Prayer Of The Refugee

Hopeless and Hazel

"I am Gerard by the way."

I nod and give him a smile, "Nice to meet you. Where are you coming from?"

"America."

"Then why are you a refugee?"

He sighed and looked deeply in my eyes, "Because I wanted to help someone live a better life but when I crossed the American border and entered the refugee camp to help my friend come back to America with me, my passport was taken away from me. The first thing that happened, imagine that? So I had to reapply for a new passport, but since my birth certificate and everything else showing that I was an American was left back home, I basically had no country to claim me."

"So you're telling that your 'country-less'?" I used my finger quotes.

He gave me a small laugh, "pretty much, yeah."

Silence again. I took the time in this silence to study him a bit. He looked about 2 years older than me, but his refugee life had taken a bigger toll on him than it would ever on me. He had a scar on his forehead under his hair, and I wondered where he got it from. One of his ears were shorter than the other indicating that he once had been shot there. He had bony arms but a strong torso. His eyes were shining hazel that never got dark, even if he was sad. His hair, black and short, hung loosely above his eyes.

What really caught my eye was his jacket. It was stunning. A beautiful black bomber jacket with leather collars and cuffs. A zippered pocket, detachable hood, and small patches that I am guessing were his touch.

He caught my eyes admiring his jacket, and I quickly looked away.

"Why did you look away?"

"Because it wasn't right to look at you for this long anyway."

"You were just admiring my jacket, that's all. I don't mind it. I get people looking at it a lot." He chuckled at that.

He seemed reasonable and nice. I had so many questions to ask him but I knew I had to get going back to my camp.

My parents would be worried about me, and most importantly, I had to find Hector.

I promised myself in the sewers to find him and save him again, I just didn't know where to look.

"Well, Gerard, I am going to start to look for my camp." I finally decide to actually leave.

"Any idea where to look?"

"No. My companion in the sky always helped me but it's hiding tonight."

He smiled at my comment, "Do you maybe want to stay here the night? My tent is pretty big and I haven't shared it with anyone else since...- well my point is,  it's pretty clean and roomy. I got an extra sleeping bag you could claim your own for the night."

I didn't know whether to agree or not but I really did not want to sleep on the streets of Norway. Then again, in a sense, I was sleeping in the streets of Norway.

"Thank you again Gerard, but I am not sure if I should."

"Oh come on Lillian. It's practically midnight, surely you'll be lost, or even worse attacked. I can't let that happen. Not to someone who is like me."

Thinking this over for a moment, his words were reasonable enough. I finally gave in and decided to stay.

"Thank you Gerard I don't know how to repay you."

"You don't need to. Your company is payment enough. You know, I am really lonely around here, so it's nice to see a fresh face I can talk to." He straightened his back and started again, "You can change your clothes in the tent if you want I won't come in there."