📖 1. Narrative Excerpts

📍Excerpt from Chapter 1 – The House of My Youth
The house built in the heart of the village of Shalman was a world full of fragrant trees and sweet fruits, summers spent splashing in the pool of my father’s house and a childhood that vanished into play.
But one day, while I was sitting in the backseat of my father’s white Volkswagen, everything slowly faded from view.
Something broke inside me.
My childhood stayed behind, like a memory that never fully returns.

📍Chapter 2 – Langarud
The city of Langarud was a bridge between two worlds and the memory of Shalman lived on in the trees of our new garden.
In the forest behind our house, my dreams slowly began to take root, among towering walnut trees and shadows full of secrets.
That’s where I learned that change is nothing to fear, but an invitation to grow.

📍Chapter 3 – Rasht and the War
War brought destruction, but my father built.
While Iraqi planes split the sky and bombs made the ground tremble, he stacked stone upon stone to build a house.
My mother often remained calm, keeping fear outside with her quiet smile, especially then.
But death came silently, and within eighty days it took them both.
From that moment, silence became my faithful companion.

📍Chapter 4 – Growing Up Too Fast
The teacher’s voice sounded far away, like waves behind glass.
I wasn’t even eighteen, but it felt like I had suddenly fallen out of the world of youth—without farewell, without pause, without tears.
Growing up wasn’t a choice, it was my fate.
Nothing in me tasted like life anymore.
I had grown up far too early, and far too suddenly.

📍Chapter 5 – Love and Loss
Her name was Rooz.
In a dark world, she brought light and in her presence I found something I had never known before.
But in that time and place, love rarely came without struggle...
And what seemed close remained distant in the end.

📍Chapter 6 – On the Edge of the Invisible
A passport, a pair of shoes and a heart full of fear and longing.
The morning air felt strange, as if the city itself was saying goodbye.
I stood at the threshold of a border—not just a geographical one.
What I left behind weighed more than what I carried.
Sometimes freedom begins with loss.

📍Chapter 7 – From Ljubljana to Italy
A torn passport, muddy shoes and a border lined with barbed wire.
Who could have imagined?
The night was silent, but in his chest, a storm raged.
He knew this was no longer a journey—this was survival.

📍Chapter 8 – Farewell
Three embraces, one train ticket and a silence that said it all.
He looked back one last time, knowing he left behind something that would never be the same.
Was this courage—or simply the absence of another choice?

📍Chapter 9 – Morning in Cologne
The same suitcase, a new address and a man waiting for him.
For the first time in a long time, the ground beneath his feet felt solid.
But how do you know if this is the beginning—or just a stop along the way?

📍Chapter 10 – A New Beginning in the Netherlands
A room with four beds, voices in unfamiliar languages, and the scent of dish soap.
Outside, everything seemed in order.
But inside, everything was just beginning.
How do you build a life when nowhere feels like home?

📍Chapter 11 – After the Storm
No map, no rush.
Just a voice whispering,
“Maybe this is the moment to begin.”
When does life truly begin?
At arrival—or when you learn to breathe again?

📍Chapter 12 – Rooted in a New Land
A key in hand, a house full of unfamiliar sounds and the smell of fresh paint on the walls.
Outside, ivy climbed up the wall.
Inside, something slowly began to come alive.
How deep must you root before a place feels like home?

📍Chapter 13 – What Remains
The journey was over, but the echo lingered.
In every language and culture, you see a different version of yourself.
And in every silence, a piece of your truth.

📍Chapter 14 – The Turning Point

Sometimes life seems quiet, but inside, a silent revolution begins.

When will your moment come?
And do you have to wait until the end to find yourself again?

📍Chapter 15 – After Everything
No more applause, no more words.
Only breath.
And the question:
Why am I still alive?

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