Found

Prologue

Fire. Screaming. Bodies flying. A battlefield filled with noise and death. I closed my eyes, and turned away from the little window, wishing for it to stop. It was a group of us under there. A group of maybe twenty people. We were hiding underground in the tunnels, trying to escape the bloody war. I remembered reading books. Books talking about the desperate things people do for a taste of freedom. I never, not even for a second, wondered what I would do to get my freedom. Not until that day.

Suddenly a loud bang came from behind us. Everybody froze, too scared to make a sound. My friend and I shared a look of both fear and curiosity. After a while, we started moving again. Then another noise came, this time even louder. Then another, and another. It was then that everyone realized we were being shot at. People started to panic, running, trampling one another. I looked around for Papa and my baby sister, I couldn't leave without them.

"Son!" Papa called out. He ran up to me, holding my sister in his hands, and whispered into my ear.

" Come with me, and bring the orphan with you"

I ushered to the boy standing next to me and followed Papa as he took us through the twist and turns of the tunnels, separating us from the group. I wondered if he knew where he was going. We finally stopped at a dead end.

I looked at Papa, confused, "Papa," I said "let's go back and take a different turn, we still have time"

"No son", he stopped me and pulled a stone from the wall. The floor under us started to sink, leading into another tunnel. Bang! The sound of bullets being fired was starting to get closer. They had found us.

" Quickly," Papa said, rushing me and my friend down the hole. I put one foot in, then the other and once I reached the bottom the boy did the same. Then Papa handed my sister to me. Once I had her safely in my arms, he came down himself. We could hear the footsteps of the men from the other army he heading towards us. Papa ran into the darkness yelling for us to follow him. We ran after him, too scared to stay behind. I could hear the men with the big guns hustling down the entrance.

We were running for what had seemed like hours before we saw a bright light up ahead. It couldn't be from outside, it was not yet daytime. I looked at my friend to see if he realized this as well. He shrugged, too tired to care. Papa comes to a stop in front of us. I looked over his shoulder, and couldn't believe what I saw. It was portal. a wall mad completely out of blue light. I've heard plenty stories but never seen one in person.

A little whimper came from below me. I looked down and realized that I almost forgot about my sister, who was starting to wake up.

Papa looked me in the eyes and hugged me.

" Go through boy," He said, on the edge of tears," you're six years old now, practically a man, you can take care of your sister"

He looked at the orphan, brought him into his embrace " I want you both to go through. And once you do, I want you to stick together."

I looked up at my Papa " Why aren't you coming?"

Papa smiled sadly at me," I have to stay here and help the other families, it's my job"

Suddenly I didn't care about dying and I didn't care about the war. I wanted to stay home with Papa. A kid my age shouldn't have to worry about being shot and killed, he shouldn't have to worry that he'll never see his papa again. It wasn't fair.

Footsteps started rushing towards us. We could hear the heavy breathing and clanking armor of those horrible men.

" Go!" Papa yelled, pushing us through the bright wall of light.