“Tony..?” I yelled out warily.

He didn’t respond, didn’t move.

My mom was frozen, staring at him, at the wall, and the trees on the other side. “Mom? Mom, what just happened?”

The wall was built to protect us, I kept reminding myself. We were safe.

Whoever was on the other side was the thing we were trying to keep out; keep out by building the wall.

Papa ran outside the house he was in after hearing the snap, and followed our gazes to Tony. Quickly rushing over to him, he lifted him up and put him down on his back, amidst the wreckage. Tony’s head fell down to one side, and his chest wasn’t moving..

Wasn’t breathing..

Tony’s parents went to him as well, pushing Papa out of the way. “Let’s go,” Papa said when he came back to us.

We walked back on the road, in the opposite direction we’d just come.

It was getting dark now, and I looked up to the highest point of the wall, with the break in it, just as a sheet of rain swept over the city.