Chapter Five

I don’t know for how long I’m lying here like that. It had taken hours in the port until my box was heavily shaken and pulled in the air. Some time later it was put down ungently somewhere.
I cannot imagine how many days passed by. I guess I’m somewhere in a depot which is totally dark. That’s why I cannot even see if it’s night or day. I can hardly move because I’m lying in between some small brown bullets which smell very heavily. I guess yesterday I lost consciousness. I cannot any longer feel the hunger but just feel totally sick. I managed to drink a bit of water every now and then which was hard enough in that density. I cannot bear the fug any longer that is in the box because of my excrements. Now I know what Rashid meant as he said that the travel would last very long. And now I can interpret his scary view as he said so. I know that everyday can be my last one now, I feel it. I’m too rooted to cry or to scream. It’s just that I’m happy all the time I wake up again and see I’m not dead.

The box starts shaking. I’m not quiet sure if I’m hallucinating after all but it seems like the box would move. I feel my heart beating faster so I know that I’m still alive. I recognize that there is something going on in real outside because I hear some voices. I cannot get what they say cause I don’t understand the words they are using. That can just mean one thing: We reached America!
Some wee bit of light shines trough a little chink so I see that it’s daytime. The light gets brighter, the movement heavier and there are more people talking. Some are screaming which sounds like orders while there are also other loud sounds. Suddenly the box starts to swing from left to right and back. It’s so heavy that I fear it will fall to the ground and then that would be the end of my American story. People are screaming hectically outside so I guess they fear the end of their brown balls story with which I share the box. But then the heavy rush stops as fast as it had come and the box dashes with a loud crash on the ground. I feel queasy. But instead of staying on the ground for a minute, the box starts moving again. Its not swinging but it’s going forwards. A penetrative siren shrills from outside. It takes a few minutes until the box stands still again. But just a few seconds later it moves upwards and then forwards for another time. At least I guess so because I cannot really coordinate the directions anymore. For a few minutes there is no movement. I still hear people talking outside but then I hear a loud bang and suddenly it’s completely quiet and dark. I’m locked-in somewhere.
“Rashid?” I cry with a cracked voice. Nothing but silence. I need to vomit.