DROUGHT

After the incident yesterday, my uncle decided to keep the containers full of water in his secret place. It is inside his bunker. I didn’t expect that he had a secret door going to his bunker behind the huge cabinet made of Narra that could not easily push by one person. The cabinet is older than I am. I watched him move the cabinet with Knight and Jasper to hide the camouflage door inside the room where the three of us stayed. Knight, me and Lucy. He knows that the military and the group he calls ‘Thugs’ will return to get all the supply of water that we have. That is why he hid the containers and left some for our use. Maybe six containers are left in the open—six blue containers for our three weeks of use. We need to maximize the usage of water. That is why we decided to take a bath only once a week to conserve water because what is important is we have water to drink and water to use for cooking.

“If someone breaks in. Never open this,” He said while looking at us while waiting for our reply.

“Don’t tell where our water is at because starting today. The water is more precious than gold and diamonds.” He added, looking at his wristwatch and saying, “It is already ten o’clock p.m., and it is time for everybody to rest because tomorrow--” He paused and looked at us again.

“Tomorrow, we might not know what will happen”, He added.

They left our room except for Owen, who was looking at me, flashing his baby teeth, wearing his diaper and holding his milk bottle. I looked at him with a smile because I knew he needed something.

“Owen, it’s time for us to sleep, little man”, Dannie, standing at the front door, called his son, but Owen didn’t mind her. Instead of going to her, he went to our bed and lay beside Lucy.

“Sleep. Here” He said while shaking his milk bottle. I looked at Dannie and laughed.

“I guess he wants to sleep here,” I said, and he nodded.

“Is it alright?” She asked.

“Of course, that’s fine; Lucy would be glad to see Owen sleeping beside her”, I answer, making Dannie smile.

“Okay, goodnight, our little man,” She said, carrying Owen and giving him a goodnight kiss. Owen giggles and kisses her back. What a sweet baby boy! He put Owen back on the bed, faced me and said, “Thank you so much.”

“Oh sure, no problem.”

“Goodnight”

“Goodnight”

She left the room and gently closed the door. I lay down beside Owen, who was lying beside Lucy. He is drinking his milk while I am tucking him in. I am watching him drinking his milk with his sleepy eyes. He is a cute boy, and I wanted to have a baby boy before, and I was supposed to name him; Prince, but when the cheating happened. I change my mind. I don’t even want to kiss Knight. Thinking that he is my husband makes my stomach sick. I am so disgusted with him. I heard the door gently open, and I heard Ellie call me,

“Ma,” In almost a crying voice, she went inside. She hugged me while holding her phone.

“What is the matter?” I asked her,

“I caught Josh exchanging sweet chats with his ex-girlfriend”, She answered, and instantly, I felt the pain in her voice. I stopped tucking Owen and looked at her. I saw her tears want to fall from her eyes, but she was stopping them. She is trying to be strong even if it hurts inside.

“Is it part of cheating?” She asked, hoping that I would say “no” I looked at her for a moment and answered,

“No, honey, maybe he and his ex were just friends” I lied.

“But there’s a kiss emoji.”

“I am sorry, honey. Boys sometimes are stupid. They don’t know what they are doing,” I said calmly, but I was mad at Josh behind my calm voice. I want to grab him by his neck and choke him to death.

“Don’t worry, I will talk to him tomorrow”, I said. She shooked her head and said, “Don’t bother, ma, I will just let it pass.” I looked at her and nodded. I touched her cheek to ease her pain when we suddenly heard a gunshot outside. I immediately stood up and checked what was happening when I saw the man return with his friends. I think they were five. They all have guns, and they are making every family member. Kneel on the floor with their hands on their heads. I slowly locked the door and told Ellie not to make noise and stay calm. I turned off the light so that they would not notice us inside.

“What is going on outside?” She whispered,

“There are men outside holding guns”, I answered in a whisper. The man who is arrogantly asking for water comes back with his friends.

“I am scared” I hugged her and said, “Don’t be.”

I singaled her to go beside Owen and Lucy, just in case they have a commotion outside. She can easily tuck Lucy and Owen back to sleep. I sat beside the cabinet, behind the door, and listened to what was happening outside.

“Where is your water?” The man asked while his friends looked around the house searching for water.

“Where is your supply of water?” He asked again, but nobody answered. I heard Faith’s voice. She is scared and begging the man to let her go, while my brother tells the man not to hurt Faith. He grabbed Faith by the hair close to him.

“This hair smells good, and it smells like fresh from the toilet,” The man said while smelling her hair. I saw Faith scared face, and she felt like she wanted to scream, but she couldn’t because the man might shoot her.

“WHERE IS THE WATER?” The man asked again, but this time, in losing patience tone of voice. He held Faith tighter, which made Faith shout and beg to let her go, but the man didn’t.

“No! No! Please”, I heard Ice say.

“Let go of her”, He begged.

“WHERE... IS... THE...WATER?”

The man asked, but nobody wanted to tell.

I sat back and closed my eyes. My knees are shaking, and I want to burst out. I didn’t know what to do while imagining each scene to figure out what was happening outside because I could still hear their voices, and the situation was getting harder. I was praying that Lucy and Owen would not get disturbed because I knew they would cry and they would find out that we were here inside the room. I am worried for the kids. I hoped nothing worst would happen.

“Where is the water?!” He screamed to Ice because I could hear his voice stuttering and scared while saying, “there,“. I am sure he is pointing to where the water is. So that the man would let Faith go, he looked from where he was pointing and said, “You think. I will believe that you only have three containers left?”

“Five. Five and a half, we still have containers there,” Ice said while his voice was shaking, and he pointed to the other three and a half that he was saying.

I heard footsteps going in the left direction, away from our room. I heard them carrying the containers and bringing them outside the house. When the man noticed the closed door where the children and I were hiding, he knocked, but I didn’t open it. I looked at Ellie and told her to stay quiet even though he was already scared.

I heard the doorknob turning because he tried to open the door but couldn’t because I locked it.

“Where is the key for this door?” He asked, but no one answered.

“WHERE IS THE KEY TO THIS DOOR?” He asked again irritably.

“I wasn’t opening that door because I lost the key”, I heard my uncle answer, but the man laughed.

“You think you will make me believe that?” He asked my uncle, but my uncle didn’t answer. I heard a gunshot again, and the door now is open.

“Well, well, well,” He said, and he went inside and turned on the light. Lucy and Owen suddenly cry because they get disturbed by the gunshot. He was about to touch the kids, but I told him not to. He looked at me, went near me, and asked,

“Where is the other water?” But I didn’t answer. I don’t want to tell him whatever might happen. He looked at me, grabbed my chin, made me look at him, and asked again.

“Where is the water?”

“We don’t have water”, I lied, and he laughed again and slapped me hard on my face, making my mouth bleed. I spit my blood on the floor and look at him while he turns his back on me. His eyes were roaming around, trying to find the possible place where we hid our stock of water.

“Kill him, Lein,”

“You can kill him.”

“You can kill ’em all.”

“Kill him while he is not looking.”

The voices inside my head are whispering to me. Keep on telling me to kill him because I can kill them all. I can kill the one who is not looking, but how about the others? Who is outside the room with my family, holding their guns and pointing them at my family? I don’t want to take a risk. He walks close to the cabinet and opens it. He got dismayed when he found nothing, only our clothes and the children’s toys.

“We don’t have water,” My uncle said, trying to convince the man to leave us alone.

“The Military took our supply of water, and they left nothing”, He added, hoping for the thugs to believe him.

“They already took what we have, and you already have those left,” he added while kneeling on the floor with his hands on his head. The man went outside our room and walked near him.

“We are many, and the water didn’t last long to us”, He added.

“Oh yeah,” The man said, and he shot my uncle in his head.

“No!!!” They scream, which makes the children cry hard.

“Sammy!!!” My mother screamed in pain when he saw his younger brother fall lifelessly on the floor.

“You trade your blood for water,” The man said, and they left as if nothing’s happened.

My mother immediately hugged her brother while crying in vain. His baby brother is now dead, and his blood and brain are shattered on the floor. We are all shocked and can’t believe what just happened. My heart burst, and I partly blamed myself if I killed the man while he turned his back on me. My uncle is alive now, but I didn’t because I was scared. I am a coward. I looked at my mother while the gunshot sound lingered in my ears after all my uncle had done. He will die just like that. I shook my head because I couldn’t believe what I saw. He didn’t deserve to die like that. We didn’t deserve this all.

“You are a coward, Lein,” The voice inside me said.

“I told you to kill him, but you didn’t listen”, And she blamed me.

“You are a coward, like when you caught your husband cheating. You didn’t confront the bitch. You didn’t confront her,” She said, that burst my anger. I ran to the door to go to the man who killed my uncle, but it was too late. They were gone.

I saw their truck far from us now, with our water inside. I froze and felt like my whole body was numb, even though my legs were shaking. I don’t want to go inside because it is enough for me to hear them mourning. I didn’t want to see them in pain, and I didn’t want to see my uncle’s lifeless body until I noticed Hope lying on the ground. I don’t know if she is dead, but she is not moving. I ran to check what had happened to her. I carried her when I saw bubbles from her mouth and tears in her eyes. That is why she didn’t bark because they poisoned Hope. I saw a pesticide bottle on the ground where Hope was lying. Those monsters broke our gate to get in and poison Hope so she would not bark and warn us.

“No...no...no,” I said while hoping for Hope to move. The bell on her tie rings as I carry her and bring her inside the house; her leg gently moves, which is a good sign to tell her that she is not dead. I need to do first aid for her.

They are mourning my uncle’s death while I am here. I will survive, Hope. She is still alive, and my uncle is not, so I will not let another life lose again. I immediately ran to the first aid kit box to find hydrogen peroxide. When I found one, I took a tablespoon from the kitchen and immediately gave Hope two tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide. I wait for it to take effect, but when nothing happens. I sat on the floor beside her while still hoping for her to move again.

“What are you going to do now?” The voice inside my head asked.

“Your uncle is dead, and now, Hope is poisoned.”

“I think she will die too,” She said, and I shook my head because I didn’t want Hope to die. She is my baby. I know I will be cruel for staying with Hope; even my family is crying for my uncle, but what should I do to the dead body? Here is Hope. She still has a chance to survive.

“You will be all dead if you will not make a move”, The voice continues whispering and tempting me.

“Don’t be a coward; stand up, kill, or get killed?” She said like a demon whispering in me.