scene dump

the new future is coming. one we carved from our own hands. we lost a lot, but we didn't lose this.

-

I remember watching Ravilo slowly climb up from the ruins of the building that had been his home for the last several years. Julio was on his back, knocked out and bleeding. I followed behind, careful not to rip my gloves any more than I had already. Somewhere, a raven cried into the dark skies.
The top was unstable, but we could see everything around us. The bodies of Asiid and humans alike fell under the rubble, dark puddles of blood flowing from beneath them. I couldn't look. I turned my head away, shutting my eyes and covering my mouth.
"You didn't have to look, Pietre," Ravilo said softly. He spat onto the ground -  blood, probably. He'd almost been killed.
"I know, but..it's so terrible. Why would they do this?" I moved my hand so the words wouldn't come out as muffled. I opened my eyes again, focused on the broken ground beneath me.
"I don't know. We were no longer complying with their demands, I assume. Let's go." He started walking again, his steps sure and solid on our unequal surface.
Of course I followed him.
We clambered down from the rubble when we got close to the center of the Academia. It looked like a temporary infirmary with the tents set up and people dashing in and out. I should've been with them, helping people. There were pitifully few nurses and healers.
"Ravi! You're alright! Thank goodness." Yo raced over as fast as she could when she saw us. Her eye was bandaged and her hair was a mess. She looked over Julio. "Shit! Messa, make room for one more!"
I helped Ravilo get Julio off of his back. The blonde was hardly breathing, but he was alive. Messa wheeled over a stretcher and he and Yo took Julio away. Ravilo and I could only stand and watch.

Abriatis

NY

YWP Alumni

More by Abriatis

  • i am me.

    it's 12am on nine-eleven-twenty-twenty.
    my name is rowan, and i am eighteen.
    i have struggled. i have cried. i did not think i'd make it this far.
    i did not think i'd do half the things i have.
  • nine-eleven

    to think that i will be a legal adult tomorrow.
    i could vote. i could buy fish at petsmart.
    i could apply to places like aldi's and tractor supply.

    my birthday, for me, has always been tinged with sadness.
  • placidity

    i watch the numbers tick up.
    i read the headlines.
    suny oneonta shuts down for the semester -
    six hundred cases.

    i go outside.
    i see the masks, worn properly or not.
    the spraying of hand sanitizer,