cival war

The train station was unusually crowded, every time she rode the train into Colombo with her father she didn’t remember it being this crowded. But today wasn’t usual day, she was with her mother and they were on their way to Colombo’s airport. The only way they could afford to get out of the war torn country and into Germany was to catch the train to Colombo and then take a flight to Berlin where her father already was working and received legal resident status.

She looked around the train station to see that many were doing the same, the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE had only grown more violent in the past year. The previous night militants began to storm the city and there were rumors that the members of the LTTE were in the town of Medagama a few kilometers from her home in Kandy in central Sri Lanka. The news reporters had predicted a showdown between the two groups in the next few weeks. As a result many were evacuating central Sri Lanka.

The train began to pull in from the distance yet everyone heard it three minutes prior. The screeching sounds of metal covered everyone as the station became silent. Soon the brakes forced the trains pause. People began to push on to the train that was once empty, she and her mother luckily were the few people to claim ownership to a seat on the humid, now crowded train. They sat there and she stared out the window looking at the people climb to the roof, people waiting for other train arrivals, people sadly separating. She missed being a child, back when she played with all of her friends’ everyday on the road after school. She missed being yelled at for not completing her chores before she left for class. She missed her brother who joined the LTTE militia a few years ago. She turned to look at her mother’s face, took hold of her hand and whispered “we’ll be safe soon”.

Soon after the bells began to ring and an announcement was made over the intercom but she couldn’t hear. The train jerked forward and slowly made its way out of Kandy Rail Station. She looked at the platform to people waving goodbye with tears in their eyes and to late passengers running to grab a niche in the train’s exterior so they could hold on. Seconds later the train was entirely outside and making it’s way toward the nation’s biggest city. Cutting through people’s backyards and piercing through lush green forests she felt like she was finally free from danger. Amazed at how smoothly the train was moving she forgot about the oppressive heat that consumed the train, she ignored the traffic jam on the two lane highway that partnered with the rail every now and again.

The rain began to fall onto the train and she kept her window open letting the water fall onto her face, anything was better than sitting in a hot train with the windows closed. She jumped when another train in the opposite direction swiftly passed her window, she laughed with her mom at how scared she got. She was happy to see her mom smiling, ever since her father left for Europe her mother was in a state of depression working on the fields all day and coming home barely speaking. She spent her past 17th birthday working for her mom because she was sick and needed the rest, but they needed the money since her father still wasn’t working, although today things were looking up.

She was amazed by how beautiful nature was. Staring in awe as the train crossed one of the many rivers on its trek to Colombo. Birds flew beside her when they went through clearings; kids were playing rugby when they passed open fields, huge flowers and trees littered the floor every time they would pull out of another city or town. She’d never seen so many colors in just a few hours. She was amazed at how easy the fare dodgers made riding on the side of the train look and cringing every time she saw someone walking on the other track worried that a train might hit them.

Eventually she fell asleep, dreaming of what she left behind. She woke up sweating and in a state of depression. Her mother asked her why she looked sad and she began to cry. She’d never see the small home she’d spent her entire life in. She was leaving her home city that once seemed huge to her; it was now a fraction of the size of where she was moving to. She was leaving all of her friends and moving to a new country with a different language. Her mother gave her a hug and assured her that everything was going to be alright.

Just as she shifted back into her seat the trees and all of its nature disappeared. Shacks and houses began to fill the windows off in the distance the distinct Colombo skyline could be seen hovering above the thousands of homes. She was shocked at how tall the World Trade Center was, she’d never seen structures above seven stories, so seeing two 40 floor towers from the distance was amazing. She looked at the ground to see how busy everything was, every road was full of cars and people were everywhere. The sun reflected off of the ocean that from far away seemed as if it rose above the city.

She turned to ask her mom if they had time to go to the beach before their flight, when there was a large noise. One second later the train that was moving at 100 kilometers per hour (55mph) was lifted off of the tracks. All twelve cars were slammed onto the side and pushed across the other two tracks coming to a stop in the embankment beside the tracks. The entire train snapped into pieces and some of its cars were lying on top of crushed houses.

There was a moment of silence, the only sound that could be heard were flames off in the distance. The odd silence was soon broken by a baby’s scream. Sirens could be heard off in the distance first there were emergency vehicle sirens from across the city moments later the civil defense siren went off. She opened her eyes when another sound of an explosion far off shook her. Other people began to regain consciousness and started to realize what happened. Another train that sounded like it was above them slammed on its brakes. She held her ears because of the high pitched screech. Looking down she realized that her hands were bloody. She began to look for her mom; the train was upside down so she stood up on the roof with about a dozen other people.

She looked at all of the bodies and began to scream for her mom. She turned some people over in hopes that she was trapped under some people. She soon saw a hand move outside of the train, running over she realized it was her mother. She covered her mouth with her bloody hand as she looked at her mom who was on the verge of death; half of her body was trapped under the train. She screamed in terror as her mom struggled, she ran over and shifted her body up so her mother was in her lap. Her mother slowly went in and out of consciousness but her last words were to tell her daughter to go to her father and get away. She wiped her mother’s forehead as she stood up and wept.

She slowly walked up the embankment to go back to the level where the rail tracks were. As soon as she reached the top of the hill she realized what happened. There were four gas storage tanks situated next to the tracks and three of them were aflame. She fell to her knees and cried uncontrollably firefighters ran past her as drool ran down her face when she looked up into the sky that was no longer blue but filled with smoke. She looked around at the rest of the city and there were four other places where noxious fumes were billowing from the ground. She heard military jets and helicopters pass above her.

Following her mother’s orders she lifted herself from the ground and began to walk, she went back into the train to retrieve her plane tickets and her one bag of luggage. Then she began to walk alongside the tracks to the city’s main station. Emergency workers began lining bodies on the side of the tracks; she walked past hundreds of corpses and their weeping survivors. Children, Mothers, Fathers, Spouses, anyone you could think of she saw. The afternoon light began to make way for the sunset’s glow as she got to the main station. There was a large crowd of confused people demanding to know where the trains were. One man grabbed her as she made her way out of the stations and onto the bus that was labeled “Airport”, “What happened out there?!” He asked with fear on his face. “Everyone’s dead” she replied as the doors on the bus separated them. He stared at her and she glanced back as the bus pulled off.

She sat in silence as the blood on her hands dried, rocking back and forth as the bus made its way north of the city to the airport. The bus driver glanced back at her and yelled “all flights are canceled tonight” as he obviously saw the Condor Airlines tickets she clutched in her hands. She stared at the rear view mirror and nodded her head “I just need to get out”.

She stepped off the bus and looked at the airport terminal. There were large crowds as the flights had been canceled. She stood in line to check in, standing over an hour with mostly tourists she discovered that the LTTE had commenced an air raid on the city and bombed five locations in the city. with the death toll estimated at 4,000. She was shocked and didn’t realize that it was her turn in line until some American tapped her shoulder.

She walked up to the counter and the agent asked if she was checking it. She nodded her head as it was explained to her that no flights would be leaving until the next day. “You’ll be okay” the woman told her “what’s your name?”

She responded “Nilanee”