Until Next Time

By Pritesh Shah

Section 1 – How it begins

He kissed her and said “I love you.” She replied, “I love you too.”

He sat on his knees, looked her in the eye, and said again, “I love you my angel.”

His wife was standing just 5 steps away. She just couldn’t hold her feelings. She came close and said, “Please don’t do this…” Her eyes had a hope, that he would not do this.

“I have no choice” he sighed!

And that sparkle of hope in her eyes turned into tears of losing something very valuable, tears of losing her LOVE!

And he hugged both of them together. His wife, and his 8 years old DAUGHTER!!

Tears rolled down from all eyes. He looked into her daughter’s eyes and said, “I remember the day you were born. Doctors were worried whether you will be able to survive or not. And look at you now! I am sure you will achieve great things and live a very successful life with a lot of money and….”

“I don’t want any of that. I just want YOU!” a girl asking for some candies and toys a week ago, asked for something which she always thought she is going to have forever, a father!

With a very heavy heart he said, “Don’t worry darling, we will meet soon.”

“Promise?” the innocent girl put her hand forward.

He gently grabbed her hand and said “Promise!” And he knew in his heart that he just told the biggest lie of his life. “And until we meet again, I want you to remember one thing.” He went a bit closer and whispered something in her ears.

He turned to his wife. Both eyes were looking into each other. Word’s didn’t come out but both knew that this was the last time!

They wished time would just stop there. But what on earth is so powerful to stop time! The bus conductor announced loudly, “All the ladies and children please get on the evacuation bus. It’s time!”

Both his wife and daughter boarded the bus and sat on the window seat. He was looking at them and they were looking at him. He smiled and started waving his hand as the bus started to move. He waved till the bus became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared.

His hand dropped and his smile vanished. His eyes dropped to the ground. He felt empty. And why wouldn’t he? He just lost everything he ever wanted!

But slowly, he started to feel the strong wind going on. His empty body started to fill with rage. The faded sound of bomb blasts going on, started to get louder. He started breathing heavily. He removed the rifle from his neck belt, pointed towards where the bomb blasts were happening, and shouted, “Ahhhh!!!” That wasn’t even a word but was stronger than a war cry. And the 400 others standing near him, who also had to leave their families, pointed their rifles in the same direction and shouted. They all started to march forward.

Even the devil would be surprised to see how all those men did not fear death.

Enemy would have thought, ‘These men are not soldiers. They were just common people. They will be able to do nothing.’ But isn’t everyone a soldier? Some fight on the boarder and some is busy fighting for their own families. But today, they lost their family and they knew that soon, they will lose their country. These men were not fighting to win the war, they were fighting to destroy their enemies. Each one of them knew that they will die soon. But they wanted to kill ten of them before they die. They were crazy. And a crazy person is more dangerous than a strong person!

Section 2- Hope

Meanwhile, where many countries were shutting down their doors for refugees, some were willing to take them in. Many of the refugees were separated. Even the neighbors of the same building were now in different countries.

They were given shelters. Big nice apartments, many facilities. It’s just, it wasn’t their HOME!

Although slowly, time started to pass by. They didn’t forget about the past but they had to accept the present. They started to live in the new normal. Women started going to jobs, working anywhere they were getting paid. Children were put to schools. Everything was new. New people, new place, new language. Although everything was NEW, if they would have been asked, they would have preferred the old.

The little girl used to come from school and switch on the news channel, with a hope that the war would have stopped by now and she would be able to meet her father soon. But all she watched was how the war was intensifying by each passing day. Her mother used to come back from work and switch off the TV and send her to play with other kids. Once the most playful kid, now just sat near the building gate and waited for her father to come back.

One fine day, she switched on the TV. But today, she read a different headline. ‘Both the countries are meeting for a peace talk.’ It was the first time after the war started, that she was happy. She was excited. She did not let her mom switch off the TV that day. She sat there till night, until she fell asleep on the bed. Her mom tucked her in.

The next day when she woke up as she heard a crying voice. She came out of her room and saw her mother standing near the door. She was confused and afraid as she looked at her mother cry. From where she was standing, she could only see a part of the man outside the door. Uniform similar to what her father had on the day they left. She ran like a puppy runs towards its owner. The man was her father, or at least she thought he was. But as soon as she reached the door, she realized that the man was not her father! The man was holding a letter in his hand. And there were four other officers standing behind him. They were all holding a coffin, where on the front side it was written ‘Martyred …’ Her eyes just couldn’t move away from her father’s name.

She was young enough to understand death, but old enough to understand that she was never going to see her father again!

She stood there, shocked and disheartened. She was also confused. Just yesterday she saw the news of peace talks and now this! In the evening, with the little energy left inside her, she managed to turn on the TV. But the headline she saw, taught her something which no school would ever teach, that - how easy it is for the powerful people to play with the weak. She remembered what her father whispered that day!

The headline - ‘Peace talks was just a propaganda. The war has been intensified with more troops invading the country. There has been an increase in casualties as well’

Section 3 - Awakening

Time passed by. Almost 10 years! The invading country had won the war a long time back and was now ruling over it. All the sanctions were lifted by other countries of the world. Trade was at its peak. Invitations were sent to the country for various country level events. Everything was normal. Everyone was behaving as if nothing ever happened!

It’s funny, isn’t it? To see how all the countries just forgave someone who destroyed thousands of lives. But it’s not their fault either. They did not lose someone they loved. But the little girl did. And now she was not little anymore. That is why she planned to take part in a national elocution competition, to remind the entire world a very important fact – ‘War is a game in which everyone wants to win. But it’s only after the game is done, we realize that in a war, EVERYONE losses’

The competition began. The entire hall was filled. The event was also broadcasted on television. Participants were allowed to speak on any topic. Her turn came. She began,

“I am a victim of a War which happened 10 years back in 2022.”

She could feel what she just said. This wasn’t just a story, it was an EVENT. She paused and looked into the audience. She could see many eyes getting wide open and many people leaning forward on their chairs. She realized she was not the only victim present there. She realized it was HER words but voice of all those who suffered in that War. She gained more confidence.

She continued, “When I started to write on this topic, I asked myself, ‘What does a War destroy?’ And the immediate answer I got was, ‘All the infrastructures and lives!’

Talking about my country back in 2022 before the War, I remember there were many things which depicted how beautiful and advanced the country was! Tall buildings which were a symbol of architectural amusement, giant universities where the bright future of the country was getting shaped, beautiful parks where children used to play, ancient temples where people put their faith in god and prayed for a better living. And I also remember the photos of aftermath of the War. There were hardly a couple of colors other than shades of black and brown. All the buildings, universities, parks, temples were collapsed to the ground. What remained of that was just dust!

I also remember news channels mentioning everyday about the number of causalities. The real figure would be very high because it’s not just the people who died on the field, it’s their loved ones as well who are now dead from inside!

But after a while, I realized that I was wrong. It’s not just the infrastructure and human lives, is it?”

She looked into the audience again. All the eyes which were wide open, nodded their heads because they knew what else they had lost.

She continued, “My neighbors used to refer to my parents as ‘love birds’. My parents loved each other like hell. They were inseparable. On their 9th Anniversary, just two months before the War, my mom planned a very romantic candle light dinner with my dad. And as a plan to make it more romantic, she proposed to him. She said, ‘I could never love anyone in this world like I love YOU.’ And I know for a fact that she had kept her promise till this day.”

She looked at her mother in the audience. Her mother was in tears with one hand holding the locket in her neck which had a heart shaped pendant. And inside it, photo of her husband.

She continued, “That’s how War destroyed my mom’s ability to LOVE!

My dad was one of the kindest people I know. He used to help in an NGO for children. I haven’t seen him fighting in the war but I can say one thing for sure that the moment that hand, which used to serve food to children, picked up the gun, all the KINDNESS in that man would have died!”

She was about to cry as she mentioned about his dad but she tightened her fist and controlled her tears.

“The day me and my father were separated, or I should rather say, the day my father was taken away from me, he promised me that he would come back. I trusted him and waited for a long time, hoping that he would surely fulfil his promise. Silly me!

From the day I saw his name on the coffin, I stopped TRUSTING people.

I am sure when all those devotees saw their prayers getting repaid as deaths of the innocents, when all their life they believed that ‘Good always wins over bad’ and saw otherwise, they would have lost all their FAITH.

And then I realized, War destroys EVERYTHING! Because war doesn’t just destroy human lives, it destroys HUMANITY as well! And what’s left of humans without humanity?!”

All the people were quiet. After all, the question was indeed a terrifying one. The girl opened the water bottle near her mic and took a sip and gathered all her energy as what she was going to say next, would require a lot of courage.

“When I was writing this, I was almost done and I was just looking outside my window. There was a candy stall. Near the stall there was a man with his very young daughter. I could totally live that.

I remember how my father used to walk with me while dropping me to school, how he used to take me to playgrounds every Sunday, how he used to hug me every day he came home from office, how he made me laugh but also scolded me for doing a big mischief, how worried he used to get whenever I fell sick… I still remember time spent with him, I can still feel him!

And even though he is dead, he will always be alive in my MEMORIES. And I realized, War can destroy everything but a MEMORY. A memory which does not let you live nor let’s you die! And I also have one more memory, of what he whispered to me on the day he said the final goodbye to me. He said ‘And until we meet again, I want you to remember one thing. There is no good or bad in this world. There is just POWER. The more powerful you are, the more justice you can bring for yourself and for the people you love. Always be strong, be powerful!’”

Her eyes became red, she grabbed the podium very tightly and with a very angry and loud voice she said,

“And that is why I am not going to cry today. I promise to take revenge for my father’s death and all those innocent lives, on all those who were involved in creating this massacre.”

Security rushed towards her to make her stop.

“I WILL KILL EACH ONE OF THEM.” She screamed.

Security were able to pull her down from the podium. But how would they be able to control the beast which was awakened in every one listening to her speech?!

Section 4 – Writer’s note

… and she woke up from her dream.

I wish I could say that but this was like a nightmare which would haunt her forever!

A year before the war, there was a pandemic. Everyone thought that the virus will destroy the entire world. But I am sure that the day ever comes, when the world is destroyed, would not be because of a virus but because of humans fighting with each other.

One decision of one man can destroy fate of thousands. That’s POWER. And until these powerful people realizes how horrifying mistake they had made, it’s always late. They fight because they think that the only benchmark of being called great is by winning a war. But when will they realize that the real power is not in destroying, it’s in creating – creating a better world for everyone?! Maybe never!

All the religions teach us that death is not the end, there is an afterlife. Then why are we so afraid of the death? Or maybe it’s not the death at all. Maybe it’s the future life without your loved one’s in it which terrifies us. That girl would not have been afraid to stand near her dad and take a bullet in the war. But she was afraid of living a life without him.

I have not given any names to any characters or countries because I don’t want you to think that this is just a story of one family or one country. It’s very much possible that the next war could be started by your country and the next family could be yours. I wish I had a magic potion through which I could delete the urge to fight from every human, but sadly, I don’t. No one does!

So let’s live in peace and harmony, let’s be kind to each other and love each other, until we can, until the next war breaks out!

By Pritesh Shah