The Siege
By Michael Egenolf (9/23/03)
They are coming. The walls have started to shake with the imminent onslaught. The war is on the brink of commencement. Unanswered prayers are now forgotten. Regret seeps from the memory. The time for dread has passed. All that can be felt now is resignation. What is to be cannot be undone. Fate has dealt its hand. The final scene has been staged and we are merely players awaiting the call to action.
We are as prepared as we can realistically be, though one can never truly prepare for a battle of this magnitude. But this battle is of our own doing. And it will be waged on our terms. We stated the time and the place. We knew when they would come and we prepared, though it was impossible to know the numbers they would ascend on us with. It appears we have gravely underestimated their appetite. We can only hold them off for so long. The dam will burst and their multitudes will burst forth. The storm will begin and the thrust will be great. And it will be horrific. The savages unleashed. The devastation incomprehensible.
I look around at my compatriots, jaws set, faces grim with the reckoning of that which approaches. Brave women all, for no man would dare make this stand. This insanity is sure to bring utter devastation. Nothing can avert this catastrophic tide. Nothing will survive this destruction. Annihilation is moments away.
The time for courage has passed, for what good is courage without hope. The screaming banshees are about to be released, the fortress walls pulse with the vibrations of the faceless throng. It is almost time.
Our hearts thud in our chests like the ticking of the clock, counting down to oblivion. Utter chaos.
All hatches are battened, all lips sealed, all I’s dotted, and T’s crossed. All signs point to the battleground, our directions clear. We have stated our conditions, for which there is no returning. We are ready.
The clock ticks down… down… down…
Our breathing draws shallow, our hearts beating thickly through our veins. Our throats go dry. Tick… tick… tick…
We are women, alone, to face the enemy. We are stronger than the heartiest of men, brave in the face of hopelessness. Yet somehow, God willing, we know we will endure. This, of course, is not the first time.
There have been others. Many others. We know we will live to stand another day.
If we can just make it to noon.
The screams are louder now, closer. The air is thick with dreadful anticipation. Despair settles like a fog around us. It is time to set the torches alight. It is time to make the stand.
The fortress walls bulge under the rhythmic thrust of the invaders. The pounding increases to critical levels. The fortress can’t hold out much longer.
The bells of doom have chimed. It has come.
The fortress has been compromised. The onslaught has begun.
God willing, if I survive the day, I swear this is the last Bridal shop Clearance sale I ever work.
If I can only make it till noon.