Red was my favourite colour growing up. Because Red is the colour of sunsets, because roses are red, because rubies and maple leaves are red, because i love strawberries and pomegranates, and because red can be described as scarlet. But now that it’s everywhere around, i hate it. Because it’s also the colour of blood and i am devastated by seeing it dripping out of the bodies of people i loved. I remember my homeland as it is a mirror i look at. i’ll forget my name before i forget it. Because i cannot liberate my home with my two little palms and i am tired of carrying the bodies of my beloved in my arms. Because i cannot shelter my people under the ethereal wings of an angel. I’m just a human, after all. I loved white but i am tired of wrapping the human bodies in a white shroud. They are not just flesh and bones. They were living breathing human beings until yesterday. I hate white. I loved grey but the smoke rising from the bombs make me throw up. I am just a child after all, to let go of everything dear to me is like stabbing my own heart a thousand times. This is a cruel destiny written for a child. I hold my hands over the ears of my heart, so i don’t hate this fate. - Sanawar Fatima Saeed