The Migration (A Boy Story)

Chapter 10

A month later I was transferred to another hospital in Austria. I got better. I took more medicine. I grew more numb. And at the time I couldn't think of anything. I was just living. Life meant nothing to me again.

After leaving the hospital I was taken to a refugee camp in Traiskirchen and as I entered it the vastness of it plagued me and I felt like I needed to melt and evaporate away. In the home of the shelters a man walked up to me smiling. He's taller than I am. He had beards and a longer nose. I looked at him then looked away. He extended his hand. I took it.

"Welcome to Bundesbetreuungsstelle für Asylwerber. I'm Anan from Mongolia. Come let me show you around."

Anan and I became good friends. He spoke about home, I told him my story, we cried together and bonded to a common pain of loss.

"People who haven't lost loved ones are lucky," he said one day and I looked at the sky and started crying. It felt like the words collapsed on me, broke my bones and buried me away. I started isolating myself more. I started sleeping late at night but whenever I fell asleep Anan would be there to cover me up. He knew I couldn't sleep on most nights and he knew I was tired of my medicines. I crawled away and moved into a state of melancholy and made it a pact with my lost love.

"Ya Allah please take me away."

Anan tried everything to make me happy. He followed me to the hospital to take medication after I couldn't eat for weeks. We went out together because it saw my sadness looming over my life. At that point each time I saw families, I cried.

Traiskirchen is an ancient town in Baden in Lower Austria. I have walked through the city just to find a place to kill myself. I Intended doing it, so I took a ride down to Vienna, in the Thermenlinie region without telling Anan. I walked into a bookshop, read through some books, glanced around for some seconds because I wanted to use the elevator to get to an abandoned penthouse above the store and throw myself down to die. A man walked up to me. He's black like me. He looked at me and said, "Asalaam alaikum?"

I was reluctant to answer him. "Walikum salaam."

"Good," he said. "You look like you are from Arewa?"

I nodded and wisphered no. He laughed.

"Haba mutumina na san Kai dan Arewa ne.. what are you telling me."

"I'm from Niger." I said.

"Wow! We are still brothers. Sunana Mudaseer."

"Muhammad."

"Good. I saw you reading that Hausa book, that's why I walked up to you."

"That's nice." I turned to leave.

"Bani numbar Ka.."

"I don't have one."

At the penthouse before I could jump down the police surrounded the building telling me to come down. I cried and shouted no. They tried stopping me. Mudaseer was also there asking me to please come down. I looked at them and smiled.

I jumped.