The Walk 

So I ran back into the house and gathered a few of my belongings and ran out again hoping that I would not get caught. I looked at my new book and kept it to remember Kolkata and 1947 May when I had to move. I am only eleven and I have 15 cousins and siblings living in one house and now we are trying to live while the hindu muslim riot in Kolkata. We are all hoping that my baby sister will not die. We went to one of my best friend's house for that time but then the rioters called all of us all and his family out again. Then we went to my other best friends house and stayed there. We knew we would be safe there since he was a Hindu and we were in Kolkata. We were muslims so Raj said he would be ok to hide us.

We wanted to cry but we knew that the people would then hear us so we didn't. We started walking behind a long bush so we could hide and I could hear Ali’s and my little sniffles. We crouched down and started crawling. I was at the front, my family was behind and then was Ali’s family. Suddenly we saw a touch and froze. That was the minute I remembered the map. The map was still in the bag and we needed it. So as soon as the torch went of I slowly opened my bag and all of my family thought I did not know what i'm doing. Then I took out the map and showed it to them. It said we had to turn so we would have to so we would have to go out of our hiding spot for sometime. My family quickly crawled to the end and then quickly turned to the other bush. After us it was Ali’s family’s turn. They were walking in the middle of the turn when the torch came on again straight at them. They froze and they were caught.

We saw the train and we smiled. I asked the train driver if we could come on but we needed to buy tickets which was not so close so we went walking and asked the train driver the way. He told us the way and we went the direction he was going. We finally got the right direction but it had no hiding spots in the middle. We tried to act normal but we didn't know how to so we found something to hide in. Like I found a small bush and my baby sister came with me and we looked around and found a bush which was in the right direction. Finally we were almost there and there was more stopping so we had to build more wall. I looked far ahead and I could see a small sign which looked like a dot.

It was finally dark and it was time to leave. I was so nervous and sad to leave Kolkata and my friends and everything behind. I started crying. I also did not want to leave now because everything we left behind at home and now what we were leaving. “I don't want to go” I sobbed “ I can't leave all my friends behind it is not fair”. “I don't want to go either, nobody does” my mom said trying to comfort me but it didn't help too much. Ali did not want to go either but we had to if we wanted to be safe. We looked out of the window and saw the police and the rioters leaving the area where we were. So we packed our stuff, changed our clothes and then we slowly walked out of the house. Before leaving Raj gave us some food for the walk and some of his things to remember him. He gave us some of his special things and a painting of himself. We quickly put it in our bag, hugged him and then left.

I walked and walked still trying to stop remembering Ali and Raj but I just could not. It was only about two days till we left Raj’s house and three days since we left ours. I was missing home and my friends. A few days later. “Mom are we there yet” I asked my mom after walking for a week. She checked her map and said “a week more until we reach”. I saw the map and knew that we would be running out of places to hide and to rest. I asked my family to stop and rest so I could look at the map for sometime. I looked ahead and saw that there was a train to go to bangladesh in a few miles so I told my family to come with me

“It’s not my way” I whisper screamed “Its the signs way” I was so angry we argued a bit but then we went where the sign said. We walked and walked as we ate food. Finally we were near the sign and we had to turn. We knew we could come out of our hiding spot and walk easily.We walked for about an hour and everyone was super tired. "Huh, finally" I sighed and I was so tired I wanted to go to sleep. My eyes shut for a minute and then I was woken up by some water on my face by my mom. I stood up and looked around. My eyes could not move after I saw what was in front of me. "Whoa" was all that I could say. I could smell dinner coming from houses and fruits. We finally had reached Bangladesh where I would be safe. I saw all my siblings go in and play in the grass so I joined them. It was so comfortable to be there.

We were scared but happy that we would not live in fear anymore. Ali’s family and my family were getting our things ready in a room for staying that day. BOOM we suddenly heard. We ran upstairs again to look out of the window and saw the rioters holding swords and burning down houses luckily not ours . We were all shivering. “Hide” someone said to me, I did not know who it was but I hid anyway. I went under the bed and then Ali came to. The room was silent and I could hear nothing except my heartbeat and Ali’s. I could hear loud stomping footsteps come up the stairs and the door of the room swung open, we all held our breath as they looked around the room they could not see any of us . Before they went one person looked like he was sniffing around and thought someone was hiding here. He looked at another person and nodded his head. We could finally come out.

Later when we woke up we went to another place and started knocking there. We got a home and then we bought new clothes and everything we needed to be comfortable in our new home. Now it was comfortable but I still needed a school and friends. After the riot was over we went back to Kolkata for a holiday to meet Raj and it was so much fun. Except that there was no Ali Raj and I were sad in the beginning when we met each other but we were happy to see each other after a long time. The end

“Help me somebody help me” the baby sobbed as she woke me up from bed. I saw her and her siblings being tossed in the air by the rioters and then straight into a sword. I feel so bad for the toddlers being killed when they did nothing. “Get out now” I heard. I was frightened and I went downstairs to see what happened. “Hari” called my mom “come out now”.So I hurried and ran out in my nightsuit and I saw all of my siblings and my family which was 40 people. My mom told me the rioters came and told them to get out so we are not allowed after today in this house or they would kill us and they are inside right now.

the rioters came and shot them in front of my eyes. I just saw my best friend die in front of my eyes. That was one of the most saddest moments of my life. I tried to keep my tears in but I couldn't. Tears rolled down my cheeks as the rioters&nbsp;just walked away laughing. I started crying and sobbing quietly and I really wished that we could go back in time and stop that from happening. “Mom I really don't want Ali and his family to die, He is my best friend I need him” I whispered to my mom. “Me too” she said and started crawling ahead. We had to move away quickly away before the rioters found us. So we looked at the map and we had to go straight for a long time. I could see her face full of tears but she tried to act strong. I could tell that all of my family was thinking about their friends and it was very sad. We tried to stay as close as possible so none or all of us get killed at the same time. Like Ali’s family we stuck together.. We survived because we were holding hands and behind the bush we looked apart of the bush. .

Then we heard those footsteps again but softer so we started hiding again. The people were there again but just left. We came out and Mom asked why they came twice. “They might have thought someone was hiding and tried to trick us” I answered. &nbsp;After that we all got our room at Raj’s house till we leave. We waited and waited talking, napping, playing board games and sometimes even sitting doing nothing. Those were one of the longest hours in my life because I didn't want to leave Kolkata but I wanted to be safe and also really wanted to go. I was so confused on how I was feeling but I was really worried about finding a house in Bangladesh and a job for my parents to get money for us to live.

My tummy started grumbling and I was very hungry. So I put my hand in the bag but I felt no food. I looked and we had run out of food. I told my whole family and we had no idea what to do. I examined the place and saw a small food shop so I went there with all the money we carried and we had enough money to buy food for everyone. &nbsp;“Lets go now we only have um” I said as I looked at the map “two more days left”. So we followed the map but I kept seeing the sign. Finally I could read it. “Way to Bangladesh” I read out loud. “What no” my mom pointed at the opposite direction but I pointed to the front so she could see then sign and read it. “Fine” she said “we’ll go your way”.

No fear and no need to run away again. There was only two problems, We did not have a home or a job for parents and no friends. After resting a bit in the grass we started going to houses and knocking if we could find a place to live. We went to every house we could see there but nobody was selling or letting us in so that night we slept on the grass. I was nervous and it was not so comfortable anymore. I wanted to have a house since we had been walking for two weeks but I was expecting this. 

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