Syltje's Diary

Something terrible has happened! Something very, very terrible!

I woke up this morning with migraines after Birger and I packed packages again. But only three, which Mom had promised to someone. Late at night, an elderly gentleman with many wrinkles and red eyes came and picked up the three packages. He thanked my parents and apologized before paying them. As he left, he cried. Birger and I secretly watched everything from the stairs. The apology was strange, and Birger made fun of it. But then, this morning, at breakfast! Soldiers have come. They arrested Mom, Dad, and Birger! 

Because of drug trafficking!

I knew something was wrong with these packages... But that?

I shortly saw the elderly man outside the door. He brought the soldiers here. Mom angrily cursed at him! Dad instructed the nannies to accompany us to our rooms, but Alva and Camilla didn't want to. They kicked and shouted. Iker and Gitte were stiff with fright. I held Alva in my arms when they took our parents and Birger with them. She wanted to run after our parents.

Camilla hasn't said anything for an hour. She just sits there and stares in front of her.

We’re now in the house with the employees and the nannies. And two soldiers stayed here. Alva is afraid of them. The soldiers said we would soon be picked up and taken to children's homes. Plural! They want to separate us!

There is no family to which we could go. Dad's parents died in the war and his brother has been dead for a long time. And mom's parents are on a trip. They and our cousins are currently in vampire territory. They can't bring us to them and it will take time for a letter to reach them. That's what one of the soldiers told me. I don't remember them. Mom and Dad have broken off contact with them.

Alma doesn't stop crying. She and Camilla don't understand why Mom, Dad, and Birger were taken away. Camilla looks distraught. I'm worried. At sixteen, Birger is old enough to be in court. The rest of us would be questioned as soon as we were all placed in homes. I don't want us to be separated! I heard the nannies whispering! They said Alma and Camilla would surely find new families quickly. But the rest of us are too old. I don't want that! What if I never see the others again?

What if our grandfather doesn't want us?

The powder! This stupid powder! We packed drugs. How could Mom and Dad do this to us? I used to think it was powder. For the face. As a child, I used to rub it on my face as makeup. Secretly.

Drugs. Birger always joked about us dealing drugs. However, none of us believed that. According to Dad, it was a special, expensive remedy. Iker thinks it's flour. Aili never believed either, but Mom never wanted to answer her questions about the powder. So that's why. Heaven! What if Aili will also get arrested? She's seventeen!

I'm scared.

Adriana tried to comfort me. She said she wanted to ask her mother to take me in until my grandfather arrived. And also my siblings. I don't think it will come to that. They have to look for a new apartment and work now that they have lost their jobs. Here, they are no longer needed. The staff only stay as long as we’re here. They are already looking for new jobs and housing.

Adriana said that her grandparents have a big house where they want to go and that there is enough space there... But we’re five children. And two of us are still very small. Seven children, with Aili and Birger. Will they go to jail?

The plants in my parents' fields were all drugs. They grew, made, and sold drugs. I know that they worked the fields with a few people from the village. The villagers were paid with the powder. At least that's what I think... I once heard Mom and Dad talk about something like that.

Were these people also arrested?

What will become of us now?