Voyage of Discovery.

This room smells like our neighbour’s dog, Sadi. When he’s wet and rolling around in the dust, trying to dry himself. The muck sticks to him and he gets even dirtier. He’s a funny dog.

The heavy rain in Syria comes down hard. The warm sun dries everything quickly. It rains all the time here.

When I move the springs squeak and the mattress squelches under me. The blue blanket is itchy on my skin and has two holes. It doesn’t cover me as my toes stick out at the end when I tug it up.

I see black spots up high in the corner of the room. My new bunny sits on the bed waiting for a hug.

They took my shoes! They lock the door but I don’t know why. They play games with plates because I hear them crash.

The sun comes out, but not for long. The branches on the trees here are wider than the gum trees outside our house. The cars look like tanks.

The window gets cloudy and is cold to touch. Green slime gathers along the windowsill. Mum says never touch anything you don’t fully understand.

A slight breeze tickles my hand along the edges. The window is nailed shut. People walk by in heavy coats on the street. I wave, but they don’t wave back. I shouted out, but I did that only once.

The Woman tried to shush me as she unlocked the door. I screamed loud. The bruise on the back of my arm is now yellow. I ducked The Man’s fist but got caught on the shoulder. I fell, as The Man is strong.

Dad says only cowards pick on someone who is smaller than them. I can’t wait to hear The Man explain himself. Dad will look at him with serious eyes. His excuse better be good.

The Woman feeds me food, but it’s not like Mum’s cooking. Mum cooks great dinners, Dad says. We thank Allah for filling our bellies.

I hear a dog barking. He barks late in the evening. I wish I could play with him. Sadi always barks at me with his tail wagging. I think that’s his way of saying “Hi Alyas!” No one speaks Arabic here.

They picked me out of the camp and told me Dad was waiting. They put me in a truck and pushed me. We were gathered tightly together and told to be quiet. The drive in the big truck took ages. It was warm and I felt sleepy.

Bottles of water were thrown at us. We shared them. Then we got out and I was put in the back seat of a red car with four doors. The Man nudged me into the car.

A toy rabbit sat beside me in the back seat. I tucked it underneath my coat. I was told Dad had my satchel with Teddy and the book in it.

I get up from my bed and walk around the room. My footsteps are quiet. I can feel my toes starting to poke through the two pairs of socks on each foot.

The radiator has bits of green paint coming off. It doesn’t make the same noise as ours in the living room. Our radiator rattles like a tractor starting up in winter.

Crayon marks peep out from under the peeling wallpaper. I wish I had crayons.

I lift the paper and it pulls away. I see a red and blue robot, nearly as tall as me. He holds a square hammer. Big bulging eyes and two eyelids. He must be from another planet.

Bunny is my new favourite toy. My favourite toy at home is Teddy. We left Idlib with it, but I don’t have it now. I hug bunny like I normally hug Mum. She gives the best cuddles.

I open my jacket and pull out our last chocolate bar. Any time we felt cold, hungry or scared Dad would pull out a square of chocolate and feed us. Then we both felt much better. I haven’t seen Dad in a long time. Where is he?

Dad held me tightly as the water hit us in the face. I wore a yellow thing that kept hitting me on the chin. It dug into my sides. My satchel hung around Dad. He said his jacket was just as good.

I fell asleep and woke up with a light shining in my eyes. The lady spoke to me in a fast language. She used her hands a lot. Her long dark hair and kind eyes made her look a bit like Mum.

Dad smells nice. Since I was very young, falling asleep in his arms after he finished work was the best thing ever. He uses a spray called Hole Spice.

Dad’s white teeth stand out against his dark skin. I see his teeth because he smiles a lot. People say my brown eyes are exactly like his, but my hair is like Mum’s.

My father and I love European chocolate. It’s very milky. We have chocolate on holidays and birthdays. Dad teases me about it for weeks. Then we say “mm mm” a lot. He says it before the chocolate touches his tongue.

My Dad tells great stories, telling me of his adventures as a boy. How he climbed trees so tall that the branches went into the clouds. How he stole apples from a rich kings’ orchard, just so he could eat.

Every night has a voyage of discovery, as he calls them. He wrote down all his adventures in a little book that I’ve never seen. He always looks at his imaginary book and closes it shut with a clap of his hands.

Big noises came late one night. I heard screams and pops like fireworks. It couldn’t have been a parade. Dad crept into my room, with his eyes wide.

He spoke quietly. The banging noises were very close. Dad asked if I wanted to start my own voyage of discovery!

I whispered, saying my reading was good but my writing wasn’t brilliant. Until I learned properly, Dad said that he’d write them down in the book for me. Tonight would be our first adventure.

I will be a writer of stories!

Dad told me to empty my school satchel and put Teddy in it. Then put on my heavy jumper and put the plastic bag of clothes that Mum had prepared for me into it.

Mum ran around, putting photographs into a big case. She threw the frames on the floor. She told me to stand by the door. Then she fell. I shouted to her but a truck beeping at the back door, distracted me.

Dad was behind the steering wheel. We don’t own a shiny black truck. He told me to get in.

He asked where Mum was, and I told him that she had just fallen in the living room. He raced inside. My satchel swung under my arm, waiting for Mum and Dad.

Dad went to pick Mum up. It must have been her legs were sore or something. He came back with red eyes. He opened up a secret compartment in the kitchen cupboards. There was lots of money and chocolate inside. All of it was thrown into the case.

Dad was quiet as we drove. I asked if Mum was coming, but he didn’t answer. The truck’s engine made a lot of noise.

Dad pulled over when we got into the desert. He took things out of the case. Tears ran down his cheeks as he held a picture of the three of us.

He unzipped the inside pocket of my coat. He put our passports, money and the photo inside.

Then he handed me his most treasured possession of stories. I thought it never existed. He smiled at me. I will write my stories in this.

“Are you ready son?”

“Ready for what?”

“The next part of our adventure. Tonight is your first voyage of discovery.”

We drove on toward Lattakia, but not the beach. Dad gave some man lots of money. We jumped onto a white boat.  Lots of babies cried. All the kids wore the big yellow things.

They’re shouting again, outside my room. I hear fireworks, just like Idlib. Then scratching along the wall.

My door opens!

I pretend to be asleep. I expect a tray of food soup to be dropped on the floor. But it isn’t. It’s very quiet, for ages.

The Woman lies on the floor, outside my door. I poke her twice but she doesn’t move. It’s a weird place to go for a napI see The Man on the top of the stairs. There’s stairs here! He must have been eating. He has a big red stain on his jumper. He’s napping too.

I’ve never been in a house with stairs. I wonder what’s downstairs?