A Gasped For Air

I am Narissa, a 16 years old teen who is a member of an average family that lived in an adverse war zone country. It was a quiet night when everything changed. We were having our usual dinner when suddenly our house shook, our ceiling dropped and the walls caved in on us. After the major chaos and the accretion of silence, John -my 3-year old brother- and I were the only ones who remained with beating hearts. I was traumatized while watching the process of extracting the rest of my family’s dead bodies, as if everything moved in the slowest motion ever. Following the process of the government looking for a replacement to our loss, our grandparents in Canada, Daisy and Sam, were contacted and managed to take us in. John and I fled overseas and beared the curious pitiful looks that were thrown in our way. Later on, we spent several months dealing with reporters pursuing, invading our privacy, and putting us under spotlights as our story became the dominant event throughout media. Videos of that tragic day spread like wild fire across the means of communication showing how the bomb hit the house and how people were running and screaming in terror. No matter how much I tried to avoid re-living the experience, nothing around me aided in that matter. School time arrived, and I was obligated to tolerate it. After a while, school tasks and studying filled the emptiness that made me binge on my memories. I finished my final high school year with results beyond anyone’s expectations. I ended up with a score that put me among the 3 highest in the province of my residence. Years passed by and my place in the politics’ world shone brighter and brighter. An elite of my university graduates and I fought our way up the steep walls of high powerful positions and reached a congress where we showed our case. Negotiations and debates were initiated in order for a change to happen. Many meetings followed before a solution was found. A peace treaty was made in order to reduce the fighting in my country and aids were sent to help the poor, sick, and homeless. You will face many hardships in your life and some may leave you damaged and broken, but you’ll never know how strong you are until being strong is the only option you have