(PG 8+)
A Young Refugee
By Seren (Yr5)
“Boreda chwaer!” was the last thing my little sister - Alexis - had said with her beautifully stunning eyes, before she fell to the floor like a lifeless rag doll, motionless without breath because of the vast smoke.
Shattered, my heart cracked like glass making my putrid eyes swell up and I cried without hope. My rushing tears were like tsunamis.
A few years later (on my twelfth birthday) we moved to Cardigan Bay, in Wales beyond the misty, salty beachside, thinking the war was over.
The fields marked the lines to my home, which resembled a chequered black-and-white cottage like a chess board, and we would play in them, have fun and sing. Me, my mum and my older brother Oscar would all adventure in the fields, our ginger hair would float in the bristle wind which smelt like fresh grass and salt.
The fields looked like a patchwork quilt, sewn together with a hosted variety of silky, emerald greens, softly embodied within stunning roses and perfect peonies.
Everything was thought to be “normal,” until down descended the terrible, murderous bombs onto our beloved home, killing our tabby cat Skylar and my big brother Oscar.
*****
A thunderous, monstrous screech stung in my ears, torturing my brain as I darted like a gazelle running from its hunter, like my life depended on it. Breathing heavily, I felt my lungs on scorching fire and my eyes swelled once again like purple, rotten tomatoes as I had various flashbacks of my sister’s pale face on that fatal day.
Peidiwch â rhoi'r gorau iddi…..
Don’t give up…
Quicksand made my legs ache, demanding for me to fall in - grabbing my rusted shoes and forcing me to fall. Luckily, the tension evaporated off me as I carried on running at a rapid, cheetah-like pace. Buckets of sweat loaded on my fringe, getting in my eyes and blurring my vision in an instant.
“Mam! Mam! MAM?” I yelled as loud as I could, but my neck began to halt my voice as I quietened and I began to search for my kind mum, except I felt my heart disperse when I saw her sinking into the death-pits of quicksand!
“Run…. c-ca-cariad-” She began.
Gripping my little brother’s, Mattie’s, sweaty, small hand, I wiped my beading tears and nodded through efforts.
Finally, we reached the harbour through tears and worryful thoughts, which piled up in our heads and rattled our brains like we were maracas!
People were crowded on boats, crying and famined and most of them were children and dead, old women, all thin and bruised to death. The horrid sight made me shiver and I held Mattie tight, wanting to scream and run, but I couldn’t. I had to save him and myself.
“Dadi, dydw i ddim eisiau marw! Daddy, I don’t want to di-” A petite, innocent young girl lost her grip, and was pushed off the boat and into the hypothermic sea and gnawed to death by hungrily savage, man-eating tiger-sharks.
Almost about to have a nervous breakdown, I bit my tongue and - stood in the middle of the ramped boat and tried to distract Mattie by humming and talking to him.
A red, bloody mess floated around the sea as a body-less girl’s head popped up! Does gen i ddim ofn....I’m not scared… I’m petrified!
It felt like a million needles jabbing my insides as I shook in fear and anxiety.
Sensitively, I covered Mattie’s harmed eyes and tried not to cry or scream, knowing it would petrify him and that I had to look after the poor, easily-scared two-year-old!
As the boat began moving bumpily, I held him gently and tightly, hummed and tried to calm him down. Slowly, I bent down beside him and whispered: “Bydd yn iawn. It’ll be ok. Your big sister will protect you with everything she can!” and he smiled affectionately and nodded, hugging me joyfully with gleaming, starlight eyes.
“I love you, June!” he yelled fondly and a few people glared at us, as I caught their eyes. Almost everyone was staring now - a million pesky eyes on my irritation-list.
Noticing a tall, grey-haired lady was pulling and bombarding people, without hesitation, I grabbed her hand with grip and held it up firmly. I wasn’t letting go. After a few hours, she herself was pushed off and turned into another tiger-shark’s dinner!
“It’s ok” I told myself, though I knew it wasn’t… my spine had a chilling ooze lunge down and it made me hunch up. Desperately, I wanted to throw up.
I was petrified - my organs screamed in horror, my face sweating erratically and my heart was pumping on fire.
Circling, bulky tiger-sharks surrounded the lopsided boat, as people’s expressions turned to shocking anxious messes. The salty sea water went onto the boat, making a few people slip to heaven and hell!
Mattie’s asthma started acting up and I suddenly realised I’d left his inhaler!?
“Please!!! Does anyone have an inhaler? Please- help!” I begged, and thankfully a large, ginger man helped poor Mattie and my eyes simpered.
Relief filled my weary heart like a rush of water as I grinned and said: “Diolch, syr! Thank you, sir! And-”I - reluctantly - handed Mattie to the pure-hearted man and his mouth turned up, forming a beautiful smile and my feelings warmed just right.
His eyes smiled, understanding what I was asking, and said: “I’ll look after him, cariad.” and I knew that Mattie was in safe, protective hands.
Unfortunately, I had to go so I wiped my tearful eyes with the back of my bruised hand and waved, “Hwyl fawr” with force.
“Bye cariad,” I sniffed sadly, “your chwaer fawr will always be in your memories.”
Too late for Mattie to react, I dived into the freezing, below-zero sea as my organs began cracking like icicles. It hurt. My eyes were red and feverish, but I kept on swimming.
“peidiwch â rhoi'r gorau iddi - Don’t give up.”
What used to be a sweet-scented, lovely world, was now a scorched, ashy bombsite. Anxiously, I stood back in fear. It hurt a lot to see the happiness and joy slowly fade away to nothing, but mum always said: “Gobaith matters. Hope matters. Don’t give up, June, because I’ll be there for you.”
Gobaith. Hope, what I needed and what I had got.
I wasn’t giving up; that would be wrong.
Then, as I pushed myself on with hope, I beamed seeing land! A gigantic land mass of grass as I jumped up - without hesitation - and then face-planted onto the spring grass as it poured with rain.
It was the best thing in my whole life - EVER! I just hoped from my heart, that Cariad Mattie was safe, wrapped up and cosy, safe from the big world around him. That he was happy and joyful. I knew he was - I didn’t have to wish.
A few years later
Every gloriously sunny morning, I would wake up to a sweet aroma and the infectious grins of my lovely, pure-hearted foster family - who made me feel special; they made me feel like I was important - the kindest people in existence!
From the morning that I met them, my heart knew that their warm, bear-like hugs would shield me and make me feel safe, and I would be able to gaze up to them and smile without streaking tears.
Until -one day there was a loud knock on the old, birch-framed door and as I opened it, my face lit up like a candle, my eyes gleamed with joy and heartfelt tears streamed down my puffy, tomato-like cheeks. It was MATTIE! After all this time…! Like a bubble, my sadness popped, and I fell into his arms for what felt like forever; he was finally here.
Chuckling softly like he used to, he smiled showing his plain-white teeth.
“You didn’t think I’d… left you, did you?” He chuckled, with a smirk so pure that even his eyebrows and lips were simpering! Gently, he hugged me back and brightened my heart, along with my foster families.
Though I missed Wales (and Cardigan Bay), this was a brand-new beginning and I already loved it!
My adventure was a story.
Gobaith… Don’t give up.
The End
