‘The Tragedy’ by Renats Stuts, Year 9, Thomas Clarkson Academy

The war has begun…

My family was gone, and anguish and sadness overwhelmed me… I could have saved them; why didn’t I? Guilt overtook me, and their final words filled my mind. It began to get louder and louder by the minute, and I closed my eyes, desperate for it to stop. How could I live with this guilt? It felt like I was burning from the inside out. The screaming within me began, and I hit my chest and began frantically knocking on my head to halt the noise.

The shouting came to an end abruptly after what seemed like an eternity. Then came complete silence; I wasn’t sure which was worse, the shouting or the silence. Then guilt struck in as a tear trickled down my cheek; I knew I couldn’t give up just yet; I needed to keep fighting. I began to feel dizzy, almost as if I couldn’t breathe. I stood up and looked about; silently praying to myself, expecting to feel better. I missed them so much; now I was alone and felt lonely and vulnerable.

I could hear gunfire and screaming in the distance, as warplanes swooped overhead, dropping bombs at random. Running for cover during the chaos and damage, I looked up and saw that one of the bombs was aimed directly at me. I began to run, dashing so rapidly that my heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. Daylight was fading, and it was getting dark before I realised, I’d come this far with only a few wounds and bruises. The ache returned, and I began to lose hope once more. I couldn’t deal with the suffering, internally as well as externally. The screaming began again, and I massaged my weary eyes as tears streamed down my scarred cheeks. Something felt wrong…

More bombs were dropped, and my ears started to ring. My vision was becoming fuzzy as I attempted to adjust to the darkness. I needed to locate some sort of refuge or safety. I wondered whether there was anyone else nearby. I wondered if anyone was still alive. The voices in the distance had stopped; only those in my head remained. I attempted to move, to lift myself up, but fell back down. I could feel it; there was no escaping it. Something in the distance caught my eye: a mushroom cloud that resembled a nuclear explosion. How could this happen? Is this what society has become? If this was all it took to halt the chaos and suffering, so be it; I began to panic, after all, I was human. I arose, closed my eyes, and submitted to the unknown; no more screaming or commotion, just stillness.