Finding Muna: A Palestinian Novel

Chapter Fifteen

The car ride back to Rafah was very tense and terrifying, April was panicking while she surfed though her phone, violently tapping the screen as she did so, Lamees struggled to remain calm as she drove, skillfully maneuvering through the bumpy road even though she drove at a fairly high speed while Muna just sat back and watched them, trying not to over think nor under think what was happening.

If what they thought happened did happen, then they were doomed.

They left Deir el-Balah abruptly when they received the news of a city in Rafah getting violently attacked, specifically the city they lived in, especially their street. Their street was a very small street which meant multiple attacks would clear all of them; April was still looking up the street that was attacked on Google when Ahmad's call came in.

Each of them felt their heart dropped when they saw Ahmad's call, they looked at each other with panic in their eyes as April shakily picked up the call.

"Hello?" she said into the phone but the call got disconnected as he started to speak, she tried to call him back multiple times but to no avail. The trio were already panicking at that point and Muna knew one more disconnected call from Ahmad would cause April to start bawling her eyes out.

Ahmad never called, not even when his daughter was wounded, not when he got wounded, not when they had extreme shortage of food; he just never did call and he calling now only meant that danger was looming nearby.

Their street in Rafah was terribly destroyed by the time they got there, Lamees was already getting carried away by the horrible aftermath of the destruction that she wasn't focused on the road any longer.

"Lamees, please focus," Muna said with a broken voice as she lowered her head to stop herself from glancing at how bad the view was, April was even less concerned about the street or the destruction, she was more concerned about the house and the people who resided in it.

'Is Mr. Ahmad safe? Is Reem safe? Is the house destroyed like other houses? If so, where are we going?' – were questions April kept repeating in her head.

"Where's Mr. Ahmad's house?" April suddenly said as Muna's head shot up, she looked out of the window and gasped, Lamees was quiet, trying to decipher the new information while she struggled not to get them into an accident.

Lamees hadn't even pulled the car over when April jumped off the car and ran like someone who was going insane towards Mr. Ahmad, Lamees parked the car and Muna didn't waste another second and got off too, terrified of what she was seeing. Lamees watched them quietly and pressed her lips together, she placed her head on the steering wheel of the car and started to cry.

By the time Muna caught up to Ahmad and April, she noticed that April fell back and fainted and as she widened her eyes and tried to run to catch her before she fell, Ahmad beat her to it and caught her before she fell.

"What happened?!" Muna exclaimed as she ran towards him, widening her eyes at the both of them.

"Reem ishtash hadat!" the man said with a bright smile as he placed April gently on the ground and turned around to pick up what he was holding and brought it up to her face.
(Reem is martyred!)

It was the wrist of a girl and her complete fingers, stained with henna and dried blood.

It was the fingers of a girl she knew and recognized.

A girl she spoke to barely 5 hours ago.

Reem's wrist.

Muna let out a shrill scream as her eyes welled up in tears, Ahmad watched Muna cry with a sad smile on his face, "La tahzan, heya fil jannah!" he said and Muna shook her head.
(Don't be sad, she's in paradise)