Dank darkness seems to permeate my pores

I wait in silence

It’s what they told me to do

I try to do what I’m told

I’m only eight

I sort of have to, you know

I have tried to ask, “Why? Why do they hate us? And why are we killing them?”

But I am told that I am too young to understand

Grandfather said they hate us and want us all to die and because of that, we hate them too

I ask, “How can this be? I have done nothing to hurt them!”

He told me that we have been hated since long before I was born…hated for being born

The bomb shelter scares me

The sirens scare me

The rockets scare me

The fear in my mother’s eyes scares me

I am scared all the time

My friend said that he can no longer come over to play

When I asked him why, he said that our people hate each other and that he and I are supposed to hate each other too

I told him that I love him

He cried

I miss my friend

He misses me too

I cried myself to sleep tonight

Again