THE SCARLET WOMEN

Story 1 - Blood on Hands

"Do you think you could just-just keep it inside of you?" Yeah…you know, said Mac.

We both set about gathering up in bright daylight, both panting and sweating. We both had gone red in our face watching each other. I could see something unusual in his eyes.

"Okay…Okay. Let's talk about it. Mac said huffing. "I know mate, I can't hide anything from you."

"Warrior must be subliminal, and if warrior fighting for his glory," said Mac, who looked as though he had recently been hit on the back of his head. But there's a subtle charm all over his face after he told me about his plan for tonight.

"Why you're not trying to see what's wrong and what's not?" I said.

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what's in front of him, but because he hates the dark shadow of gory past following behind," said Mac. The triumph over this unknown could only lay my soul rest in peace.

"It's not just war; it's consciousness", he said.

"And we're unafraid because we think these all are just the illusions of our pain. And it's that very lack of fear that has led us to travel too far. I think now we're lost in a place that I call vortex. Our souls are floated off in some other dimension".

"I see us as the man with fire on our face. We're following the voice of devil-like being hypnotized. I know this devil's been stronger than us".

They definitely are out-of-sync, people such as me and countless others, who seem to have lost the single most powerful driving force- willingness to live.

"Voila. Look the beauty of this night. Mac shouted the speech of raising the adrenaline. From this valley of death, the whole universe could hear the roar of this war and laughter of death. "General" "General" the crowd was shouting for him like a Messiah. He was leading the protocol of mass destruction raised through the fire of hell.

"Mr. Commander, today I want you to take charge of our north front and cover us from behind". Mac said looking at me. Today we are going to make them remember this day like a 'black day'. Now they started shouting "Commander" "Commander." I knew why Mac did that. Our north front was the strongest of all.

We surrounded them from all around. This was their biggest battalion. All they were asleep and not aware of death moving silently towards them.

"Shh…Shh"…Get you into position. I whispered and stopped us behind a covering distance. Just wait for their call. 

"Roger that" a combatant let the rest of them know by some signs. "Mr. Commander, we all are in position, a combatant near to me whispered."

My heart was pounding of this precarious situation. The howling of wild winds through the leaves and barking of their dogs could only be heard. In the dimness of those night lamps, nothing was clear, except death. I realized the obverse of war is not peace but death is. With each breath, the moment is letting the life fade into the background. And I ain't afraid of dying but of breaking my promise.

The sound of explosions made them awake. Some already were dead and some disfigured. The dynamite was all around them and I saw bodies of men flying two to three feet above the ground. We could see the blaze of fire all over their camp and people running and shouting in fear. The sound of bullets and bombs were such deafening that even a great acclamation of death could not be heard. We could see some of them still being lucky and fighting back. "Attack" I could hear Mac shouting. The whole battleground turned into red and black like hell. I was taken aback of the same night like this before. Suddenly more of them came out and started firing to our men. "Attack", now it was my turn.

The shrieks of fear suddenly reached a crescendo. And the battle ended in bloodshed. In a few hours, the whole battleground turned into a funeral pyre. The hundreds of them were all dead. We burned down everything and left them to turn into ashes. I saw a delphinium dying and knew it will never grow again in that place.

"Victory", "Victory" –I could hear them shouting. "General", "General", "Commander", "Commander" –they kept shouting carrying us both on their shoulders.

"So what do you think of celebrating my friend?" –Mac asked. I think now you can see behind the fog of this war. I bet you ain't seen this before.

"No Mac, No…I ain't seen like this before but I also ain't forgotten our vengeance.

"Ah huh, I know we're not a warrior of glory but of redemption. But now? Let's forget about everything and celebrate this night like there's no morning of it.

The next morning it was all over the news. "One of the greatest massacres of all time", Mac was sipping his tea with a newspaper reading this.

"Look at it, now they really heard us". I think this news could lead us to him. What do you feel 'bout last night's victory?"

"I don’t know how I'm feeling about last night." –I just closed my eyes and breathe heavily. Have you thought about the horizon where we gonna meet them with this guilt, huh?

"Ah my dear friend, there's nothing that could put us into guilt if the only way to survive this war is to kill." And about that horizon, huh? I don’t have any clue about it. Also, I don’t want to have any.

"Okay Mac, let bygones be bygones". Now let's make a truce for no more blood except that devil. I gripped him with both hands.

"And truce after all that?" …No, I can't. He released himself from my grip angrily. "And you only know why I can't," he said while walking away and not turning to me.

But not everyone is prone to this self-defeating cycle. Sometimes our meekness refrains us to see the truth. The experience of further intrusive thought about the truth we're trying to repress tests our forbearance, It's all happening around us, the brutality of war, the torments of injustice, exploitation of human by human, the killing of humanity by the same kinds, and oppression of one by other not letting them rise above their weakness.

"But why? Why this war was brought upon us? What made us believe these lies and deceptions of this war? How these wars keep it in such clandestine to hide its lies and deceptions so tightly wrapped that it manages to hide those even from itself?"

"The clouds got darker and it started raining. I felt like it was pouring to wash away the blood of that battlefield. I didn’t move and let it fall all over me wishing it could wash away the blood on my hands too."