در خطر

Chapter five

In Danger

The next time I saw George, he was standing outside the grey building, smoking a cigarette. He smiled at me and my heart jumped.

‘Do you want a cigarette?’ he asked.

‘I don’t smoke,’ I said. And then I added, ‘but I don’t mind smoking.’

I looked at him.

‘How are you?’ I asked.

‘I’m OK,’ he replied.

‘George,’ I said, ‘why did you come here, to this country?’

I didn’t think George wanted to talk about his past. But this time he answered me.

‘In my country, I was in danger,’ he said.

‘Danger? Why?’

‘I was a photo journalist,’ he said. ‘I took some photos for the newspapers, but the police didn’t like them. I took them because I wanted people to know what was happening in my country.’

‘What were the photos of?’ I asked.

‘They were of soldiers hurting women and young children. But the police saw my photos and they came to find me.’

‘That’s terrible,’ I said. ‘You were trying to help those women and children.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But the police didn’t want people to know what was happening in our country.’

‘So what did they do to you?’ I asked.

‘They locked me in a building and they hurt me. Look.’ He opened his shirt and showed me some terrible scars. ‘Now you can see why I can’t go home.’

I couldn’t speak.

‘When they let me go, I knew I couldn’t work in my country anymore,’ George said.

‘So you came here?’

‘It wasn’t easy,’ he said. ‘But I thought, “when I get to England I can show people my photos. People can see what is really happening in my country.” But when I arrived, they brought me to this place. Now I’m locked up again!’

‘Only for a short time,’ I said. ‘They brought you here to keep you safe. A lot of people don’t like asylum seekers coming to our country.’ I thought of Tom. ‘But there are lawyers who can help you. You tell them your story and they will help you.’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I hope so. But it’s possible they will send me home again. People say it’s hard to get asylum here.’

He put out his hand.

‘Thank you for listening to me,’ he said. ‘It helps to talk sometimes.’

I moved away.

‘I have to go, George,’ I said quickly, and I left.

Something was happening to me. I knew it. I wanted it to happen, but I was afraid.

Really afraid.