Norsemen

 

Screams fill the nauseating air. My ears ring petrifyingly with the blood-curdling shouts of my village friends. Like a song, they all scream with synchronization the one word; 

“Norsemen! Norsemen!” 

Those words are all I hear as my reddened hands clutch the hand of my little sisters. 

Tears brim in my eyes. Flaming heat from nearby fires lit by the Norsemen scold the scar that runs across my left eye. The scar left from the last time these Norsemen raided us. 

Anger flushes through me, matching the red clutching at my cheeks. These may be the same men that murdered my parents. 

All around me, screams fill the ashened air, then I see them. 

Waves of gushing, angry vikings sweep through the village. Blazing torches caress the village houses, rapidly engulfing them in angry red flames. 

Houses crumble to the ashened floor, along with my fellow villagers. 

A scream echoes from my own lips, as the angry men begin to stumble towards my own home. My sister leaps from my grasp, stumbling towards the warriors. 

Hot tears sting my eyes, I continuously scream towards my sister. She doesn't listen. 

Roars of battle cries erupt. And I shield my eyes, as not to watch my precious sister collapse into the dusty ground. Gone. 

The men set eyes on me, running towards me, trampling over the body of my sister. Screaming, thrashing, crying, I stand stock still, in a trance of unbelief…

Then they are upon me. Axes swinging. Voices shouting. My house is burning…

Then the last glimpse of my sister, innocently slayed. 

Pain. 

Then overstretching darkness.