Further down the road…689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33KIyk8EfH
Magnified by a panel of wetted glass, a pair of eyes searched around the heatbox of discounted drinks and snacks when he came across the last of his favourite drinks. He opened the sliding door, and a blast of warm air rushed out as the boy quickly snatched two glass bottles of sweetened milk by their necks and hurried down the narrow aisles with neither the assortment of sweets nor savoury foods interesting him, leaping over the packaged pots, pans, stools, and bowls laid out across the worn tile floor. The fan and gas heater struggled against the cold that seeped into the store through a thin tarp, which barely kept out winter. This lack of warmth indoors likely made it harder for the business to survive during colder days, but they were fortunate to have a year-round customer. That same boy went up to the counter where an elderly couple kept watch over their stocks, but the man was less concerned, sitting on a high stool as he read the daily newspaper, unlike his wife, who appeared more sprightly for her age.
She gave him a warm smile when she saw him appear out of the aisle. “Arminius, how d’you do?” The shopkeeper stood on a step behind the counter to get a proper look at her faithful customer.
“Good, thanks.” Arminius placed his bottles on the counter and began counting his coins when he noticed that they were being pushed back towards him.
The old lady waved her hand and stepped back, taking off her glasses as she readied to pack up for the night. “Just take it. It won’t do us no difference.” She said while treating the boy as if he were one of her grandchildren.
Scouring his coin pouch for two crowns, Arminius looked up and frowned at her. “That wouldn’t be right.” He insisted he had to pay, but the shopkeeper had seen her fair share of insistence over the years.
“Come now, it’s just the two—” Turning around, she argued, but she paused when she realised that the boy had already gone.
In place of the two bottles of milk were two coppers, and before the old lady could return his payment, Arminius had made his escape. Her husband had seen everything unfold, and he let out a slight chuckle before gently removing himself from his seat as she shook her head and swept the coins into their register before giving the string switches of the fan and heater a firm pull. As the luminance of heat faded and the whirs of blades silenced, the tarps were drawn and tied together with a knot, thus concluding yet another day for their humble shop.
Skipping along the pavement, Arminius merrily made his way home with a light worry that the milk might go cold. He panted, and his heart thumped loudly, giving him the strength to quicken his pace with the crisp air flowing into his lungs that let out white steam wrapping around his face like a scarf. His nose grew red, and he felt his hands become frozen stiff, clutching tightly onto his milk, but his stamina appeared unspent, being infinitely able to use his energy without a dime of worry about tiring himself at the thought of visiting the festival with his sister, whose patience must have been growing thin. The sky was tinted by the polluting gas lamps, even though the sun had already subducted under the horizon as the path whisked around the hill. Avoiding potholes and puddles of mist water and leaping over exposed roots of trees and cracks that formed from age, he gained on his home at a steady pace like a sparrow soaring through the sky without a skip in his beat, but when his earphones started to play the twelfth song on his audio, he noticed shadows appear around him that should not have been there. The lamp right above his head began to sway, its chain creaking, and when Arminius realised the oddity of what was happening around him, he slowed himself, and his adrenaline started to pulse unnaturally, as if his soul felt that there was something wrong before his eyes could see it. He removed his earphones and hung their wires around his neck when the ground beneath him trembled. His fear became more evident when explosions and screams erupted from the east behind him. The boy turned around and saw pillars of flames and a firestorm washing over the skyline that made him reel back in horror, sensing the carnage and massacre that was bitter to his nose, but it was not long before he could spot the perpetrators of destruction that no one saw until they were overhead.
Flying engines encased in the bodies of steel birds roared under the heavens, masking the blaring sound of sirens too late to respond, which granted the attackers an element of surprise, their dark shadows dashing along the ground that Arminius could not avoid wherever he went. He looked around him, trapped, before he noticed one of the bombers, accompanied by a squadron of fighters illuminated by a fireball that ignited beneath it, bearing the colours of the Grand Confederacy. Standing still, absorbed in disbelief, the shade of his eyes had been completely replaced by the reflections of blazes and ash, and in his last innocent thought, he wondered why his world was at war. A cluster of bombs suddenly detonated around him, and an outburst of flames tore through roofs and bricks, its shockwaves launching a volley of splinters with a blast of wind and fire that tossed Arminius across the street. Everything blackened, and nothingness came into his existence.689Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3BAArwEwh
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