They won't find us here, or at least not Karim, not for at least thirty minutes. I climb up the stairs, my heart pulsing.
I remember the first time I set foot in this hospital: noise and flurry all around, beds being wheeled in and out of the emergency department, and a bald man with a British accent screaming something in English.
That was long ago, but I had felt then the same excitement as I do now. Something is about to happen, I think. And my former fear, the icy tendrils of sweat sneaking down my back, are replaced by the ever-growing sensation that something magnificent is afoot.
Half a dozen will be blown to pieces, and if Allah wills, it will be a catalyst for their complete destruction. The fear in my chest turns to adrenaline. I must do this.
Of course, I will not live to see the aftermath, but for a brief moment, I imagine myself looking down on the crowd from up in Jenna, and a strange seething sense of triumph fills me. Allah will be avenged. Yasser will take me in his arms. I take the stairs a little bit faster.
I am just about to push the door open to an empty hallway when I hear a voice.
"Don't."
I freeze, whirling around.
But there is no one on the stairway, just a little bit of light from below, which must have been Karim forgetting to totally dim them.
The voice was audible.
But it was nothing, just a trick of the imagination or more likely, a Djinn sent to tempt me away from my holy mission.
I turn and keep on going up the stairs.
"Don't, Nada."
I freeze.
I turn.
This time, I blink. Is it a man? I blink again. The outline of him was visible, surely visible, for a brief moment at least.
But now I can't be sure. And there is no breathing, no motion, no nothing behind me.
"Who is it?" I ask, my voice wavering.
But there is only silence.
My hand trembles so I grip harder onto the railing. I will carry this out. I will do it. No one can stop me, not even a djinn from the pit of hell.
"Allah protect me from the djinn. Protect me from the devil," I pray aloud.
For a moment, there is silence.
From a hallway far away I hear the sound of feet, of yelling, then a shot. They've entered. Go!
And so I turn, push the door open, and hurry down the empty hallway.
At the other end is another door that is unlocked. I push it open and climb two sets of stairs.
By the time I am at the top, I am out of breath.
I can hear more feet pounding, then shouting, then another round of bullets.
Hamas is resisting, and pushing them towards me.
I enter the empty hallway and run to the door on the far right.
I smile, pull a card from my pocket, and put it to the sensor on the door.
It beeps and I push on the handle. Shukran Allah, I am in.
YOU ARE READING
One Small Miracle In Gaza
Mystery / ThrillerIsrael has just invaded Gaza: the moment Nada has been anticipating for years is almost upon her. But her fight is not only against the enemy pouring into her land: it is against her very own past. Will her jihad be able to absolve herself of a deca...