We were young. We hid and ran. There was a house that was falling down. The back wall had only been partially rebuilt and we climbed over that. It was wonderful and chaotic. An old camel lived there. We were told that he was almost 300 years old. He would lay his neck over our small bodies and sleep. We stayed there overnight. And then we realized that we were not allowed to leave. We tried. We posted lookouts and plotted escape, but we were caught and threatened. One girl was sexually assaulted and sliced the gaps between her fingers to get them to leave her alone. We felt bad that we didn’t protect her. And then we escaped on a boat. We fished and dragged the camel behind us. It was dead, but the boat went fast. It was like a dream, the water deep blue, everything ahead.