The bodies were lifted high over the sea of people; they were passed over their heads and to the stage where they lay them down. Everyone knew these sights were hard to take but even more challenging for the families directly affected by what some tagged as the deadliest wave. Yet claiming a considerable number of the local villagers, it was tough to see someone who wasn’t wailing or crying or lost in the crowd.

Bystanders rushed to help those who were struck by a vehicle early Thursday on Red River Street in Austin, which was crowded with people headed to South by Southwest events.

“Have you seen my boy and girl” Lisa asked as she walked through the crowd, trying to get a glimpse of the bodies placed there in search of her children. Her hair was unkempt, and her clothes were barely sticking to her body as she walked and staggered like a madwoman; a few people noticed her and made a small pathway through the crowd as she walked through.

 ” ma, are these your kids?” The voice of a man directly looking at something on the stage. Lisa’s heart shrunk as she tried not to think the worst, but that was all there was to think; her legs became faster as she tried to kill the anticipation going on in her mind at the time. The closer she got, the rowdier things got as everyone at that point was looking for one person or the other; she fell a couple of times before finally reaching the feet of the man who yelled out. The man offered a lifting hand as she climbed the stage.

Stirring at the bodies there, her heart shrunk even more, seeing a boy and girl laying dead looking like people who have been severely burnt” it’s not them, sir,” Lisa said, feeling guilty for whoever were the parents of the children and feeling even more guilty for not being there when her children needed her the most, fearing they might have suffered the same fate as the children right in front of her. Lisa slowly came down the stage as she realised they weren’t there, walking down while so many tried to come up to the scene looking for their loved ones. Lisa walked like a woman who had already seen enough horrors for one day; she seemed utterly lifeless.

As she walked through the crowd, the announcement went off, ” those who haven’t found the bodies of their loved ones should come to make a report tomorrow at the local police station”.

“Sign here, here and here”, the local policeman pointed to Lisa at the station the following day. She made sure to be as punctual as possible the next day.

” so tell us again, when was the last time you saw your children” a couple of questions came from the policemen.

” it was the night of the annual festival; everyone was dressed in their costumes as usual. My daughter and I wore the same thing; my son didn’t like the idea of joining in, so he opted for something different. We arrived at 8:00 pm and were greeted by a couple of girls who wore the same thing we wore and wanting my daughter to join them. I felt they were all kids, so I let her go with them before I could turn back to my son. He was gone, and I thought he probably went to find his friends”. Lisa still wore the lifeless look from the previous day as she spoke, ” I can’t completely recollect all the happenings of that night, but I could recall searching for my girl after the wave was gone. I searched through every costume-wearing girl looking like her most of them were lying dead.”

” and your son? ” he was entirely nowhere to be found.”

” thank you ma, we promise to look into this, but we also have a few questions.”

“Go ahead”, Lisa replied

” you are Mrs Lisa Michaels.

“Yes. I am “

” your son’s name is John Michaels, and your daughter Layla Micheals,  right? “

“Yes”

” well, our document here says such persons don’t exist anymore; in fact, they died two years ago”.

WRITTEN BY

BELUSCONI