ERA EMILIA

Chapter 1 It was the twentieth year of my life and the tenth anniversary of my one-soldier war. The 3395th day since they disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. They called me Era. However, I distinctly remember how Mom kissed both cheeks of her ‘little Emilia’ every morning. And I called them Heavens because there was not a single day when they did not freeze on the spot, raising their bald heads with their narrow-eyed pupils skyward. Those were the funniest thirty-two minutes of each day – you could check your watch by them – because for me, a little girl, every time, every single day, it seemed that every one of the seven Heavens emanated an array of coloured rays way up into the sky beyond view. When a random bird flew through it, its feathers shone with a green light for a while! Or blue, or red! But none of the Heavens shared my admiration – they didn’t make a single sound, they didn’t move, their chests did not rise and fall, and even the pouring rain did not make them shut those miraculous deep eyes of theirs even for an instant. Later, while all seven rays of colour vanished forever, the Heavens were still visible after rain. I ran to look for them but couldn’t find them. I returned home to cry out my distress and take care of my fresh wounds. I remember how after my clumsy children’s games Mom took care of them. She got up from the table, leaving Dad alone, washed my scratched knees, applied something thick and smelly from a white tube, dressed them with a bandage and then returned to the table. That table was a big mystery ... My parents sat at it as if charmed, during the long evenings. When they sat down, they were sad and kind, and when they got up, they were already jolly and wicked. Sometimes, I spent the whole afternoon sitting at that table alone, when nobody was at home but did not understand why my parents’ eyes became blurry, and their words muddled. “My little Emilia... You do not need so much... And that is why you are so strong, my little one… And your father and I are so weak... Weak...” And in half an hour, with a sharp and stern voice only a mother has, she commanded me to go to bed. Until the sun went down, I invented names for the clouds outside my window and counted the new voices in our kitchen. How many people could such a small house hold? When the clouds and roars of laughter had disappeared into the dark, calm, soothing dreams came...