Black Butterflies

She takes the stairs, dreading what she might find. The strip light flickers in the corridor that she and Mirsad share. She's about to enter her flat when she sees Mirsad's door has been left ajar. She crosses the hall and pushes. The door swings open and she at once steps back and away. She must have made a mistake.

She forces herself back to the t

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But it's becoming harder to tell what normal is. Families - especially Serb and Croat families - are leaving the city daily, despite the probability that their flats will be taken. She has no idea what they know that she doesn't. Others, especially young Muslim men, are joining the newly formed government army, the Territorial Defence Force. Almasa

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The following day, Zora has the urge to walk to the Goat's Bridge to clear her head. The phone conversation with Franjo last night was upsetting. It was as if they were both too shocked to listen to one another. What they said came out in panicky bursts, one speaking over the other, nothing adding up. One moment he was saying how much he wanted to

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You can't do anything?" Zora says, head shooting back. 'But surely they're breaking and entering.'

The officer spreads his hands and shrugs. 'Everything's up in the air, madam.' The nervy crowd behind Zora now extends into the street, and he glances at them before tapping his chest, eyes narrow. 'Who knows what colour uniform we'll be wearing i

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They cross the street and go up the hill to the nearest police station. It's not yet seven, but already there's a small crowd in the squat concrete building. Everyone is clamouring to say their piece about looted shops and robberies. Mysterious ditches are being dug at the ends of their streets in the small hours of the morning, and no one feels sa

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