It was a frigid winter. People have been leaving their houses and have been escaping to other countries. In order to save their lives, they have been fleeing abroad with their cash money. Terrorists, Taliban were executing and kiling innocent people to conquest more territories.
Saliha was six years old. She had a big family: her grandparents, six brothers Sadeq, Reza, Mahdi, Farhad, Behroz and Behnam and her parents, Ali and Zahra.
They had had a very comfortable and nice life before Taliban attacked their territory. She used to wake up early in the morning to help her mother bake cakes and to set the table for breakfast. She used to go to their garden to clip fresh and colorful flowers like lilies, yarrows, roses and narcissuses every day. They had acres of land and many gardens with big apple, grape and peach trees. The cool breeze has always been blowing in the afternoons. Everyone has been happy. Saliha was going to school in the adjacent village with her two close friends. She was doing well with her lessons before Taliban attacked their village like other villages and cities and changed her entire life.
It was midnight and was snowing in February 21th in Parwan. Suddenly, the loud voice of a bomb explosion woke her up. She was excessively scary and frightened. She went to her parent’s room as soon as possible. They have been putting their warm and winter coats on to leave the house. As soon as Saliha put her clothes on her father grabbed the big bundle of loaves of bread, some nourishments and kits and they all left to go to the mountains.
It was very cold. They walked for eight hours without any recession. Then, they took a rest and ate some bread. Saliha was the fourth member of family. Her younger brothers Farhad and Behroz were so exhausted and wanted to sleep. However, they had a long way to arrive at Kabul so they had to move fast. They started walking again. Saliha’s youngest brother, Behnam was two months and he was in her mother’s arms. Behnam was cold and was crying. They have been all tired after many hours walking and climbing from one mountain to the other one. It was hard to climb those rocky and rough mountains. Suddenly, her mother Zahra has lost her control for a moment, approaching to fall in to the valley but Ali grabbed her in his arms. However, the baby fell in the valley. They were all staring at the scene shocked. None of them could do anything to save Behnam. He fell at the bottom of the valley. Her mother screamed. Tears burst into their eyes. Abruptly, Taliban turned out and saw them. They started running toward them with guns in their hands. They all screamed and started to run as fast as they could. Her mother didn’t want to leave without her Behnam. She wanted to go to the valley and carry her baby but Ali hold her hand and didn’t let her. They were running away fast. There were many huge and big rocks around them. They hid themselves behind one of the big once. There were three Taliban soldiers. They didn’t see Saliha’s family so they went on their way forward. Saliha and her family members thanked God for helping them.
It started snowing heavily. They started walking again to find a shelter. They found a small woody room which was used for keeping horses. They decided to stay the night there or they had to stay up in the snow. The space was so small; it helped them to feel warm. Zahra was still sad about her baby. She was crying slowly in Ali’s embrace….
It was the second day and they have been walking and passing the deserts between Parwan and Kabul while they were super exhausted. They have been walking for nineteen hours a day. Unfortunately, their nourishment and food has already finished by the third day so they did not eat anything for the rest of the other four days. Their skin has burned in the hot sun. Their shoes were torn and they did not have any energy to continue….
On the seventh day, they finally arrived at Kabul. Written on a board was “Welcome to Kabul” got energy again. Their adventure has just ended and it was a new beginning for them to make a new life in Kabul. However, there was still war in Kabul but not as unsecure as their village.
