Mejai

1.

Dear Diary,
Today is the day. After a lot of effort and objectively little reading, I managed to successfully finish another year and I'm finally ready to start my summer vacation.
On the plus side, I'm not forced to spend another summer with my stepmother and half-siblings, on the downside, I'm going to miss my dad's super-luxury yacht immensely.
This summer, my mother invited me to Egypt and I will spend my whole summer in Cairo with her group and maybe I will be able to take part in some pyramid exploration.
Since early in the morning I have packed light clothes, I have greeted my girlfriends and I am waiting with anticipation for the car with my father's chauffeur, which will take me to the airport.
I can't wait to write all about my adventures in Egypt, until then, I kiss you.
Jenna Marshall

Jenna closed her diary and put it, with some difficulty, in the front pocket of her already very bulging suitcase.
She couldn't wait for her summer vacation to start, in fact it was the only thing she could think about for the last week and it was enough for her to finish her exams and put up with the situation at home.
Jenna was sixteen years old, the daughter of Leonard, a very successful and quite rich businessman and Anna, a beautiful explorer with her own group who had been living and exploring Egypt for the last five years.
Her parents divorced when she was only seven years old, her mother's passion for her work, for the mysteries that the pyramids hid for the ancient civilizations in Egypt could not be tamed.
Her parents decided that it would be best for their daughter to grow up with her father who could provide her with a more stable and secure environment without meaning that her mother did not love her.
Every summer, she found time to spend a month with her daughter but this time she was in front of a big discovery and she couldn't leave.
Jenna adored her parents, even though her father was always busy and her mother rarely available. She was proud of them and all they had accomplished.
At the age of sixteen, she was a little more shy, perhaps because she didn't want to go out into the school yard during breaks and make meaningless conversations with her classmates. On the contrary, she preferred to read her books and get lost in their stories. She loved the descriptions of exotic, distant places.
She had learned Ancient Egyptian and Arabic from her mother and often drew elaborately the various symbols in her books or notebooks.
She had only two very good friends, while she went unnoticed even by her teachers sometimes.
The only one who didn't care were her half brothers who made her life as difficult as they could.
When Jenna was ten years old her father married his secretary who already had two children from a previous marriage. But the moment they got home, her stepmother, Anetta, showed that Jenna was only an obstacle for her.
Maybe because Jenna was not like her children. She wasn't popular at school, nor did she have blonde hair and blue eyes like them.
Instead, she had a few extra pounds, had long, black, very curly hair that fell in ringlets down to her waist, and green eyes. Her skin was a little darker as if she had been in the sun for a long time and on inside of her wrist there was a birthmark like a star.
She didn't like dresses, preferred trousers and hated high heels.
"Jenny ,  the car is here" the maid’s voice was heard up to the second floor.
Jenna excitedly took her things and ran down the stairs. She shouted goodbye to the family and excitedly got into the car while the chauffeur loaded the bags into the car.
“Excited?” he asked as soon as he got into the driver's seat.
The entire staff that worked at the home loved Jenna. Maybe because they actually raised her, maybe because she treated them with the same respect as she treated her father. She was not one of those spoiled children who asked the maids for incredible things.
"I can't wait to see my mother, to explore Egypt, to learn the secrets of the ancient world, to get lost in the mysteries that the desert hides" she replied "besides don't forget that it has one of the largest and rarest libraries in the world"
"Just remember that apart from reading, you also have to learn to live"
The drive from their home in central London to the airport was quite a long one but luckily the air condition kept the car cool enough.
In all the years she lived there she felt like a stranger, imprisoned, for some reason she didn't feel happy, like she didn't belong there.
The car arrived at Heathrow airport and Jenna got out excitedly waiting for her bags.
"Be careful! And I expect you to tell me everything when you get back”
"I'll be careful"
She hugged him tightly and ran through the airport towards departures.
The airport was full of people , suitcases in the middle of the aisle, groups of friends shouting and joking, desperate mothers with small children crying and tireless fathers chasing after small children who wanted to run.
She handed over her suitcase and found a comfortable seat facing the large screen that would announce the departure gate. She took out her favourite book and a bag of chips from her bag and got lost in her story.
Jenna was a lover of books, it didn't matter if it was romance, adventure, action or biography. The only thing that mattered was  to pique her interest. About thirty minutes passed before her gate appeared and she hurriedly packed her things. She was so excited that she ran to her gate and patiently waited for her turn to hand in her ticket and get on the plane.
When she finally managed to find her place, always on the side of the window, she put on her headphones, leaned her head against the glass and closed her eyes, smiling.
The flight lasted four hours and fifty minutes and soon landed at Cairo International Airport with a temperature of 37 degrees.
She got off the plane last, the atmosphere stifling, the sun burning her skin and with every breath she felt dizzy.
She entered the air-conditioned building as quickly as she could, and after spending some time checking her passport, she went out to meet the man her mother had sent to pick her up and take her to the team's camp.
The young man holding the paper with her name on it helped her with the suitcase and was friendly although not particularly talkative.
The route was quiet and her eyes turned everywhere, longing to see everything, the smallest detail.
They soon entered the famous Sahara desert and left her speechless.
Vast expanses of sand stretching beyond where she could see, artistically sculpted sand dunes as if an artist had painted them and were not real scenery and rocky mountains that disappeared made up the Sahara desert , of the world's hottest desert which according to the books she had read , covered much of northern Africa.
The jeep tore through the sand with the windows tightly shut to keep the dust out and within an hour they arrived at the camp where she would spend the rest of her summer.
She got out of the car and stretched to rest her arms and legs.
"Jenna!"
Her mother was wearing beige shorts, sneakers, a white sleeveless T-shirt and had her hair in a bun.
As soon as she approached her, she hugged her tightly and took a deep breath to fill her mind with the smell of her daughter. She had missed her daughter immensely, so much so that sometimes she felt like giving up everything and going back to London but something always held her back.
"You've grown, you've grown tall, you're beautiful" she told her and with difficulty holding back her tears "let's go arrange your things and let me introduce you to the team" she said softly.
"Where are we going to stay?" she asked looking around and seeing only some tents and two caravans.
"We will share one caravan and the others in the tents" her mother answered.
“I don't want to upset anyone" she told her hesitantly.
"You are not upsetting anyone. Most of the team have grown up in Egypt and prefer to stay in the tents. Still others sleep directly on the ground with the thick sand as a mattress with a pillow and blanket. They say they like to sleep under the stars”
They got into the trailer and she left her things and after taking a quick shower and changing into more summer clothes she went out with her mother to meet the rest of the people she would be spending her summer with.
The first person she met was Akil, the young man who was waiting for her at the airport. He was twenty five years old with black skin and black eyes and his hair was cut very short. He seemed to be smiling but not talking much, just saying his name and walking away to do his work.
She also met Mary, a Greek explorer who had met her mother when she was still a student and had left everything behind to explore.
Heget was a beautiful woman in her forties who knew most of the information about the Desert as well as the surrounding area and was there to guide them.
In the last hour she had met so many people that many names had escaped her but what impressed her was that everyone she met was so open and kind-hearted.
They all sat down to eat together and her mother kept smiling while hugging her at every opportunity.
"Well" a young man who Jenna thought was called Amut stood up "today let's welcome Miss Marshall." He raised his glass and looked at her smiling "Welcome to Egypt"
Jenna smiled widely and raised her glass of soda.
Her adventure was just beginning.