Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic Read Free Book Online Page A

and so am I. I couldn’t bear to go alone, to leave behind Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and Granddad. And going with just Mommy isn’t any good either. The best would be for all three of us to go. But Daddy can’t. So I’ve decided we should stay here together. Tomorrow I’ll tell Keka that you have to be brave and stay with those you love and those who love you. I can’t leave my parents, and I don’t like the other idea of leaving my father behind alone either.
    Your Zlata

Tuesday, April 21, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    It’s horrible in Sarajevo today. Shells falling, people and children getting killed, shooting. We will probably spend the night in the cellar. Since ours isn’t safe, we’re going to our neighbors’, the Bobars’ house. The Bobar family consists of Grandma Mira, Auntie Boda, Uncle Žika (her husband), Maja and Bojana. When the shooting gets bad, Žika phones us and then we run across the yard, over the ladder and the table, into their building and finally knock at their door. Until just the other day we took the street, but there’s shooting and it’s not safe anymore. I’m getting ready to go to the cellar. I’ve packed my backpack with biscuits, juice, a deck of cards and a few other “things.” I can still hear the cannon fire, and something that sounds like it. Love you, Mimmy,
    Zlata

Wednesday, April 22, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    We spent the whole night in the Bobars’ cellar. We went there at around 9:30 and came home at about 10:30 the next morning. I slept from 4:00 to 9:30 A.M. It boomed and shook really badly last night. Zlata

Sunday, April 26, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    We spent Thursday night with the Bobars again. The next day we had no electricity. We had no bread, so for the first time in her life Mommy baked some. She was scared how it would turn out. It turned out like bread—good bread. That was the day I was supposed to go to Ohrid with M&M. But I didn’t, and neither did they.
    Ciao! Your Zlata

Tuesday, April 28, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    SNIFFLE! Martina, SNIFFLE, and Matea, SNIFFLE, left YESTERDAAAY! They left by bus for KrÅ¡ko [a town in Slovenia]. They went with Keka. Oga has gone too, so has Dejan, Mirna will be leaving tomorrow or the next day, and soon Marijana will be going too.
    SNIFFLE!
Everybody has gone. I’m left with no friends. Zlata

Wednesday, April 29, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    I’d write to you much more about the war if only I could. But I simply don’t want to remember all these horrible things. They make me sick. Please, don’t be mad at me. I’ll write something.
    I love you,
Zlata

Saturday, May 2, 1992
    Dear Mimmy,
    Today was truly, absolutely the worst day ever in Sarajevo. The shooting started around noon. Mommy and I moved into the hall. Daddy was in his office, under our apartment, at the time. We told him on the intercom to run quickly to the downstairs lobby where we’d meet him. We brought Cicko [Zlata’s canary] with us. The gunfire was getting worse, and we couldn’t get over the wall to the Bobars’, so we ran down to our own cellar.
    The cellar is ugly, dark, smelly. Mommy, who’s terrified of mice, had two fears to cope with. The three of us were in the same corner as the other day. We listened to the pounding shells, the shooting, the thundering noise overhead. We even heard planes. At one moment I realized that this awful cellar was the only place that could save our lives. Suddenly, it started to look almost warm and nice. It was the only way we could defend ourselves against all this terrible shooting. We heard glass shattering in our street. Horrible. I put my fingers in my ears to block out the terrible sounds. I was worried about Cicko. We had left him behind in the lobby. Would he catch cold there? Would something hit him? I was terribly hungry and thirsty. We had left our half-cooked lunch in the kitchen.
    When the shooting died down a bit, Daddy ran