War in Lebanon

I crouch next to what was once my house. Somewhere beneath the rubble my mother is calling for me. I do not hear my father.1

Smoke is in the air, and I cough as I make my way over to where I hear her. I start to dig; the rubble scrapes my fingers as I go and stains the mess with red. It’s a hot day, and there is little shade. I dig and dig and dig, and then my mother’s voice stops. I sit down and feel the sting of salt water running down my cut face. My hands are numb and I feel dizzy from the heat.2

Elsewhere a woman is crying. I stand and look down over the town from the hill our house is on. The charred, destroyed landscape stretches before me, and something inside me churns. I would be sick, but there is nothing in my stomach.3

I walk over to our well, and spit the dry dust out of my mouth before taking a drink of the stale water. There might still be a chance that my parents are alive, so I go back to digging. I don’t stop till the sky darkens and the chill of night starts to seep through my body. It has been a hot day, but there are no clouds to hold the heat to the earth. I lie down to rest so that I can dig again tomorrow.4

With no other purpose left for living, I have nothing to do but to dig; to dig, and dig, and dig. I dig for days, until my stomach screams for food. I walk down to the town, but no-one’s there. Looking back up the hill, I realise you can’t see our house anymore, it’s been flattened. Everybody has gone and left me. My family and I lived in a one room hut, and until now I have never been alone in my life. Now that I am, I am more alone than I could possibly have ever imagined.5

When I reach what was once my school I find that part of the classroom, some charred wall and roof, are still standing. I lie on the gravely earth, defeated, and cry till my exhausted body falls asleep, but even that luxury doesn’t last long. Visions of our house crumpling and taunting screams from my mother haunt my dreams.6

The survivors from my town have moved on, and the bombs have gone too. The battle continues, leaving me in its wake.