War Child

Mom and Dad didn’t like it when I came home late. So, I decided to walk alone down the yellow dirt road from school with an art book and a report card in hand. The clouds danced above me and around the sun. If I had brought my color crayons I would have stopped to draw the sky. Leaves shook from their branches. The trees quivered. Birds cawed in the distance. I gasped. The ground beneath me vibrated. Roaring winds picked me off my feet. The papers in my arms flapped in the air …
BOOM.
An explosion reverberated through the town. My head bumped against the road as I fell unconscious.
I coughed dust. A smoky cloud of debris lingered over me. I tried to run my hand over my face, but it didn’t move. I looked down. A soldier lay on top of me. Something wet dripped onto my side. I pulled my other hand free. It was red.

“When a soldier fell dead on six-year old Mary in 1965, her world had ended. Mary lived in Lang Cat, South Vietnam, surrounded by rainforests, mountains, and caves lit by fireflies and inhabited with monkeys, rabbits and parrots. She spent her childhood visiting all kinds of doctors, including a witch doctor for a cure that could mend a broken and scared heart.

Growing up in a difficult home with abusive parents and siblings, Mary still found friends in the poorer villagers nearby. She found love among them, something she continued to struggle for even when she lost her friends to Northern Snipers and spies. War Child explores the inner demons within and how they manifest in Mary’s life during the Vietnam War. Will Mary ever find the love and peace she needs to overcome her battle?”

Rebecca Newton, Editor