Unjust life

Sladjana Krlanska   An unjust life Leaving for war   Somewhere in the south of Europe, there was a wonderful country, beautiful, full of natural treasures, with natural beauties, lakes, mountains, rivers, and cities, with fertile soil and many forests. A country covered in blood, everyone occupied it precisely because of its beauty, everyone was deceived by its priceless wealth. How many slaves he went through, how many sons he lost, how many families the country denigrated for its final freedom. Sons fell, sons died, they were unjustly accused, they were unjustly imprisoned, that was the price for the freedom of this wonderful country. In that wonderful country somewhere in the south of Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century before World War II lived a family. The family lived in the village because they did not have a pillar in the house, that is, because they did not have a father, they had to do their homework and responsibilities on their own. Their father had died at a young age of a serious illness and the work with the land was left to their mother and her children, they had to take care of the land and the cattle. The village was beautiful especially in spring, it bloomed, the trees bore fruit and green leaves, the soil bore fruit, but in the wonderful land, there were constant wars. It was occupied by various countries, they took their fruits, they killed their inhabitants, there was simply chaos. The family numbered six members, one mother, and five children. The mother's name was Elizabeth, she was blue-eyed with brown hair, a tall woman, in fact, the whole family was tall. Elizabeth was a caring mother who cared too much for her children. She was accused of not giving them much and they had lost their father, so she gave them all her love and care, just as a self-sacrificing mother like Elizabeth could. The eldest daughter Katherine was the most beautiful with blue eyes, modern wanted to dress up a lot even though there were no opportunities for that but also flirted at country dances. Daria was the only one who was short in the family with blue eyes, quarrelsome, always did justice. Maria was the only one in the family with brown eyes, tall, dear, and kind. George Elizabeth's fourth child was the smartest of all the children in the family, although Elizabeth did not send the children to complete his education he stood out with his intelligence from the other children in the village his age. George had blue eyes, tall, with brown curly hair. Stephen, Elizabeth's youngest son, also had blue eyes and was tall. The daughters constantly helped their mother with household chores, cooking, laundry, and bedding on the river, while the two sons went to the fields. Although Elizabeth carried the full burden of her family, she loved her five children very much. She kept saying: "I have only five children and they all mean the same to me." Her husband had died of a serious illness, and George and Stephen are hardly remembered. The village life was going well, the girls were working at home, making lunch, cleaning, sewing clothes as much as they had to wear so as not to go barefoot and naked, washing clothes on the river, and the boys were going to the fields digging, feeding the cattle, the family as if not attention to the wars that were constantly being waged over the chaos that reigned in the country, they were simply leading a rural, peaceful and serene life abounding in poverty. Although the children did not have a father, Elizabeth raised her children very well, teaching her daughters domestic chores, and teaching her sons to work in the countryside with livestock and agriculture. The children could not be properly educated, they only finished the fourth grade. Elizabeth feared that if they learned something bad could happen to them, in fact, she was afraid the children would leave the village, she was afraid the children would go to the city where people are evil, she was afraid of losing her own children, she was afraid of the clutches of evil people. Elizabeth simply wanted them to be by her side because she had lost her husband, could not bear to lose any of the children, and so they stayed in the village with the village chores at home. Elizabeth was a very smart woman telling stories every night in front of the fireplace, kissing them every night before bed, even though the daughters were already big girls and George was sixteen years old and a young boy. In the morning Elizabeth woke up the children early, prepared breakfast for them, usually every morning she prepared tea and cheese or milk, in the morning they told their dreams they had dreamed of, Maria usually dreamed a lot and her dreams came true. Catherine stole the sewn dresses from the girls who sewed them themselves. Elizabeth was a real housewife, cooking delicious meals and teaching her daughters to become good housewives. Hitler invaded, World War II began. Before World War II, the country was in great poverty, some owned huge hotels and others had no money for socks. There were almost no factories in the cities, some were big traders, some were small craftsmen, and still, others were servants. Spring came, everything was green, the trees were blooming, the lilac smelled, the sun was shining and made the village even more vivid. People worked like ants, life in the countryside was very difficult, at that time there were no tractors, they had to plow the fields with oxen, everything was harder. One fine spring day, one fine spring morning, George and his mother, Elizabeth, went out into the fields and left the girls at home to prepare lunch. The sun caressed with the warm rays of the sun George and Elizabeth worked calmly without knowing what awaited them. George was sixteen years old even though he was so tall and tall he was still very young. And so, working in the fields under the warm spring sun without noticing, two soldiers approached them. Elizabeth said to them, "Have a good day, for it has brought you here." One of them so formally replied, "We are soldiers. Elizabeth said in bewilderment, "Yes." "One of the two soldiers." Your son, Miss, must go into the army. "There is a war in the country and we need young soldiers." Elizabeth began to stutter and said. "But he is still young, he is only sixteen years old. The soldier added: "Madam, we must take him into the army, so we have been ordered to have nowhere to run from this, he must fight for his own homeland." Elizabeth did not expect anything like this to happen, she did not expect that her son George, who was only sixteen, would have to go to war. She was confused and started sweating, of course, it was not from the warm spring sun, it was from the news she heard that she had to give her son to war. While George was still a very young and very naive boy, after hearing the news from the soldiers was also confused and kept looking at his mother as if expecting to protect him. But he had nowhere to run, he had to defend his homeland, he had to go to the army. And so the soldiers took him away, and Elizabeth remained confused to look, but before that, she said goodbye to her son and said to him: "Take care, my dear son, my dearest, my mother's smartest, take care of me." And her eyes were full of tears. George replied, "Don't worry, my dear mother, I will take good care of myself." And so George and the soldiers in the fields got lost in the distance between the hills, and Elizabeth was left completely stunned and helpless, thinking how she was supposed to protect her young and inexperienced son. Elizabeth did not let her own children go to school either so that nothing would happen to them, and now her pet son had to give her up in war. She knew very well that her son would go to the front that he would have to fight for his homeland without fear, she was too afraid for him, her grief was great because she kept her own children like a drop in the palm of her hand, and now she had to give him in war. The poor woman somehow recovered and made her way home. So sad and pensive with a hoe in her hands, she reached the yard, and in the yard, she was greeted by her daughters who looked confused and wondered where George was. Maria asked anxiously: "Dear mother, where is George? "Why did she come back alone? Didn't you go together?" Elizabeth, sad with tears in her eyes, replied: "They took his daughter. "He was taken by soldiers to serve in the army, or rather to go to war." The daughters were dumbfounded, they did not want to talk anymore about why, what, and how, they saw the pain in their own mother's eyes and therefore did not want to harass her with various questions, but they were also very confused and sad, especially Maria because she and George were very close and loved each other very much as a brother and sister. Elizabeth went to the room pensively and began to speak aloud: "Is that why I kept you so much at war to let you die for the homeland. Is that why? The girls looked at her so sadly as if they wanted to comfort her, but they knew it was in vain. The night came. Elizabeth lay down but rolled over in her bed, she could not sleep, she struggled in vain. The questions that George is asking now were spinning in her head, is she hungry, is my dear mother sleeping, not to be cold, she was tormented by a million questions. It was dawn, she did not even close her eyes, it was already morning Elizabeth got out of bed and you go to wash your face, you washed your face then she went to comb her hair when she saw herself in the mirror she was amazed. "Wow, what happened to me, did my hair turn white?" Elizabeth had beautiful thick brown hair but for one night her hair turned white due to excessive worries. She was a very caring mother, a mother who would do anything for her own children, her love for her own children was immeasurable. Going to jail   George went to war, went to war so young so naive, and inexperienced in life. He went with the partisans to fight against the fascist occupiers. The war was chaos, wounded soldiers, dead soldiers, a lot of losses. George fought bravely on the battlefield, bravely defending his homeland, as bravely as if he had no fear for his own life. George was very intelligent, although he had no education his intelligence was expressed, the officers noticed his courage and intelligence and gave him a higher rank. After receiving the rank, George bravely led, did not want to disappoint his superiors, did his best for the deserved position. George made many friends in the military, everyone loved him, he could not go unnoticed and he could not help but love him. Of the many friends he made, Tom became his best friend, sharing good and evil with him. His mother Elizabeth kept waiting for letters from him, she trembled with excitement for every letter she received and wept as she read the letters from George. Elizabeth cared a lot for George because he knew how innocent he was and how pure his soul was, he knew how much he was worth, but also how good he was, like any mother who knows her own children well. One fine autumn day, a letter arrived in the military, in which George's fate was hidden. The letter said to fight for the northern part of the country, to liberate the northern part of the country. The letter reached George, he had to decide whether he would fight to liberate the northern part of the state or, as he wished, he would go to the battlefield to liberate the southern part of the state. Although George was very smart, he was very young and very naive, he did not want to make this important decision alone, and he had a lot of confidence in his soldiers. So he decided to gather them, summon them to a meeting, and ask them which part of the country they would like to fight for. He did so and after an hour of receiving the letter he called his soldiers he stood in the middle and asked them. "Soldiers, friends, and defenders of our homeland, we received a letter that we should fight for the northern part of the country. But I say it is better to go and liberate the southern part of the country. What do you say?’’ There was real chaos, some said about the north, some said about the south and he did not know what to do in that chaos. During the meeting, his best friend Tom just stood by and watched without making any objections. He envied George all the time because George stood out, he was promoted, he was smart, he was good, everyone loved him and Tom envied him a lot, his envy of George was huge. The troops were divided, some for the liberation of the northern part of the country, some for the liberation of the southern part of the country. George obviously could not solve the dilemma with their help. His envious friend Tom used this to his advantage to hurt George. That night he arrived, Tom went to his tent and began to write a letter, in which he slandered George. He wrote a letter to the generals, writing that George wanted to hand over his own country, that he wanted to fight voluntarily for the southern part of the country. He wrote that he did not listen to the orders of his superiors at all, he wrote that he used the soldiers to achieve what he wanted. He went and sent the letter, and George was very naive and still had great confidence in his best friend Tom, as well as in his soldiers. A whole week passed and the soldiers were indecisive and George did not even notice that he was being plotted. Elizabeth seemed to anticipate that something bad would happen and went out the door and as if expecting George to arrive home, whenever there was a knock on the door she expected George to arrive, she was rightly worried about her child. A week later, Tom's letter reached the top of the army. When the generals read Tom's letter, they thought that he was indeed a traitor to their country, and then they decided to arrest George and convict him, and also sent a letter saying that the soldiers must go to defend the north of the country and that does not comply with it will be severely punished. Troops led by the generals set out on a journey to capture George. It was a cold autumn day and soldiers arrived at the headquarters as if George were the biggest criminal in the country. They came to the headquarters, arrested him, and told him. "You are a traitor to this country and you will be imprisoned for it." George did not know what was happening to him, he performed his tasks very well, he loved his homeland very much, he fought bravely and made conscientious decisions for it. But in one thing he was sure that this was a great slander against him. His best friend slandered him, slandered him and convicted him of treason, and took him to prison. He was no longer a hero but an enemy of the homeland. The difficult years spent in prison   George arrived at the prison by boat because the prison was on an island. He was among the first group of prisoners. There was the only prison on the island, it was a desert island, no one could escape from there. When he saw the prison, George realized how horrible the place was and thought that his life was over. The guards woke the prisoners in the morning before the sun rose, they made them carry stones on a stretcher, if one of the prisoners fell while carrying stones then he knew what was waiting for him, and that was beating. The stones were carried to one side and then transferred to the other side. Many groups of prisoners came and those who could not bear the torture threw themselves on the sharp stones of the island and committed suicide. The stones on the island felt the torment and suffering of the prisoners. The stones on the island felt human blood. Those who wanted to escape threw themselves into the sea, but deep down they knew that there was no escape from that prison. After George was taken to prison, he informed Elizabeth that her son had been imprisoned for treason. Elizabeth received another strong blow and a very strong one. She prayed for him every morning and every night, saying, "Lord, save my son and bring him back to me from his cell." Lord, return it to me, please, so that I can hug it again so that I can smell it again. "Return it to me, Lord, save me from my troubles." Her pain was so great she was just hoping the Lord would bring her son back even though she was broken. In George's prison, wounds were found on his body from carrying stones, and leeches were stuck to his feet, which were constantly in the water of the prisoners. And they did not give them water, they drank the water in which their feet were because the water from the sea was salty. The guards constantly beat the prisoners and then made the prisoners beat each other. George had to bear the burden of his bad fate, he had to be strong to endure this battle as well. In prison they simply wanted to kill the man inside, they wanted to destroy the man. While George was in prison, time passed and George's sisters got on their way. Catherine's eldest sister, who was the most beautiful during the war, met a soldier who fell in love with him, married him, and moved to a neighboring country. Daria married a wealthy merchant in the neighboring village and moved there normally, and Maria again married a widower who lived in a larger city and she also moved to that city. Meanwhile, his mother Elizabeth remained living in the house with Stephen, who had already become a young boy. While George was in prison, Maria wrote letters to him but the letters were not given to the prisoners, they tore them up and then put them in the trash and burned them. George was aware that he had to fight for his life, he was aware that he had to stand on his own two feet, so he used his intelligence. He behaved well, he did not object, he did not cause problems, he listened to the orders all the time in prison, he behaved well. After ten years in prison, after ten years of torture, beatings, and torture of all kinds, George was pardoned and finally released from prison. Although George thought his life was over when he arrived at the prison, after ten years in prison, on that island of death, the island of death, he was finally released. The hard life after prison days  George was already free, his sentence for which he was unjustly charged ended. The difficult prison life ended after ten years. Unjustly accused, after ten years of suffering, he was finally free. How he was suffering he suffered, even more, when he learned that his best friend Tom had done it to him. George also made many friends in prison, and a friend told him that he had heard from someone that his best friend had slandered him. When George found out about it while he was in prison, he kept asking himself, "Why? Why Tom?" He was so naive that he could not understand that his best friend Tom envied him all the time they were at war. He envied his advancement, his courage, he envied his good soul, and of course, he envied what everyone loved and respected. George's sisters continued their lives, got married, and started families, but as was the case with his mother, after George she suffered the most. She prayed every day and every night for him to pass his prison sentence so that he could get out as soon as possible and most importantly to return alive and well. Elizabeth waited every day for a good sign of his release from prison, praying incessantly and tirelessly for his life. The road to happiness was opened for his sisters, Katherine gave birth to two daughters and lived in the neighboring country, Daria gave birth to three children, two sons and a daughter, Maria was a little worse fortunate, married a widower with one child and she later gave birth to a son and two twins but one of the twins died when she was two years old. Maria also suffered because one of the twins died, but despite that, she continued to live, and she and Elizabeth wondered every day if they would release George, what is he doing now, how is it? Maria and George as brother and sister loved each other very much and supported each other a lot. George came out of that filthy prison where prisoners were beaten, where they were not given drinking water, where they were forced to carry stones from morning till night, he endured it all but when he came out of prison he was no longer the same. George no longer trusted anyone, he was afraid of people, he was bitter because he was betrayed and slandered by his best friend Tom. And so the day came when George had to return home, first, he left the island by boat, then by train, he reached the nearest town and then he returned by bus to his native village. When George traveled, his own country looked different, his fellow citizens were already different from him. He had no expectations at all what would happen when he returned to his hometown, he did not even imagine how he would be greeted by his fellow villagers, only one knew that anyway his mother and his family would never give up on him. George arrived in the village and came out free and thought he was free if he was free, but in fact, very difficult days awaited him. It was a hot summer day and the villagers were working in the fields around their small houses. Getting off the bus at the bus stop in the village, he felt strange happiness in himself, had a strange expression on his face, and whispered quietly to himself: "Finally free." He was very happy that he finally arrived home, he was very happy to be in his hometown, he was happy to see his fellow villagers. Walking around the village on his way home, he looked at his fellow villagers, but they did not pay attention to him, and some frowned at him. George realized that he was no longer a hero but a former prisoner. None of his fellow villagers greeted him, some looked at him as frowning as who knows how much he had done wrong in his life, and some did not pay any attention to him. Later, on the way home, he saw some children running along the village path and shouting. "The prisoner has come." George had never felt as bad in his life as he did at that moment, not even in prison. He did not carry a suitcase with him, he wore clothes that were given to him from prison, which were worn out and old. He was exhausted, his body was full of wounds and bruises from prison, his old and worn clothes only covered his wounds and bruises but the wounds in his heart were visible on his teary eyes. His eyes were no longer full of life, his gaze was empty as if looking into emptiness, his heart was wounded, and his eyes were watery, injustice had simply changed him. Although he was unjustly accused and unjustly imprisoned, he could not look any of his fellow villagers in the eye. And so, with his head bowed and his heart wounded, he hurried on the village road home. His fellow villagers added even more salt to the wounds, his wounds were still fresh. Finally, he reached his home, and tears began to well up in his eyes. All the time he spent traveling, he thought about meeting his mother, he missed her very much, he longed to see her, to hug her, to feel her motherly warmth, he was sure in one thing that she would not reject him. Before George returned, Elizabeth was sent a letter saying that he had been released and would return home. When she received the letter, she said: "Thank you, Lord, thank you for listening to my prayers. Thank you for bringing my son back alive and well." And then she cried, but this time out of luck. Elizabeth knew exactly what day she would arrive and was overly excited and happy as a little child looking forward to her new coveted toy. Elizabeth prepared his favorite lunch for him on the day of his arrival. Two days before George arrived, she cleaned the house, made room for George, made a new, clean bed, which she hand-woven with much love while he was in prison. She wanted to be flawless, clean, and beautiful, she was looking forward to her son. The moment came when the mother and son were to be seen after exactly thirteen years. George was at war for three years and ten years in prison; Elizabeth had not seen her son for exactly thirteen years. George entered the yard and tears began to run down his face, at that moment he remembered the beautiful moments in the house, the beautiful childhood memories, his mother, his sisters, he remembered the most beautiful moments he had ever experienced. The house in which he grew up looked even more beautiful than before, he thought, "Oh God, I waited for this day to return to my beautiful house, which he had almost forgotten and what it looks like, and all these years I have missed my home so much''. Elizabeth heard George arrive and shouted, "My mother's son has arrived." Elizabeth quickly ran as if a great force was coming from somewhere, then opened the door and went out into the yard of the house. But when she came out in the yard she was startled, George was standing in the yard a few meters away from her. She stared at him in confusion for minutes, apparently expecting to see her young boy, her child, when sоldiers took him before thirteen years ago he was a young man only sixteen years old. That sixteen-year-old boy grew up to be a big man who fought bravely on the front lines and who was unjustly accused and spent ten years in prison. George was already an adult man, very weak and emaciated. George, with that worn-out and ragged old clothes on him, looked with longing and tears in his eyes at his mother, whom he missed so much for all the years spent without her. Elizabeth, so confused with tears in her eyes and in a quiet voice, asked, "Son George, are you?" And he answered, "I am my mother." Elizabeth ran up to him and they hugged and then they both started crying. George hugged her and kissed Elizabeth on the cheek, but both of them shed tears incessantly, and both could not hold back the tears for the years they had spent apart. Elizabeth simply could not get enough of him, she kissed his hands and cheeks, hugged him tightly, and could not stop her tears. Standing in the yard for minutes, crying, hugging, and kissing, Elizabeth finally remembered and said, "Come on, son, let's go inside. I've prepared your favorite lunch. Let it cool. You must be hungry." And so she looked at him and she sees how weak he is  and  she said, "How weak you are." And George replied contentedly, "Come on, mother, we'll go in, we'll have lunch first, and then I'll go to bed." And then he thoughtfully said: "We will talk later after I rest, we have a lot of time to talk’’. And so, embracing each other, they entered the house. Elizabeth immediately set the table, the food was hot, then they sat down to lunch. George missed the nice dishes, cooked by his mother, he was very hungry, he ate with a very big appetite. After the years spent in the war and the long years spent in prison, he had forgotten his mother's good food, he had not tasted such good food for years. And Elizabeth watched him eat with admiration and happiness, but was worried when she saw him so weak and emaciated. After emptying his plate, after he had eaten well, he said to Elizabeth: “Mother, I have eaten, now I will go to the room to rest. I need rest after a long journey." Elizabeth replied contentedly: