Seven Days

Atom moved through the woods for seven days. Hungry and tired he pressed on. 'Andi had to be close...' he thought every morning and night; 'Had to be close..."

Yet, day in and day out he couldn't find her; 'No way she would be that much faster than me, I'll catch her soon...' he would assure himself, dragging his wounded body through the woods.

Still now seven days of traveling and he had not seen her but he pressed on nonetheless. After reaching the coast line he began following it around. Weakened he would scavenge for food along the way.

In his life Atom had never traveled so far. At first confined as a slave then as a student, he knew nothing of politics or the local geography. As lost as he was tho, Atom could only press forward, somehow he had to find Andi.

At the southernmost shore Atom came to rest. Starving and tired he finally could press on no more. As his eyes closed, as he took his last breath fading into darkness Atom thought how those moments, those happy days - now gone.

At the end of his sight, just over the water - he saw the wall, the monstrous divide between his country and the next..