Page 218 - Reliance Foundation School Koparkhairane - School Magazine - Zenith

Fists clenched, she stepped out of the house to behold the repulsive picture
that war paints, with colours as red as the blood of the fallen soldier and the
greys of the dying breath of the innocent.

Her source had mapped an underground route to the stronghold looming on

the horizon, and hope was blooming in her chest. She would survive this.
She was walking at a steady pace now.

She started walking faster, when she saw light further ahead and could
distinguish the accent of Americans. But wait, something was off. She could

hear another pair of boots from behind her. She swirled around, but too late.
A soldier, probably a youth, desperate for glory had shot her in the gut. She
heard heavy footsteps, then gunfire as she collapsed to the ground.

All that effort, only to be foiled by soldier no older than her. Mercifully, she

felt the American pull the parcel off her person. But as she breathed her last,
she had an epiphany.

War would never end. This war may be won. But there would always be
another. Man may evolve, but this innate desire to fight is not one that can

change. We are stuck in an endless spiral of creation and destruction, death
and life, love and hate, war and peace and this spiral is just getting tighter
and tighter, making us believe we are closer to the end, but yet miles away.

We believe that we can chart a new path, but we are trapped in this spiral,

circling the same axis over and over and over again. We don’t know where
it all started and will never know where it ends.

She had to smile at the irony. Her eyes had been opened, but they would
never close again.

Shreya Rajeev - IX C

Kingshuk Sarkar - IX C

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