Koran barely made it to the front door of his house. Luckily, the building was still standing and looked fine from the outside, without any visible damage. But the door was wide open, swinging slightly with the wind.
"Did she leave the house?" Koran thought as he stepped inside carefully.
His steps led him to the hallway, where he noticed clothes scattered on the floor beside two broken vases and some overturned furniture. The explosion wouldn't have reached this far, and even if it did, it couldn't have caused this kind of mess.
"Did the soldiers come here?"
He walked toward the kitchen. It looked almost the same as he had left it, everything in place except for the fridge, which was wide open. He stood for a few seconds staring, then grabbed the knife his mother used to keep hidden for emergencies. He stepped back into the corridor, searching for the stairs. The lights weren't working, and the place was half dark, making it harder to move. Still, he had no choice but to continue.
He went up quickly, but missed a step and fell hard on his side, rolling down like a barrel.
"Damn… that hurts," he muttered, pressing his hand against his waist and trying to catch his breath.
He got up again and climbed more slowly, with caution this time, until he reached the second floor. There, he was met with a completely different scene. The place looked like it had been fully raided. Tables were broken, couches torn apart, cupboards thrown down, and blood scattered in several spots.
Koran froze, his ears catching a sound coming from the nearby living room. It was a strange, hoarse noise breaking the silence.
"Ghghh… khhh… kkghh…"
A choking sound, rough and uneven, rising and falling.
Koran's heart raced as he stood frozen in place.
"Mom?" he thought in fear, taking a slow step toward the sound.
He rushed into the living room—there she was, Diva. Blood ran from her arm and a little from her face. But she wasn't alone. A soldier with black hair and a black beard streaked with gray was there.
The soldier had Diva by the throat, gripping her tightly, his belt undone. It was clear what he wanted to do—or what he was about to do.
"I just wanted to have a little fun. Why make this so hard?" the soldier spoke with a disgusting, lustful tone.
Diva, choking, couldn't reply—until Koran finally shouted:
"You bastard, let go of my mother!"
The soldier turned to Koran with a mocking look.
"Go to your daddy, kid. Let the grown-ups play."
Diva managed to whisper with a strangled voice:
"Koran… please… run…"
But Koran had already lived through too much—the massive explosion in the city square, the loss of his friend, and now finding even his home in ruins. He wasn't really seeing anymore, not with his eyes but with his mind. Everything was foggy. Watching the soldier strangle his mother was the last drop that broke him.
He could no longer tell right from wrong. Was this really the time to think of morals? Was it right to attack when he had done nothing? Was it right to kill people who had done nothing?
Koran held the knife that was glowing blue. All Koran could think about was stabbing the man in front of him, even though he was young and had only ever stabbed a dog once when it attacked him and Timo. But the man standing in front of him was no different from the dog. In fact, the dog was better because it only attacked Koran to protect its puppies who were playing with him. But this soldier attacked them just to satisfy his own desires.
Koran quickly moved towards the soldier, pointing the knife at his kidney. Before Koran could hit him, the soldier let go of Diva and turned around quickly to block the strike.
Koran was faster, allowing him to cut the soldier's flesh. The wound was shallow and not fatal, but it was more than enough for Koran to buy some time.
He helped his mother get up, and they ran towards the first floor. The soldier chased after Koran and his mother, forcing them to change their route towards the kitchen.
The soldier was injured, but he was still a trained soldier, so he was able to chase them. He grabbed Koran by his leg while he was running.
"Stop, or I'll kill him!"
Diva stopped desperately, not fully aware of what she was doing, but she decided to protect her son no matter the cost.
"Let him go, and I'll do whatever you want," she said in a sad voice.
"No, Mom! Don't do it!" Koran screamed, but the soldier slapped him.
"You should be grateful to your mother that I haven't killed you. You, come here now."
Diva moved towards the soldier, near the table where they used to eat. The soldier spoke in a vile voice.
"Lift your skirt."
Diva looked into his eyes with great hatred, but she was helpless and didn't say anything. She lifted her skirt just a little, but the glimpse of white skin was enough to make the soldier forget the wound Koran had given him and the anger he felt. After all, he was no better than the dog.
"Lift it more!" the soldier said excitedly.
The soldier looked down while Diva's hand was on her skirt to lift it, but he didn't notice her other hand, which had grabbed a fork from the table.
In one moment, Diva raised the fork and stabbed the soldier in his eyes.
"Ahhh, you... you wretched woman!" the soldier screamed in pain as Diva hurried to Koran, who still couldn't believe what had happened.
"Listen to me, Koran, we will be okay," the mother whispered to Koran while hugging him.
She then held his shoulders to talk to him.
"We have to escape now."
While Diva was talking to her son, she didn't notice the soldier, who had reached for his gun while lying on the floor.
"You wretched woman..."
BANG
The soldier fired a single bullet that went straight through Diva's back. Blood came out of her mouth. It only took moments for Diva to fall to the ground.
Koran, who was shocked and helpless, looked at his blood-covered hands, then at the soldier crawling towards the door to escape. Then he looked at his mother lying on the ground and said in a fragile voice,
"Mom?"