I have flown my whole life to different places, I have seen the better and the worst. One day as I was flying over Gaza, the crowded streets and the children swimming in the sea. It was like any normal day, until a rock flew in front of me. That had never happened before. I looked below me and the houses were gone, the streets were ashes and fire. The screams were louder than ever. The explosions going over and over again had made me lose my balance and fall in Gaza. I landed on what it seemed to be a torn-apart remains of a house.
I couldn’t even tell which part of the house it was. After all. I was just an innocent little bird, why would anyone want to harm me? my wing was broken as I struggled to fly so I started to walk and even walking was difficult. There was nothing to see, nothing to feel. Until something warm held me, I looked at the person and it was a little boy. He carried me as he ran with his family. He stopped to help me because he was like me, he was small and he was innocent and he was kind enough to help me. As he held me tightly to his chest I could feel his heartbeat, beating so fast as he struggled to breathe from the smoke. Yet he never thought of letting go of me.
“Don’t worry little birdie, I’ll save you.”
He kept saying with a smile on his face, that smile was like a grown up smiling down to a child to calm them down. It wasn’t a happy smile. we kept running from a street to another, I heard his father say “The hospital is right ahead, we will be safe there! We’re almost there!” And that was the last thing he had said. A sudden bright red and orange light showed up in front of us and the loudest noise came out of there. Suddenly, there was no hospital, no safety, nothing.
The little boy fell on the ground yet he kept me tight in his arms, he never let go of me, he never did! People started gathering and screaming and crying, the boy and his family have died. But why was I still alive? Maybe so I could deliver a message? Maybe a small creature like me could deliver a message to the humans and tell them that these are humans just like you! I’m not even human and I feel myself having humanity more than the others. As people were carrying his family one by one, one of them carried the boy and saw me in his arms: He looked surprised as his eyes had grown wider. He was buried with his family and I still visit that grave every day. And when I leave, I only leave to deliver that message. “That they are humans as well, that they are innocent as well! That they are just children you monsters! Innocent little children!”