Memoir in four sentences and ten chapters

1.
1.1 I was born,
1.2 In a happy family,
1.3 Attending my basic needs,

2.
2.1 In a beautiful home,
2.2 In a faraway country,
2.3 You hadn’t even heard of,
2.4 Before it became a spectacle.

3.
3.1 Thanks to my loving parents,
3.2 And teachers and friends,

4.
4.1 I managed to study,
4.2 And I found a fulfilling job
4.3 As a teacher,

5.
5.1To help kids grow and learn,
5.2 When the war started,
5.3 And my life started falling apart,
5.4 Fragmented into tiny little pieces,
5.5 Or chapters of a book,
5.6 That was meant to be written,
5.7 But never was.

6.
6.1 My house was bombed down,
6.2 And I was left homeless,

7.
7.1 Seeking food and shelter
7.2 For my family,

8.
8.1 Crossing the borders,
8.2 In a small boat,
8.3 When the sea swallowed my life,
8.4 And took away my husband and son

9.
9.1 Leaving me and my unborn child,
9.2 Alone in a foreign land,
9.3 In a place that is not called a prison,
9.4 Yet it looks like it is,
9.5 With no dignity, nor freedom.

10.
10.1 When my daughter grows up,
10.2 I will teach her the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,
10.3 Based on this short story,
10.4 The story of my life,
10.5 And she will remember it forever.

Mileva Anastasiadou is a neurologist, living and working in Athens, Greece. Her work can be found in many journals and anthologies, such as the Molotov Cocktail, Maudlin house, Menacing Hedge, Midnight Circus, Big Echo:Critical SF, Jellyfish Review, Asymmetry Fiction and others. She has published two books in Greek and a collection of short stories in English (Once Upon a Dystopia by Cosmic Teapot Publication).