Blessing's Unforgettable Walk

The sun was out. The sky was blue.

A perfect day for a stroll on the way to work. I was humming to myself when, suddenly, four men appeared from around the corner and blocked my path. I stopped and stared at them for a moment. They seemed to be assessing me for a second before one of them stepped forward and said:

"You look like you're worth some money."

Confused, I tilted my head in his direction as if he were speaking a foreign language that I didn't understand. He gestured towards me with his hand and said: "Your dress is all fancy. You must have some money, eh? We want all of it."

I looked down at my clothes and then back up at him. "My dress is so old that I don't even know where to buy another one anymore. So can you just let me go?"

He narrowed his eyes at me and then spat on the ground in front of me. "You think we'll believe that?" His eyes swept over my body slowly while the other three men chuckled amongst themselves.

I sighed and shook my head, but still tried to smile politely. "No, no, I mean it; I don't have any money." As if to prove my point, I began taking off my belt and pulled out my knife so that they could see how worn it was.

At this point I had made eye contact with two of the other three men who were starting to laugh out loud while the fourth man continued staring at me intently. He opened his mouth as if he were going to say something when one of the other three men interrupted him: "Hey, look what she's doing!" The third man walked over to me and watched as I reached into one of the pockets in my skirt and pulled out an ancient looking piece of metal that looked like a key attached to a tattered piece of string. He squinted slightly as if trying to make sense of what he was looking at until finally saying: "It looks like... A key?! Where did you get a key?" He laughed hysterically as he walked closer to me until he was standing directly in front of me so that I was forced to look up at him or else be staring straight into his crotch. He leaned forward so that his lips were almost pressing against mine and whispered into my ear: "Do you live alone?"

I stared him dead in the eyes while remaining completely still until he finally looked away first and said: "You're not scared are you? Because we'll get whatever we want from you anyway." His voice was growing more intense by the second until finally he shouted: "Where do you live?!" And slapped me across the face with such force that it sent me staggering backwards until I finally tripped over my own feet and crashed onto the ground hard enough that it knocked the air out of my lungs for a moment before I scrambled back up onto my feet, turned around, and ran as fast as I could towards home without looking back once.

arrived home drenched in sweat from running all the way home from work without stopping once along the way. When I walked through our gate, father quickly rushed over to meet me while mother stood by watching silently with her arms crossed tightly across her chest as if she were holding her heart inside herself so that nothing could hurt her or take her away again. As soon as father saw how upset I looked, he grabbed me by both arms and asked: "What happened? What's wrong?" Looking around nervously for any sign of danger, father pulled me inside immediately so that only mother remained outside staring down our empty driveway with a worried look on her face as she waited for father to return safely from wherever he had gone with his daughter in tow mere moments ago.

When we got inside, father ushered me over towards one of our chairs before sitting down next to me himself on one side while mother sat on the other side facing us both with worry etched upon her face like scars left behind by anguish long past yet never fully healed since then. Father placed his hands firmly on either side of my face so that he could look deep into my eyes while asking: "What happened? You know you can tell us anything right?" Mother shifted uneasily in her chair while staring blankly ahead because no matter how many times she listened to her children speak about their troubles through tears or even blood-curdling screams into the night, there would never be anything she could do about it because she wasn't allowed anywhere near any merchant's homes ever again after abandoning us all these years ago during what they called The Great War between their ruling class and those who would fight against their tyranny but whom they called terrorists instead because saying things like 'freedom' or 'democracy' would be considered treasonous acts worthy of torture or death depending on which side your family had been fighting for during those days when men hacked each others' heads off with swords for some sort of control over others until finally all sides had grown tired and weary with too many people dead behind them for anyone to really care anymore about who won or lost anymore except for those whose wounds are still fresh enough within them today so that they can still remember what it felt like when their loved ones died by someone else's hand during those dark days when everyone just wanted peace but instead found war instead because it wasn't just one group versus another group anymore; it was brother against brother against sister against mother against father against son against daughter; it was families turning on each other just because someone high up above them had decided they needed more control over everyone else below them rather than less control like they used to have before everything got out of hand; it was blood turning black underneath bright blue skies filled with too much smoke from all those burning buildings hoping desperately that somehow those people burning alive inside those buildings might manage to survive somehow even though they knew deep down that there wasn't any chance left for most people who were caught in their homes rather than out during what would later be called 'The Great Uprising Against Tyranny' because people had learned from their past mistakes after 'The Great War Against Terrorists' which started simply enough with people throwing rocks at soldiers carrying rifles only because nobody knew who started it: neither side wanted war but suddenly found themselves trapped within it where every stone thrown at soldiers who couldn't shoot back without risking injuring civilians became justification enough for soldiers armed with rifles loaded with bullets ripping through homes occupied by families who had been friends their whole lives despite belonging to opposite sides of this conflict everyone now seemed hellbent on winning even though nobody really knew why anymore because maybe they all just wanted this nightmare they'd lived through together following 'The Great War Against Terrorists' which both sides insisted never happened even though everyone knew better after seeing how many people lost their lives all over again during 'The Great Uprising Against Tyranny' where both sides were innocent victims no longer safe anywhere after being left alive during 'The Great War Against Terrorists' only to find themselves locked inside their homes unable escape through windows shot full of holes by bullets after being told by soldiers not to leave or else risk being killed by terrorists hiding among friends who had abandoned them too long ago so that now these soldiers were no longer friends but enemies instead with guns pointed straight at windows hoping civilians would turn against each other quickly enough so that once again there wouldn't be anyone left standing after everything was said and done except for maybe those few left standing 'alive' inside these homes who never understood why everyone else felt betrayed by each other before everything suddenly went bad during what should have been better days under 'The Great War Against Terrorists'. Inside these homes families died together because having parents meant having siblings meant having uncles meant having wives meant having husbands meant having cousins meant having mothers meant having fathers; inside these homes families died together hoping strangers would kill each other faster rather than themselves; inside these homes families died together hoping nobody would notice once again because this time nobody expected war but suddenly found themselves trapped within it where every bullet ripped through windows hoped desperately that somehow bullets hitting friends might tear apart families further apart than they already were inside these homes families died together knowing no one cared anymore after seeing how many people lost their lives once again following 'The Great Uprising Against Tyranny' which everyone now seems hellbent on winning even though nobody really knows why anymore because maybe they all just wanted this nightmare they'd lived through together following 'The Great War Against Terrorists' which both sides insisted never happened even though everyone knew better after seeing how many people lost their lives all over again following 'The Great Uprising Against Tyranny' where both sides were innocent victims no longer safe anywhere after being left alive following 'The Great War Against Terrorists' only to find themselves locked inside their homes unable escape through windows shot full of holes by bullets after being told by soldiers not to leave or else risk being killed by terrorists hiding among friends who had abandoned them too long ago so that now these soldiers were no longer friends but enemies instead with guns pointed straight at windows hoping civilians would turn against each other quickly enough so that once again there wouldn't be anyone left standing after everything was said and done except for maybe those few left standing 'alive' inside these homes who never understood why everyone else felt betrayed by each other before everything suddenly went bad following what should have been better days under 'The Great War Against Terrorists'. Inside these homes families died together because having parents meant having siblings meant having uncles meant