Survivor

I sat in my rocking chair remembering. Remembering the hate, fear and depression of that day. The day they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. That day of death. 

I heard a loud explosion. I felt the earth tremor. I hid with my little sister and mother in the kitchen. It was the safest room and we had hoped it would hold. The ground shook then abruptly stopped. We thought it was another earthquake, but when we got to the door we discovered how wrong we really were. There was no way an earthquake could cause this much damage.

I sighed, so many people had died, and for what? Peace? To try and take control of what wasn't theirs? I often would think of asking them. Did it get you what you wanted? Was it worth it?

There was so much chaos, so much damage. My mother tried to shield our eyes but what we had seen could never been unseen. All those bodies, all that death. So many people crying and screaming for those who were gone and would never come back. Even with my eyes covered I could sense the pain of others and I knew things would never be the same.

I got up and walked to the fridge. I gently stroked the picture that had been taken a few months before the bombing. I had been 9, my sister Kaedé 6. We had been standing out in front of the garden at our local park. Mother had gotten the camera out and taken a photo of us, two sisters happily living life. A life that was soon to end.

We climbed out into the street over rubble of buildings and the occasional body. Mother sent both my sister and I to one of the few stable buildings. We stayed in a room with other children, most we knew but there were a few new faces. Our parents had left us there so they could go search for survivors. They were gone for so long, most of us had fallen asleep due to exhaustion. They had all faced their fears. This had been the worst thing that had happened to them, something they would never forget. Kaedé was asleep on my lap when the adults came back. A few looked sick and had burns on their body but most were ok. I watched them come in one by one. Something was wrong. Mother wasn't with them.

It was so long ago but it didn't feel like it. It only felt like yesterday when I lost Anzu, my mother. She had just disappeared. I remember searching but having to give up to care for Kaedé. She needed me more than my assumed to be dead mother did.

"Kaori where is mum? When is she coming home!" Kaedé missed Mother more than I did. I had other things to focus on though. Mother was in the past, Kaedé was my future. I had to look after her for Mother, it's what she would have wanted. I sighed, got up and went to go and get more scraps of fabric to continue fixing one of her dresses. Making a living was hard, my only income was from begging with Kaedé. That barely provided for us as it was. I often go without to provide for her. She is all I have. I need her, without her I have nothing and the grief will find me again, as will the depression. I went back to and found Kaedé crying, she asked me why I hadn't answered her.

"One day you will understand. We will be happy, with all that we need and then I will explain".

" But when is mum coming home". I looked up to see her eyes hopeful. Tears were brimming in my eyes and I turned away.

"That's just it Kaedé, she isn't".

So much time had passed since then, but what I saw back then still haunted me. I had had to care for Kaedé, to raise her and protect her from all the depression around us. Friends either moved away or became sick and passed on. They figured out what had killed so many, radiation sickness. Kaedé and I had been lucky, mother had shielded us with her body, so she took on most of the radiation. We still got some though. Kaedé got more than I did, and that was what finally broke my heart.

"Kaori, I'm not feeling well, can you stay home with me" I sighed, Kaedé had been getting sick so much these days. I guess it is because we don't have much room, stuck here and no way of cleaning ourselves. I sighed, knowing that I wouldn't be able to care for her alone for much longer. I walked around the room gathering up our stuff. We had to move somewhere cleaner, somewhere better for Kaedé. I woke her up and we walked out the door, heading towards a new life, a future.

Kaedé and I had made a new life, far away from where we lost everything except each other. She had grown so much, she now had a family of her own. She was happy, living a life she wanted, so much like what it was like before the bomb. She doesn't remember much, only a bit and I am thankful for that. For now we are happy, even though she is far from me I know she has what she wants. Now it is time to chase my dreams. I pick up my bags and walk out the door, heading towards my work. Time teach the next generation about what it was like to survive. To survive the bombing of Hiroshima.

" Kaedé thanks for everything, You are worth more than I have." I smiled as she walked away, towards her new family and her new life. Thanks for surviving. That's what we are. Survivors.