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. First, Baba left the country in 2015. When a rocket hit their house, Ummi with the girls were forced to start a long journey to London too. They left Damascus in a smuggler's car hiding underneath 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, a plastic dinghy carrying them with some 120 people 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, lost the ability to communicate with Baba.

Upon reaching Calais, Amira paid a couple to smuggle her and Yana into England. They were packed into the back of a lorry. During the trip, Yana started suffocating due to the lack of air. Despite the efforts of Amira and another girl named Zainer, Yana died. 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.

A homing beacon sent by a female bone spider in a dandelion clock to find her child brought Amira into an old stone house. Not aware of the presence of the spider, Amira realised she was prevented from leaving the house. She attributed the actions of the invisible spider to the house itself. In particular, she figured out that she was made invisible to others and learned how to become visible again.

Amira spent at least 48 days in the house often praying to Allah that she sees Baba in the street searching for his lost family. She was could be happy in the safety of the house, if not for the scenes from her horror-filled journey, unwittingly materialised for her by the spider.

Thus, Amira was happy when, one day in November 2016, Tanya Adeola saw her through a window and wanted to rescue her. But Amira did not want anyone to be hurt and tried to warn Tanya and her friends. When Tanya became a prisoner of the spider too, they quickly became friends, especially given that Tanya reminded Amira of Yana.

Amira helped Miss Quill and Alan Turnpike to tie the spider up when it seemed like Tanya's life was in danger.

The first thing Amira did after the spider released her was to report the people responsible for Yana's death to the police. Not only did the police then arrest them and rescue Zainer from the smuggling ring, but they also reunited Amira with her father. (PROSE: The Stone House)