Kokoda

• Maddie Adric, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2018

The mist swirled around me. Gunshots rang through the forest. The Kokoda track was alive with war. No one was safe. Why was this happening? Why in the world? My life had been perfect with my beautiful wife Celine, and with my daughter Mia. Until I was packed into a boat like a piece of garbage into a bin, and sent away. They gave me a gun and told me to kill. I was going to kill, and I was going to die. I knew that. It was a simple fact. As I ran behind a tree my world seemed to go into slow motion. I saw a bullet whirling through the air before me. My lips whispered the words “Mia,” and before I closed my eyes for the last time, I heard the word ‘Daddy’ repeated a thousand times in my head.