When the Shadows Came

The world was simple once.
Two boys.
Two sticks.
A fight with no rules and no reason.

Laughter rang between them, breathless and wild.
One swung. The other dodged. Dust kicked up beneath their feet.
They didn’t know yet.
Didn’t know the world was about to end.

A voice tore through the air.
“Run!”

She was already moving.
A woman, hair wild in the wind, grabbed them both.
“Now! Now!”

They ran.

The boys stumbled as shadows broke across the golden light.
Not beasts, men.
Tall. Silent. Unstoppable.

They came without mercy.

The woman’s breath ragged, her grip fierce, she ran until…
A misstep.
A fall.
The world shattered.

No time. No plan.
Just a terrible choice.
She grabbed the nearest wrist.

“No!” the other boy screamed.
He fought to reach her. But it was too late.
She was already running, dragging one child with her.

The other boy was seized.
His scream echoed,
“GO BACK!”

She didn’t look.
Didn’t stop.
Didn’t see the fear in his eyes as they took him.
Didn’t see him vanish into the arms of the unknown.

She ran until the forest swallowed them.
Then, breathless, she shoved the boy into a bush.
“Not a sound,” she whispered.
Pressed her forehead to his.
“Not a sound.”

And then she was gone.

He waited.
Seconds. Minutes. Eternity.
Then,
Screams.
Not his.
Hers.

The man clamped a hand over the captured boy’s mouth. 

Didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.

The captured boy saw her.
She had come back.

Not running.
Fighting.

A wild, unbreakable storm,
Fists. Nails. Fury.
She almost won.

Almost.

A single hit.
A mistake.
She crumpled.

Still, she tried to rise.
Another blow.
Then silence.

The men lifted her, limp, and walked away.

The boy in the bush stayed hidden.
Even when the screaming stopped.
Waiting for something that would never come.

The boy that was captured saw everything.
She was not dead.
She was not free.

She was taken.

He screamed for his friend.
“COAL!”
Fought.

But the men didn’t stop.
They carried her away.
And they carried him with her.

A boy was saved.
A boy was taken.

Neither would ever forget.

***

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