The World We've Set On Fire ■ Wattys 2016

The Journey

I find it absolutely pointless and extremely painful to go over the memories of our trip. I do not enjoy writing about that level of bloodshed and loss. Almost everyone died... at the hands of other human beings.

We reached Cyprus easily but our voyage to Egypt didn't work out. Overhead fighter planes of some countries fired at the two boats. Thank God, the missile didn't hit any of us, but the water in between. Unfortunately, the water flew in every direction... with such force that both boats were upturned.

We all knew how to swim but it was the sea, and the water was cold. When we got the boats to proper position, we jumped back onto them. Some of us didn't, because those unfortunate assassins had drowned and died.

Al, Hammad, Pixie, Dal, Heidi, Lara, Bianca, Sofia, Gloria, Alejandra, James, Butler, Amazon, and I survived.

We carried on with our journey. We took off our wet jackets and shirts and pulled on the dry sweatshirts. Towels around our hair, of course. For the legs, we didn't mind the damp trousers.

As we sat on the boat, barefoot and cold, we prayed silently for all those left behind. I didn't, I couldn't.

"I wish we'd brought our horses somehow." Gloria murmured.

"We couldn't afford bigger boats." Snapped Alejandra. "And what good would horses do, huh?"

"They'd swim, wouldn't they? And we'd climb on top of them." Sofia said.

"Horses don't swim." Dal joined in.

"They do." Pixie argued.

"They don't!" Alejandra made a face.

"Aye, of course they do! They swim faster than cats!" Gloria frowned.

"They swim but not that fast." Heidi joined.

They all argued... no one knew anything for sure. Bianca, Lara and I watched them for a while till the High Priestess got annoyed and shut them up. Then, we asked the boys to toss the cans from their boat and ate.

On reaching Egypt, we faced yet another ordeal. A most gruesome fight took place and we lost Amazon and Gloria.

Throughout the journey to the Leaders' Compound, we had to face several difficulties and we got into many fights. In some, all of us were untouched but some of us died in the others. Most of the fighters were untrained civilians.

Our last fight was with three black men. They killed only one of us, the one who volunteered to step forward for our safety. Bianca the high Priestess sacrificed herself.

Yes, we got to the Compound. It was in the middle of a large barren ground. A metallic lonely building standing in the middle. No guards, no nothing.

We merely camped at the side. Two tents, one for girls and the other for boys. Only Al, Hammad, Pixie, Heidi, Lara, Alejandra and James managed to survive the ordeal. Me too, of course.