We took off in silence.
No last words. No looking back.
The plane rattled as it climbed, fighting the wind like a tired bird. My brother and I sat shoulder
to shoulder behind Kalumba, our eyes fixed on the darkness ahead, not the distance behind.
The air grew colder with every mile. Somewhere below, forests spread like a sea of black thorns.
"Will they be there?" my brother asked.
"They'll wait," I said. "They have to."
We'd been in the air for barely an hour when something changed.
The engine stuttered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the sound, the kind that makes your blood freeze, a sharp crack, and silence.
"Hold on!" Kalumba shouted. He yanked at the controls.
"What's happening?"
"We're going down!"
The nose of the plane dipped. The wind screamed. Trees rose to meet us like open jaws.
We hit hard.
The world shattered.
I don't remember the crash.
Only the burning.
The weight on my chest.
The silence after.
Then, coughing. My own voice, hoarse and broken.
I crawled out from the wreckage, blood pouring down my arm. The sky had turned orange. The
air smelled like fire and metal.
Mr. Kalumba didn't move. I knew he was gone.
I found my brother near the tail of the plane, breathing hard, his leg twisted wrong.
"Hey," I said, kneeling beside him.
"We made it?" he asked.
"Not quite."
He smiled, just a little.
"Go find our little sisters," he said.
"We'll go together." I responded with tears in my eyes.
"No… I won't make it. But you… you have to try. You have to make sure they are safe."
His hand gripped mine.
"Promise me brother."
"We will make it out of this, I retaliated even being aware of his heath, of his condition."
He closed his eyes.
And I knew he was gone. Just like how mom had closed her eyes in front of us. But now it was
me in front of my brother. Something I dreaded in this wretched world.
I screamed into the forest. For him. For me. For our sisters waiting in a place that felt like
another world.
The trees didn't answer.