War

• Kizzie Morgan, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2007

Why? Why did it happen to them? Why does a country have to be so heartless as to ruin so many innocent lives?
A boy walks swiftly along the road of a war torn country, his mother urgently pulls him along as he weeps for his father, who is probably already dead. It is so hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago he was a happy boy eating breakfast unaware of the life-changing fate that would occur. Suddenly bombs sound and gun blasts are heard, which is a cue to run. Screams sound right behind them; a child has just dropped down behind them, dead. Her mother weeps crouched over the body, shaking like jelly, all the boy wants to do is help. He wants to fight! But he just becomes weak and his mother grips him tighter.
After the bombs have long since stopped, both mother and son cling to each other in an old bomb shelter where blood and drag marks are etched in the dirt on the ground. All the pair want is for things to be back to the way they were before, but all they have is each other and their sorrow. They are parched and ravenous.
Suddenly they door bursts open behind them, they are being dragged out of the shelter while the boy’s mother screams for mercy. A sudden surge of anger lifts the boy up and onto his feet, as he struggles free from the soldier’s grip he grabs his mother and they run for their lives as bullets fire at them, just skimming the sides of their bodies. But they won’t stop. They can’t stop, not after all the pain and agony they’d experienced. After a while the bullets stopped but they just kept running.
Finally the pair reaches a solemn, lonely forest where they slow down to a swift walk. They walk for what seems like hours, constantly looking over their shoulders. Then, in the distance they see a clearing that opens out to the sea. A family is hurriedly piling into a small boat but there looks like there’s room for more. As the pair sprint towards the boat they have a surge of hope, they are going to get through this, they are going to live! Finally they reach the boat and they fall in a heap on the disintegrating floor of the boat, as it slowly and quietly moved off the pair fell into a deep sleep, knowing how far they still have to go.