Ben said his voice a bit more filled with life, than Jett's.
"Do you want me, helping you?" Karina asked, her accent sounded a bit South American, despite her time being here.
"If you wish Kari" Kari, that's what I called her, ever since I could remember. Karina stood up and duted herself off before following me into the kitchen, it was a nice sort of kitchen not overly big, nor underly small. She walked to the icebox, the box -more like cupboard- whwre we kept the cold meat and other things best kept cold. She poured out the orange juice into three cups, one for Ben, one for Karina and one for Jett and I to share.
As we were walking back into the room, you could see and hear the two boys bickering to each other about what they'll make as their next move, but just above that I could hear the sounds of what seemed to be like... horses? And carriages? And shouting of men?
"Karina... w-what's that?" I say, looking up at her trembling and in fear of what is yet to come. She looked down at me her eyebrows crunched together, it seems she had noticed it as well.
"I don't know Sharni," she was stumbling and looking for the right words, I could see it in her eyes and her facial expression "Let's go see leave, drinks here" she placed the two cups on the nearby flower table and we both walked over to the front door in the hall way, there was two windows on either side of the door, I took the right one Karina took the left.
And boy was I right, there was one carriage being towed by four horses, two dirty brown ones, that almost looked alike, and the other two a more creamy caramel. Beside the horses and carriage were some men, they were wearing what looked like a cadet uniform, there was two men ordering the others around, he must've been on a more higher rank then the others.
