This is a tale which took place during the Japanese warfare against the U.S as presumed. It was dangerous times to live in. Alarms were constantly heard most of the time. Ordering people to take cover and find a safe place to be at or in. Air attacks was one of the main form of attacks used by the enemy and was evidently proven to be the main cause of deaths and injuries. Many lost their home and were suffering due to the effects of war. It took place when the world was not as modern as it is today. These were times where people were just introduced to technology.
It was a small village. Estimation of the whole lot living there would be almost over five hundred. The people in the village mainly depended and lived on agricultural, as their main occupations were as farmers. It was once green, peaceful and the air was filled with greenery and freshness of the soil. It was all different now, the village was no longer peaceful and it didn’t only smell of greeneries or the soil. In the small village lived a small family which consists of a husband and wife and their two children, a young boy and a much younger girl. They lived peacefully and they loved each other dearly, that was before the war.
The men as usual during wars went to fight for their country and had to leave their family behind. It was their obligation as men. However the family even without their father seemed to be doing just fine and were trying to live as normal as they could, during these hard, worrying times. The children seemed to understand the absence of their father in their life and were quite comfortable in the hands of their mother. So far the war hasn’t affected their home and their neighbors and theirs. Despite the fact that had to occasionally from time to time evacuate to the nearest shelter for protection from the bombings. It had somehow become a routine, since the war was declared and since it happened to happen quite frequently that the siblings by now were used to all the running and the chaos.
Usually Nakata (who dreams to become a well known soccer player when he grows up) who is the elder brother, who also just turned 15, will carry his sister on his back tied steadily with a piece of material which once used to be worn by his mom, upon his body. Chi the younger sister just aged 5 was bright, cute and adorable because of her charms and playfulness. Chi would cling to her brothers while he rushes to get them into safety with their mother running by their side. This has been going on for weeks already and the much smaller family now is trying their best to survive in the worsening state of the war. Recently the alarm goes off at least twice a day and on some days, it was so bad that they had to stay in the shelter home for the whole day.
On normal days, the days were spent doing house chores by the mother assist by Nakata with her chores while chi playfully just looks upon or when she gets bored of not getting any attention, runs outside chasing the insects/butterflies. Apart from that they would try to get food from what they’ve manage to grow in their compound and somehow all seem to be good even in the condition they were living in. Their neighbors were almost all gone either found a better place to live in or are living with their relatives some where safer till the place was considered safe again.
Little the siblings knew that things were about to become worse and they weren’t ready for what was about to happen. It was a normal sunny morning, the alarm sounded and they were to rush to the nearest shelter which took Nakata about 10 minutes to reach from his house. His mother, on that day was about to meet a friend for reasons unknown to the kids, said that she’ll meet them at the shelter. Once they get there. Nakata carried his sister Chi as usual and tied her with the same material carefully and rather expertly behind his back and started running. It all seemed different today he could hear more warplanes than usual heading past them. Nakata sped up and tried to avoid the roads. He could see people wounded and some were hurt real badly. All lying on the ground gasping and shouting in agony, He tried his best so that he would be able to block Chi from what he was envisioning. Bombs were exploding everywhere and Nakata could see buildings been blown up and for a moment there he just stood there in shock. The voice of Chi shouting and crying at the back of his ears woke him up from the shock and he resumed running. They made thru the shelter without any major injury, but with minor scratches.
Once they were there a neighboring aunty (a friend of their mother) came to their aid and mended their wounds and fed them with what they could offer. After relaxing a bit the aunty gave them some food, and pulled Nakata and said something to him. Upon hearing what the aunty said, Nakata turned pale and he began to sweat heavily. His mother, she didn’t make it to the shelter. She was hit by a bomb although not really hit by it but she was close enough to suffer the effects of it, and was currently treated in a nearby school which is the current hospital now. Nakata left Chi behind with the aunty that helped them before and ran to the school as fast as he could. Once he was there he tried to relax himself from the panting and once quite relaxed, went into the school and asked for his mom. After a few minutes of finding he finally was shown to his mom from the help of a doctor. She looked like a “mummy”; her whole body was enveloped with bandages. Her whole body was burned badly. She weren’t able to talk and Nakata was pained looking at his mother’s condition. He however dearly hoped that she would be treated and would be with them after her treatment. After his long visit Nakata then returned to his sister and went back to their house only to find out that it too was blown up. They couldn’t possibly live there. He made a decision. He decided to go to an aunt’s house for help. She was as far as he could picture quite pleasant, learnt from his occasional visits to her place.
Back then he couldn’t think of any other options. His decision to go to his aunts seems the best. Their aunt welcomed them with open arms. The days were not as comfortable as they used to be. Yet, they were in a much safer place, and it troubled Nakata that now they didn’t have their mum with them anymore. The day after he was told about his mom’s condition on his second visit made him devastated. There was nothing much to say about his mother’s condition, to begin with. By the time he got there, his mother’s whole body was already covered by maggots and other insects. He could see those filthy things crawling in and out of his mother’s corpse between the bandages that were used to cover her. She was already gone. After the burial, he returned home to his sister but didn’t mutter a word to his sister regarding the death of their mother. He always said to his sister when asked; “mother is sick and we can’ visit her yet, just wait for a while, until she gets better” and hoping that Chi would eventually forget about her mom.
Life in their aunt’s was nice at first; they were fed appropriately and enjoyed the same meal as everyone else. Aunt has a grown daughter and a husband who was a soldier of war, as expected. They didn’t seem to mind the presence of the siblings. On the other hand, after a while of what seemed to their as a permanent stay, their aunt has begun to show signs of dislike towards the siblings. She often said to Nakata, “You have already become an adult and should be doing something useful instead of taking things for granted and playing with Chi all the time”. Nakata has been getting a lot of complains and nagging from his aunt lately. His aunt now serves them with different servings when the have their meals (together). They don’t get to eat rice anymore like the rest of the family. The complaining and constant whining had made the children despise their aunt; the kids being kids were really sensitive to all the criticism and tell off. To make matters worse, Chi knew about the death of her mother as she was told by her aunt. Chi started having nightmares and would wake everyone up in the middle of the night including the already angry aunt. Nakata took the scolding and had to calm his sister down, by carrying her outside, so that it would make the house less noisy. The days passed by uncomfortably both for the siblings and the aunt. They no longer had anything they liked about each other.
The children now spent most of their free times outside the house. Nakata would take Chi to the beach, quite often. They enjoy their times on the beach and Chi loved the beach. He even taught Chi how to swim. They were having fun together and it seemed like at that moment they forgot about their losses and their distressing experiences. Chi was laughing joyfully with her brother enjoying the gentle waves of the sea. Nakata felt happy watching his sister having fun. He felt a sudden feel of satisfaction, watching his sister face gleaming cheerfully and giggling under the sunlight. On other days when they didn’t go to the beach, the siblings routinely went for walks discovering new areas they’ve never been to and places where they could sit comfortably and play.
On days where Nakata would leave Chi at his aunts and go walking just like every other days, only his walks alone were intended for him to find things that were valuable and useable. His most favorite spots were in ruined buildings that were bombed and deserted. Most of the time he couldn’t find many valuable or even useable, functional things there as they were already stolen by others and what normally left were junks that were evidently useless. Other alternative that he has was intruding into peoples houses while they were at the shelter during the air attacks, which is clearly dangerous, risky and which puts him in a very vulnerable position. More often than not he’d be able to sell or exchange them with items that were mostly edible and at that time that was what he preferred. On the other hand, Nakata always brought back the belongings that he found back just for the sake of appreciation towards things in general.
Lately at his aunt’s home, things in general were getting worse and considering the state of their current relationship and the growing hatred and anger from both sides made them even more irritable and sensitive. Chi wasn’t fed well, she was becoming thinner and it was clearly visible that she was lacking nutrients. On an unfortunate day because of some petty occurrence that was not even worth mentioning, Aunt threatened to kick them out of the house. On that night, Nakata remembered finding an abandoned tunnel which, once seemed to be used as a railway track. It didn’t matter then to him, he was too caught up with his own feelings. He spontaneously came to a sudden decision to get out from the house. He didn’t like the way his aunt treated Chi. He turned to Chi who was lying beside him and said, ‘Let’s go somewhere else, we don’t have to stay here’. Chi readily agreed by nodding her head. ‘We can go to the tunnel that I took you the other day, we can play all day long and ill cook for you’. Chi smiled back weakly and said, ‘Ok’.
The very next morning the children started packing all their belongings and were almost done with it. Aunt was eyeing them curiously and said to herself, ‘let them do whatever they want to do, they are not my concern, I did what I was suppose to’. She said. The place wasn’t very far away. ‘We’ve got almost everything that we needed, there won’t be a problem. Ill be searching for some other stuff that we need.’ Nakata said to his sister. Chi as usual nodded in approval and said, ‘Ok’. ‘I am hungry, I want to eat rice’. Said Chi. ‘just wait till we get there and ill cook for you.’ said Nakata in reply. He was pushing an old cart that he found laying in someone’s house, the other day.
Almost after half an hour, they reached their destination. It wasn’t really that bad, the place was secluded and its surroundings were covered by tall trees, the sound of birds twittering above them, it was peaceful despite the fact they were in the midst of war. They were all by themselves and they liked it that way. Nakata cooked the rice and the vegetables that he brought with him. They didn’t have much of them but, at the moment the siblings enjoyed their meal and Chi looked happy, eating the humble lunch prepared by Nakata. After their lunch the siblings started on making their bed in the tunnel and arranging things they brought with them, on which they decided on where the right places to place their belongings. Nakata managed to bring along most of the basic necessities and even brought a mosquito net along. They fixed it up in the tunnel using some ropes, it didn’t look remarkable but it was none the less impressive to the children. The rest of the day was spent placing, arranging and even mending things. And when Chi was having her nap Nakata went to search for more stuff that might come handy in places nearby.
The first few days were a blast but, Chi’s condition was just the same in spite of her more cheerful self. Nakata had to go out more in search for food and had to leave Chi all alone in the tunnel. Nevertheless, he always managed to bring himself back before it was dark. His search for food and valuables were no longer productive and he hardly brought stuff back home. In harder times, when Nakata failed to bring food back, he would trap/ catch small creatures such as frogs or rats and cook them for food. They were so hungry that they didn’t mind eating the not so grand cuisine. It got dark early and the nights were cold and chilly. Chi got used to the nights and she wasn’t as scared as she was in the earlier days of their stay in the tunnel. Plus she had her brother besides her. She’d talked to her brother about how spent her days alone and quite surprisingly her free times were spend catching insects and small creatures which she would place in a trap that Nakata built. Chi now, quite often, when her brother returns to the secluded place they lived in shouted happily, ‘I caught a frog today.’ As if she knew that the news would please her brother.
On a lucky day, thought Nakata when he managed to loot some vegetables in a farm that he newly found. He thought to himself that today he could cook something decent for Chi. On the way, the alarm ringed and everyone ran out of their houses leaving it open and unguarded upon seeing this Nakata got excited and thought that he might find something. The attack started and Nakata was so far lucky from the attacks. He went into the house and began ransacking the house; he took his own time knowing that usually the occupants would only be back after a few hours. Suddenly he remembered back when he was caught stealing fruits in a shop, the owner who caught him didn’t show any mercy and beat him so bad that the left side of face swelled so much that he was unable to open his eye because of the pain. The shop owner then send him to the nearest police station, the police were shocked looking at the state Nakata was, that out of sympathy they let him of the hook with a warning. He now started to hurry and look for something he could take back for Chi. He dropped the bag of vegetables he was holding and ran upstairs into the bedroom.
He then despite of the bombings and the noises coming from the warplanes outside and above him and could hear screaming and some of the neighboring houses getting hit by the bombs dropped, ignored that and continued scavenging for anything with value. He opened the drawers lifted the mattress on the bed and even looked under the bed. He then came upon a cupboard and to his wonder found some expensive materials that looked really expensive. His face made a broad smile and he hurriedly took the materials and threw them out of the cupboard. He then opened the drawer and found a few gold colored chains. He knew for fact that, that was going to be expensive. He also found a gun in the drawer. He took it too. He managed to find a bag and put it in it and ran from the house leaving the vegetables that he had previously took without permission.
He was running with a wide smile on his face, holding a bag carefully within his grabs. He then went to the town which was not attacked and people were seemingly seemed to go on with their daily routines. Nakata went to almost all the food stall and traded them with the material he found. The materials were now someone else’s. Nakata didn’t seem to mind about the expensive materials readily accepted by the shop owners. He had the gold chains still with him and he bought food that Chi loved, toys, candies, a couple of clothes and some medication believed to be for fever for Chi. Nakata felt better with himself knowing that in the near future they’d be well fed and he could buy things that would spoil them. He was on top of the world. He could see how Chi would love to see him this time jumping with joy and they could be happy and cheerful together.
Once he arrived at their place, Nakata called out, ‘Chi- Chi’ several times. There was no answer. He thought she must’ve gone wandering somewhere, nearby he hoped. He placed all of the goods in the tunnel and went looking for his beloved sister. After a few minutes of looking without any results or signs, Nakata got worried and a look of panic came upon his face. He was sweating and panting trying desperately to look for his sister. Then after looking for her almost everywhere within eyesight, he collapsed on the ground, looking wearily tired and disappointed. His eyes still looking for any sign for his sister, he got up knowing that Chi never wanders of far away- suddenly, to his surprise he saw a small figure lying on the grounds surrounded by tall grasses and trees. Without doubt it was her thought Nakata. There she was lying right under a tree, Nakata ran towards her with a shimmer of hope. Nakata kneeled beside her, she wasn’t moving and her face looked pale. She was holding something unmoving in one of her hands. It was long and dark. Nakata looked for a better view and lifted Chi’s hand to get a better view of the things that was in her grasp. To his agony, it was a snake appeared to be dead. Several bite marks were visible on Chi’s arm. Both of them didn’t move. Nakata tried waking her up she just didn’t show any sign of movement and her body felt cold. Nakata’s heart sank and tears were rolling down his face. He just stared at his sister in regret saying repeatedly, ‘I am sorry.’ He didn’t know how to react. He felt failed and remorse. ‘If only I came back earlier this wouldn’t have happened’. He shouted. His emotions were all jumbled up and the only reason for him to live and to strive ahead was now dead. Worst of all, he was all alone in the world. He didn’t have anyone else. And the thought of that itself scattered him with sorrow-ness.
It took him some time to come back to his senses. He was carrying chi in his arms. He knew that it was already too late. He couldn’t do anything to safe her and her body would rot if he didn’t do anything, plus the place was getting darker. He picked himself up to cleanse her with water and dressed her with the new clothes that he took from the tunnel. He then dug a hole to bury his sister. The memories of doing so brought him back when his mum was buried in the school come hospital ground. It was painful. This was much worse. After burying his sister, he sat beside her the whole night fearing that she might be afraid of the dark. The next morning he wandered pointlessly and the decided to go in the tunnel and took a look at the goods that he managed to bring back the day before. He found the items and food that he brought back, the jewels were still there and so was the gun. For a moment there he was gazing from the jewels and the gun as if he was trying to make a decision. He chose the gun and took it out and went outside. He now sat down beside his sister’s grave looking blanked and still shocked with what had happened. He just laid there beside his sister with the gun in his hand.
