I stood on the street of New York as the loud noise of traffic and of people yelling sounded around me. I looked up at the sky where the stars were covered by the light pollution and squinted to see if one at least broke through. I sighed and started walking towards my apartment complex. A loud noise filled the sky making my head jerk up to see above. Unidentified planes filled the sky making me shiver. I knew something was wrong and I began to run. I saw people stand out of their cars and look up the sky in wonder. That's when it happened. Bombs filled the sky, pulverizing cement and shattering the very bone of the buildings nearby. I was thrown back at the force of the hits. Screams filled the air as more bombs came crashing down. As I tried to force myself up, traffic of terrified people came storming towards me. I pushed through the crowd looking for some way of escape, some way to breath. As I pushed through the final crowd of legs, I was forced into a small alleyway with no way of escape. I fell to the floor and pulled my knees up to my face burying my tears. I could feel the tremor of another building exploding and the screams and cries of terrified people. I sobbed. How could this be happening? My ached as I tried to drown everything out.
I awoke in a shelter which I had not been in before. A man's voice echoed through every corner of the room.
"So you're awake girl! I found you in an alleyway up there. Asleep!" He sounded astonished, but within it a tone of a morose heart.
I looked around the room and found the where the voice was coming from. The figure of the man sat on a chair on the opposite side of the room.
"Who are you? Where am I? Are the planes gone?" I asked.
A small, sad chuckle sounded from the man. "I am no one now! As for where you are, you are safely hidden in a bomb base. I haven't gone outside to check due to the risk of dying."
I remembered the screams of the people as they were incinerated or torn apart from being too close to the bomb. A tear slid down my face and prayed for the loss of innocent everyday people. A light flickered from a candle at the man's side. His face was covered in soot and his eyes were red and swollen from crying. He looked around his forties or fifties, I could not tell due to the grey streaks in his hair.
"What is your name girl?" He asked me.
"I'm Allena..." I said quietly.
He grunted in reply and stood from his chair. Silently he walked over to me with the candle in his hands. He stopped in front of me and pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket. He stared at it sadly and handed it to me. I gently took it from his hands not knowing what to do with it.
"Wipe your tears away. Save your tears for happiness not for sadness." He said as if answering my question.
I silently thanked him as he sat next to me. I looked at the handkerchief, it hand the name Alicia embroidered onto it with a couple of butterflies along the edge of the name. The man must have lost his daughter... I gently wiped the tears and forced myself not to cry anymore, handing the handkerchief back to him. He took it back and held it close to his chest. Noises sounded from outside, causing me to stand up. The man did not look up as I walked towards the entrance of the bomb shelter. I pushed the hatch up and the man suddenly jolted up from his seat.
"DON'T! You have no idea what it is like out there!" He yelled as I stepped out not hearing him.
The sun shined happily in the sky blinding me. As my eyes adjusted I saw the destruction of the bombing. Buildings destroyed into a million pieces, not one building or living thing stood there. All there was silence. This was the silence of death and despair. I felt the man stand beside me with the same look on our face. He held my hand gently and I knew then that he and I were alone. Alone in a cold, desolated area that smelled of death.