They couldn’t hear it. They couldn’t hear a thing. Yet even so, they can feel it; the heat of fire, the harshly shaking ground, their trembling body, the fear in their depths; the war that had never stopped.

In the world they live in, they could never hear a thing, for they were born such, and must live with such.

They were deaf, and merely alive.

Her hands swiftly made signs as a way of communication—”Are you alright?” It translated, and he nodded a simple yes as an answer. Their hands firmly gripped each other for mental support, as they must keep going, avoiding the missiles that crashed to the town—the fire that began to spread without hesitation.

Their parents had left these twins in an orphanage, and the two had learnt to always stick with each other, no matter what. Because for them, their sibling was their everything.

By a few minutes, they could feel the ground vibrate vigorously on their shoe-less feet. Daniel’s eyes went wide by this, and he halted his steps forcefully, making her sister look back at him with worry.

“Daniel, we mustn’t stop. Our life is in danger… We need to find shelter.” Her hand gestures deciphered, while her eyes were locked on his’ with a glint of concern and courage. He, who had realized this, nodded slowly. By this, she quickly pulled him into a hug, while they continued on for the sake of their lives.

The buildings around them were either burnt or crumbled down. But no matter which, there were no one else except them. Perhaps they were the only ones alive, they didn’t know.

And they didn’t want to know.

The path was rough, and to find shelter wasn’t an easy task. Though if they were to find a shelter, it wouldn’t be safe from the potential danger of death. Clearly there was no escape, but the twins denied to accept the reality they faced.

Alice looked up to the sky to see whether there was a missile coming close. It was the only way for them to prepare themselves from danger. Now and then she’d look skywards, then to their path again, determining where to go.

Thankfully there was no missiles in sight, she exhaled with relief.

Alice glanced to Daniel who followed her from behind, their fingers still intertwined together, unbreakable. Daniel, who had been looking downwards to the ground, looked up to his sister, who smiled at him in reassurance, telling him “It’s okay” by her sign language. The brunette boy then smiled hastily, looking down again at the gravel road. The road was hurting his feet, he thought to himself, but he wondered whether he’d became a burden to his sister if he were to confess that.

So he decided to hold the pain.

But the thought of pain quickly vanished from his thoughts when he accidentally glanced up to the dark, starless sky; his eyes went wide when he saw a certain rocket was targeted exactly at them.

It was a V-1 flying bomb. A man in his now gone orphanage taught him that. It was because Daniel asked him to—it was because he wanted to be able to protect his sister too, at least in a way. Daniel’s steps stopped when he saw it.

“It’s impossible to avoid it.” His paranoid thoughts took over him—even if it was far from them, even if there was the tiniest of the tiniest chance that they could dodge it, he couldn’t bring himself to think positively. What he wanted to do at that exact spot was to break down and cry, though remembering how brave Alice were comparing to him, he should be moving.

But he couldn’t make himself do so, because fear had already took over his heart and his whole body. He couldn’t do so, because he wasn’t able to convince himself that he’ll survive.

He should’ve not look up—he should’ve just thought of the pain on his feet, he regretted.

“Maybe this was it,” He thought to himself, “This is it, right?”

                  Alice turned around when Daniel had stopped moving, and tilted her head to the side in confusion. She began to made signs with her hand: “What’s wrong, Daniel?”

He replied nothing. All he did was look up to the sky, and glance at her with the most pained expression she had ever seen coming from him. She didn’t even have to look at the direction he was looking at to know what was happening. Because there was only one thing that comes from the sky, and one result when it hit the ground. It was too late for them to flee their fate.

The boy then swayed his head to face his sister, who, for once, was the one who was terrified. His cheeks were now stained with tears that endlessly fell from her eyes. Daniel, who never witnessed such side of hers, pulled her into a hug, mentally repeating that everything will be alright. He knew she was screaming out her lungs, he knew she was scared of the death they’ll face, because it was seen clearly by her expression that showed extreme agony. But he, for once, did not fear for his life. Instead, he gladly accepted it.

Because he had lived a wonderful life, a life that was perhaps more than enough. He lived a life where he was loved, by a sister who was more than everything to him.

And with that, the missile reached the ground.