by Jeremy Muller
“All your pain and suffering will end in minutes if you just jump… you won’t ever have to endure pain again… ever…”
To the world, Arielle Davidson seems to have it all… She is a world-famous philanthropist, successful musician and the daughter of a Sri Lankan millionaire, adored and admired by many. But Arielle has a secret… a skeleton in her closet, that she’s moved to share with Jayani, an orphan with a painful past.
Is Arielle really all that she seems to be? Will her story of courage and love in the face of overwhelming odds, kindle hope in Jayani? Will her life transform? Or will sharing secrets from her painful past be the biggest mistake of Arielle’s life?
“He Called Me Arielle” is a compelling and beautiful piece of work. The main character, Arielle, is one that young girls aspire to be. The harshness of her life and the unfairness of her peers is something every girl can identify with. This is a novel that is utterly relatable to many youngsters the world over, where children face many hardships – from rejection, identity issues, to abuse; this book shows that no matter what you go through in life, it doesn’t define you. Just because your start wasn’t great doesn’t mean your future will be also – there’s hope for us all.
Chamathka Gamage wrote “He Called Me Arielle” in 2016 after she read C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia”. I was a teacher at the time and I wanted to share Arielle’s story with my students; I wanted it to be an encouragement to them, but the process of bringing her story to life took longer than I expected.
“It was written during some of the most difficult years of my life,” says Chamathka, “I was depressed during those years. My body was breaking down with sickness and I was in physical and emotional pain. Writing Arielle’s story, in some ways, brought healing to me and gave me strength to keep on going. So I pray that her story and her faith will inspire readers to endure without giving up. Even if life feels difficult and meaningless sometimes, I hope her story will bring a glimmer of hope to you, that things can change.”
Chamathka certainly knows how to tell a story and her wordcraft captures the reader. Let’s have a look at a excerpt from her book, the beginning of how Arielle connects with and begins to tell her tale to young Jayani:
It was very pretty – the butterfly… with colourful red and black wings, fluttering about the backyard, flying without a care in the world from one flower bed to the next. The sweet aroma of the flowers clearly attracted the butterfly.
Jayani looked at it longingly as she sat alone on the metal swing… The swing creaked as Jayani leaned forward. It was an old, rusty swing that the other girls generally avoided out of fear of breaking it or falling off and hurting themselves. Patches of grass and weeds grew around it so Jayani wasn’t scared. She knew the grass would cushion her fall.
Another butterfly fluttered into her view. This one was yellow with black and white spots adorning its wings. It hovered a little before settling on a flower.
“Why can’t I be free like them?” she sighed, wiping away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. ‘If I could only stop seeing them staring,’ she thought as she recalled – again – the familiar scene that haunted her, not only in her dreams but also in reality.
Whenever Jayani stood in front of a large audience, the same scene began to play in front of her eyes.
“Will it ever stop?” she sighed sadly.
“Will what ever stop?” a voice behind her asked. Jayani stood up straight, getting off the swing hurriedly to face the voice. She was startled to see Ms. Arielle before her. She thought it was one of the older girls, coming to taunt her like all the others at the previous orphanage.
“Are you okay?” Ms. Arielle asked her kindly, realising that she had startled Jayani.
Jayani looked down at her feet and shrugged, not knowing what to say. She decided to play with a pebble near her toe.
Ms. Arielle waited a little, giving time for Jayani to talk. She kept playing with the pebble.
“Hey, if you’d like to talk to someone, I’m good at listening,” Ms. Arielle spoke gently and her voice soothed Jayani.
Finally, Jayani looked up, losing interest in the pebble. “It doesn’t matter. You probably have better things to do, Ms. Arielle. Besides, you wouldn’t understand. No one does.” Jayani struggled to hold back her tears.
“Try me!”
“You won’t! I’ve talked to some grownups… they all say they understand but, in the end, they all just get angry with me when I can’t perform like they want me to! I’m useless! I wish I was never born!” Jayani started sobbing. That’s when something quite out of the ordinary happened! To Jayani’s surprise, Ms. Arielle gathered her into a warm hug. In her shock, Jayani stopped crying.
“You hugged me!”
“Shouldn’t I have? Wait! Don’t tell me you hate hugs!”
“No…” Jayani mumbled, suddenly feeling very shy. “It’s not that I hate hugs…”
“Then?”
“It’s just no one’s actually given me a hug before!”
“Ever?” Ms. Arielle looked shocked.
“Ever…” Jayani whispered looking down.
“Do you really want me to tell you?” she asked Ms. Arielle.
“Yes, I do Jayani. I want to know what’s keeping you from singing with that beautiful voice you have.”
“I wish I was like you Ms. Arielle! You’re confident and brave. You’re not scared of all those people.”
“Well actually, there was a time I was just like you: shy, timid and very afraid.” Looking around to make sure no one else is listening, Ms. Arielle leaned forward and whispered, “If you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll tell you all about it… You see… I wasn’t always called Arielle.”
Jayani was very excited. This was the first time someone was sharing a secret with her and it was not just anyone – it was this amazing person, Ms. Arielle! She felt honoured and solemnly reassured Ms. Arielle: “I promise!”
“So, this is my story…” Ms. Arielle started…
And so begins an intriguing and captivating tale that should not be missed. It tackled depression, bullying, depression and even suicide, but ultimately teaches all of us that even in the most darkest of places, hope always shines true if you are willing to search for it.