No Safe Place by Deborah Ellis

supper, Abdul took a turn at the wheel. Everyone stayed together in the wheelhouse. No one talked, but at least, Abdul thought, they weren’t fighting. He suspected that they, like him, were thinking ahead to the next stage of the journey. Once they landed in England, they would go their separate ways. He couldn’t say he was actually friends with Cheslav and Rosalia, but they weren’t enemies, either. He wasn’t really looking forward to being alone.
    Though it won’t be for long, he reminded himself. One last thing to do, then no more worries. No more loneliness.
    â€œI’ll clean up,” Jonah said. He gathered up all the empty bowls. “See? I can work hard.” He went below.
    â€œWhat did he mean?” Cheslav asked.
    â€œHe wanted me to look after him in England,” Abdul said. “I told him no.”
    â€œHe’s old enough to look after himself,” said Cheslav. He left the wheelhouse and went below.
    â€œThe English will look after Jonah,” Rosalia said. “They would not let you be with him even if you wanted to.”
    â€œHe says I owe him because I still have the money I didn’t give his uncle.”
    â€œThat’s right,” said Rosalia. “You still have money.”
    â€œDo you have people in England? I mean…” He hadn’t meant to do this, but now he couldn’t see any way not to. “I mean, if you don’t have any money, I could let you have some of mine.”
    â€œIn exchange for what?”
    â€œFor nothing. You could just have it. Because we are traveling together.”
    â€œWe are not traveling together.” She got up and stood at the wheel to look into his face. “We are all alone on this boat. I am alone. The boy is alone. You are alone. The Russian is alone. You have some idea that we are friends, but we’re not.”
    â€œFine.” Abdul stepped away from the wheel so Rosalia could take over. He headed out of the wheelhouse, then turned back. “I don’t know what happened to you, but you have no right to accuse me of wanting to hurt you. I don’t know you, but you don’t know me, either.”
    Abdul went to the back of the boat and watched the water churn up from the motor. He could not wait to get to England and get away from these people!
    He tried to calm himself. He curled his toes the way his father had taught him. As always, it helped.
    He put the others out of his mind and tried to picture England so he could be prepared. It was hard to make a plan without knowing what he was heading into.
    England would be orderly. That much he knew from the photos he had seen in books. The British liked stone walls, neat pathways and traffic laws. There would be hedges and street signs and little shops that never ran out of things.
    It would make the most sense to look for a dark place to land the boat, so that meant countryside or a small town. Abdul wished he knew how much he would stand out. He knew there were people who looked like him in England’s cities, but would he be too much of a stranger in the countryside? Would people see him and call the police?
    After he got rid of Jonah, he would be free. Maybe there was a train or a bus he could catch, but that idea made him feel cooped up and trapped. If someone tried to come after him on a train or a bus, he wouldn’t be able to get away.
    It would be better to walk. It would take him longer, but time didn’t mean much anymore. He’d walk at night, hide during the day and eventually, finally, he would get to his destination.
    His fingers went to the thin chain around his neck and he absentmindedly rubbed the medallion.
    He could spend his money in England. He could go into a store and buy food. He could even buy a way out of the rain — a cup of coffee in a restaurant, a ticket to a cinema. If he was careful, the money he had would be all he needed.
    Abdul heard a sound behind him.