Nobody's Child Read Online Free PDF

Kevork. It was only when he bent to gather her in his arms that he realized she was limp in death.
    He sat cradling his sister’s body for uncounted moments, and it was then that he heard footsteps and voices. Fearing that the Turks had returned, he placed Arsho’s body in the rafters, then hoisted himself up beside her. He watched below as Mariam, not a Turk,entered his house. He was relieved to see that she was alive, but he was too full of sorrow to speak.
    Later, Kevork ventured out to find his friends. Now he sat in front of the cave rocking Onnig on his lap, enveloped in his memories.
    Mariam looked over and saw that Marta was sitting up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Then Mariam looked up at the woman who had accompanied Kevork. She wasn’t very old: perhaps twenty. But she had abnormally pale skin and stark white hair hanging loose down her back. Her eyes looked pink-rimmed and sore, and the irises were a frightening blue instead of the usual dark brown. Mariam tried not to stare. She had seen women with yellow hair before, and many older women had white hair, of course, but she had never seen anyone who had the colouring of this woman. Mariam felt an involuntary shudder run up her spine.
    Kevork lifted his face from Onnig’s hair and noticed Mariam’s gaze. “This is my aunt Anna Adomian,” he said.
    The woman looked Mariam in the eyes and bowed slightly. Mariam felt ashamed of herself. She imagined that this woman got stared at a lot for her appearance.
    Mariam stood up and brushed the dirt from her dress, then she extended her hand to Anna. “Glad to meet you,” she said. Then she introduced her brother and sister.
    â€œI’m albino,” said Anna.
    â€œWhat?” asked Mariam, confused.
    â€œI was born this way. My parents were dark like you.”
    â€œOh,” said Mariam, not really understanding.
    â€œYou must be thirsty,” said Anna. She reached into the folds of her dress and drew out a skin of water. She opened it, then offered it to Onnig first.
    â€œYes please,” he said, and opened his mouth expectantly. Anna squirted some water in, then offered the skin to Mariam.
    The action reminded Mariam of her mother, and she had to will herself not to cry.
    Anna looked beyond Mariam to the grave behind her. “Where shall you go now?” she asked.
    â€œWe have no place here,” said Mariam. “We must get back to Marash.”
    â€œYou cannot go to Marash right now,” said Anna. “Come to the village with us.”
    â€œBut the village is destroyed.”
    â€œNot completely,” said Anna.
    â€œI won’t go,” said Onnig, scrambling from Kevork’s lap and walking towards the rock-covered entrance of the cave.
    â€œOnnig, my soul,” said Mariam.
    â€œMommy and Daddy will come back. I know.”
    â€œThey’re dead,” Mariam said softly.
    Onnig shook his head stubbornly.
    â€œMommy and Daddy are in heaven.”
    â€œNo,” said Onnig.
    He banged at the rocks. “Mommy, Daddy, wake up.”
    Kevork walked over to Onnig and picked him up, dodging his thrashing arms and legs. “Let them sleep for now,” he said. “We’ll come back for them later. Let’s go,” he called over his shoulder to the others as he walked briskly, carrying the kicking, crying boy with him.
    Mariam glanced longingly back at the mouth of the cave as she followed the rest of the group. Her heart was filled with heavy sadness. So many times she had chafed under the watchful eyes of her mother and father. And so many times she had complained about her poor lot in life. What she would give now to turn time back a few pages and have her parents alive and their family whole again.
    Recent footsteps had made a pathway from the cave to the fields, and she followed the others as they walked down it. Onnig was still wailing in Kevork’s arms, but he was no longer struggling. It was quick