This war of mine.

A Story by Javier

A story I'm writing about a video game called "This War of Mine", truly dark and depressing, it's the kind of feel I want for the story.

Prologue

Pavle awoke with a start that morning. It took a couple of minutes for his eyes to adjust to the new house. He yawned as he walked down the stairs. His stomach growled angrily at him as he reached the bottom step. Pavle walked over to the cupboard to see what was for breakfast but was disappointed to see there was only canned beans. Pavle could barely remember the last time he had had something other than beans. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” said Pavle as he reluctantly grabbed a can. He had no idea how they had even found this many cans. He lit a fire and set the beans on a dirty pan, as he watched them slowly cook.

Pavle looked through the broken window to his right to see red flames from a house burning next door. It didn’t really concern him much, no one lived there anymore. He had already looked around the new house he was in. As he looked into the red flames, however, he remembered what had happened two nights ago. Through the flames, he could almost see them running. The cracks of the fire sounded closer to bullets. Faint cries could be heard in the distance He pulled his head away from the view; tears were suddenly in his eyes. He couldn’t dwell on the past. It would drive him and Kalina crazy. It wasn’t my fault, Pavle thought, how would I have known what would happen.

Pavle went into his wife's room with breakfast. He knew she wouldn't want to see him, but they needed to start communicating so they could start thinking of survival. Karina hadn’t talked to Pavle since the incident. He couldn’t blame her. “Kalina, can I come in?” Pavle said. “I made you breakfast”. There was no answer. “Kalina?” Pavle called. He all of a sudden got a strange feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. He opened the door to Kalina's room to find it was empty. “Kalina” He yelled, louder this time. He began looking through some of the rooms in the house. Kalina was nowhere to be seen. “Kalina” Pavle yelled. As he ran past the bathroom, he saw something posted to the door. It was a note, written in Kalina’s handwriting.

Pavle’s hands shook as he read the letter. “No” he muttered. He looked at the closed bathroom door. He reached for the door handle, then started to slowly turn it. He took in a deep breath before actually opening the door. There was Kalina, hanging from the light. Tears began streaming down Pavle’s face as soon as he saw the gruesome sight. His mouth gaped in horror before he fell to his knees. “Why” he yelled, “why would you do this to me”. Tears streamed down Pavle’s face as he sat there in despair. "Kalina why" he cried angrily. He remembered how just a month ago they were sitting happily in their home, Erik running around the house. Pavle now knew with a sinking stomach, those days were over. Pavle was alone.