Bellum Quest

A girl within a drastic war, whom is told to always smile...looses the last thing in her life - her mother. She must now leave on an adventure to find her astray mother.

It is a cold winter’s afternoon on the 17^th of June, 1939. The city of Gryphem is at war and my village is on the target list. The neighbours wonder why I’m so calm and happy. My mother always taught me to smile and would say, “Even in tough times you need to remain confident and try not to stress”. Therefore I have to be, for my family and for myself.
Today when I was coming home from school I had a horrid feeling in the pit of my stomach which I initially ignored. As I approached my house, I looked at the dark oak door and rang the bell, like I always do to signal mother when I am home from school. Something is wrong I frowned. My heart quivered with fear as I didn’t hear the usual sound of my mother yelling “welcome home!” Confused but sure, I rang the bell once more, “maybe she’s just in the bathroom or something”, I thought to myself as I used my silver key to get inside.

I take my bag off and put it in the rusty locker next to me. Before I could close the door behind me a man appeared with a long grey beard. He is smiling down upon me and before I could question who he is or why he is here, he handed me an old letter with a bright red stamp in the middle of it which is slightly falling off due to the dampness that lay upon it. Before I could say anything, I looked up to see the strange man has gone leaving only the remains of ash and a disgusting smell from the cigar he held.
Bewildered I closed the door quietly and headed into the lounge room that smelt of old candles and perfume that my mother wore. Sitting on the small yet comfortable blue couch I grabbed the letter opener from the coffee table and used it to open the damp letter. I read it carefully noticing it had the beautiful writing of my mother which said:

“Dear Charlotte,
I know you may be confused and scared but I need you to do me a big favour, it will be hard and quite long but I know you can do it; you are my confident little girl.  In my desk upstairs there is a map located inside the top draw, I need you to open it and follow it. I am in trouble and I can’t explain right now, please trust me.
Stay Strong.
Love, Mother.”

Shocked I quickly read the letter once more to make sure I read it right. ”Why is mother in trouble? Why does she need me of all people? She could have asked Aunty or Uncle”, I whispered.  Obeying her I quickly walked up the stairs, careful not to run as mother never allowed it. Reaching her room my eyes gaze around to find her old wooden desk. Opening it slowly I find a large map overtaking the whole desk draw. Staring in shock, “when did mother get such a big map?" I shook my head slightly to get rid of the thoughts and grabbed it with my small petite hands, opening it in the process. My eyes widened at the huge map of our country with lots of coloured dots randomly placed. A note hanging from the left side simply said in my mother’s handwriting, “The first place is where we first met.”  I looked at the map again and wondered, “A place where we first met?” I gazed around the map noticing a lone yellow mark placed on the hospital I was born in.
I quickly ran down the stairs not caring about mothers rule and I grabbed my dark brown coat, black boots that went up to my knees and last of all my old run down bag father bought me when I was little. Gasping for breath I said, “I need to save mother. I don’t know why or what from, but this is something she has asked of me and this adventure will be how”.
As the wind sways my long golden hair and my tiny figure tilts left and right, my beautiful brown horse Charles neighs as we near the hospital. “We are almost there Charles. We are heading into the town where I was born. Mother told me to go somewhere where we first met”, I uttered. My mind then turned to the hospital which was a place where diseases infested the building and where dreams were crushed but also created.
My legs were numb from the journey and as I stumbled off to tie Charles up to a pole I said, “I’ve always dreamed of adventure and thrill except now that I have it, I’m not so sure I want it anymore”. Mother always said never put a limit on imagination, so I never did.

I looked up at the run down huge building and walked towards it cautiously. Looking through the eerie broken window I could see moss growing and lots of papers everywhere. Knowing I am the only one at the hospital I quickly climb through the window and head straight for the reception desk. While walking around I could hear a quiet sniffling noise to the left of me. I turned my head slowly and gasped in shock while quickly turning back around staring at the old rotted reception desk. Looking beside me once more, tears slowly fell from my shining blue eyes. There lay a child gripping onto what I presume was his now dead mother who is covered in dirt and dried blood, with a sickening look on her once perfect face. I walked over slowly, kneeling down to his level where I held the child’s hand. He looked at me in shock crying loudly and his tears now fell quicker. Instantly I pulled the child into my arms saying, “It will be okay."  Into his tiny pale ears. He quietens down and I pull away as his dark brown eyes slowly close as if he had no life left in them. I guess you could say he is falling into a very deep sleep. 'This child probably hasn’t eaten for a long time and his body is failing on him', I imagined. He then looks at me with his eyes half closed, tears still dripping down his soft cheeks, “I’m scared”, he whispers to me slowly. “Go to sleep, it will be alright”, I say to him smiling while trying not to let tears slip out of my own eyes. His eyes close once more and his body turns limp.  I stood up with him in my arms and walked over to where his mother lay. I put his cold body next to hers. “I am so sorry”, I said quietly before letting go of the child. A war is going on and this is what happens when you’re on the target list, death!

Ripping my eyes from the horrifying scene I walk closer to the reception desk near me trying to find another note. It is hard dodging all the bodies surrounding it but I continued without another tear falling. My eyes suddenly fall upon a dusty wet note with faded writing stuck on an old broken draw, which lay on its side on the cold marble floor. My hand shakily grabbed it and it read, “Where he lay after soldiers have left”, I whispered to myself. I instantly understood the riddle. She is talking about father who is in the war and fighting in this town! That was the last time I heard of him. Grabbing the note and shoving it in my coat pocket, I run out of the building leaving the corpses behind me.
 I untie Charles and jump up on him, I lean forward and give him a quick hug trying to forget what I just saw in there and he simply neighs in response. “You won’t make it”, a voice said. I quickly turned my head around but couldn’t see anyone. “Who spoke?” I panted. “Maybe I am just imagining things although it sounded very real as if someone was directly behind me”, I thought. Sighing, I motion for Charles to go and he starts to gallop smoothly along the unleveled bitumen road. As he goes faster I look around at the scenery and see smoke coming from buildings and some still even on fire. It is a shocking feeling knowing this happened so recently. I am wondering where my father was when all this happened, when I shook my head to ignore my own thoughts to focus on one. I need to save my mother!

Author's Note

Was going to be a long story, but ended up dis-continuing it.
Might re-start again someday.