Before the flood came, before the rain turned the world to silence, there was a warning.
Messengers rode through the villages.
Drums echoed across the rice fields.
Flags were raised along the road to the city.
Everyone was told the same thing:
"Go to the nearest city! The rivers are rising! The sea is breaking through the bridge! Get to the boats!"
Even my aunt, Captain Merlin, sent word from the city of Render, begging my father to leave.
But he refused.
"It's just rain," my father said, standing beneath the gray sky.
"The bridge will hold. It was built to keep the waters out."
That bridgemade of old wood and iron ropes was the pride of the kingdom.
But everyone knew it could not hold forever.
The mothers knew.
The farmers knew.
Even the children could tell that this was not an ordinary rain.
It fell like the end of the world.
The Exodus
The villagers packed their things in a hurry rice sacks, baskets, old tools, children wrapped in blankets.
The sound of crying mixed with thunder as people ran for the boats waiting at the river's edge.
The road to the main city became a sea of feet and voices.
Men carrying babies, women dragging carts, children calling for their parents.
Even the animals ran, following the scent of dry ground.
I tried to follow.
I wanted to hold my father's hand.
I wanted to call for my mother.
But the crowd was too much.
People were shouting, pushing, running—
I was small, only six.
Their feet kicked the dust and rain into my face as I was thrown back again and again until I fell to the ground.
By the time I stood up, everyone was gone.
The Silence
My mother.
My father.
My sisters, Darian and Alex.
Mr. and Mrs. Gareth Clara, who once smiled like the sun.
My friends, Anna, Goru, Jack, Twilight, Edwin.
All gone.
The whole village was empty, the rice fields drowned, the sky black with clouds.
The rain fell harder, striking my skin like stones.
The bridge that guarded the kingdoms broke with a sound louder than thunder.
A wall of water rushed through the valley, sweeping away houses, farms, and dreams.
The Running Boy
I ran.
I ran without looking back.
Through the flooded roads, through the forest paths that were no longer there.
Everywhere was water and mud.
Everywhere was darkness.
Branches whipped against my face.
I fell.
I got up.
I fell again.
My head hit a tree, but I kept running.
Blood mixed with rain on my face.
"Why did everyone leave me?" I whispered, my voice breaking.
"Was it because of me…?"
The wind howled back, carrying no answer.
Only the storm replied, drowning every word I said.
The Fall
The forest ended suddenly, opening into a cliff where the river had turned into a roaring monster.
Before I could stop myself, my feet slipped on the wet ground.
I screamed as the current took me
Swept me down through branches and broken wood.
Something hard struck my head.
The world went dark.
The last thing I remember was water… and silence.
The Scattered
When I woke, the world had changed.
The rain had stopped, but the sky was gray and cold.
I was lying beside a river, far away from my home.
My body hurt. My head burned.
And my memory
Half of it was gone.
Somewhere far away, my mother held baby Alex in her arms.
My father clutched Darian, shouting their names into the storm.
Mr. and Mrs. Gareth searched for their daughter in tears, but the current had torn the paths apart.
Jack was pushed into another boat by strangers and carried away toward the east.
Goru and Anna tried to stay together, but the flood split them apart.
Edwin and Twilight's voice echoed once in the storm, then disappeared.
We were all scattered
Like rice thrown to the wind.
But the worst was me.
Because I was the one left behind.
The last child in Fernstead.