Dear Readers,

I am writing to try to calm myself down because I am so scared right now! About three weeks after my last post, an event took place that scared me to death. My family and I were stopping in a small town along the route for the night, and we decided to retire in a small hut-like structure. My father went out for a few moments, and a strange man jumped in, grabbed me and my sister, and dragged us out! Outside of the tent, there were two camels, one that was his, and one that was one of his friends. The strange man put my sister on the back of the friend's camel, and me on the back of his. They spoke in a language that I wasn't familiar with, and then, we were off. But, instead of both camel's following one another, we separated, and went in different directions.

This whole scenerio happened so fast, that it didn't even hit me what happened until I felt the cool, night breeze on my face, and I realized I wasn't in a safe place asleep, under the care of my father. I started to panick, but I didn't want the man to know that I was afraid, so I tried my best to stay calm. All I wished for at that moment was to make sure my sister was okay, and to be with my father, too. I realized that the man began to talk to be with a very strong accent, so it was hard to understand some of his words. I couldn't hear any of the words he was saying because I was too focused on looking back at the little town where my family was. And then, from a far, far distant, I saw the distant shape of a man- my father. It almost looked like he was waving goodbye, and suddenly I was extremely confused. Why would my father be okay with me being kidnapped by a random man? Did he plan this? Why isn't he trying to help me or my sister? So many questions began to rush through my head, and I was overcome with fear and anger.

"YOUNG GIRL!" the man yelled. I realized he noticed that I hadn't been listening, so I turned back around and replied, "Yes? I'm sorry." "Don't worry about anything. We are going to the city of Kashgar, a little bit of a different route than how you were going to go to Khotan. You will be okay," he answered. Somehow, this didn't comfort me, and I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

So, now that event was about 6 months back, and we are about to arrive in Kashgar. I will have to wait and see what will come of the arrival in this unfamilar town. I will write again when I have updated news.

Sincerely,
Mei <3

This is apparently where we are headed...