A Child Of War

• Simran Kumar, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2018

The days of war, the blitzing cold feeling in your veins. I remember it vividly, my mother reassuring it’ll be ok. My dad saying,’Sia we’re safe’. One horrible night that still haunts me today. Landmines blowing up ferociously, sirens yelling at the polluted sky and my mum having tearful eyes, holding my brother who’s not even born. My father... He was going to seek shelter in this pouring rain filled with explosions everywhere.I hugged him tightly. This was my journey till childhood.

(BOOM!) Every muscle in my body hardened.My ears filled with excruciating pain. It’s happening again. I stare down at my brother. He’s shocked, looking down at his leg . The searing sun stared with grief as it buried us in lava. ;Grains of dust sink into my face. I’ve seen the pain.I’ve seen the cries.Stories that villagers exaggerate spawn into reality. The screams of agony travel from my head to my vocal chords. I’ve heard my own. The night grew darker and darker making the bleed. Im too scared,Scared to do the only thing he can’t now,walk even a step. A step so fatal that it could take your life in a flash.I can’t do the job. The job I fought hard for. A doctor.

The engine of the plane coughed its way here. My brother came for support. My first stop as a doctor was here, Afghanistan. The same place innocent beings lose their lives from a minuscule step. A step so fatal that even doctors can’t mend. LANDMINES. A single piece of rounded metal could blow your lives apart. That’s what i learnt from my dad.And so that leads me back to here. Waiting here in the dust. A glimmer of hope lands in front of our eyes.. Hurdling dust twisted into a tornado. I look up, my eyes strained. Two winged aircraft. I sink my knees to the ground that was now shaking with the pressure. Instantaneously a ladder drops down coming to save us. What about the others that got bombed? My head spins like a clown wanting attention. I wave my hands wildly  towards the helicopter. Two muscular men zip down in a speed of light. One picked up my brother and handed him to the other man.’don’t worry now your safe. I’v hadn’t heard that four letter word in 2 weeks.SAFE.I’m a doctor’,I reply as they hand me a signal to climb up the chain ladder. Questions ramble through my mind when I come across,who are they? I hear my brother screaming I jump back. Two frightening eyes glared back at me. A long metal piece was held directly above my brothers head. A gun. All the fibres in my body are puzzled. We close our eyes my parents voice jump in my head.Were in the same situation that caused them being not here today. I take a deep breath.