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Sacrifice Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Azira Aziz, Malaysia Jun 16, 2005
Peace & Conflict   Short Stories

  

It was night.

The satiny smooth feel of his hands, the strong, firm chest of which where her head rested, cradled in his embrace. Chery knew of no other, none before, and none, she believed then, after. His warm breath, every soft inhale of the life sustaining air, and the exhale of peaceful contemplation in her mint scented hair, reassuring her that he was still with her.

"Adam..." she dared to break the silence.

"Shhh..." Chery's head faced his as she watched him with puzzlement. Her bushy eyebrows were in a small frown, and her lips pursed in a displeased manner. Dark black eyes gripped hers in a trance, letting her know his displeasure. "The night sleeps. The day weeps while in truth it will not be outdone."

"The day will rise in golden rays, while dusk shall come with reddened hues," whispered Chery sadly. "Tomorrow it shall be, and it shall be always."

Adam kissed her forehead. "It had to be done. It is a necessity, and temporary."

"A necessity for fools!" she retorted, unwilling to misplace fragile hopes for a better future. "There is a way of peace, of sitting together in truce and writing agreements. You know that! It had been done before..."

"And it had been betrayed. We cannot risk betrayal when all of our defenses are stripped while their plot their treason away, striking when we are weak."

"Best it is said that we attempted peace, opting for the lessons of the learned than the way of barbarians! Is there no risk in continuing our way of life? The waiting, the fear always there in the frays of the whole loom of which we exist? The fear..." Chery stopped.

"You fear of my no return, whence my body soaked with my own blood, my strength seeped to the Earth from whence I came. You fear for my…" a finger was pressed to his lips.

"To the battle it is, as always. As it is necessary," the sarcasm could almost be heard dripping from every word. "Thus the men fight, while the women weep."

"Nay, we are all warriors, swordsman and cavalry alike. In our own way, in our own small wars, not unlike the red-washed earth, only with different names and with endless chattering of words rather than weapons."

"Politics," Chery spat the word. "War in a civilized manner."

"And life. Our daily struggles, being alone, being afraid, always afraid of far too many things, yet finding the will to go on and survive." she snuggled closer to Adam. There is always truth in his words.

"You drove them away. The shadows, the fear. I will not lose you. I'll not survive."

"No, you will move on and live. Survive and be happy, have many children and live till old age bids you to return to me."

"Adam, do not speak it such!"

"We can never be sure."

"Must it be you doing this mission, can it be no other?"

"Chery, I am proud to be given the chance to execute and complete this mission, despite the risks involved."

"At the cost of your own life?" Adam gently tilted Chery's chin up towards him.

"Our future is worth everything we have. We have nothing to lose. They are trying to wrestle away everything that we have, what we've worked for, what we could and will have. Our future, love."

"Will you return?" tears rolled down her cheeks, while she buried her face in his chest. Her heart. Her love.

They both knew the answer to that.

"We will be together again, I can promise you that."

That was the last night they were ever together.

The battle raged for years. News told that the piles of the dead were so numerous that they had to be buried in mass graves. She still visited sometimes, where she'd think Adam would be.

After the war was won and done; the shields rattled, the swords clanged, victory cries were shouted out loud, celebrations galore... but she would still remember Adam to her deathbed.

He who began it all. He who made it all possible.

They can award all the Nobel prizes, medals, meaningless symbols of little use in his memory all they want. She would remember him a different way. She still thinks of him in a different way.

Her love.

And she knew, someday, perhaps in heaven, they will be together again.

As for now, the biting truth resides in her heart still. Their ‘someday’ was not meant to be.

Not in this lifetime.

The old lady snapped back from the memories from her past, turning her head to a young toddler tugging at her coat. A bud from many sprouting flowers, saplings of a new generation. This little one shall never know fear and uncertainty. He will not grow up in bitterness, and to ride off in battle; never to find that he would not return to a bereaved lover.

“Mother?”

She smiled.





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Azira Aziz


There are no definitive truths, there are no definitive facts, all we have are mere opinions, of which significance is derived from consensus.
Comments


awws
lulia luong | Dec 10th, 2007
its really cool..



awws
lulia luong | Dec 10th, 2007
its really cool..

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