[ WP ] Then she was glad of the rain , for it hid her tears . She clenched her fist and rose to her feet .

( Writers Note ) P.s, this one's a little dark. A title? Let's just call this one `` **Saturninity**'' Also, it's too long so I included the rest in a comment after the initial response. Hopefully that does n't break any rules! I did n't intend for it to be so long but it took a life of its own. 
 ~~~ 
 
 A very articulate silence veiled the entire town. The loudest lack of sound one could ever imagine themselves hearing in a place such as this. Where there should have been the going about of busy people in a busy place, there was nothing. Of course, the sound of trees rustling and the occasional chirp made their way into fruition, but they did little to encumber the void of what had filled the air only a few days earlier. The only thing capable of satiating this vacuum was an overwhelming silence, and so it did. It was a silence that gnawed at the ears because it too was surprised to find itself in a place such as this. 
 
 Small footsteps echoed shortly as they made their way slowly down the cobblestone street lined with houses. They had been houses not too long ago at least. Now? Now they were ruins. Windows were broken, stone walls were caved in, and belongings were strewn about in front of what had been peoples homes. Even if one had only used the word and never seen such things, to call them ruins sufficed as an obvious description. **Click... Click... Clack... Click. ** Creepingly and deliberately, meager footsteps made their way down the road of a ruined neighborhood. `` MMmhh....'' A high pitched shriek nearly leapt out of the young girls mouth as she gazed straight down the road, unable to look directly at the decay of what had once been homes of her friends and neighbors... Her own home... She was right next to it she knew, but she dared not look. For her own protection, she said to herself deep down. 
 
 A tear slid down her rosy cheek before being absorbed by her blonde hair draped over her face. She closed her eyes for a few moments, took a deep shaky breath, and kept walking. Pretty soon, she was at the end of the lane and in front of her was a flight of stairs. The highest step was just tall enough to hide whatever awaited her in the town center. A wall of buildings lined the left and right sides of the topmost rung of the stairway. The crown of the church could be seen in the distance just over the path she was about to take leading to the town center. She put her hand on the right-hand stone wall railing and began to trek. Halfway up, she stopped and looked behind her at the top of the houses stacked next to each other along the street she had just walked down. The broken remains of her older brothers house came into focus before she fell forward on the steps, tears pouring from her eyes and her hand covering a yelp from deep within her. She gained control after a few moments, and stood up again with stoic face. Her only defense. She made her way up the steps slowly, with intention. Pretty soon she was at the top, but her eyes were closed and she was humming lightly to herself. Thunder roared in the distance. It would rain tonight. 
 
 Eyes shut, she kept her hand on the railing as she walked forward, then her hand transitioned from railing to wall. She kept walking. Then there was no more wall to touch, so she stopped. Her hand hung in the air, fingers extended. She brought her hand back to her side, but did n't open her eyes. She tried to, but she could n't. Her legs moved forward even slower than she had been. Her foot hit something soft. Her heart dropped. She opened her eyes and the wind picked up, flowing over her body while her hair and tattered white dress fluttered behind her. She tried to take everything in, but her mind began to play that funny game one plays when looking at a painting for a long time. The game of trying to see what's being seen in a different way. Trying to see something completely different from the way ones mind is interpreting it. Only in this situation, it might not be proper to call it a game. 
 
 Her eyes focused and unfortunately, so did her mind. Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Hundreds of them, scattered about all around the town center. Most of them settled in a pool of blood. Then she looked down at her feet. Face down, she recognized Auriael the Blacksmith right in front of her where her foot had met his hip. He too was in a puddle of blood. His arm was twisted and nearly completely severed from the socket. Her mind was shrouded in shock, so she could only look and take everything in with an impassve expression and wide eyes. Her hands started to shake slightly at her side. She stepped over Auriael and walked forward through the expanse in front of her looking up at the sky before her eyes found the top of the church church on the other side of the square so she focused on that in an effort to ignore all she could. Pretty soon, the church was right in front of her, and she was having to crane her neck upward to focus on the top. Her sight climbed down from the top of the church, then to the windows on the third and fourth floors, and then right above the entry way where her eyes rested on a torn banner that read ***NIESHAS 14TH YEAR OF BIRTH CELEBRATION***. She felt an odd contortion of feelings for whoever Niesha was, and then remembered that her name was Niesha. She had made that banner. 
 
 Niesha walked through the entryway of the church, but the inside wasn ’ t very well lit. The only light there was that which came from the glow of the sun behind the clouds. Niesha saw bodies where the light of the outside met the darkness inside. It was then that her mind began letting down some of her defenses. “ Wha... What… Why…. ” Niesha tried to react in someway, but didn ’ t know how. Her fathers body was on the ground a dozen feet in front of her. He had an axe protruding from his heart. Niesha stepped into the darkness and her eyes adjusted. Her hand covered her mouth as she began to sob a silent sob. Her mother was slung over a chair against the wall completely nude; her neck contorted sideways in a very unnatural angle. “ Nnnnhhhh….. nhhhoo…. ” Niesha whispered with a tremor. She brought her other hand onto her mouth as more sobs began to climb out of her and she began to weeze and heave. Then she looked to the back of the room, and saw the body of her older brother holding her younger brother and sister in both hands. Dozens of arrows stuck out of their bodies. Niesha vomited while falling to her knees. Her head was dizzy and she was close to passing out. 
 
 Niesha stood up and began screaming, “ No. No. NO. NO NO. NO NO NO. ” Staring at her siblings painful faces, she walked backwards and stumbled over the body of her father. She fell down and her head was softened by her fathers limp hand on the floor. She looked to her left and her eyes met those of her fathers. His eyes dead and cold. A cry rang out of her. “ AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. ” With great speed, she jumped up and left the church running as fast as she could. Looking around the town center as she ran, she recognized Dmetin, the newly wedded baker, laying on his back with dead eyes towards the sky. A cavernous slash settled through his chest. She recognized Temezin, who owned the general goods store. He was missing his lower body and his left hand. She recognized Refeilin, a wealthy man who was born noble. His brains were falling onto the floor from an open gash in his head. She recognized Ytweio, a young boy no older than six whose father worked the fields. His torso was bent backwards so that his the back of his head was touching the soles of his feet... Scenes like this and more littered the ground all around her. For every body she saw, she picked up the pace. Every few bodies her stomach would drop a little more as she recognized people she'd known all her life. Pretty soon she was running and her face was contorted in dismay and disbelief. She ran, and she ran and she ran and she ran. She got to the stairs and descended down them as fast as she could while she wept and she wept and she wept. She was almost at the bottom when she slipped and stumbled painfully to the cobblestone road. Her head met the pavement and suddenly, black. 

