discombobulation

r | graphic violence

She had tried.

This is what she wants to scream at her brother - I tried. I tried to help.

The first day, the first hour, the first minutes, before she even had any idea what the hell was going on, when she was still in shock, before full-blown panic set in. She unbuckled her seat, tripped out of the giant hole, wondered where in the hell it came from. She stepped away, sat on the sand, wallowing in a haze of numbness. Her eyes settled on a bright blue blob, and it took her a while (too long) to realize that it was that baby who had cried for the first hour of her flight.

On her hands and knees, she crawled over, poked it.

"It's going to be okay," she heard herself saying. "Your mom's ..."

She looked up, around, not really processing anything. Almost at the border of confused, nearing the edge of fear, she tried to pick up the child, but as she did, the head remained in the sand. She dropped the body, stared at it, watched as it rolled away.

For the first time, she heard the sounds, the engine, the fire. She smelled the blood, the burning flesh. She saw, everything, and heard, everything.

And she screamed.

(fin.)