Don't Leave Me Behind

Run

It's been months since we slept at home . It has become even more dangerous. As Serbian solders would came back home from war lines they would get violent and take it out on Muslims that lived in their villages .

It was Saturday we were picking berries in a field across our house . Me , my sisters and other kids from the neighborhood. We heard a strange cry echoing from the woods . A female screaming something. It kept getting louder and louder .

Run people , run for your life . They are coming . They are coming to kill you all . We started running to our homes like there was no tomorrow. We ran into the house unable to speak without tears . My mom blocked the door with a metal frame so no one can break in . And we all hid under the stairs . You can hear the riffle going off and cursing of solders .

My mom ran into a bedroom to close the window as the bullet flew right by her arm missing her by a millimeter . She dropped to the ground so they can't see her . They were in a front yard firing all over the house . Screaming and cursing slurs . It lasted few minutes but it felt like a lifetime . As they left and made their way towards other houses doing the same . Some people were not warned in time . A lot of people lost their lives that day . But it didn't stop . They came back that evening again . This time they picked a house and a family they will torment .

As night was falling this evening we were scared to even leave the house to go sleep somewhere else . We knew they were waiting to catch us . As the night got colder and quieter . About 1 am a riffle sound echoed so loud like it was next door .

Then a cry for help once , help us god please help us . Then again and again . A female voice pleading for someone to save them . Who will save them ? We were all scared for our life .

This evening they broke into a house next to us . A family that had two daughters and son . They broke in through the window and tied the father to the chair . Beating him unconscious. While they all took turns raping his wife in-front of the children. They did this for hours and hours . Then they took anything of value out of the house. Including the little food they had and left them for dead . Shooting the dog that was outside on their way out . Those cries and pleading for someone to help her will forever stay in mind .

As the morning came no one slept out of fear . We didn't know if they were alive or dead . When neighbors were sure that they left . They snaked through the back of the house and this is how they found the father . Tied to a chair and beaten so bad you couldn't recognize him. His wife raped and beat barely holding to life. His kids that will have this horror for the rest of their life .

We knew this was happening...... we heard this was happening and now it happened to one of our own. The war will never end and the time has come for us to leave our home to save the little humanity we have left . But where will we go and how will we escape this nightmare that keeps repeating its self over and over