The first thing I saw was the roof crumbling down, headed toward us. The books on the wall flew out and the couches were blown away. A painful and sharp hissing sound echoed through the house.

After a few moments, I raised my head and looked around. Everything I had ever known was destroyed. The walls of my house weren’t standing anymore. My parents and little sister still had their heads ducked and between their legs, trying to block out the noise.

Life in Ukraine wasn’t always like this. For years, the tension between Ukraine and Russia has increased. Early in 2022, the conflict turned into a war, and our lives flipped upside down.

First, the flow of life started to change everywhere. We all knew something was coming, something terrible.

The politicians were speaking about potential threats from Russia. Every time we went to the market, a new shelf would be completely empty. Slowly, people started to get more and more scared. They started to stock up on food and house items, because we didn’t know exactly what was coming.

Men were sent to war and leaving the house became dangerous. One by one, buildings I had crossed every day were destroyed. They turned into piles of broken pieces on the floor. The ground of Kyiv rocked with the noise of missiles flying above us.

Despite all of this, my family was still very lucky. My father wasn’t drafted for the army, we had a small stockpile of food, and no missiles had come into my neighborhood.

That week was my birthday. I was turning 15. My father wanted to search stores for a cake to buy me, but we insisted he stay home. We already knew that all of the stores were closed or empty. It was not worth risking his life for my birthday celebration.

Sometimes, the streets were full with people trying to escape, carrying their whole lives in a few bags. Sometimes, the streets were empty, with the silence of fear.

Then my birthday came. It was going to be a birthday that I couldn’t have even seen in a nightmare. That morning, my mother prepared my favorite food from the few options we had at home. I would normally go to school that day and celebrate with all of my friends, too, but since the missiles started to come, all of the schools closed.

That night, as my family was singing "Happy Birthday," the explosion came. I heard the sound first, and looked up at the roof. It was like the sky was breaking.

After that, my life was never the same.

Once my parents raised their heads, they knew what had to be done. We couldn’t stay in Kyiv anymore. It was too dangerous to live in our own home.

That night, we packed everything we could into a few suitcases and backpacks. I put my most useful clothes into a backpack, leaving behind all of the special shoes and jewelry I had. It was no use trying to take any of my books. They had all fallen to the floor during the explosion and were crushed by the bookshelf on top of them.

Afterward, I went to my little sister’s room and helped her pack all of her necessary things into a small suitcase.

She grabbed her teddy bear, trying to take it with her. I explained to her that we had a long journey ahead of us, and that she wouldn’t have the energy to carry her teddy bear. In the end, I wanted my little sister to have something familiar on our journey, so I let her take the teddy bear.

With one last, sorrowful look at the bedroom, we headed out to the living room. My mother had packed her things there and was saying goodbye to my father. The next morning, my father would go join the army. That night, we were going to go to the bus stop and buy a ticket to wherever we could.

Maybe that was the last time I would see my father. Maybe I would see him in better times after the war. For now, no one knew.