We Will Not Go Down...

Bombs fell on the land that had been filled with blood. Its echo broke the stillness of the night. The animals of the night were awake, but they didn’t provide any movements that indicated a fear. They just walked slowly, looking for another place to continue their sleep. They had been accustomed with explosions. Meanwhile, at corner of the city, a house was destroyed, because one bomb had fallen there. Blood were scattered, shouts of anger blared in the night sky. People ran around the city, but they ran not to stay away from their enemies attacking them. They ran looking for the source of the bombs. They would fight back the attackers.

“The last bastion has fallen down…!!!” shouted a man. He ran, trying to control the situation. His shout seemed not to make all the people who were there afraid. The people were even more vigilant. They didn’t move at all, but still waiting on the last line of defense. Although they were well aware that they didn’t have sophisticated weapons, they felt it was not a reason for surrender. They would struggle for their rights.

However, elsewhere, far from the attacks, there was a mother who was crying. She cried not because of the war, but the arrogance of his son’s attitude that hurt her feeling. That time, the mother told her son, “Come on son, you must help us fight this war. We must get together to win this battle.”

“No, mom, this is your war, not mine!” answered her son.

Actually her son was a good boy. But the bitter truth in the past to make him change. He was sometimes gentle and understanding, but sometimes rude. Just like this time, the current attitude of the boy’s impudence to appear in inappropriate situation—in a war situation.

But, the mother’s patience was like an angel. She didn’t impose her will, but rather pray that her children could be the ones who succeeded in life and afterlife. So she swept the tears from her eyes, and walked toward the well to wash her face and her feet to pray.

In the meantime, one of her other sons came home. He didn’t say anything, because he felt so tired. He just came from the war, a war that he hadn’t finished yet. So he just parked his motorcycle quietly. After that, he looked at his first brother’s eyes, red. Then he looked at his mom, she was taking a prayer, crying and sinking into her prostration. Again, he didn’t say anything; he thought that it’d better for him to go directly toward his room where the situation was dark and quiet.

When he arrived in his room, he took off his uniform. He didn’t care of everything he was feeling; broken heart, betrayals, even a dream that was almost stolen, but with wounds he struggled to defense. Suddenly, when he felt in pressures, his second brother came into the room. The second brother then sat besides him, and then talked, “We must win brother, we will not go down! We must win….!”

“What must we win, brother?” he answered his second brother, “We aren’t even brave to fight in the war. Whereas, we know that our children have been waiting for the glory for years, and we here just talk about winning without any efforts to be a real winner” then his heart was full of tears. He regretted he had talked like that to his second brother. However, his second brother just smiled at him, and then telling him softly,

“Brother, I’m not asking you to forgive me for my attitude. And I’m happy that you have big motivation to win in the war. Me too, I also want to win this war. Not only for me and my family, but for us.”

After that the second brother got up, and then walked out the room. At the same time, he tried to understand every word that had been just said by his second brother. He stood up, couldn’t still find the answer. He reached the electricity to turn off the lamp in his room. He felt very tired and really wanted to take a rest.

After the room was hardly dark, he laid his body in his bed. Slowly, he closed his eyes, and his lips softly whispered, “Yes, brother, I know, we will not go down, and we will win our future…”

The moon in the sky disappeared slowly, and hiding behind the dark clouds. And in war area outside there, the battle had stopped. It was only blood covering the land, there was no fears, the people who had gotten back to their home made the night quieter and quiter.

Posted in: Short Story