Dirah sat at her desk, the angsty chords of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" filling her ears as she zoned out, dressed in her school uniform with her backpack at the ready.

"Dirah, Mom called!" her mother's voice echoed through the house.

Ignoring the call, Dirah didn't move a muscle.

Mom knocked on her bedroom door three times, growing impatient.

Startled, Dirah finally acknowledged the disturbance, but still didn't make a move.

"Go, out the door, leave this house, it's past 8 already. You never listen, Dirah!" her mother shouted.

With a reluctant sigh, Dirah put her phone and earphones in her backpack.

As soon as her mom left the front of her door, Dirah tiptoed her way to the kitchen, stole a piece of toast, and quietly made her way to the door.

"D!" her mom shouted as she heard the door creak open.

"I hope you didn't take your phone!" her mother called after her.

"I didn't, Mama. I love you, bye," Dirah replied as she grabbed her bicycle and kicked off, rolling away.

"Hey Siri, call Brick," Dirah said.

"Calling Brick," the phone replied.

"Hey, alien," Brick's voice came through the phone.

"So you succeeded in taking your phone to school too, huh?" Dirah said.

"It was a groundbreaking moment. Dad let me have it," Brick replied.

"No way Captain Mercury would allow that," Dirah gasped.

"Believe me, D, I am a daughter with many tricks."

"What lie did you pull this time?" Dirah asked, but her voice was drowned out by Brick's scream.

"Look ahead, you fool. It's a good day to die, though," Brick said.

Dirah abruptly stopped her bike, realizing she was near the railway tracks. A train passed just inches from her, the force of the wind nearly pulling her backward.

"Wait, how did you know that was going to happen?"

"I told you I'm psychic," Brick giggled.

"Haha, very funny," Dirah replied. As the train passed, she saw Brick on the other side of the tracks.

Brick, like Dirah, was a tall girl in her teens, with short black hair and dark skin.

As Dirah attempted to cross the tracks, a sharp sound rang out, and Brick's smile disappeared as blood gushed from her abdomen.

Panicking, Dirah pulled Brick off the rails, and more shots rang out. People around them fell to the ground.

Terrified, Dirah started her bike and rode like the wind with Brick on the front.

Dirah's initial plan was to return home, but the town was already engulfed in smoke and chaos.

Finding shelter, she laid Brick down, who wasn't moving, and dialed her mother's number.

Luckily, her mother picked up.

"Mom," Dirah cried, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, honey," her mother replied. She lay sprawled on the floor, her body severed, on her last breath, the building in ruins.

"Oh, that's a relief," Dirah said, tears streaming down her face. "I just wanted to tell you that I love you, and I always have, even when I started acting up when Dad left. I was sad that if I left eventually, I didn't want you to become too attached and sad."

"I understand, D. I've never stopped loving you. My baby has grown up so f..."

Her mother's voice faded, and the line went silent.

"Hello, hello," Dirah cried, but there was no response.

Unbeknownst to her, Dirah's mother had slipped away too. The war had taken everything from her – her family and her dearest friend, Brick, leaving her in a world torn apart by conflict and loss.

Ecclesiastes 8:9
"Man has dominated man to his harm'
© camvickbone