Smoke and dust filled the air, coalescing with the smell of fuel, chemicals, and the unbearable stench of the barely-functioning sewage system. The nearby sounds of loud chatter and metal ringing were just as unbearable, but luckily for Inara, the sounds were washed out by the deafening clangor of bullets blaring in the distance.
'Ahhh~ today will be a good day'
Inara hastily got up from her bed, dodging drops of a particular liquid falling from the leaky pipe attached to the ceiling. She watched as the liquid continuously splashed on her brother's chest as he slept beside her. She stared dumbfounded at the sight and placed two thinly knit blankets atop his wet chest.
'This idiot always kicks his blanket off in his sleep. Doesn't he know that's why he wakes up wet every morning?!'
Being careful not to wake her brother, she quietly headed towards the window. It only took a few steps but the effort made to prevent any squeaks on the wooden floorboard turned the short walk to an arduous process.
Looking back to confirm that her brother was still asleep, she curled her lips upwards and turned to stare through the window.
She was met with a large mass of smoke nearly seeping through the windowsill. Fumes from the military patrol vehicles roaming the streets — if dirt paths lined with rubble and debree could be considered streets — wisped lightly around the smoke and flew freely through the air.
'Hmm… I don't get to see the morning sun today either.'
She took a deep breath and sighed, expelling all negative thoughts of her harrowing environment. Today was a special day afterall, and she wasn't willing to let her circumstances ruin the moment she had been waiting patiently on for years.
Today was the orientation day at Fajr medical school.
Inara would be attending the orientation, of course. She had not studied diligently in college for four long years and passed the MCAT with flying colors for nothing. She even grew calluses on her delicate hands from all the writing for gods' sake!
She looked down at her hands, cursing the hardened layers of skin which made her otherwise graceful, ladylike hands appear rough and unrefined.
Shaking off her irritation, she quietly got dressed into the nicest outfit in her possession — a loose blue dress with two persistent stains that refused to be washed away. Her irritation quickly came back as she stared at the two discolored splotches.
'These stains just had to be on the most expensive piece of fabric I owned…'
After a couple of minutes of intense staring, she shrugged with a slight sigh, accepting the fate of her sullied clothing. She reached towards her neck and gripped onto a small stone with a glass-like luster that rested diligently on her clavicle. It was held together by a red rope which looped around her neck and emitted a near mystical aura.
It had become quite a habit for Inara to grab at her necklace — mostly as an anxious tick. But this time, she felt a healing sense of pride. She smiled once more and looked down at the gemstone.
'At least I have this charm. I've never seen anybody in town wear anything this shiny before. This might be the most valuable item here, the whole country even!'
Still looking down at the gemstone, she suddenly thought of her grandma and gripped onto the charm more intensely.
'Sigh… I really don't know why she gave me this. She should have just sold it off like I told her to. How did she know I wouldn't just pawn it off?
I guess it doesn't matter now. I'll never sell it. Not ever… And well, at the very least, it'll only rise in value if I do choose to sell it in the future anyways. Hehehe..'
Back in relatively high spirits, she tip toed into the kitchen and pulled out the last two slices of bread from a bag tucked away in a cabinet.
She slowly nibbled on one of the slices as she placed the other atop a plate and wrapped it with seram wrap. She stared at a picture of her brother and her framed and standing on the corner of the small dining table.
Shaking her head, she thought to herself,
'This fool won't eat unless I lay it out on the table for him. Spoiled boy…
Well, he won't have much time to be spoiled today. I'm going to be busy!'
Finishing off the last remaining nibble of her bread slice, she jumped into her torn-up shoes and skipped out the door.
***
A couple of hours passed, and Inara found herself in the meeting hall, mingling amongst a small group of other aspiring doctors.
Today had truly been a good day. She got to hear a speech from the respected Dr. Amin and explored the facility with her future professors and classmates.
It was better than she had ever imagined. It was obviously not as large and resource-abundant like the medical schools in the kingdom of Bellator or even the smaller kingdom of Wolgwang, but it still exceeded all of her expectations.
She was close to weeping tears of joy but reserved her emotions as she socialized with her peers.
'Ahh!!! today can't get any better! Or maybe it can. Maybe I'll get to see professor Almea to—'
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a shriek from the intercom.
"PSHHHKKKK… PSSHKKKK… Notice to all studen — PSSHKKKK…. Notice to all students. Notice to all students. There has been a violent incident in the northern gates of Varamuj. Civilian casualties have been reported. Please head home today and ensure the safety of yourself and loved ones. PSSHHHKK… Click."
The meeting hall abrupted into loud chatter and sounds of frantic footsteps filled the hall as many students ran out the exits. Other students picked up their bags and leisurely made their way to the large hall doors as if an announcement of such magnitude was an everyday occurrence.
Inara was among the latter group of students and prepared herself to leave as she noncholantly said her goodbyes.
As she walked towards the door closest to her, she caught herself clutching onto her necklace charm.
Truthfully, she was a bit anxious since she couldn't confirm the safety of her brother at that exact moment. Her brother and she did not own an MCD since mobile communication devices were a privilege that most people in the country did not have access to. So her mind wandered to some horrifying thoughts which she quelled quickly.
'He's fine. He should have stayed home all day. He doesn't have school this week anyways.
Besides, even if he went out to play, Varamuj is a far, far walk from our house. That lazy fool would rather spend the day sleeping than to walk even half that distance.'
After calming herself down, she loosened her grip on her necklace and finally left the meeting hall to head home.
***
The walk home was chaotic, more than she had expected it to be. People were panicked and screams could be heard in the distance.
Events like today was common but Inara was still slightly bothered by the commotion around her. From her recollection, no other incident caused such an intense uproar since at least a year ago.
Sure, casualties were reported this time around, but there hadn't been any reported mass deaths or mass, major injuries in such incidents for the past 4 years. Surely, today was no different, so it was strange to hear the extremity of the panicked voices of the townsfolk.
As Inara reached the inner section of the neighborhood in which her house was located, a rough hand gripped onto her shoulder tightly, making her jolt up in fear.
A man's gruffy voice bellowed out as tears splashed on Inara's back.
"Inara, you're back! Me and the townsfolk have been looking for you all day!"
She quickly turned around to see a scruffy old man with an unkept beard and a distraught look on his face.
"Mr. Aba! What's wrong?"
"Inara, thank god your safe… thank god! Oh my, how do I explain…Your brother. Oh, your foolish little brother! He's missing! He's been missing the whole day and we can't find him. We've even broke down your door because he wasn't answering and he's not there! And with everything happening in Varamuj… we've all been.. oh god. Oh god!"
Inara's world froze for a moment. Her body shuddered. Her pupils started to tremble. Her jaw seemed stuck, unwilling to move. She stared at the man in front of her as his head lowered towards the ground. Her hands moved before her lips and shivered as they held onto the gemstone on her necklace.
She finally gained some control of her mouth and asked with quivering lips,
"W-what do you mean Mr. Aba? Don't.. Don't say things like that. You know it's not funny…"
She gripped the gemstone tighter.
"I'm sorry Inara… oh dear god forgive me sweet Inara. It's all my fault. It's all —"
She gripped the gemstone even tighter.
"STOP! What are you even saying?! I'm heading home. And no, I won't forgive you for this. I told you it's not funny!!"
"Inara! Your stupid brother… He said he was going to a friend's house. I didn't think anything of it. Oh! I'm such a fool! I'm sorry Inara. I'm sorry! Your brother. He told me he was headed to Varamuj, and he didn't want to walk the distance. So I… I lent him my bike. But I'm sure he's safe. That boy may be stupid but he's not stupid enough to get himself hurt over something like this. I'm sure. I'm sure…"
The man looked back up and saw nothing but the dust on the cracked dirt road.
Inara had already ran back towards her house before he finished speaking.