• I wake up
    To the rising sun
    The birds chirping
    And the water flowing in the river, in this valley
    In Uganda, my home.

    My father comes into my room
    About to leave for work
    And says

    “I can be home early today, son.”

    “Please father? Can you?”

    He packs up his trousers and briefcase, and steps out side, to his car.
    I feel the strange feeling of dread spread though myself.
    I open my mouth, to tell him to come back
    Something stops me

    The day is long, waiting for my father to come home.
    I lie on my bed, with my face to the ceiling
    And count the dots on the walls of our plaster home.

    One

    Two

    Three

    Four

    Then, a harsh and abrupt knocking sound fills the room.
    I see a tall dark figure through the screen door
    I expect it to be my father, but it is too tall.

    I creep over to the front door
    My hands in fists
    Ready to fight

    I pull open the screen door and see, my father, being clutched by his neck
    by a man in army clothes.
    The look on my father’s face is heartbreaking.
    His eyes could make a bright and energetic puppy sad.


    The soldier grabs my arm and drags me outside.
    His grip, a cold piece of metal around my frail, ten year old arm

    As he throws us over to the corner,
    I silently whisper to my father
    “will he kill us?”
    He pauses

    And

    Slowly

    Nods his head.

    Tears well up in my eyes, and I fall to the ground

    Then, the soldier grabs my father, and throws him on the ground.
    His fist balls up, and he punches him
    Continuously

    I gather up all of my bravery, and scream
    STO-
    Then, another soldier comes up behind me, and forces me to watch him being murdered.
    Each punch breaks my heart

    Then, as he is about to finish him off, he passes his gun

    To

    Me


    ‘Just do it”
    “he’s in pain”
    “He wants you to”

    I grasp the trigger, and squeeze the trigger.

    There is a loud boom, and then silence.

    I fall on the ground and realize what I just did.

    My life is over now too.

    The soldier passes me a brochure.
    Through my weeping eyes, I realize that they want me to be a soldier, too

    I turn to the soldier, and nod my head.

    He pushes me into a tall, olive green jeep
    And puts a bag on my head
    I try to ask where I am going,
    But every time I open my mouth,
    I taste, cold, rough, linen fibers.

    After about an hour of captivity in a jeep,
    I am pushed out of the jeep, and see many kids
    They are running
    Running with guns

    “I don’t want to be like this” I think.


    I turn my head to the horizon where my home was,

    And run.