Need

• Isabelle Cunningham, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2020

How loud the bombs are, it’s unexplainable. Craters, in the roads, where houses used to be, everywhere. The loud machines come storming down the few undamaged roads, towering over the people who quiver under the cold, damp scrap metal. The guns in the distance are quiet now, but you have to watch your every step.

People, imprisoned in their homes. Soldiers, knocking on your door. Brothers, husbands, sons taken away to fight. Some return, but others don’t. The gun shots stop, people walk outside thinking, hoping, that it’s all over, but when it just begins again, people start to lose hope, will it ever stop?

Poppies start to sprout, but there is no need for flowers, the need is for a safe place.

Many countries suffer through this. They come from all over the world to find that safety and freedom they so desperately need. They come to us.

In Australia we are lucky, we do not have this.

We do not have war.