It was a Thursday. I can hardly remember details other than the noise and anxiety, but I remember that it was a school day.
I woke up to very loud sounds, because it was as if something huge fell outside. I saw somebody coming into my room. It was a figure, not very tall. Since I just woke up, all I saw were blurs. It was my mom. She came to my room to check if my younger sister and I were safe. We were lying on the bed and didn’t understand what was happening.
I grabbed my phone and started texting my friend out of habit. I wasn’t worried about anything at that moment, because I thought that it was just nothing. I asked my friend if she was going to school today or not. She answered with concern that no one was going to school and that bombs were now flying into my country and city.
While my parents nervously walked around the house, I started to panic and asked my mom what was happening. She just said, “Today, the war started.” My mom hugged me and said, “Everything will be alright.”
My emotions were impossible to describe. It was a combination of fear, hopelessness, and pain. Immeasurable pain. My heart was beating faster than ever. And there was only one question in my head: “What will happen next?”
Despite all the circumstances that were happening outside, my parents still went to work as usual. My little sister and I stayed at home. My mom called me every hour to ask if everything was fine. Later, my dad went to store to buy a lot of food, because we couldn’t know whether all the stores would close tomorrow. I met my dad behind the front door and helped him with bags.
Everything was so disarranged in my head that I still didn’t understand anything. But my dad said to stay safe and not to panic. Then he left the house and went to work.
The first day of war was not that bad, as were the next few days. I just couldn’t wrap my head around why all of this was happening to me and millions of other people. For a week I just tried to comprehend the current events. Everyone thought that the war would continue for a few weeks. However, it continues to this day. Day passed after day. The first week of the war passed. Every day was similar: constant air raids and explosions.
After two weeks of war, my parents couldn’t stand it all anymore. My dad said that my mom, little sister, and I needed to evacuate from Ukraine. My mom didn’t want to leave the country, but my dad insisted.
It was approximately 8 p.m. when my mom came to my room and said, “You need to pack up bags, we will leave Ukraine for a while.” I whispered, “I didn’t think it would go so far…” Mom didn’t hear anything and went into her room. Without asking anything else, I started packing my bags. There was emptiness in my head. The only thing that encouraged me was the thought that we would leave for a week maximum and will return very soon. My younger self wouldn’t believe how wrong I was.
The next day I woke up at 5 a.m. and my first thought was, “How could all this happen and why are we forced to leave our home?” Unfortunately, this could not be prevented. We sat in the car, and dad took us to border where my aunt met us and took us to Romania.
What raged in my head at that moment cannot be expressed in words. I only felt a burning pain in the heart and could not stop it.
I don’t know what would have happened if we had stayed in Ukraine. But no matter how it is, nothing can be changed. I am grateful that I am now safe with my family.
