I watched silently as my mother pulled her black scarf around her head tighter. A nervous habit. With every step she took, sand swirled and rose up from the road. I myself pulled my scarlet scarf up further above my nose to keep the dust from choking me. I pulled my gaze from my mother to glance at the rest of my family. A progression of six, my family and myself must have seemed rather curious to others we passed on the street. We were twelve determined eyes set behind scarves of either scarlet or black, the colors those in our city were required to wear. Scarlet for the blood those before us had shed trying to destroy the government, and black for the thousands of deaths resulting from the rebellion. It was our government's own sick way of reminding us what would happen if we were ever to try to go against them again.
An elderly man playing a bansuri on the side of the road gifted everybody around him with a silky sounding song. Music was mostly banned from us, but occasionally the men the government sent to watch us would enjoy the sound and allow music to be played. I prayed the men on duty that day would like the music, and the poor old man wouldn't be punished. I watched as two little girls, both wearing scarlet dresses, sat on the dirty sidewalk, playing with tiny dolls. Their scarves had slipped below their chins, and I almost wanted to smile at their pure innocence. I had to stop and remind myself that this place was no longer my home.
"Remember to run." my father whispered to the rest of us. "No matter what. Do not stop running." My brothers and I nodded. Now that my father had spoken, I was suddenly extremely nervous. Every step I took towards the gates around our city left my head pounding and my legs becoming increasingly heavier. What if they caught us? They would surely kill us all. Did my family not know the risks of something like this?
Of course they did. The idea of being free and healthy was far better than the tiny food rations, run down houses, and strict laws of this new place. So much so, that the risk was far outweighed by the possibility of freedom, if only for a few seconds.
"Are you ready?" my father asked us. I nodded with slight hesitation. We approached the gates quickly, not waiting for too many people to see what we were planning.
Just... A few... More... Steps...
"Go!"
The six of us broke out into a run. My oldest brother was a foot or two in front of me, but the rest were just a bit behind us. What? I thought. Are they not trying to stop us? Do they even ca-? My ears were pierced by a loud sound and a sharp scream. My breath caught. Bullet. I stopped and whipped my head around to see my mother in a black heap on the dusty ground. I wanted to scream, but all I could do was give my father a horrified look.
"Don't stop, Anjali! Run!" My father barely had enough time before a string of gunshots blasted my eardrums. I watched in horror as my father's body jerked then crumpled to the swirling sand below.
I ran. Adrenaline surged through my body. This was life or death. I couldn't stop. More gunshots. They all missed. The sand made it so hard to run. It burned my bare feet. My dress seemed so much heavier. More shots. Two of my brothers went down. The sun was so hot. I couldn't breathe. There was a hill just in front of me. If I could get over it, the bullets wouldn't reach me. A few more shots. I think one caught part of my dress. One of the others hit my last brother in the back. Run. Just run. Don't think about it. The hill was right there. A few more shots rang out just as I flew over the hill, tripping over my dress and falling down to the bottom.
I layed there for several moments. They wouldn't come after me. I was almost sure of it. At least not yet. Unless they wanted to go by foot, they had no way to go after me. None of the cities were allowed any form of transportation aside from a few animals to the men the goverment had living in them. I was safe for the time being.
The sun burned my face. I turned on my side and stared at the sand that shifted when I moved. I thought of my family and let the tears that had been threatening my eyes for so long fall down my face as I prayed for their souls. And mine.
