Solitude in North Kensington

I was half asleep as I heard the wood gently crackling in the fire

 dreaming about the stories my grandfather used to tell me at bedtime

about the adventures he and his two best friends used to have while camping in the desert

telling each other stories and laughing in the good old times, in a century long gone

I opened my left eye as I smelt plastic and rubber burning

for a moment I thought I was 14 once again, back in the camp in Lebanon

where we burnt old tyres and our plastic toys - that we loved so dearly only a month ago 

but suddenly felt no need for - to keep that little warmth escaping our bruised bones

I opened both of my eyes as the thick grey smoke came rolling through the windows 

that I always leave open during the warm London summer,nights

letting in the fresh air and the lively sounds of a town 23 floors below

reminding me of everything I left in a world so far away, in a century long gone

I heard someone in the distance yell:Help! Water! Water! 

and I thought I must be dreaming all this smoke and crackling fire 

I was back underneath the rubber dinghy that had just capsized

with 79 people on board, 75 of whom were in the water for their first and last time 

I leaped out of bed when I saw the fire flash underneath my bedroom door

I opened the door, fleeing for my life once again, leaving everything behind as I did years ago

I rushed from the flat and hit the stairs drowning in smoke, a clear memory of the bombs and fire 

and people screaming, sirens waling, from a time long gone rushing through my head 

The last in the line of survivors in my family, 

this time I woke up to catch my death. 

This is a story from a notebook full of started stories and semi-finished poems linked to that day, that I constantly carry around with me and none of which I seem to be able to finish. After long months I decided to post this excerpt here, just to put at least something from the little black notebook out there. As the walks, everything in the notebook is in remembrance of the people who perished during that night.