“Mother…” (Krisnata Ricky)

“Mother…”

By : Krisnata Ricky

Mother…

Few weeks ago, there was a news stating that water is not safe anymore. People didn’t know exactly why, so they ignored it, until casualties happened. After a lot of research, they found out that the water is polluted by some bacteria that attacks human’s brain. So before WHO finds the cure, we made the rule to not drink any water. As long as we didn’t drink any water, we would be safe. But we were so wrong. The second stage happened. Billions of people were dead before we found out that the plants and the animals are also infected with the bacteria. If we eat them, we get infected. Now, we can only rely on the food stock that are not infected yet.

I see that mother already prepared some slices of bread, again — or always. She made the bread without any water. Just with flour, egg, and sugar. Two of us only eat twice a day: breakfast and dinner, so that we can save our reserves. I sit down with my Mom and take the bread. Suddenly someone knocks the door twice. We freeze for a while. The knocks go again, and my mother stands up to open it. It is our neighbour, Mrs. Bella. She often comes these days asking for food and our beer. We already bought a lot of supplies and beers when the first news came out. It’s not much, but enough for 2 months. When neighbour knows we have lot of beers, they want us to share it, or sell it to them. The conversation between my Mom and Mrs. Bella is heating up. They shout to each other before my Mom shuts the door. Mrs. Bella is still calling my Mom from the outside, shouting, begging. It’s been like this lately. Mother comes to me, saying that we will survive this until they found the cure. She is afraid because we already lost my father when the second stage happened. She also lost her family in the next city. She doesn’t want to lose me either. She hugs me. After I finished my bread, and drink my beer, I go to my room upstairs. Doing nothing, reserving my energy.

I wake up. I heard something downstairs, but I don’t know what it was. Seems like I fell asleep because I had nothing to do. I check the clock. It’s still 7:34 PM. I become fully awake when I hear the cracking glass. “Mother?” asks me quietly as if she is around me. Sequences of loud noises are happening downstairs. Then, I hear my mother screaming something. It sounds very messy down there. “Mother!??” This time, I am shouting. There are screaming and shouting which make me frozen in my bed, hugging my blanket tightly. I am frightened. I feel like my mother is screaming to me, but I can’t hear it. I jump out of my bed, go downstairs, “Mother?”. I find a lot of people wearing black masks covering their face. They are looking at me. I am speechless and scared. They are looking at each other and starting to mumble something. I see that they are bringing some bottles. Our beers. I look behind one guy. And I see, my mother lies down. There are a lot of bloods in her body. Before I can scream, something hit my head and I fall down. I am lying, half conscious, watching those people bringing other stuff and go out. “Mother…” I whisper weakly. And everything becomes black.