Stranger
After a few seconds, cracks appeared in the floor and it shook, and suddenly smoke appeared everywhere. I couldn't see anything and the smoke burned my eyes. A deafening noise sounded far away. In the distance, the ringing of bells was drowned out by other loud noises. They were much closer than they had been a few seconds ago. Screams rang out and fell silent every second. I started to run in the direction where I thought my family was. After just a few steps, however, I stumbled over something lying on the ground. I hit the cobblestones hard. A sharp pain ran through my ankle. I felt sick for a moment and my vision deteriorated even further. My ears were ringing and my ankle felt numb. But my vision improved and I realized in horror what I had actually stumbled over: it was the body of a little boy. His blue eyes stared at me. There was something empty and lifeless in them. Something that didn't belong in the eyes of a child. I wanted to scream and I did, but I couldn't hear myself because there was a loud boom right next to me. The next moment, stones began to fall. They hit everywhere. One of them almost fell on me but I managed to pull my feet up to my body just in time. I pulled my arms over my head and made myself as small as possible. When the noises around me died down, I was still lying there. From one second to the next, it fell silent.I slowly removed my arms from my head and looked around, unable to see much because of the smoke and my position. As I sat up, my ankle began to ache. The smoke slowly disappeared and I realised that the boy wasn't the only body around me. It was a horrible sight. Debris and bodies were scattered as far as the eye could see. Nothing more than a few stones remained of the buildings. Where once the largest city in the world had been, there were now only ruins. Only ruins as far as the eye could see. Only one building remained standing: the bell tower. Its bell had fallen silent but it was still standing.
Then the bell began to ring. But before it could finish its first note, the fog began to thicken. Another loud noise sounded from afar. I couldn't see much through the fog but something red and orange flashed in the distance. The air got warmer and warmer and I could see the colors getting closer and closer to me. I heard screams again. My whole body was frozen. I sat in the ruins of my home and heard people screaming. How could it have come to this? They won't attack us. That's what they had said. And now what? They had burned our city to the ground. They had killed innocent people. And why? Yes, why. Because of a few stupid people who couldn't resolve their conflicts without slaughter. Just because of these people, cities lay in ruins, people died and hatred was spread. Power brings inequality. Inequality leads to hatred.
I felt the warmth around me. I would die because of this hatred. Like so many others.I closed my eyes. Let me die, but not Anna and not Mother, let them live. They deserve it. They deserve to live.Suddenly the warmth disappeared and I opened my eyes. A burning outrage was still raging around me. I was sitting alone between the flames, surrounded by a white protective shield on which small frost crystals were forming.
What was that? Where did it come from? Completely in shock, I stared into the flames that were eating their way up the wooden masts of the ships. The fire continued to rage around me as I sat in my protective bubble. I heard footsteps coming closer. Someone was running away from the fire. There was a crash and then a scream. The next moment, a man with a burning shirt ran around the corner. He stared at me and I stared back. The man screamed for help and silently my hand pointed towards the water as if of its own will. He changed direction and plunged into the harbor basin just a few seconds later.After he had climbed out of the harbor basin, he looked around in shock. There was a creaking sound and, out of nowhere, one of the large ship's masts fell on the man. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't because the smoke was getting thicker and thicker around me. So far I had hardly noticed anything through the bubble, but now I could hardly breathe. Despite the pain in my ankle, I struggled to my feet. Blindly, I began to sense the walls for a door into a house or an alley into which I could run. Again and again I stumbled over things lying on the floor that I couldn't identify. I could breathe less and less easily. I coughed and stumbled, my whole lung burned and I had no strength to get up again. All over sudden the the air was clear again. I could breath. Quickly I took a deep breathe than I looked around.
Where once the largest city in the world had been there were only ruins now. I sat in the debris of my home town. The street was covered in corps. The buildings in the distance were still burning. Screams came to my ears from afar but other from that it was completely silent. Even though my ankel was in even more pain I good up and slowly starred walking. I didn't know where I was going.
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