Nagasaki

Untitled Part

Today starts out like any other day. With the birds harmonizing in the warm, yellow light that the sun baths the world in. The children playing with balls in the areas between the houses. Playing with happy hearts while mothers clean. Im cleaning the house and washing clothes trying to stay occupied. I check on the children every now and then, though none are mine yet. Placing my hand on my bulging stomach I look up at the sky and wonder when my husband will return from the war. He left seven months ago right after our marriage. I cant wait for him to come home to our first child. I miss my husband dearly; I read his letters every day and think about his return and the end of this horrific war.

When I am done with the laundry; I go inside. As I am putting away the clothes I hear a knock on the door. I go to the door and there, before me, is my best friend Iada with her oldest boy Sasuke.

"How are you Iada, Sasuke" I say with a small bow.

"Good Mrs. Miyada" says Sasuke with a low bow.

"Good Yuki" Said Iada with a small bow.

I let them in and make some tea. We all sit at the kotastu and drink our hot tea. Iada tells me the latest news while I show Sasuke how to make a paper cranes. Iada tells me that the Americans have set foot on Japanese soil. The war is coming to our door. When she tells me this I feel light headed and take a sip of my tea. Iada and I sit in silent sorrow and grief for the loss of many lives. We hope that our husbands will come home soon. Iada speaks first, she knows what I am worried about. The solders are coming closer and closer to home and my husband is so far away.

Iada puts her hand on my shoulder and says Your husband and my husband are strong men fighting for their country; we have to believe that the spirits will bring them back to us if that is what they are meant to do.

I respond by saying I know that what my husband is doing is honorable and that a death that way is honorable, but I miss him and want him alive to see our first child.

My friend Iada leaves and I go out to work in my garden. Suddenly there is a large boom and a rush of scorching air. The sky starts to turn black and the people in the streets start to run. In a split second I see a building fall and turn to dust. I see people disappear in a dark angry black cloud. I try to run as the cloud heads toward me and my unborn child. As I am running I suddenly feel pain in my foot and the world starts to spin as the ground comes closer. The world stops spinning and theres a pan in my head before I black out.

As the darkness starts to fade into light, I start to see the world again. Before me is death and destruction like no other. Around me, my entire garden is destroyed and the ground is covered in rubble for as far as the eye can see. There are people everywhere, we are all confused and lost. We all dont know what we are doing but we do know that Nagasaki is gone, there is nothing left. I turn around to look at my house it is gone there is nothing but the foundation left, everything my husband and I have worked so hard to get and take care of no longer exist.

In my haze I start to walk down the street to Iadas house. When I reach her street my heart drops into my stomach and my legs start to shake. My feet start moving faster and before I know it I am running. When I reach the house tears start to stream down my face. I walk through what should have been the gate to Iadas garden. My feet take me down the scorched pathway to the front door and into the crumbling house. The moment I cross the thresh hold I fall to my knees and cry. In what was once the entrance way, huddled in the corner is the desecrated remains of my friend, her two sons and her grandmother.

I start to crawl closer to the huddled forms while my vision is blurred by tears. I do not make it instead I collapse into the ground in a fit of tears. I cry and I cry and I cry. The tears just keep on coming. Suddenly a hand was gently placed on my back; I wipe my head around to see Iada. Iada bends down and hugs me; then she pulls back and wipes the tears from my face. I go to speak but she places a finger on her lips to shush me. Iada stands and helps me stand. Then she turns and leaves the house I follow right behind her confused and concerned. I just saw her body on the ground dead, but here she is walking in front of me. She has not smiled once since we were reunited.

We step in front of my house and walk back into the desolate garden. Iada walks me over to the spot where I first awoke after the fall. There on the ground was something that I had originally missed in my deviation. Now that Iada points it out I can see it as clear as day. There before me was my charcoaled body. My body is burnt beyond recognition. I cry harder than I have since I woke up. Iada bends down and hugs me and she says all will be fine and that it is our time to go that is what the spirits tell us. With those words and Iadas hand I leave for the next life and hope for the safety of my husband.