Item story

A quiet whisper of cool breeze sounded as it passed through barren trees burned of their leaves. The forest was stripped of leaves and of grass leaving a normally lush green sight black and brown. Inside the forest stood a stone courtyard surrounded by a small wall with a house on an edge. The home was only a few rooms and within sat two people staring distantly at each other. The two smelled of sweat and dirt as neither had bathed in days.

A woman of darker complexion had heavy bags under her eyes and small boils on her skin. She wrapped herself tightly in a blanket and was looking at the man across the room. Catching her eye, the man’s shot away and walked around the room to grab scarf near an open door. Peering into the congruent room the man saw a poorly managed bedroom with toys across the floor and crayons, stamps, and a ruler on a desk. The man sighed loudly and turned back into the room and walked over to jug and kicked it lightly. Empty and hollow, the jug rang. “We have to leave here. We have no water, no food,” the man said as he motioned to a plate cleared with only a few nuts resting in the middle. The woman frowned and watched the man. “We’ll die here.”

“And better to leave and succumb to that poison?” she shot back at the man tempered by delirium from being without water. He leered away from her.

“I have to try something,” he said as he walked to the front door avoiding eye contact. The man opened it to see the courtyard which had debris and soot blown onto it. He walked to the nearest salvageable item which was small boat which had been ripped out of the water and thrown hundreds of yards. He revolted as he flipped the canoe from a horrendous smell and sight of a person that had been hit directly by the blast. The body was severely charred with multiple limbs and the head ripped off. He winced as he bent down to check the body and canoe for a shred of food or water. The canoes interior was empty and the pockets of the body contained only a leather wallet and few coin. He pushed the canoe back over and surveyed the rest of the area. Only rock, bent metal, and the head of the sailor remained in the courtyard. Looking at the decapitated head burnt of hair; the man lost hope and weakly walked back into his home.

The woman had bent over on the ground from where she was sitting. Even though he could hear her light breathing, she was unresponsive to his prodding. Leaning against a wall the man slowly slid down to the floor. He looked sadly from the window to the woman and shut his eyes.