Tanisha Sethi

Children

4  

Tanisha Sethi

Children

Sunshine

Sunshine

5 mins
544


“Mike.”

“Mike… Mike, wake up. We have to move.”

“What? What’s going on? Is it time already?”

“It’s getting too hot.”

“How is it possible? We have been here for only two days.”

“I guess it’s moving faster than before. There’s no other way to explain this.”

The room was much hotter than the day before. Mike felt the sweat dripping down his forehead, all his clothes were soaked and sticking to his thin body. It had been about three weeks since they left home.

“If we had stayed there, we probably would be dead already.”

“You don’t know it,” said Katie.

“You can barely survive it here, imagine what it would be like back at home. Especially during the daytime.”

“Where are we gonna go? We need something to drink.”


Mike didn’t know what to do but he had to keep his sister calm and relaxed. Panicking wouldn’t make anything better. “Further to the north would be the best option, maybe there’s some water left.”

It was more of a rural area, houses populated the area rather scarcely. There were many farms nearby and you could tell that there used to be a lot of animals, when the weather was still normal. Some of the places even had some dead carcasses and bones in the fields and stables. Such a scene created an uneasy feeling in your stomach, it was even harder for Katie as she was still only 12. Finding food and water was hard these days. Most of the water sources had dried out, for food, you could still find some cans of meat or fruits, or even dried fish if you were lucky.

“Mike, look!”

He turned his eyes and saw that the barn across the field had caught fire.

“It’s not long until it reaches here, the hay burns in seconds.”

“We must start moving.”


They packed the food they had left. It was two cans of tuna and a can of peaches. The last bottle of water they had finished last night.

“This will last for two days at best. We should check the kitchen and closets, just in case. Every bit of extra would come in handy if we start moving.”

“I already went through everything while you were sleeping, there’s nothing left.”

“Fair enough, let’s start moving before it gets dark.”

With the heat even an hour of walking was dreadful. Also, breathing got harder day by day. That’s one of the reasons there was no point to hold camp in one place for too long. It was only going to get worse. After walking for a few hours at a steady pace, they started to see a house down the road. There was always the hope of finding some food. But most of the time people had already looted everything and all you could find was some empty cans and bottles. But it was still worth the shot, like you had anything better to do with your time. They weren’t even sure what exactly they were looking for, but you had to keep moving in some direction. And they still had hope that someplace it wouldn’t be so hot and there would even be some food to eat. With the heat, your feet got really hot after just walking an hour or a half. Their feet had been covered in blisters for weeks now.


They arrived closer to the house. It was a white two-story house with a picket fence. And in the entrance, a huge red wooden door beamed right at you. It was well preserved taking into account the weather. It seemed like they weren’t the first ones to got here. The door was slightly open and also some windows had been broken. But still seemed promising. We could have lunch here and search for something useful or edible.

“Let’s save the peaches for later.”

They even drank the oil from tuna can as they needed every last bit they had.

“It tastes like dog piss.”

“You can leave it for me if you want.”

“You wish.”

“The forest across the field is burning. We must be quick. The wind is also getting stronger.”

“I’ll take the rooms upstairs, you can take the ones down here,” said Katie.

“10 minutes max.”

With the wind getting stronger, the fire was spreading like a wildfire. They didn’t have much time.

“There’s nothing left here,” Katie was shouting from upstairs after being there only a few minutes.

“Same here.”

Katie rushed downstairs. “Hurry up! Look at the fire!”


They rushed out of the front door to decide where to go next. The road straight ahead was already blocked by trees that had fallen down and caught fire. And on the fields beside the road, the fire was spreading faster than they could ever outrun.

“Going back seems to be the only way,” Mike said hesitantly.

“And where? It’s already burning near the last house we came from. We have to run across the fields. All the roads are blocked.”

“Let’s go.”

They started running as fast as they could across the field behind the house. But soon Katie was exhausted. The fire was eating the forest faster second by second. Mike started to carry her on his back. Running through the high grass was difficult. Having some extra weight on your back didn’t make it easier.

Soon there was fire all around them. There was nowhere to run anymore.

“I’m scared,” Katie was crying out desperately.

They were standing out there on the empty field, watching the fire getting closer by every second.

“We’re going to die. I don’t want to die.”


Mike and Katie already felt the heat coming from the fire. There was no way of getting out of there.

Katie fell down on her knees, crying.

It was about half a mile until the fire would eat them alive.

Mike sat down next to her trying to comfort her, knowing very well everything was about to come to an end. It was only a matter of minutes.

He reached to his knife at his belt. He was not going to let his sister burn. Looking at the knife and then his sister, he started to cry. He had never imagined that he would have to do something like this.

He hardened his grip and started to raise his hand towards her neck. She looked so innocent and scared.

He was shaking uncontrollably. The world was coming to an end. There was no way out of there.

“I can’t do it. I’m sorry Katie. I should’ve been more careful.”

“It’s not your fault. I love you.”

“I love you too.”


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