Mahdiya Against War

• Sidratul Siddique, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2016

Hello!! I’m Mahdiya and I live in Bangladesh. War is going on and my mum, my little sister, Atiya and I are trying our best to keep hidden and safe. My dad has gone to the war to fight and we’re desperately wanting him back. My mum is the most worried about dad, it seems like she’s going to faint. One day we ran out of food, so mum told me to stay here and look after Atiya. A couple of hours past and I was getting worried about mum. “Where is she? When will she come back? Is she trapped? What will I do without mum?” The thoughts went in my head over and over. A day later mum came back with a lot of food but very sick. Day after day, I was trying to help mum but I didn’t know what to do. One night I heard a sound, soldiers killed mum and I saw it. Mum is gone forever now! Me and my sister were crying for a long time, we couldn’t live without any parents. All I hoped was that dad was still alive at war. Me and my sister ate some of the fruit that mum brought with her. Mum brought so much food back that I bet it will last us a month with our whole family! Though our whole family isn’t here. A couple of days past and I overheard the soldiers that they were going to see in here if anyone is hiding again. I knew what I had to do to keep myself and my sister safe. At the same time, it was quite risky. Since we were close to the border of Bangladesh, maybe cross the border of Bangladesh. There was a little passage near here, which will take us to a safe hiding place. So when I got out of the cave with my sister we got trapped and were taken away. Soon me and my sister were stuck in a stinky dungeon with only a small plate of rice and chicken given to us every meal. The cave was horrible, stinky, cold and scary. Days past and I wished that we could get out. Me and my sister were getting a bit weak since the soldiers were giving us less food than we needed for half a meal. I was getting worried that we would get a disease from the soldiers. One-day war ended, Bangladesh won. The soldiers were dead so me and my sister tried to escape. Me and my sister were trying to think of a way out. BAM! Someone bombed the building and we escaped. The bomb did some damage to us but we’re still alive. When we went to our old cave, dad was gone. Then we went back to our old home but it was damaged. My sister’s favourite doll was burnt and a lot of precious family objects are ruined. We live together and still hope dad’s alive and will come back to us one day.