Writing Samples
When the war broke out I was about four and a half years old, my middle brother was three and my younger brother was one. I was innocently unaware of what was going on at that time, but it was a defining moment for myself and my family.
We were on the ground floor of our house and we were renting the upper floor to a young family with a one-year-old baby boy. It was early morning one day when the sound of guns were suddenly everywhere around us. I remember playing in our yard, and I heard my mother calling me to come inside to have breakfast. A few minutes after entering the front door, a mortar shell dropped on the top floor of our house and exploded. Just like that, our lives changed forever.
My father wasn’t home at the time, but my mother quickly gathered us in the lower-level bedroom and ordered us to stay there while she went upstairs. Due to my inquisitive nature, I followed her to see what the commotion was all about. I was certain our neighbours were in the house when the shell dropped, but I was wholly unprepared for what would come next.
As my mother reached the top flight of stairs, I could see her face change colour and tears start streaming down her cheeks. She tried to stop me from looking into the apartment, but I already managed to have a glimpse. Alive just moments prior, there was nothing in the apartment now but limbs and bodies. I was in shock, unable to fully comprehend it. Realising there was nothing she could do to help the family, my mother lifted me quickly in her arms and we retreated down the stairs to where my brothers were waiting anxiously. All I can say is that the total destruction and death of a young family was a sight that haunted me for the rest of my life.
