Chapter IV

The narrow streets were covered with muddy rain, and the swaying trees held up the gloomy sky.

Audrey walked down the road, staring ahead with a stunned look in her eyes. She didn't have an umbrella, and she didn't know if she had forgotten or wanted the rain to wash over her.

Not far from Audrey, there was a touch of white, it was a rare white and holy flower, so holy that it caught Audrey's attention at this time.

This flower stands quietly, with a kind of born beauty that people dare not touch.

Audrey was admiring it in fascination when a horse whistled by, splashing up muddy water. This made Audrey's heart tighten, and she was worried that the flower would lose its sanctity due to the infestation of sewage.

Sure enough, after the baptism of muddy water, the flower stood up again with difficulty, but it was covered with mud stains. However, it still stood in the same posture in the rain, letting the rain wash away the stains on its body, just like Audrey herself.

As for whether it is clean or not, who knows?

Now, Audrey has no choice but to return to Belgium.

Along the way, the same train station, the same wheat fields, and the same luggage as when I came. The only thing that is different is that there is an extra cat.

Little Seven Hundred was lying bored next to the window, trying to find something new from the scenery outside the window to pass the time.

"Alas," Audrey rubbed her brows, "Xiao Qi, you say, how can I find a better job now?" ”

Xiao Qi heard the reproach in these words, his ears moved, and he turned his head and drilled into Audrey's arms, looking coquettish.

"You're still relying on me, aren't you?" Audrey looked at Xiao Qi's appearance, and she had no choice but to pat Xiao Qi's head.

Seeing that Audrey didn't blame him, Xiao Qi jumped on the windowsill to look at his scenery again.

The train clumsily stopped in the station, and the sparse flow of people brought back Audrey's memories. This is where she belongs, a tranquility that is different from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Walked through the familiar street and stopped in front of the house. She pretended to knock skillfully on the door, and this strange feeling made her feel a sense of contrast.

The door opened, and inside was her mother's familiar face, but the unfamiliar wrinkles reminded Audrey of the years she had been apart.

"Audrey?! How did you get back? ”

"Hehe, I miss you." Audrey gave her mother a big hug as she spoke, and Xiao Qi also joined in the fun and jumped on her mother's shoulder.

"Why did you bring back a cat?"

"I picked it up on the road, and he relied on me to let it go."

As he spoke, he glanced at Xiao Qi. Xiao Qi screamed "meow", very dissatisfied with Audrey's shame on him, although this is indeed the case......

"And what about your job over there?" Mother suddenly remembered again.

"Ah......" Audrey hesitated, "their whole family has moved, and it's too far for me to follow them, so I'll come back." ”

"Oh, that's it......" Mother nodded thoughtfully, "Ah, patronizing and talking, come in." ”

Audrey finally discovers that the flame in the fireplace at home is always warmer than in the distance.

"Even if you want to be in this town for the rest of your life, there's nothing wrong with that." Audrey suddenly felt that it was the stones of the houses in the town, the gardens and the paths, and the trees that contained her childhood that were the most reassuring.

After a dinner party that was no longer sumptuous and Audrey returned to her room. Looking out of the window, the scenery is still the same: a thick tree that requires several people to hold, and a river not far away divides this meadow into two pieces, and there is a wooden bridge on top of the river to the other side of the river. On the other side of the river are a variety of shops, as well as the most important building in the village, the church.

The scenery outside the window has accompanied her for another fourteen years.

Audrey got a job at a bakery on the other side of the river and lived almost the same life every day.

After finishing work in the afternoon, Audrey often went to the grass outside the window, lying in the sun with Xiaoqi, and listening to the noise of the children. Sometimes after Sunday services, Audrey would go to a distant town to see what was new, and on another Christmas Audrey would give a piggy bank bought from a neighboring town, which made the child happy for a while.

In the evening, Audrey came home, and the candles in the house had already been lit. Mom was busy bringing the food to the table, when she saw Audrey coming back, waving her thick embroidered heat-insulating gloves and beckoning Audrey to sit down.

By the fire, my father was sitting comfortably on his little couch, his feet on the bench, reading the newspaper in his hand. It reads in large letters:

"On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, were shooting dead by the Serbian youth Gavrio Princip while inspecting Sarajevo!"

"Alas......" the father sighed heavily and muttered, "Unstable, ......"

At the dinner table, Audrey's father and mother looked at each other, as if they had something to say. Audrey also saw the clue: "Mom and Dad, do you have something to do?" ”

Mom took a sip of water, was silent for a while, and said, "Audrey, you see, you are not too young, when should you think about your marriage." ”

There was a moment of silence in the room, and Audrey didn't know how to react.

Mom then removed a ring from her hand. Audrey has known this ring since she was a child, but she has never seen her mother take it off.

This is a dark gray ring, because it has gone through the washing of years, it is no longer as bright as silver, but it does not feel dull, just like the eyes of a mother, peaceful and gentle. "This ring was given to me by your grandmother, and when you get married, it'll be yours." As she spoke, her mother rubbed the ring a few times, as if she had fallen into a memory.

"Your grandmother said something to me when she gave it to me," my mother paused.

"Every flower has a soul dwelling on it."

"I hope you understand, Audrey."

There was no word all night, but I could only hear the wind outside knocking on the window, as if it was sending some signal.

The next day, it wasn't cold, but there was always an inexplicable pressure in the air, as if the wind and rain would hit at any moment.

After Audrey came out of the auditorium, there was a faint sense of familiarity. She touched Xiao Qi in her arms, Xiao Qi looked at the sky, and buried her head in Audrey's arms again.

The rain once again gave Audrey a bad premonition.

However, Audrey didn't pay much attention to it and went home as usual.

"Audrey, are you going to the town over there today? It looked like it was about to rain. Audrey's mother said.

"Well, I'm going to go and buy a comfortable nest for Xiao Qi."

With that, Audrey grabbed her umbrella and put on her coat and hurried out, hoping to come back before the rain.

Not long after going out, the sky was already full of dark clouds, and Xiao Qi, who was a little trembling, got into Audrey's coat. There was also a strong wind blowing in front of Audrey. The wind, which bent the trees, forced Audrey to turn her back.

And at the moment when she turned her back, Audrey saw a picture that she could never forget in this life.

A bolt of lightning slashed down from the sky, illuminating the smoke that had risen below!

Immediately afterward, Audrey saw many people fleeing from the stone houses, each with a different face, but with the same panic.

Then came the rising flames of war, the flames of the guns, and the shouts of the people.

The men who had just run out of the house seemed to have some kind of illness and fell to the ground, leaving a trail of blood.

Audrey froze in place.

She didn't know what to do.

She came to her senses only when the escapees stumbled past her.

Only then did she suddenly remember her parents who were still there, and her head suddenly went blank, as if she had been beaten.

Then, desperately, she ran against the crowd towards the village.

No one noticed her abnormality, no one even noticed her existence, and there was only one belief in everyone's heart: escape! Run forward!

As if over a 10,000-weight mountain, Audrey finally reached the back of a house, but she did not dare to rush in, because the sound of machine guns still roared in her ears.

In such cruel alleys, every exposure is a wandering between life and death.

Audrey listened, the soldier's footsteps getting closer and closer, and she could even feel her heart pounding against her body.

The next second, the soldier broke open a door and broke straight in, swaggering around with a gun no matter what was in the house. Audrey took the opportunity to hurry to the back of the next house. After several twists and turns, Audrey finally arrived at the house she once knew. But now, it was unrecognizable, and the blood that had flowed around the corner of the house had been washed away by the rain, but it was still glaring in Audrey's eyes.

Audrey prayed that it couldn't be the blood of her parents.

Muddy, cold, frightened, depressed, panicked......

Countless sensations weighed on Audrey at this moment, leaving her breathless.

Xiao Qi also jumped from Audrey's arms to the ground, although he didn't like water very much, but these didn't matter for a long time.

Little by little, Audrey approached the corner, and little by little into the house, not daring to make too much noise, even if it was covered by the rain.

Finally, Audrey collapsed on the floor of her home.

She saw the best she could think of – her parents weren't in the house.

She could only pray, pray that they would be okay, that this was her only home.

At this time, Xiao Qi also came in and spit out a gray thing.

"This ...... Xiao Qi, where did you pick it up? ”

Audrey stared at Xiao Qi with wide eyes.

Xiao Qi stretched out his paw and pointed out the window.

"You picked it up by the window?"

Audrey wiped the ring and took it with her.

Xiao Seventy was very dissatisfied with Audrey's disgust with its saliva, and screamed dissatisfied.

At this moment, the door of the opposite house was suddenly kicked open, and a soldier with a gun was swaggering out.

Because Audrey didn't close the door, the soldier was facing Xiao Qi at this time, and Audrey was behind the door.

Listening to the soldier muttering something, he heard the rough sound of mechanical loading, and fired a bucket at the door where Xiao Qi was.

Xiao Qi flexibly dodged all the bullets and jumped behind the door. But Audrey's fear almost made her unable to think. Feeling the constant vibration of the wall behind her, she knew it was because of the bullet hitting the wall. I don't know when, the bullet will pass through the wall and end her life.

The roar in her ears continued, making Audrey in a trance.

"Otherwise, forget it." Audrey thought to herself. "No, no", she has not yet found her parents, she continues to curl up behind the door, covering her ears, trying to get herself out of this world.

After a long shuttle of bullets, listening to the sound of limping footsteps fading away, Audrey quietly poked her head out. The silent streets are no different from usual except for the blood that flows. But Audrey knew that it was no longer home.

In the evening, Audrey packed her things, found a chain to hang the ring on her chest, and set out on the moonlight.

The moon was sprinkled in the water, and it was so full and bright. But the unquenched flame swallowed up the light of the moon and shattered the dreams in the water.

"There's a forest in front of you, and you're in a big city, maybe Mom and Dad are there."

Audrey hugged Xiao Qi, not knowing whether she was talking to herself or Xiao Qi.

Xiao Qi's dark green eyes were also a little dim.

Audrey noticed Xiao Qi's listlessness, smiled slightly, and said in a voice as light as water dropping in a pool of water: "It's okay......"

At this moment, there was a loud bang behind him.