As I walk home from the school, my shredded backpack bouncing against my back. I scan the caving houses in a line across the street. Kids in baggy clothes playing with a football, mothers sitting on the porch watching with sad eyes, stray dogs sniffing trees and avoiding Soldier police cars. One of the stray dogs sprints towards me, sniffing me up and down. I crouch down and smile,“Hey there little guy. You hungry?” I open my backpack and pull out the last of the stale bread from lunch today. I rip of the ends and hand it to the stray. I giggle as its tongue sloppily licks it gone. My head snaps up at the sound of a woman’s scream. Across the street is a man with a gun, his eyes blurry with tears, scanning the area with unforgiving stares. I look below him to the girl laying on the ground, a pool of blood soaking the ground. My eye catches a flash of blond hair and pale skin. Cindy. I run, lock the door when home.

Everything screams in my dreams tonight. Cindy, my mother, Jonah, dogs, and cracking guns.