I always said to myself that life was perfect; perfect family, perfect friends, perfect school, perfect home, perfect siblings( sometimes), and perfect……well just perfect. I thought nothing could ever go wrong in my life, even if something goes wrong, I always thought it couldn’t get worse. Like when my brothers and I do things together, I always feel left out, not because there are four of them, but because I’m the only girl and there is no one that I can talk to. Don’t get me wrong, I am very close to them and I talk and play with them a lot (that’s why I act like a tomboy sometimes), but I cannot tell them the private stuff. That’s why am very close to my mum, I can tell her almost everything. I just wish life could remain the same, but I know that it’s not possible to turn back time. And for the first time, I know that it cannot get worse.
“Zan, give me back my pendant” I beg him for the fifth time. “What’s the magic word sis?” he said with a smirk. I pouted and said “please give me back my pendant.” Then from nowhere, he tossed it to Van, he’s twin. I should have expected this, I knew my twin brothers could do nothing without each other. And knowing that Van wouldn’t give it back, I did the best thing I could do. “Omen, Zan and Van won’t give me back my pendant.” And before you could say anything, Omen took the pendant from Van’s hand and gave it back to me. Omen is my closest brother, though he’s the oldest, he always treated me like a princess, just like my father did when he was alive. “Zan, Van, why did you take the pendant from Zendaya?” he said sternly, but he was obviously trying not to smile. “We were just playing with her,” they said at the same time, so awkward but they do it all the time. “We’re sorry,” they said again in unison. As the happy person I am, I laughed and ran to hug them then Omen joined in and we all hugged each other. Then Uzi came from behind and hugged me but he could only reach my waist since he was just five. When Uzi was born I was so happy that I finally had a younger sibling that I could take care of. We stood there, the five of us hugging each other. Though am the second youngest amongst them, I’m still quite tall for a ten year old, then followed by the twins, who are fourteen, and then Owen, who is seventeen. He said he didn’t want to go to college because he wants to help my mum to take care of us since dad died when I was six. Owen promised mum to not leave her or us since that day. Now, we are just one big happy family....well until…. .”Omen, Zandaraki, Vandaraki, Zendayazua, Uzizawe, come down now.” What could make mum this cranky, I thought to myself.
At this point, I wonder why life could be this mean, I mean, Iraq was never like this, I’ve lived here for almost ten years now and I never had a feeling of war in Iraq. Mum getting killed was one of the worst things ever to me. I knew that I should have told Uzi about it before now, but it’s too late for me too. I just hope Zan would tell him at the right time.
“Mum what’s going on, why are you telling us to pack our bags, why am I hearing shooting all of a sudden, and were are we all going to?” I ask panicking and shaking. “Oh Zendaya, I am not following you, you guys would follow Uncle Marco to his town, it’s not too far from here.” I froze at the point where she said that she was not following us, I think she noticed my facial expressing because she hugged me tightly and told me not to worry and that I would see her soon. She then gave me a bracelet and told me to keep it. Then we started hearing banging from the door. Everyone rushed downstairs with their bags and mum hugged all of us telling us to go through the basement. She then cried again with us telling us that she loved us. The banging sounded again and so we rushed down the basement and ran outside to meet Uncle Marco waiting for us. Then running we heard a scream followed by a sharp gunshot. We immediately knew that we wouldn’t be hearing from her again.
The cool breeze moves around me as I see fire and fighting between the Lacuna’s and the villagers of Iraq. I for one can’t do anything at this moment. Its really sad watching people fighting and not being able to do anything. I wish I could help, but I think that I’ve done enough, and even if I wanted to help the more, it wouldn’t be possible.
Uncle Marco drove off trying to comfort us telling us that it was going to be okay, but I knew it wasn’t. Omen was trying to stay strong by cracking jokes, but it wasn’t just getting to me. And by the look on his face, I knew he was also sad and scared. So I squeezed his hands, then he looked at me with worry. I just rested my head on his shoulder, becoming sleepy. As I was about to sleep but not before I heard someone say that it was going to be alright. And from there I slept off.
I woke up in a strange building and I was scared at first. But when I saw my brothers I knew that I was fine. Someone must have carried me in here. I went to ask Zan were we were. And he told me we were in an abandoned cabin to hide and rest for some time. “Zendaya, where are we, and when is mummy coming back?” I turned around to see Uzi crying and sniffing heavily. I couldn’t tell him that mum was dead, so I said, “we are going to stay here till mummy comes, mummy just went for a meeting, but she’ll be back, I promise,” I lied. He smiled a little and hugged me tightly.
He was about to say something before we heard a knockout. My uncle quickly rushed downstairs holding a gun which made Uzi to scream. “Shhh, it’s okay sweetie, I’m not using it on you” my uncle said quietly. That might have stopped Uzi from screaming but it didn’t remove the panic from him. Zan and Van quickly rushed from where they were to see what was going on. Van looked less afraid than Zan. While Van was calm but with a worried expression, Zan looked like he wanted to pee in his pants, and that kind of made me really worried to. Van must have seen my face so he came to hug me. “I know you’re scared, I’m also scared too, trust me. But we have to be strong no matter what happens, for mum. Okay?” I cried on his shirt after he mentioned mums name. “Okay, for mum.” I heard him sniff while he rested his head on my head. How I wish mum was here with us, with me. I left Van and went to Zan who was already letting the tears out, I’ve never seen him so scared like this since the day dad left us. I hugged him tightly. He was surprised at first, but hugged me even tighter. “Zendaya, promise me that everything would be okay.” I didn’t reply to that. “Promise me Zendaya, at least say the words” he said with wide eyes filled of hope. “I hugged him again telling him that everything would be okay. All we need is hope.
I’m really tired at this moment. And I don’t mean tired of watching this war going on, but physically tired. I really don’t know why this is taking time to happen. I’m so pissed off seeing this war keep on happening. I never knew that this process would take so long.
“Are you sure you guys want to do this, you’re risking your life for this war, I suggest you don’t,” my uncle said sternly with his eyes filled with concern. “I also suggest you don’t, please guys don’t do this, you might…” Omen stopped me from finishing my statement “don’t even think like that Zendaya, we wouldn’t die, I wouldn’t die, I promise.” Then Van added, “We would be alright Zendaya, we just want to help Uncle Marco and the rest of the villagers to fight this war against the Lacuna’s.” He said while adjusting his bullet proof clothing. I still feel that this is a bad idea, but I’m happy that I am still here with Zan and Uzi. I just hope nothing happens to them. “Alright, but if anything happens to you guys, I’ll beat you guys up” I said raising my fists. Omen smiled at me saying that it would be okay. They started to go out, but not without Van and Zan doing their secret band shake and bro hug. They both looked like they wanted to cry, but they didn’t want to lose it. With that Uncle Marco, Omen and Van took off, leaving us sad and worried. If Uzi was awake at this moment, I wonder what he would do.
I did this to myself, it’s all my fault. This wouldn’t have happened to me if I listened. But Omen's death was painful to me. It was like as if God wanted me to watch him die in front of my eyes. As the sensitive person I was, I ran towards him from inside the cabin that we were staying ignoring Zan who was dragging my hand to not go outside. I was too stubborn to listen, now look at where I’ve ended up, lying on the cold hard ground after something was shot through me while running to Omen. It’s like everything is played in slow motion, I see Zan who was carrying Uzi running to me, and Uncle Marco crying hard looking at me. I started feeling dizzy and drowsy knowing that it was meant to be. I mouthed the words and said as loud as I can “everything would be okay, take care of yourself and Uzi “then drifted into an unawakening sleep.