Gunshots

 A warning: This includes death

I’m on top of the hill, picking the berries for this evening’s stew, when I see a great cloud of dust on the horizon. I stare at it, blank-faced.

‘AIYANA! AIYANA! QUICK, COME!’

A jolt of fear rushes through me, and I run back down the hill, spilling berries all over my clothes and the earth. By the time I get back to my husband, my dress is stained red.

‘Aiyana, they are settlers! They will kill us all!’ my husband shouts, pulling at his long plait.

I shriek, and look around. The whole tribe is in chaos. I see my cousins hoisting up a feeble white flag, while children cry and…

‘CITLALI!’ I cry, and I run towards my tipi. M beautiful baby girl lies on the rug with her brother.

‘Oh my dears!’ I exclaim, hugging them both, and picking up my baby.

I open my mouth to speak, when a gunshot rings out and screams split the air. Tears start to run down my face as I pick up both my children and run out the tipi.

I try to clear my head and decide what to do, but white men are everywhere, on horses, and on foot, and they have guns, long guns, and they are shooting them off everywhere, like madmen. But then I suppose they are exactly that. A heavy weight falls on my leg, and I stumble. I look down to see Ahiga, and he is dead, dead. But he can’t be. I shout his name again and again, but he is gone. My eyes brim with tears, and my baby screams with terror. Then suddenly my son’s hand slips out of mine, and he crumples on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his head. I gasp and scream. I shake him and call for him. I weep like I have never wept before, for my fallen son. Tears splash onto his body, and I try to pick him up, to run for shelter, where I can wake up from this nightmare.

 But suddenly, I hear a gunshot, I feel excruciating pain, and everything is black.

Written by Beth, 17th November 2020