The half-moved lawn. (Chapter 1)

Sh...! My father whispered. We
were hiding behind some crates,
from some enemies that were
passing by. All we could hear were
the reedy sounds from gunshots,
marching boots and screaming
voices. I looked up and saw fear
on father's face. I wanted to tell
him that men are not to fear, but
I just didn't want those enemies
to know where we were. Mother
and sister had left with a bus to
a refugee camp. Father couldn't
go because the bus was full and I
didn't let father go all alone so I
also didn't go with the bus as
well. I went on foot with father.
Our enemies were three times as
large as we were. And they also
joined forces with some other
countries, which made us feel we
would not be able to survive as a
country. They were fearless and
we, fearful. The reek from
decaying and some burning
bodies filled the air. And the sun
about to set made everything
tougher for us. I brought out a
wristwatch father bought for me,
when it was my 7th birthday. The
time was 4:37pm.
When the enemies marched out
of the building, father pulled my
hand and we began to run with
our hearts pounding fast. As we
got to the exit door of the
building, we sighted a gas mask
on a dead man. My father picked
it and gave me. I did not put it on
because I did not know how to
use it. We kept moving till we got
to a school building. The flag was
torn down and the classrooms
were partly on fire. When we got
near the head master's office, we
heard a sound, and so we ran into
the office thinking it was from
outside, but as soon as we
entered, an enemy shot at
father. Father was smart enough
to decieve the man, but I stood
looking not knowing what to do.
He fell down pretending to be
dead. Within like seconds father
brought up a gun, he had taken
from a dead body and shot the
man. When the man finally died,
father went to the man, removed
his gun and gave it to me. As we
moved away from there, we saw
some enemies crazily chasing
some of our people. We rushed to
hide behind a bush. Where we
decided to hide, we saw a figure
of a man with his eyes fixed at
us. We became afraid. Father
pulled me so I could stand at his
back. The fear that was in father
was so much that he developed
fidgety hands. Father moved
back a bit, and the light from the
moon shone on the man's face.
"Saxon!" father said gently.
Saxon was father's childhood
friend! We were so much relieved.
Saxon must have just escaped
from our enemies' hands. Even
with the moonlight not bright
enough, we could still see the
injuries and scratches he had on
his skin. He was heading to the
same place we were, and even
had a roughly drawn map which
had the camp marked in red. He
shared the map with us and then
we kept moving. I held my gun
tight, aiming at almost every
moving object. After a while, I got
bored and began to shoot at rats
and lizards. Father stoped me
because of the noise I was
creating. At least, I wasn't the
only one making noise, Saxon too
who was a talkative attracted
enemies with his mouth. Father
was trying to silence him, because
some 'fearless' men were
approaching. But he was not
ready to listen, as he was trying
to narrate how the foes caught
him and his escape from them.
"Papa!" I said, silently because
father was already getting
irritated by Saxon's attitude.
"Estimo natte Saxon alam. (let us
leave Saxon silently) I whispered.
We carefully left him, so he would
not bring evil to us. He did not
realise we had left
We went to hide- still in the bush
-where he could not see us.
When he noticed we were gone, it
was too late. The men were
already there. He tried to escape,
but they shot his legs. They lifted
him and took him on their
shoulders. We did not try to help
him but just watched pitifully.
After all that, we advanced till we
got to a police station. The gate
had been brought down and a lot
were destroyed. We went into
the main building so as to avoid
getting spotted. The building had
a lot of still moving bodies. Some
were our enemies and some were
not. A lot of them were trying to
crawl out of the building. We bent
down and moved by the wall. And
headed for the other exit. As we
crept by the wall, we got to a
window. Then an enemy with a
destroyed jaw revealing his
tongue, held my shirt, with his
broken fingers. When I saw him, I
puked on his face in disgust. He
released my shirt at once and I
used my shirt to clean my mouth.
We, tried to be as silent as
possible and continued moving
towards the exit.
As we got halfway to the exit, I
mistakenly steped on something
which made me scream. Father
tried to cover my mouth. I check
what it was, I found out it was a
small head. Then, someone came
in through the exit we were
approaching. Instead of attacking
immediately, he signalled to more
enemies to come. Father used
this chance to pull the triger, but
realized the bullet had finished. I
shot the man's hand with the
intention to shoot his stomach.
"Ah!" The man shouted leaving
his gun to fall.
"Papa întintî nène tô" (father,
step aside).I said with pride.
I made a better attempt and
blew off his skull as he
attempted to pick his gun with
the other hand. I was happy to
kill him, but it short-lived when I
heard the sound of marching
boots. Father grabbed my hand
and jumped through the window.
"Papa, mikani matuta." (father,
my gun has falling). I cried.
"Sh... àlim tà later ùtà. (we will
find another one). We escaped
through the bush without any
weapon at hand.