“I hope you’ve read Arabian Nights. Sure, you may not believe anything I'm saying, but these days I feel like I’ve turned into one of the characters from the tales. I want to keep sleeping in silence, because I am afraid to wake up. As soon as I wake up, the whole marvelous world of my dreams dissipates, and I am left only with the feelings these dreams kindle”. These words are taken verbatim from a letter that a young Syrian girl Aya wrote to me. Aya’s story, published on the Facebook page «Humans of New York», glued people’s eyes to their screens and shook their unbending opinions. It shook me, too. That is why I decided to friend her online and find refuge in the tales of Arabian Nights at my hour of distress. 

Her ears were entirely too accustomed to the screams of people and the sounds of explosions that rained from the sky in a fiery monsoon. It’s been several years since her mother and one of her brothers perished under this rain of fire. She never met her father. She only knew that “he sacrificed himself in the name of God” and that thought kept him alive in her mind. She spent her days fighting for the lives of her remaining four siblings inside a small tent. She fell asleep closer to the morning, when the whole world finally hushed.

Dream 1. She was elsewhere. It did not look like any of the six continents she knew about. Under her feet she saw brown rocky soil. Behind her there were mighty cliffs covered in ice and snow. Looking forward, she saw an endless ocean reaching to the horizon and beyond. The scarf that usually covered her whole face, leaving open only her eyes, was completely untied, and the chilly fresh air caressed her face. She took a step forward and saw a mysterious man in the distance. He seemed disarmingly handsome. Ashamed of her dirty rags that passed for a dress, she did not dare take another step. 

She woke up. She opened her eyes only to see the ugly and miserable day-to-day and that made her angry. That sweet feeling from the dream still warmed her heart, yet she remembered nothing. There was only a vague memory that a mysterious stranger was calling to her. 

Dream 2. She was elsewhere once again. This time her dress was brighter and fit her well. She dared to step forward. The handsome stranger got closer too. She froze, perplexed. The young man noticed that her sleeves were red, and he gently uncovered her arm. He noticed the blood dripping from her elbow and covered her arm again. His face, radiating compassion, imprinted in the young girl’s memory. 

She woke up. She opened her eyes only to see the ugly and miserable day-to-day and that made her angry. That sweet feeling from the dream still warmed her heart, yet she remembered nothing. There was only a vague memory that a mysterious stranger was calling to her. Blood dried on her elbow that she injured in the clamor of last night. It did not even hurt anymore. It seemed like she saw this wound in her dream, yet the haze in her head took away the memory. 

Dream 3. She was elsewhere once again. She was once more in the same spot in front of the young man. Smiling. He wiped away the soot from her face (these were the traces of last night’s cooking in the old cauldron). 

The sound of an explosion woke her up. She opened her eyes only to see the ugly and miserable day-to-day and that made her angry. That sweet feeling from the dream still warmed her heart, yet she remembered nothing. There was only a vague memory that a mysterious stranger was calling to her. No matter how hard she tried, she could not remember the young man’s face. She waited for the night. She wore the nice dressed that she has been keeping zealously. She put on whatever make up she had left and her remaining jewelry, and went to bed. Soon she was asleep. 

Dream 4. She was elsewhere once again. She was once more in the same spot in front of the young man. She felt better than usual. The young man stared at her with a particular affection and finally kissed her on her forehead. 

She woke up. She opened her eyes only to see the ugly and miserable day-to-day and that made her angry. That sweet feeling from the dream still warmed her heart, yet she remembered nothing. There was only a vague memory that a mysterious stranger was calling to her. No matter how hard she tried, she could not remember the young man’s face. She never wanted to wake up. It seemed she was even willing to abandon her siblings and stay in the land of dreams forever. With that thought, she kept guarding their sleep, keeping them safe. Only with the dawn did she fall asleep. 

Dream 5. She was elsewhere once again. She was cold. The young man embraced her. 

“Where are we?” she said.

“The Island of Bouvet” the young man responded.

Although she did not know where that was, this place that was so far away from all the noise and disarray of the world seemed like Paradise come true.

Dream 6. She couldn’t reach the elsewhere.

Dream 7. She was elsewhere once again. She started to hiccup. 

The young man said: Repeat after me and the hiccup will go away. “Hiccup and I went to the sea. Hiccup drowned and I returned”. 

She repeated: “Hiccup and I went to the sea. Hiccup drowned and I returned.”

The sound of an explosion woke her up. She opened her eyes only to see the ugly and miserable day-to-day and that made her angry. That sweet feeling from the dream still warmed her heart, yet she remembered nothing.

translated by Dulat Ilyasov