Never Look Back

• Rovinya Mendis, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

Never Look Back
Rovinya Mendis

Smoke and debris billow upwards behind us like geysers. The town we used to call home in ruins as I try to run to safety, my 3 year old daughter desperately clutching my hand and running behind me. Fires erupt from burning embers in every building and enemy war planes droned overhead like massive mosquitoes. The once majestic 18th century library crumbles like house of cards as we run past. Everything from an M rated action movie was suddenly happening right before our eyes.
She doesn't deserve this. Born to the world such a short time ago. We risked everything to give her the best life. We fought the government to get into the country. We fought the laws to settle down. We fought the stereotypes to find a job. We fought all these battles to give her the best life she could possibly have.
The two of us run like we've never run before, dodging falling metal rods the length of my arm and as thick as it. The underground camp is only a few meters away. That's where the rest of our neighbourhood and probably the rest of the town is. It's the only safe place in this wrecked city, with supplies to last us the next four months, depending on how many families there are.
We finally reached the camp, it was then that I felt the huge looming weight finally lift from my fatigued shoulders. I turn around to smile at my daughter and tell her that we were safe. But as soon as I saw her my knees gave out and I crumpled to the ground. Waves of tears tipped my eyelids and my whole body shook in a mixture of fear, anger and sadness. I had been dragging her limp, lifeless arm.