War Life

• Luke Liondos , Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2015

"Sweetheart, darling, wake up! The heavens have blessed the skies today with a sunshine"! I gradually arise my from my dirty, vermin infested bed, covered from head to toe in dust and thick cobwebs. I squinted my eyes, I was blinded by a ray of what I thought was angel dust, but was indeed what I've only mesmerised in my dreams. A sunrise. The few blessings by the heavens above have given us something temporarily to enjoy. I turned to my mother, I couldn't tell if it was her smile or the sun that was warming up the room. She seemed satisfied. Maybe this is a turning point in the war. It could possibly be over soon. Three and a half years of hiding in fear and agony, could possibly be ending. I vividly remember the tender smile the sun would deliver every day prior the war. We don't see a ray of sunshine nowadays. The cloud of smoke causes dimness to the sky. The smoke is due to the burning of rotten dead bodies.

The fragrance I smell outside the now shattered glass window has grown normal for us. Corpses, thousands of innocent blood, shed by the injustice of mans powerful lust for violence. What little fluids I have left in my body, a tear caresses down my bloodied cheek. I can't help but believe we're in the middle of a modern Holocaust. It's not even warfare anymore. Not even soldiers who are there to protect our borders from the forces of evil who threaten our world and what little we have. All my mother and I see are monsters who have no traces of their once manhood. They kill each other for sport and have no regrets. A cold, bony substance pats me twice on my shoulder. I shudder and scream. Mum asks me what's wrong, it was her who touched me. I felt foolish and apologised to mum. "Forgive me mum, I thought a spider or a mouse crept on me!" Mum had a tiny giggle, their isn't much to laugh about these days. We saviour the little gifts we receive like the sun peeping out today for us. I giggle as well.

There isn't much to be joyous about. Especially if you're just a little Iraqi girl who has seen truly horrifying things throughout the war. The only way you are going to survive throughout a war and not go totally insane, is to try and be positive. Life will always throw you bags of severe adversity, the only way you can get through it, is to be resilient and positive. Even when it seems you can't go further anymore.