Chào các bạn! Vì nhiều lý do từ nay Truyen2U chính thức đổi tên là Truyen247.Pro. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙬𝙤

★ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ★

CLAP.

The sound of the blood-red fire imploding still echoed in Sabine's ears until it was quickly replaced by something else...

Bang. Bang. BOOM.

Sabine's umber eyes shot open to find that she had been transported. She was no longer surrounded by the burrow and trees, but by an open field filled with screaming men running to and fro. They carried rifles in their hands and looks of terror on their faces. Sabine wasn't able to see the entire scene due to the thick smoke that choked the landscape, but it didn't take her long to realize that she was in the middle of a battle.

Sabine stood rooted to her spot like a tree until something big knocked her from behind and she fell face first into the mud. She would have just given up and laid there for the next eternity, hoping against hope that the bombs would miss her and that the mud would provide ample camouflage, but two rough hands quickly pulled her back to her feet.

"Get the hell out of the way, girl! This is no place for a kid!" a gruff voice yelled at her as she regained her balance. The words were foreign to Sabine but she got the overall gist of what he was saying through his tone: move or die.

The same hands that pulled her to safety shoved her in the direction of a cluster of broken buildings. She nearly toppled back into the mud but this time she was able to keep her footing and she took off without a second thought. Once again, her legs knew what to do.

It was hard to keep her eyes straight ahead towards the buildings and to not let them stray to the gutted and gory corpses lining her path. Sabine was terrified that if she looked too closely she'd see the faces of her loved ones meshed onto the bodies. Lena, her mom, her dad, her sisters...

Streaking bullets dotted the air and heavy blasts brought shrapnel raining down upon her as Sabine continued to follow her legs towards shelter. She was nearly rocked to the side after a bomb exploded thirty feet to her left but she was able to push herself back up and keep going. Slowly the cement buildings were getting closer and closer.

Sabine had to weave through one last group of surprised soldiers before she was in the clear. One of them tried to grab her arm as if to check to see that she was actually real, but she pulled away with a strength she didn't recognize and continued on. Shortly after, she heard a large blast behind her and chanced a look back to see that the group of soldiers were all now lying scattered on the ground.

Once Sabine came to the door of one of the buildings, she immediately threw herself inside and skidded across the gritty floor. A cursory glance of the tiny room told her that she was alone and that the building had been abandoned by whoever once lived there. She curled into a ball and laid there as distant explosions shook the walls and the last screams of several soldiers became preserved in the heavy air.

Was this it? Would she die here? Either from a stray bomb or an enemy soldier finding her weak and defenseless? How had she even gotten here in the first place? Once Sabine had time to calm down a little and focus, she felt something solid in her hand. At first she assumed it was still Lena's imprint, but when she brought her hand closer and uncurled her tightly clasped fingers, she found something different.

During the strange ordeal with the fire, and now the terrifying escapade across the battlefield, Sabine had forgotten that she was still holding onto the box of matches. They had been locked against her palm underneath her death-like grip. Seeing the slightly flattened little cardboard box brought Sabine a new realization: she had a way out! She had seen a miniature version of this battle when she had lit the match back in the forest and now here she was. She didn't quite understand it, but somehow the matches were magical.

Sabine shot upwards and fumbled with the matchbox until she had a match between her fingers. She immediately scraped it against the strike pad and watched the flame come to life. Sabine was about to lift it to her eye to see where she would be taken next when the after-effects of an explosion rippled through the building and made her nearly drop the match onto the cold, cement floor. The bombs were getting closer.

Without thinking twice, Sabine threw the match onto the moth-eaten sofa in the corner and watched the floral piece of furniture erupt into a beautiful red blaze. At this point it didn't matter where the match took her, she figured that anywhere was better than where she was. Sabine waited impatiently for the loud clap that would take her someplace new and when it finally came, it was louder than all the explosions surrounding her.

★ ★ ★

When Sabine came to on the other side, she still wasn't sure whether it had all been a dream. Would she awaken to find herself back in the burrow? Tucked away under the ratty blanket with a stomach full of beans? Or even worse, would she find herself on her cramped cot back in the concentration camp?

Instead Sabine found herself on a beach. The cries of circling seagulls and the lapping of ocean waves greeted her ears. She looked out across an open expanse of sparkling water that exhibited a new shade of blue with every movement. The golden grains of sand between her toes lent her the warmth they had been soaking up from the sun all day.

Even with the gray skies overhead and the untamed breeze that tugged at Sabine's equally untamed hair, the scene before her was still much more peaceful than anything she had experienced in a long time. To her right and left the shore line stretched on until it disappeared and behind her grew a jungle of tall grass, mimicking the movements of the sea like a green ocean. A paradise untouched by humanity and oblivious to the raging war.

Sabine collapsed onto the warm sand and began sweeping it over her legs like a blanket. The cold sea spray tickled her exposed skin and offered a pleasant contrast. As she sucked in the fresh ocean air, an inviting thought came to her: perhaps this could be home.

Sabine pulled the matchbox out to examine it once more, having only partially seen it in the dim lighting of the burrow. It had a very simple design; all white with red cursive lettering. She absentmindedly mouthed the words as she traced them with her finger. Second Chance Matches. She still didn't know what it meant but she owed it at least some gratitude for saving her life.

The only way Sabine could think of to thank it was to get rid of it. If this was to be her new home, she wouldn't need the matches anymore. And they didn't even function the way they were supposed to so there was no use in holding onto them. Better to get rid of them before some poor sap found them and got themselves into trouble. Sabine pulled her arm back, ready to hurl the matchbox into the salty seawater, when something stopped her.

Something inside Sabine told her not to part with the matches quite yet. Instead of feeding the matchbox to the hungry ocean waves, she resolved to digging a small grave and burying them underneath the sand. She was careful to bury the matchbox beyond the tide line, weary of the way the sparse specks of light glinted off the wave crests like eyes.

With the matchbox taken care of, this left Sabine with the ability to contemplate her next steps. She wasn't sure exactly where the matches had taken her, but the air still felt somewhat warm even as the cloudy sky got darker. Sabine began to explore the area for resources she could utilize in building a shelter. The best she could find was a few rocks and tons of long grass.

Sabine figured that she could use the rocks to start a fire, although she wasn't entirely sure what she would burn. The grass would burn too quickly to maintain a stable fire. As for the grass, she had never woven plant matter before, but with the skills her mother had taught her she calculated that she could weave some sort of tent to hang above her. Although, she was once more at a loss for what she would hang it from.

Feeling slightly dismayed by her findings and her inexperience with surviving outdoors, Sabine collapsed onto the sand with a sigh and began to work on weaving a shelter. As she criss-crossed the strands of grass, a deep yawn escaped her lungs. Running from bullets and bombs had pumped her body full of adrenaline, but now it had worn off and Sabine was reminded of how exhausted she was.

Back-tracking across the events that had unfolded, Sabine realized that she had never gotten any sleep. When she was at the burrow it was night, but when she was transported to the battle it was day. So the matches carried her through time and space? How much time had passed between the burrow and the battle? How much between the battle and the beach?

Sabine's head was swimming in confusion and it only made her more tired. The fatigue found her fingers and soon she couldn't even move them anymore. Sabine knew it wasn't smart to fall asleep before she had some sort of shelter made but exhaustion commandeered her brain and slowly settled her sleepy body into the sand.

In her dreams, Sabine found herself back in her childhood home. Her mother was humming along to the French song, "Boum" by Charles Trenet on the radio as she sat knitting in her favorite armchair and her sisters were playing make believe with their dolls at her feet. The front door flew open and her father came running through. He grabbed Sabine's mother by her hand and led her in a lively dance around the living room, with her sisters attempting to copy them.

"Boom. When our heart does boom. Everything with it says, 'boom'," Sabine's father serenaded her blushing mother as he stared deeply into her eyes. Sabine cradled her hands to her chest as she found herself getting almost as lost in the moment as they were.

Sabine stood to join her family in their happy waltz, laughing and smiling as she twirled around with her younger sisters. The melody continued to play on in the background as her father's beautiful tenor voice entranced her with the lyrics.

"The bird says, 'boom, it's the storm...'"

BOOM.

"The lightning that makes him boom..."

BOOM.

Sabine was startled awake by a loud noise echoing outside of her dream. A frigid wind blew off the sea and ruffled her sandy hair as several deafening claps of thunder boomed around her. It wasn't until she watched a malicious streak of lightning zig-zag through the pitch black clouds that she realized the danger she was in.

★ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ★

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro