The boy watched as the soldiers ran through the streets dusted with bullet casings. The gunfire often kept him up at night fearing for the lives of his friends and family. He was not like the other boys. He did not want to join the fight against the foreigners. He wanted to dream. He wanted fly. He wanted to see the world and he wanted to be remembered forever for doing something amazing. He knew he was never going to get out of his country, or even his house for that matter. But dreaming kept him from thinking about the war in front of him. His father had been killed almost a year ago by stray fire from a nearby firefight. He was protecting his children from harm when in fact it was he who needed saving.

The boy thought about it now and realized there were no tears rolling down his cheek. He never cried anymore, as if all emotion had been drained from his soul. It just happened without his knowledge now. He feared he would never feel again. Never love again, never smile again, never laugh again, never cry again.

As he rose from his prayer an explosion shook his house and he fell to his knees. He heard his mother scream and immediately ran to the kitchen below him to face whatever danger lay waiting. As he came down the stairs he heard the shot. It was not like the millions of shots he had heard before, this one was special. This one was the one that killed his mother. The soldier stood over her body with an eerie smile on his face, clearly proud of the life he had just stolen. The boy stood in a fiery mix of shock and rage staring at the soldier, unable to look at his mother. He ran at the devil before him and swung violently in a crazed attempt to avenge his mothers death. He was knocked to the ground and immediately everything went dark.

The sound of crying was all around him. The gentle reassurance of mothers to their children that everything would be alright could be heard somewhere in the room. As he opened his eyes the boy saw before him maybe 30 people, most of whom he knew. All of them with their children rocking them in their arms whispering gentle assurances that everything will be alright and that they will be enjoying their favorite dinner in just a few hours. That this was just a big misunderstanding. They all knew it was a lie, there was no comfort in the words themselves, it was the thought that maybe it could happen that put the minds at ease. And just like that all of their dreams were shattered as a loud crack from an assault rifle echoed through the room. The man attached to the gun was yelling in a language none of them understood. And after what felt like an hour of his yelling more men stormed into the room and dragged each of the hostages outside and threw them to the ground before what seemed like millions of eyes begging for another’s blood to be spilt so that theirs may be kept warm for one more night.

In the midst of all the commotion the boy didn’t think to look for his sister, she must be horrified. She must be lost and afraid and alone. He scanned the area for her and saw no sign of her. He began to worry and hoped she had done as she had been told so many times before and hidden. Just as he had convinced himself she was safe his world was shattered. He saw the man with the rifle dragging her out in front of everyone yelling once again. He lowered the rifle to her head and resumed screaming at the people before him. He did not care that they could not understand him, he knew the girl in danger would provoke a response. He never would have guessed the response that was to come.

The boy was swallowed by rage and acted solely on instinct. He ran directly at the man and pushed him to the grand standing firm between the man and his sister. He screamed at the man cursing him in ways he wasn’t aware he knew existed. He was swearing the man to an eternity in hell without forgiveness. And just as he finished he realized something. He was crying. There were tears pacing down his face and he looked around and saw the eyes of his countrymen looking upon him.

Looking upon this 13 year old boy who had more strength than every man in the village. The boy realized something else at that moment. He was making a difference, he would be remembered forever. He had saved his people. Even if they all died there that day, he had shown these intruders that they could no longer push them without consequence. And then it happened. He heard chant slowly rise from the back of the crowd and quickly it was booming louder than any gun could ever hope to be. He heard the words, and he knew immediately. He had saved his people. Then the gun went off. The boy fell to his knees, with a smile on his face. With his last breath he repeated the words to his countrymen. “Through hope, we are invincible”.