Suddenly our beautiful and peaceful night was converted to a shrieking one when all that bloodshed started again. My father surrounded all four of us. We had already lost our mother in last fight and for that I always blamed my father because he didn’t tried to save her when he cried again and again for help and this time my father wasn’t ready to sacrifice any of us may be because he felt that he shouldn’t repeat that mistake again or else none of us if survived will not forgive him. He made every possible shield to protect us from the bullets which were being fired outside recklessly but this time in race of protecting us he forgot to protect himself.

My dad was shot in front of me and my sisters could not bear the sight of our dad lying in pool of blood. His last words were the promise he took from me to protect my sisters from this rage and he told me the truth about our mother’s death that when she was shot she swore me to take her daughters away because she knew that she wouldn’t last for long and wanted to save our family. My eyes were filled with tears and wanted to save my my dad’s life but he couldn’t last for more than an hour. All the responsibilities were on my tiny shoulders. My sisters April, Theresa and June and I were all shattered.

Now, it was time for me to take charge of my family’s safety. As soon as the sun rose I made all the arrangements for our survival for next few days in our store room. Next few days, weeks and a month passed away in the same way. We would not realize that if it was day or night and we all remained snuggled into each other. The bombardments and bulleted nights also reduced gradually and our food was on verge of extinction. I decided to get out of my house in search of food and so grabbing my bag I went out because I couldn’t see my sisters crying for food.

When I stepped out of my house I could see beheaded bodies, drains overflowing with blood and what not which I couldn’t imagine even in my worst nightmare. Hiding from everyone I finally reached a grocery store and while I was collecting the essentials one of the soldier spotted me and started firing at me. Hoping for a better tomorrow I will peep outside our home and I could witness piles of bodies and their blood patches everywhere. The foul smell from the dead body was all over our house and it was very difficult to breath.

At every night we could listen to the trampping of boots and their laughs and talks. Despite of my attentiveness a soldier saw me and spotted our house.

At that night I could sense something wrong is going to happen because I couldn’t listen to either their boots or their annoying laughing noises.

Suddenly I heard whispers in my home and it was my duty to save my family. For me it was time to be a fighter and savior of my sisters. I was also scared because at the age of fourteen what could I do but my sisters dependence upon me gave me strength to fight against those odds.

In order to confuse them I ran quietly in house from one place to another making some noises in order to distract them so that my sisters can get out of house easily through the ventilation window. While all these things were happening a soldier entered the store room. In order to protect my sisters I took out a pistol which I had picked from the grocery store thinking it may be required in future. I tried to shoot that soldier down but couldn’t do so and hearing the gunshot all the soldiers rushed in direction of the sound and soon I thought I was going to meet my parents. But my fortune played its part  and I found a way to get out of there but a soldier saw me and shot my leg. Crying in pain I rushed to my sisters and took them to a safe place.

Today when I compare my sisters smiles with my lost leg I think that their smikes are worth more than my life too. Moreover I feel happy to know that it wasn’t the fault of my dad my hero in not being able to save my mom’s life because now I realize that he was in the same situation at that time of either saving our mom only or saving all of us. My parents will remain alive in me and I thank them I could complete the promise I made to them.

“Always love your parents and remember that whatever they do is for our benefit and never consider them wrong.”