The World We've Set On Fire ■ Wattys 2016

Deaths upon Deaths

Lee was next to go. I was never too close to her, we rarely talked. Yet her death came as a huge blow. Unfortunately, she had met such a gruesome end that we had nothing much to bury. We didn't want to see the wrecked body of the Korean beauty who had been such a wonderful teammate.

General Naomi apparently caught a girl reading her Holy Book so she restricted any sort of religious activity in camp.

"I have to pray." Najwa said, firmly. "No matter what."

"Najwa, it's dangerous! She knows you're religious and she'll find out!" Lara cried.

"If she sees you praying, she'll kill you. She knows it's time for your evening prayer, I bet she's spying on you right now!" Heidi protested. Najwa frowned.

"Girls, i don't care. I'm going to die either way. I have to pray to my Lord. Whatever happens will be in my favour."

Lara sighed. "Alright-"

"No!" I interrupted. "You'll be killed in the most gruesome way, Najwa! Like Sunita!"

I couldn't see her face because of the veil but I could see that her eyes had filled with tears.

"She's going to torture you!" I continued. "She's going to kill you in the worst way possible!"

"She won't dare."

All our worst fears came true. As she stood up for prayer, General Naomi entered the camp. We tried to hold her off but failed.

Naomi pressed her gun into Najwa's temple. Najwa didn't move an inch and continued praying silently. Her eyes were at her feet and her hands were folded over her chest. Naomi pulled the trigger and killed her. Her lifeless body hit the ground, her God's name still upon her lips.

Naomi turned and left. Najwa was at peace.

"We'll give her a Muslim burial." Lara decided. "There are Muslim girls in camp Agony Land, we'll ask them to do it."

"Naomi said there will be no more burials." Heidi argued. "She wants all the bodies cremated."

"I don't give a **** what that ***** says!" Lara said, fiercely. She looked so angry that Heidi fell silent at once. "I'm so ****ing done with this shit! We bury Najwa in her Islamic way. We can't let her down, okay!?"

"Calm down, Lara." I whispered, patting her shoulder.

"Calm down!?" She repeated. "I won't freaking calm down! This is too much. There are two kilometers between our camp and battleground but you know what!? Both of these are a world apart. I am not going to fight and there's nothing anyone can do about it!"

Her screams died down and she slumped against the wall, sobbing. "I'm so done with this shit." She sobbed harder. "Im so so done with all this."

Same here, Lara.