[ WP ] Begin and end your story with this sentence : `` And yet , the city remained . ''

And yet, the city remained. 
 
 The sky shone blue through the light cloud cover and wisps of smoke still rising from homes reduced to rubble. Finally, the few that remained made their way out into the streets to take inventory of the wreckage. 
 
 Soon crowds began to gather at the place of the old market. Hugs, handshakes, knowing nods were the preferred modes of communication. No one knew who shot first, they only knew that they had to pick up the pieces and they hoped the worst was over. 
 
 There was nothing left to speak of. Their residences were now the bomb shelters they were mandated to build back when most were seen as loons for stocking up on non-perishables. But yet, as the days wore on they seemed to find home again. Schools sprang back up. Barter markets lined the streets. A sense of normalcy began to return. 
 
 The landscape was vastly different from what they remembered, and yet, the city remained.
