[new americans]
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE By Majda Hussein
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Gun shots rang out. It was 5 a.m. and we were sleeping in our little house near our farm. We had no idea where the sounds were coming from. “We need to go to the village and see what is going on,” my dad said anxiously. My heart was beating quickly. I was shaking, nervous, and scared. We found people running away from the village. “You do not need to see this. The Janjaweed started killing old people and small children,” one person told us nervously. If they found boys, they killed them by putting them in hot water, or throwing them in the scalding fire. Everyone was running, and many children were left behind. It was 2004, and war had started in Darfur. I heard that the boys were being killed because the Janjaweed didn’t want the boys to grow up and come back to take over the country. My dad and I ran to find my mom, when suddenly we heard a scream. “My chest!” she cried. “What happened?” my dad asked, sadly. “I got hit by one of the Janjaweed,” my mom said. When she was making her way back to us, she got lost because there were a lot of people running quickly around trying to get to safety. The Janjaweed found my mom in the forest and she heard one say, “Let’s kill her.” “No, let’s just go,” the other Janjaweed replied. They left my mom, but after awhile, one came back and hit her with the back of his gun. She fell down to the ground.
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