Amira

Amira was a young girl from Damascus, a city in Syria. She had amber eyes and usually wore a headscarf.

At the beginning of the 21st century, she lived there with her father, mother and younger sister Yana. She studied well and was good in English language.

When she was eight or nine years old, the war started. Baba left the country first in 2015.

When a rocket hit their house, Ummi with the girls were forced to start a long journey to London. They left Damascus in a smuggler's car hiding under blankets and bags. At the end of winter of 2016, they arrived at a refugee camp in Kahramanmaras on the Turkish side of the border. Against Ummi's advice, the girls insisted on continuing on their way to London.

Ummi paid for being taken to Greece. In July 2016, the plastic dinghy carrying 120 people including them across the Mediterranean Sea tipped. Amira managed to save Yana's life by embracing her and holding onto a handle. But Ummi drowned leaving Amira to care for Yana on her own. In addition, Amira lost her phone to the sea and, with it, the ability to communicate with Baba.

Amira paid a couple for her and Yana to be taken to England. They were packed into the back of a lorry with a refrigerator unit. There was not enough air. Amira and another girl named Zainer tried to lift Yana up, but she still died of suffocation. Amira and Zainer were taken to the male smuggler's house and locked there. He often abused them. Amira managed to escape by knocking him with a side table and running away. She ran until she found herself in the old stone house.

Amira was not aware of the presence of the female bone spider in the house and attributed her actions to the house itself. In particular, she figured out that she was made invisible to outside observers and learned how to become visible again.

In London, Amira often prayed to Allah that she sees Baba searching for his lost family.

After at least 48 days in the house without any human contact, Amira was happy when Tanya Adeola saw her through a window and wanted to get out from the house. But she did not want anyone to be hurt. As she could not be seen or heard due to the bone spider's protective spiderweb, she spelled "Leave now" with alphabet spaghetti on the kitchen table to warn the Coal Hill defenders.

When the bone spider lured Tanya up into the attic and left her there, Amira covered the floor with mattresses and blankets and persuaded Tanya it was safe to jump down. (PROSE: The Stone House)