Emunah awoke by the light of the new day. Head pounding, he slowly sat up-right, on the floor still littered with the chaos from the night. While rubbing his head in the spot that hit the wall, he looked around at his home that not long ago was so comfortable and safe. Emunah scanned the room until his eyes rested on the now tattered story book lying on the floor. The small boy soon was flooded with the horrific memory of his mother being dragged out of his sight. He slowly rose to his feet and gathered the book off the floor. One single tear rolled down his brown cheek as confusion and devastation set in. Thoughts began to race through his little mind trying to make sense of what has happened, and more importantly what happens next.
Emunah did not know much but he knew he was pretty much alone. All he knew was his mother and a few vague memories of the relatives who live at least a few days worth of travel away. His mother told him a long time ago that his father was missing and may have run off to be the husband of a much wealthier-born woman, who had her eye on him since they had grown up together. Emunah and his mother traveled ever since he could remember but he always felt safe and happy with his mother, so the moving never really bothered him. He was used to it. He wandered around the small, one room, clay built home as he tried his best to figure out what to do. He gathered some courage and decided to go outside and see if he could get some sort of understanding of his now upside down world. Stepping around the shattered scattered expensive wood remains of the front door, he went out into the familiar sunlight.
Normally at this time of day he was accustomed to hearing the rooster and chickens clucking about, a few goats making their presence known, and the merry chatter of the people in town mingling and trading items for their household needs. Sadly, Emunah was met this fine morning with a sight of destruction and sorrow. Debris cluttered the streets, people's prized possessions broken and damaged and thrown around near the few homes that remained intact. All other homes were nothing more than charred remains of what appeared to be a fire. Emunah began to walk the common areas he knew so well, after living there for the last few years, and he searched for a sign of life. Emunah was in complete shock to find all those once lively kind people are now slaughtered remains, casually strewn up and down the roads. He looked in disgust with tears in his eyes, and a hand over his nose as the June heat was beginning to cook the dead he was forced to step around. Emunah saw not one living thing, no animals, no crops, let alone any people. With no idea nor hope left Emunah took himself back to the hut he knew, and decided it was the only choice he had.
Emunah returned to his home and looked at the mess covering his once loving home, and burst into a deep sobbing cry. He fell to his knees and let out a wailing scream through his tears, in attempts to release all the turmoil he now had inside. He held his beloved story book close to his chest and silently asked the universe "why?". Before he knew it, little Emunah was fast asleep, curled up on the floor holding the storybook. He woke up to see the sun was still out but it was not to be up much longer. Emunah was still devastated but the rumbling pain in his stomach had his full attention. Now off the floor, he began to search the little home for any kind of food he could find. He managed to get a hold of some flour freshly ground the day before, and a few dried dates. Emunah knew this was not enough, so he got an idea to go to all the neighbors' homes to see what was left behind there as well. From the looks of things, whoever attacked the town took all the goods they could find. Poor Emunah was only able to scrape up a container of water, a few clay pots, and items to build a fire like he watched the adults do so many times before. He took all the items back to his hut and began to try his best to combine the ingredients he had found. By then the sun was beginning to set and the cool air began to flow through the ghost town. Emunah decided to build and start the fire so even if he had nothing to cook he would at least not freeze. Emunah had a hard time starting the fire, and actually burned himself a few times on the fingers and arms. However, the young boy was eventually successful in building the fire. Although in pain he sat proud of himself being able to accomplish such an adult task, he was truly becoming a man in his own eyes. "if only i had some meat. One goat, One chicken, even a snake I would catch and eat. I'm so hungry." he thought to himself. Rather than battle the pain in his stomach, he elected to just go back to sleep. This was easier than expected due to his emotional exhaustion.
Emunah woke up next to the now charred remains of his very first fire. He looked out the gaping hole where the door used to be, and saw it was still dark outside but it was light enough to see the sun would soon rise. Emunah was reminded of the pains in his stomach and decided to eat the two dried dates he found that he was saving in case he could make bread. The dried date did very little to calm his stomach, but he was so afraid to eat the other as he felt like he had no idea when he would be able to eat again. He started to cry about his dilemma, then was startled by a noise that seemed close by. He focused on the sound to try and make out what it was. He heard a clink, clank, and pitter patter in the dirt, sounding as if someone was drawing near on horseback. Emunah, heart pounding, froze in fear as he was sure someone was coming to finish what they started with the pillaged town.
Emunah heard this noise get closer then farther as if stopping at neighboring homes. Emunah looked where the fire had been and realized this was his chance to truly become a man. At that moment he decided he would fight back, if he died he would die honorably. If he survived whatever battle coming his way, he would truly be a man without any doubt. With his new found courage he quickly scanned the room for some sort of weapon, because he knew his little fists would not be enough to win a battle considering how easily he was thrown aside trying to save his mother. Emunah quietly rushed around the little one room home and settled on a sharp piece of wood from the remains of the front door. He crouched down in the shadows just in eye sight to see when his intruder would walk in. His plan wasn't complex, to wildly attack whoever came in and not stop until he was dead, but it would have to work with the short time allotted. Emunah posted and waited patiently listening to the clanking noise approach closer and closer. Finally he saw a shadow appear in the doorway and he felt his heart beat out of his chest.
"This is it…now or never. Time to be a man Munah" he said to himself right before closing his eyes, preparing to pounce from his hiding place. He inhaled, eyes still closed, and gave a warrior cry as he jumped out prepared to fight for his life.
!BAAAAAAAAAAAA BAAAAAAAAA!!!
Emunah was surprised to see his intruder was not at all a villain. He had appeared to frighten a lost goat with his war cry. The goat backed up and reared and made all the noise it could to potentially scare off its newfound threat. Emunah immediately dropped the weapon he had and went to calm the animal he did not mean to frighten. The Goat ran in circles for a bit but Emunah was able to calm him. Once Emunah began to pet the goat he noticed it never actually tried to run back out of his home even when startled. While realizing this he also noticed what was making the clink noise, the goat was a packing goat so there were bags and other items tied to it. Emunah wasted no time and began unloading the now calm animal. Once the bags were removed the goat went to the middle of the room where the remains of the fire were, and it laid down next to the ashes not paying Emunah any attention.
Emunah was overjoyed when he unloaded what was in those bags. There were; dried grapes and figs, one small loaf of bread, a half empty jar of water, and some grains yet to be prepped for a meal. The last thing he found was a few dried pieces of wood for a fire. Emunah also found a few small blankets possibly to be used for a makeshift shelter and bedding (if traveling). Emunah was overjoyed in the depths of his sorrows, finally something good was happening. Emunah glanced over at the goat resting on it's side and noticed it was not a "he" after all, but was a doe (female) goat. Emunah hesitated but decided to see if the Doe would allow him to get milk from her teats. Cautiously he approached the animal and they locked eyes, which made him freeze in his tracks. The goat stared at him for a moment almost as if noticing he had a jar in his hand. The Doe then exposed her belly even more, as if to signal Emunah it was ok. Emunah was still cautious but he was successful at getting a small portion of the jar filled with milk. He drank this warm liquid so quickly he almost choked. With warm remnants of milk trickling down his chin Emunah looked to the bread he found and took a few bites. He sat on the floor next to the goat and enjoyed the bliss of satiating his hunger. He looked over at the goat, who was still resting in the same spot, and decided her name would be Doe (mostly because that's what she is) and gave her a loving pet on the head as he took another bite of bread.
The cool breeze jarred Emunah to take notice of the room's shadows' placements and he realized it was about time he started a fire for the night. After the fire was built he got an idea to hang one of the blankets in the doorway, in hopes of evading the night wind from putting the fire out prematurely. With a now full belly in a dim lit room, as the night drew near, Emunah did some cleaning. He decided he may not be able to be a full man since he had no real fight, but he gave himself the leadway of at least being a "half-man" since he tamed a random animal. These miniscule thoughts ran through his mind as he did some tidying around the home, cleaning what remained of that dreadful night. As he finished putting the home back together his thoughts trailed back to the memory of the storybook and his mother being brutally taken from him in the dead of night. Silent tears streamed down his face as the sun fell behind the hills. Emunah took some old cloth and rolled it into a pillow, grabbed the other blanket he found, and curled up next to his fire with his beloved storybook. He tried to read a few pages but the memory of his mother flooded him once again.
"Is she okay? What did they do to her? Surely she is dead by now? If not, is she at least looking for me?" Emunah hadn't noticed the new tears until Doe snuggled up next to him attempting to lick them away. He drew back, not wanting the goat spit on his face, but hugged and pet her until they both fell asleep. Afterall, who else did either of them have now?