The village smelled of bread baking and wet earth. Summer sun painted the cobblestones gold, and for the first time in a long while, I felt the world was soft, safe. Mother's hand was warm in mine, her fingers curling around mine as we walked past the little fountain in the square. Father laughed at some joke I didn't understand, and I smiled because it made him smile.
We were on vacation, they had said, a break from the city. Just a few days in a quiet village where the streets were narrow and the rooftops red and slanted. No soldiers, no crowded markets, no crowds pressing in on every side. Just us.
I remember the ducks in the fountain, how they waddled toward me, quacking. I remember the smell of roasting meat from the baker's stall, sweet and salty. I remember thinking I was happy.
Then came the first shadow.
I didn't notice it at first — a movement at the edge of the square, like a trick of the sunlight. Then another. And another. Men, wearing masks that gleamed in the sun, moving quietly, deliberately, their eyes hidden behind dark lenses.
Mother's hand tightened around mine. Father stepped in front of me. Their laughter had vanished in an instant, replaced by a sharp, cold fear I didn't yet understand.
The world changed with the first scream.
Metal clanged, voices shouted in a language I didn't know. Fire cracked from torches, smoke curling in ribbons over the rooftops. I tried to run. I wanted to run. But someone's boot slammed into my small body, and the ground rose to meet me. Pain exploded across my skull, bright and unbearable, and the last thing I remember before darkness swallowed me was the feeling of my parents' hands slipping away.
When I woke, the village was gone. Smoke hung in the air, curling like black fingers. The streets were empty, the fountain dry. My parents… their faces floated in and out of my memory, blurred and fragile like reflections on water. I tried to call for them, but my voice was small and useless.
A cold, firm hand grabbed me. I struggled, screamed, but it was no use. They lifted me into the shadows and carried me away.
I was six.
And nothing would ever be the same.