THE SKYLARK

“The prisoner screamed out his pain and begged for mercy. It sounded like they cut off a finger, and I saw it in front of me. The horror. The blood. The stump on the floor. Soon it will be my turn.” . I am a writer born and raised in Norway but have Palestinian roots. Having one foot in both worlds has always created identity issues for me, which boiled to the surface in Yemen as I found a loaded weapon aimed at my head. The authorities mistook me as a foreign agent due to my poor Arabic speaking skills, and I found myself trapped in a Yemen prison. Subjected to daily physical, verbal, and psychological torture with no way to contact my family, I did not think I would survive. Suicide ideation and attempts accompanied my hopeless state after suffering weeks of torture. I wanted to erase my identity after the ordeal, but with two children who speak fluent Arabic, this was not an option. This emotional story of torture, trauma, and identity is my debut novel.