Readers Comer Milton youth put pen to paper Budding writers wow judges with their short story contest entnes The Milton Public Library held its annual short story conte Pen to Paper junior and senior divisions. Each submission was revie CEO Leslie Fitch, Campbellville resident Jan Mowbray and Champion top three stories in each age group was awarded a prize and certificate, Branch August 22. The winners include junior writers Hajir Butt, Arisa Sajid and Maha Mir, while Mena Fouda, Ty Sounthoung st for teens over the course of the summer months. There were 31 entries in the Put wed by three judges, including Milton Public Library Chief Librarian and Managing Editor Catherine O‘Hara. The young authors who penned the which were presented at a special ceremony held at the library‘s Main and Tife Ademiâ€" dum were honoured in the senior division. The Champion is publishing an excerpt of the top entry in both the junior and senior categories. by Hajir Butt The sound of bomber planes stili lingers in my ears. The sound of explosions still poundâ€" ing in my heart. The screaming, the crash of the windows... "One hourr till landing," says a man on a radio. I sigh with relief, only an hour till I am comâ€" | pletely away from my home. From the bombâ€" | ing. From Syria. I am out of the plane. | see people with a bunch of luggage; I don‘t have any. But | do | have a piece of wood that | picked up from the floor of our bombed house. I also see people holding signs, welcome | signs. The signs are different, some saying welcome to Canada, with pretty flowers and | smiley faces. Others saying, ‘live a new and happy life‘. | One sign catches my eye. The one with the | name Lina on it. The one with my name on it. | I look at the person who holds the sign. It is a woman with a bright white smile that | reminds me of the moon. The woman has golden hair that I have never seen before. It is as if she had woven it from gold. My name is called out by a man. He smiles at | me and tells me | am to go to the woman I have been staring at. I slowly approach her, fiddling with my hands. Her smile widens as I reach her. "Hello," I say, in English, of course. I have learned English in Syria, and I‘m quite good at it. SUMMER SALE | Questions flow in my mind, yet I do not ask The woman envelopes me in a hug and I‘m shocked. I haven‘t been given a hug for ages. | Finally, she releases me. "My name is Erin. | | | will be taking care of you." | 1 thought the airport was amazing, but now | _ am outside. There are no crashed buildings, | thing that‘s the same in Syria. The air is clean, the buildings glisten in the sun like diamonds. | | | \| | no dust floating around you, there is not one " | There are huge billboards with videos playing ‘ | on them. A giant pointy tower is seen from a | Aistance. I am utterly confused, yet I do not show it. them. I am speechless and astonished. | get into Erin‘s car and from the window I still gaze | at the new world that I will call home. I have never heard anyone talk as fast as Erin. | She talks about almost everything, and asks |_me a load of questions. Finally, we pull up to a yellow brick cottage with |\ sunflowers that sway in the wind. | see a tree | | with branches so long that they almost touch the grass. The blue sky is an ocean, the tree is a jellyfish, with tentacles waving gracefully. "Wow, this place is beautiful..." murmur. Erin smiles, "Once you get comfortable I‘ll show you around, if you‘d like." I nod gratefully. As soon as | walk in I feel a cozy feeling in my heart. A feeling | haven‘t felt in a long time. Erin shows me around the house. All the rooms have comfy sofa chairs and wooden desks. The kitchen has a wooden table; the wall is painted green. Fresh fruits | lay in a glass dish. My stomach grumbles. Erin * EMPLOYEE PRICING * ALL VEHICLES WINDOW PRICED 2017 FORD IN STOCK! * AVAILABLE 0% COSTCO REBATE * WE WANT YOUR TRADE IN! EXPLORERS ARE NOW ON SELECTED MODELS self to some fruit. I‘ll get the sandwiches out." | sit at the table and grab a banana, my favouâ€" | rite. Erin comes and sits in front of me. She passes me a sandwich with chicken filled in | it. I smile. "Thank you, so much. I am grateful for you to have me here in such a wonderful home." Erin stares at me with her ocean blue eyes, "And I am thankful for you to be here." I have my own room. I have my own bed. In | Syria, my parents and I slept crammed in one room with hard concrete floor. Erin knocks on my door, I open it. "Hi. Do you | want me to show you around?" I get up and respond, "Yes, please." "S0, over here is where | like to relax." Erin waves her hand over to a wooden bench and a glass table. Under the bench is a box filled with books. A bird perches itself on a bird feeder and pecks at the seeds. We take a seat, and Erin asks me what | like to do. "Reading mostly," I say, "I used to ride my bike to the library with my friend, Layla." Erin nods. "Well, there is a library just a few blocks down. And | have some bikes from my childâ€" hood in the garage. So we could use those," she says with a smile. I am excited for that, but it will give me memâ€" ories of Layla. I don‘t know what happened to her... | don‘t want to think about it so | stare at Erin, who is looking out in the distance. | eventually say goodnight to Erin and head into my room to sleep. As | start to close and buildings flash in my head. Layla‘s face, | Layla and | walking back from a bike ride. insidehaiton.com W1 «â€"A. NoL1MW | oTOZ ‘zz saqwardag Aepsuny1 | 2 Short story contest judge Catherine O‘Hara, td right, congratulates junior contest winner Hajir 2 Butt. Jayson Mills / Special to the Champion 5 my eyes, I hear a noise. A noise that I never wanted to hear again. The sound of a bomber plane. My eyes snap open. | hear screaming. The motor of the plane is still there. I scream and put my hands over my ears. Still the noises continue. The image of my destroyed home dWVHD NY i 0 & W Mama‘s face and Dada‘s face appear. | see a J ® Everything looked fine, until we reached my 3 \ home. Yet it didn‘t look like a house anymore. 2 | But a warzone. It‘s destroyed. I hear myself 3 mumble, "Mama? Daba?" Nobody answered. | That was the worst, when nobody answered. Everything | loved was snatched away from me, like a toy taken from a baby. | start to Cry. Erin enters the room. She rushes to my side and wraps me in a hug. "Shh, it‘s alright. It‘s alright. You‘re fine. You‘re safe" She continues to reassure me. My heart is pounding. | feel as if it is going to burst. | scream, "Nobody answered, Erin! | came home and no one answered. And I was alone." Erin has tears in her eyes. "But I‘m here. | will answer you. When you come home, and call my name | will answer you" she says, "and | will keep you safe, Lina. Nothing will ever hurt you." The nightmares won‘t stop. | don‘t think they will ever stop. Life seemed so pleasant here. It seemed as if 1 would never have to think about the times in Syria. But it will never leave me. Next week, Broken Galaxies by Mena Fouda Gallingerez» ui) Te m M M TB _ TL MILTON esf. 1967 655 MAIN STREET EAST, MILTON 875 ; 7‘ m - # h t k www.gallingerford.com â€"FORD(3673) _ >